Belong – People loved by God
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SERMON: GENESIS 12:10-20
Sermon I preached on Genesis 12:10-20 at Banstead Community Church on 17th January 2021.
1. Trails expose our fears
2. Trials expose our faith
More sermons can be found HERE
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DAILY READ – ACTS 15
The Big Read – Daily Read
Acts 15
v1-5: It should bring us great joy when we hear about the progress of the gospel. Every conversion, every addition to the family of God is worth celebrating, “because the family will never be any poorer because of the vast numbers of its children. In Christ and heaven there is enough room, and enough inheritance, for them all.”
v6-21: We should not be surprised “if people are devoted to customs that have been passed on to them from previous generations and that they have been brought up to think of as sacred.” Yet we must be careful not to make them conditions for our acceptance of others who have faith in Christ. Our acceptance of them is to be same as the conditions “God has set as the conditions of their acceptance with him.”
v22-35: Church leaders “do not have the authority to make new laws, but only to see that the laws of Christ are properly carried out, and to enforce their observance.” They should “impose only necessary things, matters Christ has made our duty, which truly lead to building up the church” and “to the uniting of Christians.”
v36-41: “Even those who are united to one and the same Jesus, who are sanctified by one and the same Spirit, see things differently; even they have different opinions, views, and feelings about practical courses of action. It will remain so as long as we are in this state of darkness and imperfection; we will never all be completely in harmony until we reach heaven, where light and love are perfect.”
Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.
(Photo: Brad Neathery)
@READINGSPURGEON: GENESIS 49:23-24 (NPSP1S17)
@ReadingSpurgeon: Genesis 49:23-24 – Joseph Attacked by the Archers (NPSP1S17)
This sermon from C. H. Spurgeon on Genesis 49:23-24 – “The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)” – reflects on Jacob’s recollection about Joseph’s troubles as he blesses him.
There are 4 things that he wants us to notice:
I. The cruel attack
The enemies of God’s people, like Joseph’s enemies were, are archers.
They were archers of envy. Joseph had to endure the envy of his brothers. “None of you can be the people of God without provoking envy and the better you are, the more you will be hated.”
They were archers of temptation. Joseph was tempted hour by hour, day after day, and only God could give him to strength to resist.
They were archers of slander. Joseph was falsely accused. “It is no easy thing to feel your character gone, to think that you are slandered, that things are said of you that are untrue.”
Do you expect to escape these archers?
“Expect it, do not think it is a strange thing, all God’s people must have it. There are no royal roads to heaven – they are paths of trial and trouble the archers will shoot at you as long as you are on this side the flood.”
II. The shielder warrior
Joseph’s bow abides in strength. “The archers sorely grieved Joseph, but his bow was not turned against them, it abode in strength. He turned not his bow on them. He rested while they raged… Do not be in a hurry to set yourselves right. God will take care of you.”
III. The secret strength
The strength which Joseph received was real strength, divine strength, familiar strength, and covenant strength.
“All the power, all the grace, all the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, we have through the covenant.”
“Covenant mercies, covenant grace, covenant promises, covenant blessings, covenant help, covenant everything – the Christian must receive if he would enter into heaven.”
Christian, when the archers have shot at you and wounded you, but your bow has abided in strength and the arms of your hands have been made strong by God, know that you are like your Master in this.
IV. The glorious parallel
Jesus Christ was treated in the same way. “The Shepherd of Israel was despised,. Incarnate virtue was hated and abhorred. Therefore, fear not Christians, take courage, for if your Master passed through it, surely you must.”
But as the stone of Israel which the builders cast away, He “shall be the glorious consummation of all things… He shall be exalted. He shall be honoured. His name shall endure as long as the sun and all nations shall be blessed in Him. Yes, all generations shall call Him blessed.”
MATTHEW HENRY FOR MINISTERS
Matthew Henry on Matthew 10:1-4:
“All the good ministers of Christ are not equally famous, nor are their actions equally celebrated.”
@READINGSPURGEON: ACTS 9:11 (NPSP1S16)
@ReadingSpurgeon: Acts 9:11 – Paul’s First Prayer (NPSP1S16)
God has many methods of ending persecution. Two ways which He commonly uses to accomplish this are confusing the persecutor or converting him. Transforming the foe into a friend was the case with Saul of Tarsus, with evidence of his conversion being that he was praying. “For, behold, he prays” – Acts 9:11 is the text for this sermon of C. H. Spurgeon.
