072 One Thing Is Necessary
Luke 10:38-42
March 17, 2018

This morning we approach a story here in Luke’s gospel
That is quite familiar to many of you.

It is the story of the first time our Lord approached the home
Of the infamous Martha and Mary.
Luke is the only gospel writer to include this incident.

Certainly it fits Luke’s narrative of Jesus being a NECESSITY since Jesus speaks to that exact point.
• For Luke it also works as a transitional story since we are about to enter a long section in Luke which deals with the authoritative teaching of Jesus.
• It fits Luke’s theme of highlighting the difference between self-righteousness vs being poor in spirit
• It fits nicely with the previous parable of “The Good Samaritan” since there we learned what it means to love your neighbor as yourself, and here we get a glimpse of what it means to love God with all your heart.
• It fits a continual pattern of Luke with references to hospitality

So it’s not hard to figure why Luke would include this story
That every other gospel writer omitted. It fits nicely.

But we would still ask Luke’s main purpose in including this story,
I think more than anything Luke includes this story
Because it answers the important question regarding

WHAT JESUS DESIRES TO RECEIVE FROM HIS FOLLOWERS.

Here we have a woman breaking her back to serve Jesus
And yet it is ultimately deemed unnecessary by Jesus.

In fact, according to Jesus, only 1 things is necessary.

NOW MORE THAN ONCE WE HAVE FOCUSED ON MARTHA

Carrie and I even discussed these ladies a little further
As we drove to see our parents Thursday night.

And I think the typical idea that arises when you look at this story,
And when you ask, what was Martha’s problem,
Most will quickly say, “Martha was too busy”.

You see words like “distracted” and “preparations”
And “serving” and “worried” and “bothered”
And you couple that with the fact that Mary is sitting
And we quickly just sort of assume that busyness is the problem here.

And I don’t want to throw that out altogether here this morning, for certainly Martha’s propensity to be busy could affect here negatively.

But you should know that busyness in and of itself is not the problem.

In fact, I have a tough time finding
Where the Bible condemns people just for being busy.

I can read however:
Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,”

I can read:
Ephesians 5:15-16 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

I can even read specific instructions for women in the Bible
That would have been directly applied to a woman like Martha.

Things like:
1 Timothy 5:11-15 “But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge. At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention. Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach; for some have already turned aside to follow Satan.”

Obviously there, keeping busy is not a bad thing.

Or:
Titus 2:3-5 “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”

There was work to be done.

We are all familiar with the Virtuous woman of Proverbs 31.
• That woman who is rising while it is still dark to cook meet for her family,
• Who travels a far distance to buy groceries,
• Who tends to her fields and her maidens,
• And whose candle burns into the wee hours of the night finishing her tasks.

Busyness is not the problem in and of itself.
Read the gospels, our Lord was busy.

I think we could make a much stronger case
By talking against laziness or idleness than busyness.

Busyness is not the problem here.
Really, for Martha it all comes down to motive,
And that is what I hope to show you this morning.

So let’s look at our text this morning about this one necessary thing.
3 points
#1 A CASE OF BIBLICAL HOSPITALITY
Luke 10:38

Luke isn’t really interested in giving the full context of the event,
Merely saying “Now as they were traveling along”

Which indicates that Luke is more interested in using the story here
Than he is about the timing of when it occurred.
This story fits the current point Luke wishes to make.

“He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.”

Based on John’s gospel we know who this woman is.
• Martha and Mary are the sisters of Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead in John 11.
• They would come to be dear friends of Jesus during His earthly ministry.
• Their home was in Bethany which is 2 miles outside of Jerusalem.
• And it seems that this was the first meeting that Jesus had with this family.

And so what you have here is A CLASSIC CASE OF HOSPITALITY.

And while we know that Martha will receive the correction from Jesus here,
I do want you to understand a little of the backstory to her mindset
So you can see why she is upset.

In the culture of the day, even all the way back to the O.T.,
You could not overstate the importance of hospitality.

• The terrain of the area is rugged and harsh.
• Water is scarce and food can be scarce.
• Travelers depended on hospitality to survive.
• And it was an ultimate offense and grave sin to refuse it.

You are aware that it is commanded:
Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Even in Paul’s letter to Timothy when giving instruction about widows,
Those women who refused to show hospitality while married
Are disqualified from the widow list.

1 Timothy 5:9-10 “A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work.”

And just so you understand the implications.
JEWS WERE COMMANDED TO DO THIS
For both the resident alien and for their traveling brethren.

It was understood when you welcomed them in,
• That you would bow in honor,
• Wash their feet,
• Give them a kiss,
• Feed them and care for their animals,
• And even give them preference in the home.

Consider stories like Abraham welcoming the strangers into his home, even before he knew who they were.
Genesis 18:1-8 “Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.”

And this was the norm and was expected.

In fact, a failure to offer hospitality could be taken as an act of hostility.

Remember Gideon when the men of Succoth refused to feed him?
Judges 8:4-9 “Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came to the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing. He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” The leaders of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?” Gideon said, “All right, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” He went up from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return safely, I will tear down this tower.”

And Gideon did both.

Remember David nearly being moved to war because Nabal refused to feed his men, and only Nabal’s wife Abigail stopped a war because she fed David’s men?

This hospitality was so important that
The host was even responsible for the well-being of his guests.

We remember Lot defending the same messengers that had previously been with Abraham from the men of Sodom.
Genesis 19:6-8 “But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

I’m just giving you these stories because
I want you to understand what a big deal hospitality was.

It was expected, and it was to be done well.

You should also know that hospitality plays a big role in Luke’s gospel.
A lot of the stories Luke shares about Jesus come in this context.

For example, we remember Luke 7
And the Pharisee who really offended Jesus for his lack of hospitality.

Remember?
Luke 7:44-48 “Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. “You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Perhaps you remember James and John being ready to annihilate the Samaritans for a lack of hospitality.
Luke 9:52-54 “and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

Perhaps you remember Jesus instructing the 70 when they would go out in ministry:
Luke 10:5-11 “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ “If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. “Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. “Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ “But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’”

Hospitality was expected and Jesus even announced that
Those who refused it would come under judgment.

And we could go on in Luke’s gospel.
• In Luke 11 Jesus gives a parable about prayer using hospitality as the backdrop
• In Luke 11 Jesus will have lunch again with a Pharisee
• In Luke 14 He enters a Pharisee’s home again
• In Luke 19 Jesus will announce to Zaccheus that He is staying with him

You get a lot of references to hospitality.

AND IN THAT SENSE IT WOULD SEEM THAT MARTHA IS DOING WELL.
• She is working to the detail to make her home hospitable.
• No doubt cleaning and cooking and making beds and doing all the necessary preparations to make the scene perfect.

Even in that sense it would seem like Mary is the one in the wrong here
For not bothering herself to be a good host.
And yet, it is Martha who earns the correction.

This tells us that there is something important to learn here.

So we have a case of Biblical Hospitality
#2 A CASE OF BREWING HOSTILITY
Luke 10:39-40

Well Martha is really probably the matriarch of the home.
In fact, it is called “her home” in verse 38.
• It is likely that Martha was a widow.

Well, now we find out that Martha was not alone.
Living with her was her sister Mary.
(And it is likely that others would have been there too, even Lazarus)

(39) “She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet listening to His word.”

Jesus has entered and Mary is mesmerized.
• She has just scooted up to Jesus as close as she can,
• She is glued to every word He is speaking.

Even in her amazement,
She has lost all sense of any of the chores going on around her.
Mary has dropped her broom and she is just focused on Jesus.

Mary was SITTING, but Martha was SERVING.
(40) “But Martha was distracted with all her preparations;”

“distracted” comes from a Greek word that means
“to draw away” or even “to be dragged away”

Martha was lost in her work.
• It wasn’t necessarily that she liked the work,
• It’s just that she felt the pressure of the work.
• She was a slave to the cultural expectations of hospitality.

• The floor wasn’t going to mop itself…
• The lamb wasn’t going to roast itself…
• The bed wasn’t going to make itself…
• And all these were things that had to be done.

Martha was chained to it.

You can imagine her frustration then,
• When already frazzled
• She finds Mary with a can of Pledge in one hand and a washrag in the other
• And instead of dusting she’s just sitting there listening to Jesus.

I tend to think that Martha probably made a little racket in the other room
To just give a reminder that she was still working hard…
• There were a few extra powerful sighs coming from the other room,
• Maybe even a few forceful throat clearings going on…

But Mary didn’t get the hint.
She either didn’t get it or she didn’t care.

AND FINALLY FRUSTRATION BOILS OVER.

But here is the interesting part.
Martha doesn’t jump on Mary, Martha confronts Jesus.

(40b) “she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”

There is no doubt that Martha is frustrated with Mary,
But here we see that she is also frustrated with Jesus.

• Could He not see that the house was not ready?
• Could He not see how hard she was working?
• Could He not see that there were still things to get done?

Then why in the world would He be content
To just let this woman sit and dodge all the work?

And so Martha actually gives Jesus one of the harshest accusation of anyone in the gospels.
• She doesn’t accuse Him of being demon possessed.
• She doesn’t accuse Him of being a blasphemer.
• She accuses Him of not caring.

Now let me make sure you pick up on one important theme to Luke.

Throughout his gospel Luke has made sure to distinguish
Between the self-righteous and those who were poor in spirit.

We saw that all the way back to Luke’s highlighting people like:
• Zacharias and Martha
• Mary and the shepherds
• Simeon and Anna

At the same time Luke has also exposed the self-righteous:
• Like the people of Nazareth
• Or the people of Capernaum
• Or the Pharisees

Well this story highlights another one of those contrasts.
Martha is obviously the self-righteous one and Mary the poor in spirit.

• Martha is the worker.
• Martha earns her reputation.
• In Martha’s mind she deserves certain treatment.

And nothing frustrates a self-righteous or legalistic person more
Than when they don’t get the recognition they deserve.

In fact, they hate it.
Beyond that, they take great issue with those who don’t earn it and are yet accepted.
• This will be the issue of the older brother verses the younger brother in that
parable of the prodigal.
• This will be the issue of the Pharisee and tax collector who both go to pray in
the temple.
• This will be the issue of Zaccheus and the Pharisees who were blown away
that Jesus went to stay with him.

It’s a common theme for Luke.
That Jesus accepts the poor in spirit
And that is infuriating to the self-righteous.

Martha is there right now.
• Not just mad at Mary,
• But also mad at Jesus because He’s not recognizing the value of her efforts.

Just as an off shoot I would remind you that it is a common theme in Scripture that children of the flesh hate children of the promise.

Galatians 4:28-29 “And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.”

That is what is happening here.

Martha was willing and committed to do the work of hospitality,
But she expected to be honored because of it.

But, you see a case of biblical hospitality and a case of brewing hostility
#3 A CASE OF BRUTAL HONESTY
Luke 10:41-42

So here comes the point.
• Martha is standing there red faced, huffing a little.
• No doubt the room and all the other guests have fallen into that awkward silence.
• Mary is likely already trying to get up and get to work.

And Jesus answers.
(41) “But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;”

Jesus had noticed how hard she was working.
Jesus had seemingly even pitied Martha for the prison she was in.

“worried” is the same word used 5 times in Matthew 6
When the Lord told us not to worry.

It is translated “anxious” in
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

“bothered” comes from a word that means
“to make an uproar”

And so if you can catch Jesus’ observation and rebuke here,
He just answer Martha by saying:

“Yes, I can see how hard you’re working. Who couldn’t?
Your anxiety and frustration and the uproar you’ve been making this whole time is obvious to everyone.”

• We all caught that slam of the cabinet door…
• We all noticed the fury of the broom while you swept…

Jesus revealed to Martha that He was certainly aware
Of the scene she had put on to demonstrate
What a hard little worker she was.

You know Martha don’t you?
Sometimes you are Martha aren’t you?

Willing to do it,
But somebody had better darn well notice how much work it required.

Can I remind you that legalism and self-righteousness
NEVER IMPRESS JESUS?

What do we expect Jesus to do here?
Applaud Martha for all her hard work when He knew very well that applause was what she was seeking?

Martha is busy trying earn favor and accolade
And she is upset when it doesn’t work.

I’ve seen this many times in my life in the church.
People want to “serve” or “give” or “contribute” but when you don’t put their name on a plaque or at least in the bulletin or call attention to their every deed they are furious.

Well there is Martha, and Jesus is dealing with her here.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary”

Martha, I can see how busy you are, but in all your commotion
You have actually failed to take care of
The most important aspect of your hospitality.

But don’t worry, Mary has your back!

“for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

• “Martha you did everything on your list that a good homemaker should do when welcoming a guest.”
• “You did everything EXCEPT the most important thing.”

YOU DIDN’T LOVE YOUR GUEST.
But Mary did.

MARTHA’S PROBLEM IS NOT BUSYNESS.
MARTHA’S PROBLEM IS THAT SHE DIDN’T LOVE JESUS.

She is the counterpart to that Pharisee who invited Jesus over earlier.
• He didn’t love Jesus, so he didn’t serve Jesus.
• Martha did serve Jesus, but it wasn’t for Jesus, it was for her own reputation.
• And she proved that because she actually scolded Jesus.

Now let me remind you of another account just like this one,
That we have also looked at a couple of times.

Revelation 2:1-7 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place — unless you repent. ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’”

If you’ll listen, you can hear the exact same rebuke of Ephesus
That Jesus gave to Martha.

You work hard, you try hard, you’re checking off that list.
• “deeds and toil and perserverance”
• “you cannot tolerate evil men”
• You call out false teachers

“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love”

You did everything a church should do
Except the absolute most important thing!

Do you know what that is church?
LOVING CHRIST!

Is that not the greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

If you get all the other nuances right, but miss that one, what good is it?

Take Martha as an example here.
• So the house is spotless…
• The meal is flawless…
• The bed is wonderful…
• The breakfast is perfect…

But the whole time you are there you get this feeling
That Martha is just a little put out with the hassle of you being there.

She checked off the list,
But you couldn’t really tell if she actually wanted you there.

Now look at Mary.
• We can’t tell if Martha was happy about having Jesus in her home,
• But there’s no doubt that Mary was.

And Jesus said, this “shall not be taken away from her.”

“Martha, don’t think for one second I’m gonna make Mary leave my side to go dust that cabinet. She recognizes the rare blessing of what is happening here.”

It’s not that dusting a cabinet doesn’t have its place,
But try to keep this in perspective.
It’s about loving Me!

IT IS THE ONE NECESSARY THING.

In fact, it is so necessary that Jesus told the church at Ephesus if they didn’t get that fixed that He was about to shut down their church altogether.

Or listen to this one:
Matthew 10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

Does that spell it out for you?
And so we would ask:
What good is a church that has everything but love for Christ?
What good is a church where Jesus doesn’t feel welcome?
• So what if the programs are booming…
• So what if mission trips are on the books…
• So what if the budget is stable…
• So what if the sanctuary is clean…
• So what if the musicians are talented…
• So what if the preacher is polished…

What does all that matter if the church doesn’t love Jesus?

It was the only need Jesus had that Martha wasn’t taking care of.

It wasn’t that she was busy.
It was that she was busy for the wrong reason.

EVERYTHING THE CHURCH DOES
MUST SPRING FROM A GENUINE LOVE FOR CHRIST.

Should I remind you of David’s “one thing”?
Psalms 27:4 “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.”

Should I remind you of Paul’s “one thing”?
Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

When Jesus reinstated Peter can I remind you of the one thing that Jesus wanted to know from him?
John 21:15-17 “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

This story ISN’T JUST ABOUT the importance of taking time to be with Jesus before you get busy. Sure that’s true.

This story is about being busy for the wrong reason.
• Yes, love Jesus enough to put the world on hold and sit at His feet.
• But also let even your busyness be driven out of love for Him, not your own
satisfaction or glory.

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,”

It is true that everything Martha did, was technically for the Lord.
The problem is that she didn’t love Him when she did it.

And that is the even better application here.
• Don’t fool yourself that reading your Bible daily is the same thing as loving Jesus.
• Don’t fool yourself that praying daily is the same thing as loving Jesus.
• Don’t fool yourself that going to church or going on mission or working with kids or youth is the same things as loving Jesus.

Now certainly if you love Jesus you’ll do those kinds of things.

After all, that woman in Luke 7 showed her love for Jesus by washing His feet and kissing Him, and anointing Him with perfume.
I KNOW FOR SOME THAT SERVICE IS A GENUINE LOVE LANGUAGE

But you can do all those things without loving Jesus.
MARTHA PROVED THAT.

And according to Jesus, living Him was the only thing that really mattered
That was the only thing that was necessary.
That was the only thing that was needed.

SO WE ARE CALLED TO LOVE CHRIST
Now, I also believe in being practical in application.

It’s one thing to tell people to love Jesus,
And I most certainly don’t want to just leave you saying, “How?”

Well let me remind you of that previous hospitality scene:
Remember that woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and anointed His feet with perfume?

Do you remember what Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee about her?
Luke 7:47 “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

And this is also the problem of Martha.
• She is self-righteous.
• She is still focused on what she has done and what she deserves.
• She is actually angry at Mary for being so unworthy
• And angry at Jesus for accepting her

In many ways this story is just like the one in Luke 7.

The reason people love Jesus a lot
Is because they realize they have been forgiven by Jesus a lot.

Love for Christ occurs
When you come to grips with the reality of what you are,
And what Christ did on your behalf.

1 John 4:19 “We love, because He first loved us.”

And if you want to love Christ more then get to know that love.
• Get in the word, and learn what you are.
• Continue in that word and learn who Christ is.
• Go even farther in that word and see what Christ did for you.

Love will be the response.

Without that, all we are is a church where Jesus feels unwelcome.
Love is the one necessary thing.

Because God Is Opposed To The Proud
Psalms 30
March 10, 2019

You are most certainly familiar with the reality:
Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

That statement is repeated by Jesus
A couple of times during Luke’s gospel.

James reminded us:
James 4:6 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

David said:
Psalms 138:6 “For though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar.”

Isaiah wrote:
Isaiah 5:15-16 “So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, The eyes of the proud also will be abased. But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”

It’s not an uncommon truth.
We’ve all heard it.

The bigger problem with that verse is that
It tends to be so easy for man to ignore it.

We so badly want to be able to take pride in our accomplishments.
We so badly want to get just a share of the credit.

Maybe we’ve been financially successful, so we want some credit for our savvy or our work ethic.
Maybe we’re athletic and can run faster or jump higher than someone else.
Probably the worst area is found in ministry where we think ourselves to be more gifted, or our ministries to be more successful because of our efforts.

And all the while we forget simple things like:
Acts 17:25b “…He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things”

Or as Paul says moments later:
Acts 17:28a “for in Him we live and move and exist…”

We forget what Paul told the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 4:7 “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”

It’s like we forget that our success has very little to do with us.
• So you’re smart…well who gave you your mind?
• So you’re strong…well who gave you your strength?
• So you’re successful…and that was all you?

Even ministers who boast in their great successes in ministry.
• As though they spoke to the dead and brought up dead souls into salvation.
• As though they actually bore the sin of the wicked and redeemed them before God.
• As though they imputed their righteousness to the sinful in their midst.

That’s why Paul also told the Corinthians when some were boasting in the fact that they followed him. He wrote:
1 Corinthians 1:13 “Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

That was Paul deflecting any credit.
He understood that it was not his doing.

He even makes a point later in the chapter to say:
1 Corinthians 1:30 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,”

You get the point.
It is so tempting to take credit for the successes in our life,
But that is so dangerous because God is opposed to the proud.