He has 3 headings.
I. An Announcement
This is an announcement of a fact that was noticed in heaven. God knew Saul’s name, where he came from, where he was, and that he was prayed. “Oh! it is a glorious fact that prayers are noticed in heaven.” The One who sits on the throne notices and hears your prayers.
This is an announcement of a fact that was joyous to heaven. “Jesus Christ was glad and rejoiced more over that lost sheep than over ninety and nine that went not astray.”
This is an announcement of a fact that was astonishing to men. “O my Lord, I should have thought anybody would pray but that man!” Saul had often said his prayers, he said long prayers for a pretence, but he had never prayed.
II. An Argument
It was an argument for Ananias’ safety. “For if he really prays, you need not be afraid of him. He who communes with God in secret, may be trusted in public. I always feel safe with a man who is a visitor to the mercy seat.”
It was an argument for Paul’s sincerity. “Secret prayer is one of the best tests of sincere religion.” He who prays in private is a real Christian.
It was an argument for this man’s election. How can I discover whether I am God’s elect? Do you pray? “If it can be said, “Behold, he prays,” it can also be said, “Behold, he is a chosen vessel.”
III. The Application
To those who are children of God: “Where you lost your confidence – you lost it in your closet. Whenever a Christian backslides, his wandering commences in his closet… Oh Christians, would you be happy? Be much in prayer. Would you be victorious? Be much in prayer.”
“We must have an outpouring of real devotion or else what is to become of many of our churches?” Sadly in too many churches, there are full congregations on Sunday but only a dozen people at a prayer meeting on a weekday evening.
“Oh! may God awaken us all and stir us up to pray, for when we pray, we shall be victorious.”
Spurgeon is very direct as his finishes. “Let me say that a prayerless soul is a Christless soul. As the Lord lives, you who never prayed are without God, without hope, and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel.”
@READINGSPURGEON: HOSEA 8:12 (NPSP1S15)
@ReadingSpurgeon: Hosea 8:12 – The Bible (NPSP1S15)
Taking Hosea 8:12 as his text – “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing” – the theme of this sermon from C. H. Spurgeon is the Bible.
After charging some of his hearers with the sin mentioned in this verse, “God has written to you the great things of His law, but they have been unto you as a strange thing,” he moves on to say three things.
I. Its author
“I have written to him.” The Bible is the writing of the living God. “Each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips, each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit.”
How do you know that God wrote this book?
Spurgeon says that he could point to the grandeur of its style, or the subjects of which it treats, or its honesty as it shows the faults of its writers, or its unity and simplicity. But he then says that he doesn’t need to, for this reason: “I am a Christian minister and you are Christians, or profess to be so… You all admit that this is the Word of God.”
Rather he wants us to, first, “admire its authority” since it is God who wrote it; second, “mark its truthfulness,” as it is the only book that is untainted by an error and is perfect and pure; and thirdly, “stop and consider the merciful nature of God, in having written us a Bible at all.” God has not left us to grope around in the dark.
Therefore, “let us thank God for this Bible. Let us love it. Let us count it more precious than much fine gold,” and let us “be Bible readers [and] Bible searchers.”
II. Its subjects
“The great things of God’s law.” The Bible contains great things and only great things. There is nothing in the Bible which is unimportant. “While all things in God’s Word are important, all are not equally important. There are certain fundamental and vital truths which must be believed or otherwise no man would be saved.”
What the fundamental and vital truths? They are what Spurgeon points to as the 3 R’s. Ruin, redemption, and regeneration.
“We were all ruined in the fall. We were all lost when Adam sinned and we are all ruined by our own transgressions. We are all ruined by our own evil hearts and our own wicked wills, and we all shall be ruined unless grace saves us… We are ransomed by the blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish and without spot. We are rescued by His power. We are ransomed by His merits. We are redeemed by His strength… If we have been pardoned, we must also be regenerated. For no man can partake of redemption unless he is regenerate… Unless he is regenerate and has a new heart, a new birth, he will still be in the first R, that is ruin.”
These are great things, things you ought to listen to.