God does not deal kindly with boasters.
God does not share His glory.

Well, that’s what Psalm 30 is all about.
It’s specifically about a time in David’s life when he learned this lesson,
And it’s the song he wrote to remind his flock about this reality.

You see that this Psalm comes with a setting:
“A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the House. A Psalm of David”

Charles Spurgeon has a theory on when this specifically was, and I’m inclined to believe him, but I’m not going to show it to you yet. We’ll get there in a moment.

I first just want to begin working through the Psalm.
There are 3 main points, but I’m going to give you
sub-points all the way through this one too.

#1 DAVID’S PERSONAL EXALTATION
Psalms 30:1-3

These aren’t difficult verses to understand,
They are just verses of praise to God.

1) PRAISE FOR VICTORY (1)
“I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.”

It is simply David praising God for placing him in a position of authority
And for keeping him there.

David is giving God all the glory for all the victories he has won;
Both to become king and to remain king.

Let me give you a picture of this.

TURN TO: 1 Chronicles 18.
(read it)

You just feel how victorious the Lord had made David.
God just continued to establish his kingdom.

If you read chapter 19
• You get a story about Hanun the new King of Ammon who insulted David and
humiliated David’s messengers.
• When he saw that David was angry the king of Ammon hired 32,000 Aramean
chariots to fight with them against David and David defeated them all.

Chapter 20
• Is story after story about how David’s mighty men continued to defeat the
relatives of Goliath.

Chapters 18-20 are just victory after victory after victory.

And in verse 1 of Psalms 30 David is praising God for that.

For Victory
2) FOR HEALING (2)
“O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.”

This can be personal physical healing on David,
Or this can be corporate political restoration of the nation.

Either way David is praising God
For being the One to restore what was sick and broken.

It reflects on a time when David was down and God restored him.
And David simply praises God for it.

3) FOR DELIVERANCE (3)
“O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.”

The idea being that God preserved his life, his throne and his kingdom.

So you have David praising God for bringing him to power,
Restoring a nation from its trouble and then keeping him in power.

It’s basically David praising God for everything God did.

It’s the opposite of pride, instead it’s full humility.

It is a statement like what Paul said several times.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

Romans 15:18 “For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,”

2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,”

That is certainly the personal exaltation from David here.
I’m not taking credit for anything, I’m giving all the credit to You!
Victory, Healing, Deliverance: they’re all because of You.

That’s an easy praise to see.

And that moves naturally into the next point:
#2 DAVID’S PASTORAL EXHORTATION
Psalms 30:4-5

Now we read the command of David.
He is telling all the “godly ones” that they also need to join in the song.

1) THE REQUIREMENT (4)
“Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name.”

Praise and Gratitude.
This draws our minds again to the reality of Romans 1
And the problem of unbelievers.

Romans 1:21 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

No honor, No gratitude.
That certainly is not the attitude of the godly.

So David here commands the flock to sing to God.
Praise Him and give Him thanks.

2) THE REASON (5)
“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

Here DAVID GETS SPECIFIC about a reason
Why they should praise and give thanks to God.

And that specific reason is that God does not hold His anger forever,
But that He returns to a position of favor.

Certainly we know that even as God’s children
We can undergo the discipline of the Lord.

• At times this is just necessary discipline to work out our sanctification,
• Other times it is punishment type discipline because we have sinned and we
need correction.

God does this.
Every believer knows this.

It is not a pleasant thing to feel the conviction of God’s displeasure.

But the joy of the believer and the reason David calls for praise
Is that though God may get angry, He doesn’t hold a grudge.

Though God may cause weeping through discipline,
He brings about a morning of restoration.

“His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

As believers we don’t confuse His discipline with condemnation.
He isn’t condemning us.

In fact, His discipline is to spare us condemnation.
1 Corinthians 11:32 “But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

God’s plans for us are still good, even when we are being punished.

And the believer is to praise God that
Even when we blow it in a major way
And bring upon ourselves God’s discipline,
We can rejoice in knowing that He will never totally forsake us.

In short, “mercy triumphs over judgment”

So David is clear to begin the Psalm.
• He is praising God for all that God has accomplished on his behalf.
• And he is calling the congregation to praise God that God doesn’t hold a
grudge, but that He will always restore us.

Now if that seems like it comes a little out of left field,
It’s because you need the background to fully understand it.

So let me give you this third point
#3 DAVID’S PRODIGAL EXPLANATION
Psalms 30:6-12

And let me give you the first sub-point
1) HIS ABSURDITY (6)
“Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, “I will never be moved.”

David is recounting a time
When he had achieved a prosperous situation
And in that prosperity he reached a point of boasting.

The heading of the Psalm says it was
“at the dedication of the House” (temple)

TURN TO: 1 Chronicles 21

Now you read that first verse and it says, “Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.”

If you read that same account in 2 Samuel it says this:
2 Samuel 24:1 “Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

You put them together and you understand what is happening.
Obviously it’s not that numbering the nation is bad.
God has an entire book called Numbers where He does just that.

What is actually occurring here is that David has developed an attitude that has moved God to anger.
• And in that anger God has decided to punish David.
• The method God has chosen to use is to allow Satan to sift David by tempting
him to number Israel.

While ordinarily having a census is not in and of itself sinful,
Numbering the nation so that you can boast
In what a great nation you’ve built is.

Remember, David has just come through chapters 18-20 and he has experienced victory after victory.

It is apparent that in his heart he grown a little proud of that fact.
He was self-confident “I will never be moved”

He actually sounds like THE WICKED he already wrote about back in Psalms 10
Psalms 10:6 “He says to himself, “I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity.”

He sounds like NEBUCHADNEZZAR, whom the Lord judged:
Daniel 4:28-33 “All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. “Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’ “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’ “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

He sounds like the rich man the Lord judged:
Luke 12:15-21 “Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

He sounds like the boaster the Lord condemned:
James 4:13-17 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

It is what Paul warned the Gentiles about as they contemplated God breaking off Israel and grafting them in.
Romans 11:17-22 “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”

Are you picking up on the problem?
• You just don’t start boasting that your salvation was because of your goodness
• Or that your prosperity was because of your ingenuity
• Or that your victory was because of your strength

God did it all.

And by the way, God had specifically warned
Against developing this type of arrogant attitude.

Deuteronomy 8:11-14; 18 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

God had specifically told them not to let their prosperity go to their head.
Don’t let your success cause you to get proud of all that you’ve done.

Well, that’s where David was and so God allowed Satan
To incite David to count the people.

This was a boasting act
Wherein David could relish in his own accomplishments,
And even David’s subjects knew it was all pride.

(READ 2-7)
• Well there’s the problem.
• Now David has offended God and he has brought upon himself God’s discipline.

(READ 9-17)
• So David gets the option of 3 different punishments and David chooses the one that only involves God. 3 days of plague, and 70,000 people died.
• And God in His mercy stopped the angel and the threshing floor of Ornan.

Now you say, “What does this have to do with the dedication of the temple?”

(READ 21:18 – 22:1)
This became the site of the temple mount.
This is where it would the holy of holies would sit.

So perhaps now David’s Psalm is becoming a little clearer;
• Specifically why he is praising God for accomplishing everything
• And why he is telling the people to praise God for being merciful even when He
is angry.

So you see David’s Absurdity
2) HIS ADMISSION (7)
“O LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong; You hid Your face, I was dismayed.”

Boy it didn’t take David long to change his tune did it?
He went from a self-confident boaster
To one who readily admitted that all credit goes to God
And apart from God I can accomplish nothing.

I’d say it is true that God knows how to humble those who walk in pride.

Nebuchadnezzar would agree:
Daniel 4:34-37 “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ “At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

David would “Amen” that statement.

3) HIS APPEAL (8-10)
“To You, O LORD, I called, And to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness? “Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper.”

Now you could read that and say,
“But David wasn’t near death. In fact David actually prayed that God would just be angry at him and not Israel.”

But if you back up, you read the story a little differently.

David numbered the people and then we read:
1 Chronicles 21:7-8 “God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

• We read in verse 7 that God “struck Israel”
• We don’t know what that was, but whatever it was it led David to full repentance.

THE PLAGUE WAS the necessary discipline
TO MAKE SURE David never made the mistake again.

It is clear that David initially feared that God would kill him,
And part of that supplication was that
“If You kill me, then I can’t praise You in the earth”

THE POINT IS that David obviously learned the point of his existence.
It was to praise and honor and glorify God.

David hadn’t done that.
In fact, he was taking God’s glory for himself,
And God had no use for that and so God had threatened his life.

David figured it out, repented, and said,
“God don’t kill me, I’m going to praise You.”

The 3 options came after that.

Here is David’s prayer of repentance
And begging to God as he appeals for his life.

David wanted God to deliver him again.
(10) “Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper.”

That’s the appeal
4) HIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (11-12)
“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.”

What is that?
• It is David praising God for relenting.
• It is David praising God for not keeping His anger forever.

• David is praising God for stopping the plague.
• David is praising God for not completely wiping out all of Israel or for not leveling Jerusalem.

And there you also better understand the first part of this Psalm.

“I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

So the song makes sense to us for sure now.

But what do we learn from it?
• DON’T BOAST – what do you have that you have not received?
• PRAISE GOD – He gets the glory for all that has happened
• GIVE THANKS – that God has not totally discarded you for the times that you
did take His credit.

This is certainly a great song for the church to learn and sing!

A Story To Condemn
Luke 10:25-37
March 10, 2019

As you know we are in the middle of Luke 10 and it is a chapter which we have said has one main theme and that is: “The Necessity of Jesus”

We see that in the sending of the 70
• 70 evangelists sent ahead of Jesus to make sure that people don’t miss Him when he comes.

We see that in the response of Jesus to the 70
• The reminder that no one can know the Father unless the Son reveals Him

We see that at the end of the chapter
• Jesus specifically tells Martha that only one thing is necessary

AND WE SEE THAT HERE.

Now, at first that may surprise you
Because we are clearly looking at a familiar parable.

To say the term “Good Samaritan” is not a foreign term.
We even have good Samaritan laws in our legal system.

Our world is familiar with the parable.
Unfortunately most people have no clue why Jesus preached it.

• Most assume it is a story meant to inspire humanitarian aid.
• Most assume it is a story meant to encourage compassion.
• Most assume it is a story meant to shame people into action for the poor.

Let me just go ahead and tell you:
THAT IS NOT THE PURPOSE OF THIS PARABLE.

Every parable Jesus preached was for the purpose of salvation,
And this one is no different.

The parameters of the story make that clear.

We are faced with a man who approaches Jesus and asks this question: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

This story is part of Jesus’ answer to that man.
It is a story about eternal life (i.e. salvation).

But this story is not so much a “how to be saved” story.
The purpose of the story of the Good Samaritan is to condemn.

The purpose of the story is to render this self-righteous lawyer a violator of God’s perfect Law, and therefore a sinner in need of salvation.

Don’t miss the point.
• It is NOT a warm example of the compassionate human condition that we can all learn from.

It is an unreachable explanation of obedience
Meant to show how far men fall from God’s holy standard.

It is a story to condemn.

It is also another example of Jesus at work in personal evangelism.
This is Jesus witnessing.
• Just like He did with Nicodemus
• Just like He did with the Rich Young Ruler

This is how Jesus preached to the lost in personal evangelism.
There is obviously something to be learned simply from His example.

But at the core, it is not even a story meant for evangelistic training.
IT IS A STORY MEANT TO CONDEMN SINNERS.

Or perhaps I should say it is a story meant TO EXPOSE SINNERS
That that they are condemned.

WHY DO I SAY THAT?
Because here we have a man with the worst spiritual problem known to man.

What is the problem?
THE PROPENSITY TO JUSTIFY YOURSELF.

(29) “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

• He is a man who seeks to be his own judge and justifier.
• He acts as his own defense attorney.

That is the worst spiritual problem man can have.
It leaves you under a sense of false assurance,
And yet still headed for judgment.

What could be worse than to be headed for eternal judgement and yet to have convinced yourself that you are fine?

It rears its head in places like:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

What a terrifying reality.
To be internally convinced that you are fine based upon your own criteria,
Only to have the real Judge tell you otherwise.

And yet, Jesus knew that self-justification
Was a major problem with the nation of Israel.

Luke 16:15 “And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”

Or certainly we are familiar with the Pharisee who went to the temple boasting in his own goodness.
Luke 18:9 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:”

And yet this man, despite his own judgments was not justified.
Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

John the Baptist exposed the issue:
Matthew 3:7-10 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Those of you who are working through the book of Romans in that Mission Malawi workbook.

This is the entire point of Romans 2.
• It is to take a people who have justified themselves and prove to them that in spite of their own evaluations, they are not acceptable to God.

Romans 2:17-29 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

Paul was dealing with a people who had convinced themselves that they were justified because they had the Law, and because they had circumcision.

And Paul reminded that those were faulty hopes.

It’s the problem of self-justification.

And rest assured that problem is not just limited to the religious.

If you looked at your bulletin this morning.
All I had to do was type in “good enough” in search engine and it was flooded with books about how you are “good enough” and reminders that you are “good enough”.

I can’t think of a more Satanic deception in our world
Than the deception that you are “good enough”.

Good enough for what?
Heaven?

Just to make sure your theology is in order let me remind you that
None are good enough to go to heaven.

Matthew 19:17 “And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Romans 3:12 “ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

Make sure you grasp that. You are not good enough to go to heaven.

If you think you are, then this parable is for you.

We’ll just break it down into 3 points.
#1 A DOCTRINAL TEST
Luke 10:25-28

Now, I will go ahead and tell you that this man has problems,
BUT IT IS NOT the fact that He asked Jesus about eternal life.

Many people take issue with that statement. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Many complain that it is a works-based theology
Because he is asking about something he should do.

Well, what else is he supposed to ask?

The first church members asked that:
Acts 2:37 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”

The Philippians jailor asked that:
Acts 16:30 “and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

The Apostle Paul asked that:
Acts 22:10 “And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’”

That’s the RIGHT QUESTION.
And he asked the RIGHT PERSON.

There’s no problem there.
In fact, we would not be aware of the problem, except Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is able to SHOW US THIS MAN’S MOTIVES.

That’s where we find THE PROBLEM.
“And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test”

That gives us the information we need to know here.
• This isn’t a sincere question.
• It is a question meant to stump Jesus or discredit Jesus or embarrass Jesus,
or perhaps even to condemn Jesus as a heretic.

This man is “a lawyer”
Not an attorney in the sense that we think of a lawyer.
This man is an expert on the Law of Moses. He’s a scholar.

And here in the crowd, he stands up and determines to interrogate Jesus,
No doubt to discredit Him before the people.
THAT’S THE PROBLEM.

AND THE REALM OF DISCUSSION IS SALVATION.
This man wants Jesus’ answer on how to go to heaven.

“And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Well here is Jesus in “Personal Evangelism 101”
But His answer may surprise you.

We would expect something like:
• “Believe in Me”
• Or “Deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me”
• Or “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden”

But Jesus doesn’t do that, and there’s a very good reason.
That message is only for one type of person,
And this man is not that type of person.

THAT MESSAGE IS FOR one who is poor in spirit, and mourning over sin,
And who is hungering for righteousness that they know they don’t have.

The message to that person is believe, trust, run to Jesus.

This man is NOT in that condition.
• This man is not poor in spirit,
• This man is not mourning over sin,
• This man is not hungering for righteousness.
• This man thinks he is already righteous.

Telling him to believe in Jesus is not the right message,
And Jesus doesn’t give it.

What does Jesus preach to this man?
Get this: THE LAW

Now Jesus doesn’t have to preach the Law, because He lets the expert on the Law do it, but that is what Jesus appeals to.

THIS IS IMPORTANT IN EVANGELISM.
You don’t preach mercy to a person who is convinced they are righteous.
Mercy doesn’t interest them.

What do you preach to a person who thinks they are righteous?
You preach the Law.

Why?
Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

Galatians 3:22 “But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

• It is the Law that exposes men.
• It is the Law that condemns men.
• It is the Law that drives men to Jesus.

This man was self-justified, he needs to be exposed;
Jesus runs to the Law.

And He does it in an interesting way:
(26) “And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”

That is to say: “You’re asking me how to inherit eternal life, well aren’t you the expert on the Law? What do you think?”

And the man answers:
(27) “And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

• The man quotes from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19.
• It is the same passages preached by Jesus as the 1st and 2nd greatest commandments.

1. So this man asks how to go to heaven.
2. Jesus says, “What do you think?”
3. He said, “Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself”

And Jesus said, “Correct!”
(28) “And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.”

And everyone gets a puzzled look on their face.
Wait! What?

At Camp REGEN this past year John MacArthur preached on the Rich Young Ruler where Jesus in essence tells him the same thing.

Jesus told him:
Matthew 19:17 “And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

And MacArthur noted that there’s not a seminary professor in the country
Who wouldn’t fail Jesus for that answer.

It’s the same thing here.
• This man wants to know how to go to heaven.
• Jesus asked him what he thought.
• He said, to keep these 2 commandments.
• And Jesus said, “You have answered correctly; Do this and you will live.”

HOW CAN THAT BE?
Because the Law outlines the very righteous requirement of God.

God says, “You shall be holy, as I am holy”
And then God gives the Law to spell out what that would look like.

And if a person fully obeys that Law, then yes, they will inherit eternal life.

John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

Romans 2:6-11 “[God] WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

• Righteousness is required to inherit heaven.
• God’s Law reveals what that righteousness looks like.
• If you perfectly keep God’s Law you inherit heaven.

And, we are taught in the New Testament that
If you want to fulfill the whole Law,
You can sum it up in two commands.

Matthew 7:12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Paul later would write:
Romans 13:8-10 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

SO YES, if you are able to love God with all your heart,
And to love your neighbor as yourself, you will inherit eternal life.

That’s all you have to do.

But the problem is that people don’t do that.
And Jesus is about TO PROVE IT to this man.

A Doctrinal Test
#2 AN ELEVATED STANDARD
Luke 10:29-35

Clearly you see the problem.
(29) “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Now let me tell you why he said this.
He was part of a Jewish system that was able to justify themselves
Because of their convenient reading of the Law.

Let me give you an EXAMPLE:
Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

Where did the Jews get that type of theology?
From:
Psalms 139:21-22 “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.”

And so they would convenient take that passage and say,
• “Well clearly not everyone is my neighbor. Some people are my enemies,
• And so I am not expected to love my enemies, only my neighbor.”

Of course Jesus crushed that thinking in the Sermon on the Mount
That even your enemies are considered your neighbor.

BUT THAT IS WHY THIS MAN ASKS THE QUESTION.
He wants to check off the list
That he has loved everyone he is supposed to love.

He is self-righteous,
• Obviously convinced he loves God enough since he doesn’t even bring that up.
• And he just wants to know who his neighbor is so that he can prove to everyone that he is in fact good enough.

And to that undiscerning, self-righteous man Jesus gave this parable.
(READ Luke 10:30-35)

Well you know it, it’s not unfamiliar.
I would WARN YOU that people often try to allegorize it and turn everything into some sort of symbol.

You know:
The man is Adam, the robbers are sin, The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets, the Samaritan is Jesus, the donkey is His body, the oil and wine is the Holy Spirit, the inn keeper is the church, and the return is the second coming.

Don’t do that. That has nothing to do with the purpose for which Jesus preached this parable.

Jesus is preaching this parable to condemn this man.

Because here you have two people
Who had knowledge and religious activity,
But who did not love their neighbor as themselves.