III. Its treatment
“But they have been unto you as a strange thing,” People have treated the Bible as a strange thing by not reading it, saying it is so horribly dry, and by hating and despising it.
The sermon closes with an appeal: “Come and drink out of this fair fount of knowledge and wisdom and you shall find yourselves made wise unto salvation. Wise and foolish, babes and men, gray-headed sires, youths and maidens – I speak to you. I plead with you, I beg of you, respect your Bibles and search them out, for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of Christ.”
LATEST LINKS
10 links to check out over the weekend…
- Small is Beautiful
- Some Trust in Numbers: How Counting Can Ruin a Ministry
- The Greatest Christians and the Most Visible Gifts
- What were the early Christian communities like?
- Encouragements from the inaugural meeting of Rochdale Evangelical Church
- Spiritual Disciplines for Dark Days
- Known for Being Reasonable
- Whataboutism Is a Mark of Foolishness
- Locked Down for 38 Years
- We Believe: The Story of the Apostles’ Creed
(Photo: Ryan McGuire)
DAILY READ – ACTS 14
The Big Read – Daily Read
Acts 14
v1-7: “The Gospel was now preached to Jews and Gentiles together, and those of each group who believed came together into the church.” The preaching they heard was so plain and convincing, “with such evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, and with such power.” The preaching was so warm and affectionate, “and with such a clear concern for human souls.” The preaching was so earnest and so serious, so bold and courageous, “that the people who heard them could not help saying that God was with them.” Yet the success of the preaching was not attributed to the quality of the preaching, “but to the Spirit of God, who used that means.”
v8-18: The witness of God is all around us. “The rain and fruitful seasons could not come about by chance… All the powers of nature witness to us of a sovereign power in the God of nature, from whom they are derived and on whom they depend. It is not the sky that gives rain, but God who gives us rain from the sky.” The witness of God is also seen in the daily provision of food and drink for us. “We must all acknowledge that God fills our hearts with food and gladness — not only food, so that we may live, but also gladness, so that we may live cheerfully; we owe it to him that we do not all our days eat in sorrow. We must thank God not only for our food but also for our joy — that he gives us permission to be joyful, cause to be joyful, and hearts to be joyful. And if our hearts be filled with food and gladness, they should also be filled with love and thankfulness, and released to fulfil our duty in obedience.”
v19-28: Young converts need to be strengthened in the faith because they “tend to waver, and a little thing shocks them.” Swimming against the tide frightens them and can tempt them to retreat from the true grace of God. “Those who are converted need to be confirmed, strengthened; those who are planted need help to become rooted… To retain is sometimes as difficult as to acquire.” What they need is to be exhorted to continue in their belief that Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. “Those who are in the faith should be concerned to continue in the faith, despite all the temptations to desert it that may come upon them from the smiles or frowns of this world. They need to be encouraged to do so often. Those who are continually surrounded by temptations toward apostasy need to be continually freshly motivated with urgent appeals to persevere.”
Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.
(Photo: Brad Neathery)
@READINGSPURGEON: 1 JOHN 5:4 (NPSP1S14)
@ReadingSpurgeon: 1 John 5:4 – The Victory of Faith (NPSP1S14)
“The word “overcomes” seems to have in it something of the sword and warfare, of strife and contention, of agony and wrestling.” This sermon from C. H. Spurgeon on 1 John 5:4 – “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith” – is about the battle Christians fight throughout life, but which they do with the certainty of victory.
He has 3 points:
I. A great victory
Christians have overcome the world – in what sense have they? They overcome the world by living “as a distinct people, a separate race, a chosen generation, a peculiar people.”
“Men usually swim with the stream like a dead fish. It is only the living fish that goes against it.” Most if they “see that the majority of mankind have certain habits,” they succumb and yield. But not the believer, “you are to come out and be separate, if you would overcome the world.”
When “we rebel against the world’s customs,” the enemy changes his conduct either frowning with persecution or admiring with praise. “A smiling world is worse than a frowning world… Christians are not so much in danger when they are persecuted as when they are admired. When we stand upon the pinnacle of popularity, we may well tremble and fear.”
We also, when God sends affliction and sorrow, resist the world’s solution to escape them.
II. A great birth
We must insist “that in order to enter heaven there must be a radical change” – a new birth.