• Perhaps they wanted to avoid being unclean
• Perhaps they wanted to avoid being late
• Perhaps they wanted to avoid danger

We aren’t told, and it doesn’t matter.
THE POINT IS that these men, although very religious,
Did not obey the simple command to love their neighbor as their self.

However, a Samaritan did.
• A Samaritan would have been considered an enemy.
• A Samaritan would have had no interest in aiding an injured Jewish man.
• It was not too long ago we saw Samaritans not letting Jesus lodge in their city.

But in Jesus’ story this Samaritan does the unthinkable.

(33-35) “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. “On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’”

And incidentally, the whole point is to show you that
THIS MAN DID WHAT NO ONE DOES.

• COMPASSION “he felt compassion for him”
• ACTION “and came to him”
• EFFORT “and bandaged up his wounds”
• COST “pouring oil and wine in them”
• INCONVENIENCE “put him on his own donkey”
• ENDURANCE “brought him to an inn and took care of him”
• RESPONSIBILITY “whatever more you spend…I will repay you”

With complete disregard for his own safety or plans,
This man uprooted his life to take care of an enemy
That even his own countrymen wouldn’t care for.

This is ONE example of ONE time when a person
Loved someone else like they would love themselves.

• Notice those with the Scriptural knowledge didn’t do it.
• Notice those with the religious training didn’t do it.
• It was an act of love fulfilled by a pagan.

Now, Jesus chose a pagan on purpose.
He did so to elevate the importance of obedience over knowledge.

Again, those of you working the Romans devotion.
Do you remember Romans 2?
Romans 2:12-16 “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Paul was quick to point out that
“It’s not the hearers who are just…but the doers”

See it’s not people who know the right answer who go to heaven.
It’s the people who do what God commands.

So just because this lawyer knew the right answer,
That did not justify him.
He had to obey the command.

Which is why Jesus told him, “Do this, and you will live”

But when the man pushed Jesus,
• He gave an example of two men with knowledge who did not obey, and a man without knowledge who did.

And it elevates our understanding of
What it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Doctrinal Test, Elevated Standard
#3 A CONDEMNING COMMAND
Luke 10:36-37

You notice Jesus stops short of the full explanation.
Instead he turns back to the lawyer.

(36) “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber’s hands?”

• Jesus is forcing this man to give an answer he does not want to give.
• Jesus is forcing this man to say whether knowing the command was the same as obeying it.

Earlier it was this lawyer who said that to go to heaven all he had to do
Was love God and love his neighbor.

Jesus gave a story and asked, “Who in this story did that?”

It wasn’t the one with Bible knowledge
And it wasn’t the one with the ministry position.
It was that detestable Samaritan.

(37) “And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.”

TRUST ME, THIS LAWYER JUST GOT THE POINT
“It is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE POINT:
• The Law presents an impossible standard.
• No one can fully obey it all the time.

And yet, notice the command.
“Go and do the same.”

Now all that is, is an explanation of the command Jesus gave him earlier.
(28) “And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

What is Jesus saying?
If you will do for everyone you meet, every time you meet them, just like this Samaritan did, then you will inherit eternal life.

And that’s the truth.
That’s an example of what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself”.

And if you do that every time then you also can go to heaven.

Now, does that truth make anyone in here feel better about their chances to go to heaven?

If it does, you’re lying to yourself.

I don’t have time to go through all the times
I had the opportunity to do this and did not.

If what this Samaritan did for this man on this day
Is the standard for what I must do every time to inherit heaven,
Then I have already lost it.

• I can identify with the Levite; I have the Spiritual Pedigree…
• I can identify with the Priest; I have a religious job…
• I can identify with this Lawyer; I have Bible knowledge…

But as we see in this story,
None of those are good enough to earn you a place into heaven.

• It’s not the hearers of the Law…
• It’s not the quoters of the Law…
• It’s not the experts of the Law…
• IT’S THE DOERS OF THE LAW

This story doesn’t encourage me
This story doesn’t inspire me
This story condemns me

And if you measure your life by it, it condemns you too.

AND THAT IS WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO.
WHY?

Because, as we said, at the beginning.
• When you have a man who comes poor in spirit; that is he already knows he is not righteous…
• When you have a man who comes mourning over sin…
• When you have a man who comes hungering for righteousness he does not have…

Then yes, at that moment you simply tell them to believe in Christ.

It is Christ who did perfectly love God.
It is Christ who did perfectly love His neighbor.
It is Christ who perfectly fulfilled the Law in every way.

And when we believe in Christ,
The Bible says that His righteousness is credited to us.

Remember?
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

Jesus came to accomplish what we could not,
And He accomplished it on our behalf.

When a man is already convinced of his sin,
We just point them to Christ for the salvation and righteousness
That he so greatly desires.

But for a man like this:
• A man who already thinks he is righteous…
• A man who justifies himself…
• A man who sees no need for a change…

We don’t tell that man to take up his cross and follow Jesus.
He won’t see the need.

• For that man we use the Law.
• For that man we uphold the high standard of righteousness that God set
forth in His word.

The goal simply is to condemn that man in his own heart.
We seek to get him lost, that we might get him saved.

And if this man had really listened to what Jesus said,
He would have changed his motive and asked the same question again.

He should have looked at Jesus and said, but it’s too late, I’ve already blown it, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

And to that you know the answer.
Jesus would have told him to believe.

DO YOU SEE THAT THIS STORY IS ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF JESUS?

• Can you honestly make a claim to having fulfilled the Law?
• Can you honestly say you love your neighbor as yourself?

Well then, Jesus is necessary.

And whatever it costs to follow Jesus;
Well that’s a cost you should gladly pay.

We need Him so badly! He is so necessary!
We will never inherit heaven without Him.

The Basis For Christian Joy – Part 5
Luke 10:22-24
March 3, 2019

As you know, we are in a section where
We are talking about the basis for Christian joy.

We’ve thus far seen 3 of those realities.
#1 SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
Luke 10:17-19

The seventy returned and where rejoicing at the victories they had won while on their missionary venture. “The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

Jesus then confirmed that joy by revealing that He had been “watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning”. This indicated the spiritual victories they had been winning.

And ultimately Jesus announced the total victory that God’s messengers have over the enemy. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.”

• It is the reality that Satan is a defeated foe.
• He cannot hold anyone whom God has determined to set free through the preaching of the gospel.
• And Satan cannot reclaim anyone whom God has chosen.

We rejoice in that.

And since that’s what the 70 were rejoicing in,
That is where Jesus began the teaching.
But He quickly turned to reveal even greater reasons for rejoicing.

#2 SECURE SALVATION
Luke 10:20

It wasn’t that the 70 were wrong to rejoice in their spiritual authority,
But by comparison there is a much greater reason to rejoice.

Jesus confirmed their rejoicing in their spiritual authority,
And yet He COMMANDED their rejoicing in their secure salvation.

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names have been recorded in heaven.”

This indicates a secure and sovereign decision by the Father.
• This is the roll sheet of heaven.
• This is the Lamb’s book of life.
• This was the book written before the foundation of the world.
• It is the list of those granted access into heaven.
• It is the list of those who are not cast into the lake of fire.
• And it is a list of which Jesus promised He would not blot our name from.

Certainly anyone whose name is on that list has reason for rejoicing!
Regardless of the struggles of this life, we know we have an eternal home,
Where we will dwell with God in eternal joy.

So those are two reasons for Christian rejoicing.
Spiritual Authority & Secure Salvation.

And for the last couple of weeks we’ve been on the third reason.
Incidentally a reality that even Jesus rejoiced in:
#3 SOVEREIGN GRACE
Luke 10:21-22

We have already tackled part of this passage,
Especially those parts which at first seem a little peculiar to us.

We first addressed the issue that here you clearly have Jesus praising the Father for hiding the truth of who He is from the wise and intelligent.

That may have seemed peculiar to us until we realized all that was occurring.

When we realized that man in his fallen wisdom
Refused to honor God as God
We then see why God chose to reject
And ultimately humiliate their human wisdom.

If human wisdom wasn’t going to honor God
You can rest assured that God wasn’t going to honor human wisdom.

So instead
• God orchestrated a plan of salvation that required the rejection of human
wisdom.
• God orchestrated a plan of salvation that required humility and even
foolishness by the world’s standards.

This plan was the cross.
Too weak for Jews and too foolish for Greeks.

But ultimately this plan would be salvation for those willing to forsake their own power and wisdom for God’s.

AND JESUS PRAISED THE FATHER FOR THIS.
That God has the right to hide truth from some while revealing it to others.

And that is what we discussed LAST WEEK.
Namely the reality of SOVERIGN GRACE.

We looked at the two words.
First to understand that GOD IS SOVEREIGN.

Because He is the Potter, He has the right to do whatever He desires with the clay.
• If it is His will to save everyone, He can.
• If it is His will to save no one, He can.
• If it is His will to save some, He can.

He is sovereign.
He can do whatever He wants with what is His.

And we saw in Romans 9 how God throughout history has done just that.
And we saw that man has no grounds for questioning Him about it.

HE IS SOVEREIGN.

But the good news for us is that in His sovereignty, He is also full of GRACE.

• All men are sinful.
• None are good.
• None have sought for God.

And so one would expect for the sovereign God of the universe
To give all men what they deserve, which is JUDGMENT.

BUT GOD IS GRACIOUS, and so He chose to save some.
He pulled them out of death and gave them life.

Ultimately we saw that He chose to reveal to these “infants”
Exactly who Christ (the Savior) is.

And the wonderful reality in this is that if God hadn’t done this, then no one would have known it.

We read, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father.”

If God doesn’t open your eyes to who Jesus is, then you can’t know Him.

And ultimately here we see WHY JESUS WAS REJOICING.
God had chosen, by His sovereign grace,
To reveal the truth of Jesus to the infants of the world
So that they might be saved and have their names recorded in heaven.