The new birth is mysterious “that human words cannot speak of it,” and yet it is a change “which is known and felt.” It is a supernatural change, “something which man cannot do and which only God can effect… something so mighty and wondrous that it must be confessed to be the work of God and God alone,” and it is an enduring change. “If I am really born again, with that real supernatural change, I shall never fall away. I may fall into a sin, but I shall not fall finally.”
III. A great grace
Those who are born again really do overcome the world. How? By faith. “Faith overcomes the world by curing like with like.” Fear of the world is overcome by fear of God. The hopes of the world are overcome by the hope of glory. The love of the world is overcome by the love of God. “So faith overcomes the world by like curing like.”
Spurgeon closes with some questions and a warning. “Has your faith overcome the world? Can you live above it? Or do you love the world and the things thereof? If so, sirs, you must go on your way and perish, each one of you, unless you turn from that and give your hearts to Christ.”
A PRAYER BASED ON ACTS 14:1-20
A prayer based on Acts 14:1-20.
Almighty Creator,
who made the world and everything in it,
and who shows His kindness daily by giving rain, fruitful seasons, and who fills us with food and our hearts with joy.
We praise You.
We acknowledge before You now, that this world we live in is Your world.
And yet it distresses us that this world is also one,
where people don’t give You the honour that You deserve,
where so many people, not just in our nation, but in our community, choose to worship things that are created, rather than You their Maker.
It distresses us, not just because they are robbing You of the glory You deserve,
but also because of the danger that places them in,
a danger we at one time were facing,
of being punished for our sin and rebellion against You.
Merciful Lord,
We thank You that there is good news for them as there is good news for us.
And we desperately want them to hear of it.
To hear that Jesus Christ is the Saviour.
That He can offer forgiveness for every single thing they’ve done wrong,
and that He can remove all their guilt before You and give them eternal life,
if they turn from worshipping worthless things and trust in Him.
We thank You that You have graciously opened our hearts to believe in Him,
that we know the joy that having our sins washed away brings,
the assurance the hope of heaven provides,
and we want our friends, our family, and those who live in this community, to know this too.
The responsibility of making Jesus known we feel as a church.
We want to be good witnesses.
We want to speak of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.
We want to warn them of how awful the day of judgment will be for those outside of Christ.
But we confess we don’t find this easy.
We are fearful.
We worry about what to say and about saying the wrong thing.
Lord, we need Your help, we need Your Spirit, so fill us we pray.
Holy Spirit,
Give us a boldness so that we can speak fearlessly of our Saviour.
To be unashamed of Him.
Give us the wisdom we need to speak in a way that those we are talking to can understand.
To proclaim the wonder of what Christ has done clearly,
especially as many have little or no knowledge about what the Bible says or about who Jesus is.
And give us the perseverance we need to keep going in spite of difficulties and disappointments.
To remain faithful to the task our Lord has given to us when setbacks happen.
We pray that through our witness as a church, Jesus would extend His kingdom by seeking and saving those who are lost.
And by doing so, would bring glory to His great Name.
Amen.
(Photo: Freely)
DAILY READ – ACTS 13
The Big Read – Daily Read
Acts 13
v1-3: Pastors and teachers are gifts of Christ to His church. They minister to the church by praying and by preaching which explains the Scriptures and opens up the message of Christ with suitable application. When they do this they honour Christ and “pursue the interests of his kingdom.”
v4-13: Satan does not want leaders or people who are in positions of authority to believe in Jesus because of the potential good they can do for the gospel, and so is busy with them. “He knows that their example… will influence many others.” His desire is that they drive people away from “the truths and ways of Christ.”
v14-41: “We must acknowledge that God has been like a tender father to us over all the years each of us has lived in this world. He has supplied our needs, has fed us all our life long unto this day , has taken care of us” – as He provided for Israel in the desert, keeping them from starving. “He has been a God of forgiveness… and not kept a record of what we have done wrong” – as He was for Israel not dealing them as they deserved. “We have tried his patience, but we have not yet exhausted it” – as He was with offensive, complaining, and unfaithful Israel.
v42-52: Those who have been appointed for eternal life, will be given by God grace to believe, because all whom God has predestined, He will call. If God gives grace to believe, those whom He gives grace to, will believe.
Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.
(Photo: Brad Neathery)