Jesus rejoiced in this.
Jesus praised the Father for this.
AND WE DO TOO!

• We rejoice in our Spiritual Authority
• We rejoice in our Secure Salvation
• We rejoice in God’s Sovereign grace to give us both.

And that is what we’ve seen so far.

But you probably recognize that before we move on to the 4th point
There is one more phrase here that we need to examine.

It is a statement sort of reads as an “In Addition to” doctrinal reality.
It is one more thing Jesus wanted us to understand
Under the realm of sovereignty.

NAMELY, that the Father is not the only One with sovereignty.
The Son also has it.

Jesus said, “and [no one knows] who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Well there’s some doctrine we need to grasp.
Let’s break it apart a little.

1) “no one knows…who the Father is”

Let’s just take that truth for a moment and dwell upon it.

We of course are reminded of the transcendence of God
And the fact that no man has seen or can see Him.

Paul speaks of this reality in:
1 Timothy 6:15-16 “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”

Those are some powerful descriptors that Paul used.
• “dwells in unapproachable light”
• “whom no man has seen or can see”

And we are instantly reminded of things like THE VEIL where the glory of God resided, off limits to the people.

We are reminded of people like Moses who asked God to see His glory.
God’s response:
Exodus 33:18-23 “Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

Or we are reminded of the say Isaiah saw the glory of the LORD and he instantly claimed that he was a dead man!
Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Or we are reminded of the day Ezekiel saw God’s glory and instantly fell on his face…twice:
Ezekiel 1:28 “Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”

Ezekiel 3:23 “So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.”

You just can’t approach God.
That was the point.
The men who just saw a portion of His after-glow
Thought they were dying because of it.

Not only that, but ultimately you can’t even know God.
Romans 11:33-34 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?”

Even what we read in 1 Corinthians 2 a couple of weeks ago
Reminded us that the knowledge of God is beyond our human minds.

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

It’s just the simple fact that man has no capacity
To see or know or draw near to God.
ON HIS OWN, MAN CANNOT KNOW THE FATHER.

In fact, there is only one man who ever could make that claim,
AND THAT WAS CHRIST.

Which is what we see here.
2) “no one knows…who the Father is, except the Son”

Jesus is the only Man to ever be able to claim to know God.

And incidentally, Jesus claimed it many times.
John 6:46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

John 7:29 “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

John 8:54-55 “Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.”

John 10:15 “even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

John 17:25n”O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;”

That means, for the first time in the course of human history
One has arrived who can speak experientially about the Father.

The prophets could speak with authority regarding what God revealed to them about Himself, but Jesus could even speak experientially.

We finally have One who knows Him.
We finally have One who has seen Him.

He’s the only One who can make a claim to knowing God.

Every other opinion of the Father then is absolutely secondary to what Jesus says about Him, because Jesus alone actually knows Him.
HE IS THE EXPERT ON GOD.

But then there’s something even more astounding here.
3) “no one knows…who the Father is, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Now there is an obvious sovereignty aspect to that one as well.
Since it is up to the prerogative of the Son to reveal the Father.
“anyone to whom the Son WILLS to reveal Him.”

But first we have to recognize the wonderful reality here that
Because the Son knows the Father,
He can reveal the Father to anyone He wants.

The Son CAN reveal the Father.
JESUS DOES REVEAL GOD TO US.

And consider that truth:
John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

John 8:19 “So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”

John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”

Paul wrote:
Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

The writer of Hebrews wrote:
Hebrews 1:1-4 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”

Jesus is the only One who knows the Father,
He’s the only One who can show you the Father
He’s the only One who can grant you access to the Father.

Point being: THROUGH JESUS, THE UNAPPROACHABLE GOD
IS NOW ACCESSIBLE TO MAN.

BUT, it is only for those whom “the Son wills to reveal Him.”

SO WHAT IS THE REQUIREMENT OF THE SON FOR HIM TO REVEAL THE FATHER TO MAN?

John 8:21-27 “Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.”

Did you catch it?
“unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

Of course they refused, and John even adds this footnote to the statement of Jesus: “They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.”

They wouldn’t believe and so they were not permitted to see.
Jesus would not reveal the Father to anyone who did not believe.

Or consider:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

There again, you have a group of people whom the Son will not accept
Because they did not do “the will of My Father.”
Which is of course to believe in Christ.

Jesus only reveals the Father to those who believe in Him.

And to those who do believe, Jesus does reveal the Father.
John 14:8-11 “Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”

• The disciples had heard many times from the Lord how He alone knew the Father.
• Philip asked to be introduced, “Take us to the Father.”
• And of course Jesus said, “I am, look at Me, and you’re seeing the Father.”

Jesus reveals the Father to whom He will.

THAT IS WHY WE ALSO SAY WE ARE SPEAKING ABOUT
THE NECESSITY OF JESUS HERE.

Obviously there’s no spiritual authority apart from Jesus,
• Since the demons were only subject to the 70 in Jesus’ name.
Obviously there’s no secure salvation apart from Jesus,
• Since He is the One who promised Satan couldn’t have you back,
• And that book is actually the “book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”
• And He purchased those written in heaven.
And obviously you can’t know the Father if Jesus doesn’t reveal Him.

YOU SEE THE NECESSITY OF JESUS ALL OVER THIS SECTION.

And here we are reminded that apart from Jesus we can’t know the Father.

SO WHY THE REJOICING?

It’s simple:
• We have here the unknowable God, whom man can’t know apart from sovereign grace.
• And yet God chose to make Himself known through Christ so that by believing in Him, we may know the Father.

There’s your rejoicing!
BECAUSE OF GOD’S SOVEREIGN GRACE
WE CAN KNOW HIM

The Father willed to show you the Son
Who in turn willed to introduce you to the Father.

We praise God for such a sovereign and gracious decision.

And that leads us then to the final point of Christian rejoicing.
Spiritual Authority, Secure Salvation, Sovereign Grace
#4 SPECIAL REVELATION
Luke 10:23-24

• After confirming the rejoicing of the 70 regarding their authority
• After commanding the rejoicing of the 70 for their security
• After celebrating with the 70 their salvation by sovereign grace

Jesus now turns to the 12
And CLARIFIES why they should be rejoicing as well.

(23-24) “Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”

Jesus turned to them and said that they were “Blessed”

“Blessed” by the way is a Greek word
Which means “to make happy”

Jesus is giving another reason for rejoicing,
And it is that as believers in Jesus
We have received a special revelation.

Certainly He is referring to the fact that the Father has shown us the Son.
Certainly He is referring to the fact that the Son has shown us the Father.

Jesus is simply making sure the disciples understand
How blessed they are to have received it.

“Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see”
WHY?

“for I say to you that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”

Now here Jesus ISN’T distinguishing between the saved and the unsaved.

That distinction was up in verses 21-22.
That is not the case here.

• The prophets He speaks of here are those who are true children of God.
• The kings He speaks of here are the redeemed kings of old.

They are people from the Old Testament who were saved
And now dwell with God by reason of their faith.

Jesus is talking about prophets like Elijah, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah,
And kings like David, and Solomon, and Josiah.

But Jesus says here that the disciples should rejoice
Because they have been given special revelation
Beyond what they even received.

WHAT REVELATION IS THAT?
JESUS
• They saw Jesus!
• They heard Him preach
• They saw His works
• Some of them even saw His glory on the mountain.

We already saw that:
• Jesus is the greatest revelation of God that the world ever received.
• Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature.
• No one has seen God, but Jesus explained Him.

Those Old Testament prophets saw many remarkable things.
• They saw the rise and fall of kingdoms…
• They saw the judgment and deliverance of God’s people…
• They saw even eschatological events like the end of the world…

But even in all of that, they had never seen anything
Like the One was standing right before the disciples.

They were witnessing the greatest revelation of all time.
JESUS

And through the apostles,
WE ALSO ARE BLESSED to have this revelation.

And like we did previously, in order to explain this better, I want to go and examine a different passage of Scripture briefly this morning.

TURN TO: 1 PETER 1:10-12
• 1 Peter is written to the persecuted church.
• And he opens by telling them that they rejoice in salvation, even though currently they suffer various trials.

(READ: 3-9)
They rejoice in salvation.

And then Peter does the same for his readers
That Jesus did for him back in Luke 10.
He explains the blessing of having this special revelation.

(READ 10-12)
Peter is talking about the revelation of salvation,
And even more specifically the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And Peter makes some marvelous points here.

1) THIS REVELATION WAS INDICATED BY THE SPIRIT
“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ was indicating within them as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”

Now first we recognize there that
The Holy Spirit was working in the Old Testament to reveal certain truths to the prophets regarding “the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”

And we don’t have time to read them all, but some are readily familiar to you.

We have all rejoiced in Psalms 2:
• How the kings of the earth took their stand against Christ, and how God laughed at them.
• How God ordained Christ as King and told the inhabitants of earth that you’d better bow to Him before He breaks our knees.

We have all seen the vivid accuracy of Psalms 22:
• Where David described the crucifixion 100s of years before crucifixion had even been invented.

We have all rejoiced in the promises of Isaiah 42
• About the Servant who would come to open blind eyes and set the captives free.

We have all seen the allusion to suffering of Isaiah 50
• Where the Servant would give His back to those who strike Him and give His cheeks to those who would pluck out His beard.

We have all seen the remarkable accuracy of Isaiah 53
• Where the Servant bore the sin of God’s people for whom the stroke was due.

We have rejoiced in Psalms 16
• And the promised resurrection from the dead.

The Holy Spirit told those prophets many great truths
About this coming Christ and His suffering and glory.

The truth of Christ was Indicated by the Spirit.
2) THIS REVELATION WAS INVESTIGATED BY THE PROPHETS

In regard to this revelation of the Spirit, Peter says that “the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time” was being indicated.

They wanted to know when.
They wanted to know who.

We all remember Simeon by the time Jesus arrived:
Luke 2:25-26 “And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

Jesus even said that Abraham looked for this day.
John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

In other words, they received a little, but they wanted so much more.
• Isaiah wanted to see this child who would be born of the virgin and who would reign on David’s throne.
• Jeremiah wanted to experience this New Covenant God had told him about.
• Zechariah wanted to know WHEN this King would come seated on a donkey’s colt.

They saw the value of the information and they wanted it bad.

Indicated by the Spirit, Investigated by the Prophets
3) THE REVELATION WAS INTERPRETED BY THE APOSTLES
“It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit from heaven”

The prophets wanted to know “Who?”
The prophets wanted to know “When?”
All God would tell them was that it was not for them to know.

Peter says, God was saving that information for “you”
Jesus revealed it to the apostles, and they now teach it to you.

Remember the Ethiopian Eunuch’s desire to make sense of Isaiah’s revelation?
Acts 8:29-35 “Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.” The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.”

Philip gave that Eunich information that Isaiah never even received.

Or go read the gospel of Matthew
• And note how many times Matthew saw Jesus do something or heard Jesus say something and then wrote, “This was to fulfill the word that was spoken…”

Matthew saw what those prophets were only begging to see.

DO YOU SEE HOW BLESSED IT IS TO KNOW THAT?

If you don’t, just look at Peter’s last point:
4) THE REVELATION WAS ENJOYED BY THE ANGELS
“things into which angels long to look.”

I heard Jerry Vines outline this text like this.
• The Prophets Set the Stage
• The Apostles Script the Story
• The Angels See the Show

Jesus is the greatest revelation the world has ever known
And even angels were captivated by His every word and every move.

The point is, there is no greater revelation than this.
AND YOU CHURCH HAVE IT!

• Think of the people born in foreign nations who don’t have access to the gospel.
• Think of those in Third World Countries who have never heard the name of Jesus.

But you have been told.
You have been shown.
REJOICE IN THAT!

IT’S AMAZING TO ME THAT ANYONE
Could ever be DISGRUNTLED or FRUSTRATED about things like
“having to go to church” or “having to read the Bible”.

Well it’s only the greatest revelation that world has ever seen.
It’s only the most sought after information of all time.

And Jesus here told the disciples that
They should rejoice that God saw fit to give it to them.

He didn’t even give that knowledge
To some of the greatest prophets and kings who ever lived.

God showed you what He didn’t even show
David or Isaiah or Elijah or Abraham.

Do you remember all of those great saints in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11?

None of them saw what you have seen.
Hebrews 11:39-40 “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

Can you see how blessed you are?
Can you see how you should rejoice that God showed this to you?

THAT IS THE BASIS FOR CHRISTIAN REJOICING!

• We don’t rejoice in the things of this world.
• We don’t rejoice in sinful pleasures.
• We don’t rejoice in earthly comforts or earthly fame.

WE REJOICE IN JESUS!
• We rejoice in the Spiritual Authority that comes through Him
• We rejoice in the Secure Salvation that He provided
• We rejoice in the Sovereign Grace that drew us to Him.
• We rejoice in the Special Revelation of Him.

THAT IS THE BASIS FOR CHRISTIAN REJOICING!

When In A Storm
Psalms 29
March 2, 2019

When we read Romans 1,
We are informed of God’s expectations regarding nature.

1) God revealed Himself through nature
2) God expects to be glorified because of that revelation
3) God’s wrath is revealed against those who don’t.

Romans 1:18-23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

• Paul was clear that through nature God revealed “His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature.”

• Paul was also clear that sinful man saw this, and yet “even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thinks”

• And then ultimately mankind chose to attribute the powers of creation and the powers of nature to false deities known as idols. Paul wrote, “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

• It is no wonder then that we also saw that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven” against these people.

God has revealed Himself in creation
And He demands glory for that revelation.

The book of Psalms clearly realizes that.

In Psalms 8 David looked up to the night sky and worshiped God for His grace.
Psalms 8:3-4 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?”

In Psalms 19 David watched a sunrise and worshiped God for His faithfulness.
Psalms 19:1-6 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

In Psalms 29 David watches a catastrophic storm rip apart the landscape
And David worships God for His raw power.

Incidentally, this is not the only time God’s power is depicted
Through the power of a storm.

When God’s presence descended upon Mt. Sinai, we read:
Exodus 19:16-18 “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.”

It was such a terrifying scene that the people
Were literally terrified at the presence of God.

Exodus 20:18-19 “All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”

They got the idea. God is powerful!

Another great incident of this is found in the book of Job.
• We are all familiar with the affliction of Job, and that he never sinned with his lips.
• However, it is also clear that Job did cross some lines in his questioning of God’s justice in the matter.
• And when God approached Job, He did so in a storm.

The storm actually begins during the sermon of Elihu:

TURN TO: JOB 36:24

(READ 24-33) – It is clear that a storm is rising and Elihu accounts it to the coming presence of God.

Job had said that he wanted God to appear and give an account.
Well, according to Elihu, that thunderstorm over there is Him.

And this even terrified Elihu:
(READ 37:1-5)

Elihu actually trembled that God was on His way.

Later Elihu would tell Job that he needed to learn a thing or two from this storm:
(READ 37:14-38:1)

And of course we know what happens then.
Job gets the worst brow-beating recorded in the Bible.

To which Job responds:
Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

Those are just a few examples in Scripture, but the general point is clear.

GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS POWER EVEN IN A STORM…
AND HE DESERVES GLORY BECAUSE OF THAT POWER.

That may actually give you a little pause upon hearing it.
• Even in our day we see the catastrophic power of a tornado and how homes can be ripped apart.
• We have seen hurricanes and flooding and the devastation they can leave in their wake.
• We have witnessed Tsunamis and the destruction they bring.
• We know about forest fires and straight line winds and other natural powers.

And typically people either want to blame God for the destruction
Or to absolve Him of any responsibility whatsoever.
Some say it’s His fault, some say He had nothing to do with it.

And both of those are the WRONG response.
• The proper response is to worship God at the sheer demonstration of His
power.
• The proper response is to ascribe to God (2) “the glory due His name”
• The proper response is to join with all those in heaven and say, (9) “Glory!”

For even in these storms God has put on display
His invisible attributes and His eternal power and divine nature”

And every time God reveals Himself glory is deserved.

That is what David spells out here in the 29th Psalm.

David literally watches a storm rip through the landscape, destroying forests, and terrifying wildlife, and rattling the very mountains.

And as he watches this storm in its destruction,
David tells the church exactly how to respond.

AND HERE IT IS:
(1-2) “Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in holy array.”

We’ll get to the storm in a moment,
But first the very clear call for worship.

Here we answer some very important questions about worship.
#1 WHO?
Psalms 29:1a

“Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty”

The interesting thing here is that
Though you might be tempted to simply assume that David is talking about humanity here, there is ample evidence to suggest David has much more in mind.

“sons of the mighty” is literally translated “sons of God”

The same phrase is used in Psalms 89
Psalms 89:5-7 “The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD, A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?”

There the “sons of the mighty” are also
The same people referred to as those “in the skies”.

So while we can include the mightiest of men in this distinction
We can also include the entire angelic realm in this command.

David is calling for all created beings to start giving God all the glory.
All created men and all created celestial beings.

Now, some may question why David would issue such a command.
Is David claiming authority over the angels that he would command them also to worship God?

I don’t think that’s the point.
Rather, it is David’s way of pointing out to humanity
That even the celestial world is accountable to worship God.

It was a direct confrontation
Of the pagan idolatry of all the nations surrounding Israel.

Perhaps you remember the plagues of Egypt.
• God sent hail, killed crops, sent frogs, flies, and gnats.
• God sent darkness and turned the Nile to blood.
• He killed the firstborn of all in Egypt.

While all of those certainly demonstrated the raw power of God,
Each of those also specifically discredited the pagan deities of Israel.

False gods like:
• Hapi, the god of the Nile
• Hathor, the god of love who was depicted by a cow, and God killed their cattle.
• Isis, the god of medicine, and yet God afflicted with boils
• Ra, the sun god, and God sent darkness
• Pharaoh, who was considered god incarnate, and God killed his firstborn

On one hand it was raw power,
But on the other hand it was specific power meant to reiterate to Israel
That even the false gods fall in submission to the true God of heaven.

David is making a similar point here.
EVERY CREATED THING WORSHIPS GOD
Men, demons, angels, false deities, etc.

Everyone should ascribe to God.

That’s the “Who”
#2 WHAT?
Psalms 29:1b

“Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength”

That is to say that all created things should readily bow and submit
That true “glory” and true “strength” belongs to God.

Certainly in our day we can differentiate among strong men.
• We see a man that can bench press 300lbs. and we say, “he’s strong”
• And that’s true; compared to other humans he is strong.

But if you throw God into the equation then no one gets any glory.
Compared to God, bench pressing 300 lbs. is pathetic.

And this is part of David’s point.
While we may ascribe certain amounts of strength or glory to humans,
Ultimately all “glory and strength” belongs to God.

NOTHING COMPARES TO HIM.

So thus far, we see that every created being
Must humble themselves and acknowledge that
God alone is to be attributed as glorious and strong.

No one else compares to Him.

That’s the who and the what
#3 HOW MUCH?
Psalms 29:2a

David has twice told us to “Ascribe to the LORD”
We even know what we are to ascribe to Him.

But David also wants you to understand the level of glory and strength you should ascribe to Him.
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name;”

We have said many times that God’s “name”
Represents His full nature and attributes.

The reality is that God deserves all the glory for every area,
And He deserves and infinite amount.

Now, certainly that is an indefinable distinction
For who can say how much glory God deserves?

What you simply have here is David telling all creatures to give all glory to God to the degree that He deserves.

That is the command.
#4 HOW?
Psalms 29:2b

“Worship the LORD in holy array.”

You certainly notice the distinction
That we’ve moved from “Ascribe” to “Worship”

The first 3 (Ascribe) all deal with recognition.
• It’s just a call for you to recognize who really deserves the glory and how much
glory He deserves.

But that’s all just recognition.
NEXT COMES THE APPLICATION,
Where you take that knowledge and apply it in worship.

• You recognize that God is glorious
• You recognize that God is strong
• And so you act on that information and actually worship Him as being glorious
and strong.

To recognize God as strong and glorious, but to refuse to worship Him as such
Only puts you in the company of the sinners in Romans 1,
Who “even though they knew God…did not honor Him as God”

So you must move from recognition to action.

But there’s even more than that.
It’s not just that you worship,
but here David even says, “Worship the LORD in holy array”

Why “holy array”?
Because God demands holiness.

How many times have we seen the command
“You shall be holy, for I am holy”?

So here you have a person
• Determined to worship God because He deserves it
• And to worship Him in the manner which He desires.

We read it:
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

So we’ve seen the “who” the “what” the “how much” and the “how”

But it still leaves out perhaps our favorite question:
#5 WHY?
Psalms 29:3-9

• You’re telling me that I should stop and ponder that in a comparative sense, God alone really does have all the strength and all the glory.

• And you’re telling me that I should humble myself and recognize that he deserves more glory for this power than I can even comprehend.

• And you’re telling me that because of this glory He deserves that I should humble myself further, submit to His requirements, and actually worship Him according to the glory He deserves.

And to that humans for centuries have said, “Why?”

In fact the people mentioned in Romans 1 said, “No”
• They would not honor Him as God.
• They would not ascribe to Him the glory due His name.
• They would not worship Him in holy array.
• They instead exchanged His glory for that of carved images.

Well, David is going to tell you WHY
You should worship God in any way He so chooses.

And the answer is:
BECAUSE OF HIS POWER

First, let’s just read verses 3-9
(3-9) “The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”

Obviously there we are talking about a massive storm which David sees moving from the Mediterranean, across Lebanon, and even the wilderness of Kadesh.

But also quickly catching our gaze is that
8 times David attributes that storm to the “voice of the LORD”

The obvious point is that God is behind it.
• God is causing it.
• God is causing through the power of His word.

Just like creation was born because God told light to arrive,
So this storm is born because God told it to form.

God told it to move.
God told it to intensify.
God ordained everything about it.

In short, we see a storm and it is God’s doing.
David is making that abundantly clear.

Now let’s look at it.
(3-4) “The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic.”

There the storm is sitting over the Mediterranean Sea.
• David can see the rolling clouds.
• David can see the lightning flashes.
• David can hear the booming thunder.

It’s all in the distance, but David makes two very clear observations.
“The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic”

Who could argue that?
The sheer power contained in a storm is remarkable.
The sheer beauty in the lightning flashes is in fact beautiful.

And David knows that God did it all.
It’s a glorious display of the power and majesty of God.

But then the storm hits land.
(5-7) “The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire.”

“the cedars of Lebanon” where notoriously big and notoriously strong.
And David witnessed this storm rip right through the heart of them.

After God’s stormed moved through they were broken “in pieces”
God shattered those mighty trees.

In fact God “makes Lebanon skip like a calf”.
That is to say, He tosses her here and there. He bounces her around.

“Sirion” was the Phoenecian name for Mt. Hermon.
And God shook that mountain too “like a young wild ox”

It is a picture of a rattling thunder and even earth shaking power.
This storm is unsettling everything.

On top of that David says that “The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire”

Of course that is lightning, but it also implies
That God is setting the terrain on fire through the storm.

This storm moved off the waters and has ravaged Lebanon.

And then it moved through Lebanon into the wilderness.
(8) “The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.”

That is to say what God did to Lebanon,
He continued to do to the wilderness, even Kadesh.

And if you want to see the effects of this storm.
(9) “The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve and strips the forest bare;”

• Sheer fear of destruction causes even the wild animals to instantly give birth.
• The wind has ripped the leaves right off the trees.
• The fire from the lightning has burned everything in its path.
• It is a powerful force of destruction.

And we’ve seen this type of thing.
• We’ve seen the fires
• We’ve seen the floods
• We’ve seen the damaging winds

It is amazing that in a matter of seconds
Nature can wreak havoc that it would take man years to equal.
David just witnessed it all.

AND HERE’S WHERE IT GETS IMPORTANT,
Because David has commanded us how to respond to this storm.

He told us up in the first 2 verses that when we see a storm like this, we should:
• “Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name;”
• And then we should “Worship the LORD, in holy array.”

And just in case that now seems strange to you,
David actually goes ahead and gives the heavenly response to this storm.

Here is what heaven said:
(9b) “And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”

Heaven glorifies God for this powerful storm that ravaged the land.

Now, let’s stop there for a second
Because as the church WE CAN LEARN SOMETHING HERE.

As I said previously, this is NOT THE COMMON RESPONSE to a storm.
• We see the destruction…
• We see the loss of property…
• Sometimes even the loss of life…

And it seems that instantly the church wants to defend God’s reputation and say, “He had nothing to do with that. God didn’t want that to happen.”

But what if, instead of trying to absolve God of all involvement,
The church instead rose up and acknowledged
The awesome power of God in that moment.

Now, certainly someone would say, “If you do that, you’re just going to cause a lot of people to blame God for their loss, get mad at Him, and then they will never submit to Him.”

Perhaps…

But you might also cause some who never did fear God to start fearing Him.
• You might cause some to for the first time acknowledge His power and glory.
• You might cause some for the first time to worship in Him in holy array.

Beyond that, let me remind you that one day God is going to destroy the whole world, not just bits and pieces of it.
• There is coming a day when He will split the sky and move all the mountains.
• There is coming a day when He will burn 1/3 of the earth with hail and fire that is mixed with blood.
• There is coming a day when He will turn 1/3 of the sea to blood.
• There is coming a day when He will turn 1/3 of the fresh water to blood.
• There is coming a day when He will darken 1/3 of the sun, moon, and stars.
• There is coming a day when He will send 100 pound hailstones upon men.
• There is coming a day when He will burn the whole earth in unquenchable fire.

And by the way, on that day, heaven will still be crying “Glory!”

Revelation 16:5-7 “And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

So instead assuring sinners that God is not behind this tragedy,
What if we worshiped Him for His power and assured sinners that this is merely a warning shot?

See, as Paul taught us in Romans 1,
The issue IS NOT getting people to like God.
The issue IS that people honor Him as God.

And if you can’t honor God as God after a powerful storm,
Then I don’t know when you can.

David is not afraid to attribute this destructive storm that shook Lebanon, leveled their forests, unsettled their mountains, decimated their wildlife, and stripped their trees to God.

God did this.
8 times David referenced “The voice of the LORD”

It is not about us trying to present God has someone man will accept and want to worship.
It is about us showing the world who God is, and then commanding them to worship accordingly.

Do you see that?

As I was writing this, I thought about George and Kevin and Ronald and those guys who work for South Plains Electric, who probably get to deal with more damage from storms on a daily basis than any of the rest of us.

We should call this “The Lineman’s Psalm”

What if every time a storm rolled through and snapped power poles and did other damage, God’s children took it as an opportunity to glorify the unbelievable power of God?

That’s what David is doing.
• You worship Him…
• You give Him glory for His power and strength…
• You give Him the glory He deserves…
• And you worship Him the way He wants to be worshiped…

WHY? Because He clearly has the power to demand it.

Isn’t that true?
He deserves it.

And we sing: “I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, My Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! How Great Thou art!”

But we’re not done.

Who, What, How Much, How, Why
#6 AND ONE MORE THING
Psalms 29:10-11

And now it’s as though David throws in an added piece of information.
A reminder that all men should remember.

(10) “The LORD sat as King at the flood; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.”

So…
• We have here a storm, and one that may have indeed caused loss of life.
• Or we see the natural disasters of our day and recognize the loss of life that occurs.

And some would say,
“I just can’t see glorifying God for something like that.”

Well, let me ask you
…you who think God shouldn’t have sent a storm that killed thousands of people.

Do you remember the flood?
In Genesis 6-8 God sent a flood upon the entire earth that killed everything with the breath of God in its lungs. Ever human except for 8 people.

Do you remember why God sent that flood?
Genesis 6:5-7 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Man was defiant and wicked.
• It’s not a stretch to say that they did not honor Him as God, but instead
followed the inclination of their own sinful hearts.
• We even learned last week that Noah was a preacher of righteousness who
continually pleaded with men to worship God in holy array, and it is clear
that they refused.

And so God sent a storm and destroyed every living thing.

Now, here’s my question:
SHOULD WE WORSHIP GOD FOR THAT?

Well after that event there were only 8 humans alive on the earth, and I CAN TELL YOU THEIR RESPONSE:
Genesis 8:20 “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”

• Noah didn’t get off and tell his sons that God had nothing to do with that.
• Noah didn’t get angry at God for doing what was well within His sovereign prerogative to do.
• Noah worshiped God for what He did.

And perhaps for those questioning David’s command to see this storm and worship God accordingly,
David reminds that God is sovereign and He always deserves worship.

He was God at the flood, He was God over this storm,
And He’ll be God over every other natural disaster that comes.

We don’t absolve God of His involvement of these things,
We glorify the power of God in the midst of them.

• That doesn’t mean we don’t grieve with the bereaved…
• That doesn’t mean we don’t help in the cleanup…
• That doesn’t mean we run around pointing fingers at sinners for causing it…

NOT AT ALL.

All that means is that when God puts His awesome power on display,
Then we take the opportunity to make sure
The world understands just how powerful God is.

AND THEN WE TELL THEM ONE MORE THING:
(11) “The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.”

What is that?
• It’s a promise that regardless of the storms, this God of tremendous strength will also strengthen His people.

• Beyond that, even in the midst of these storms God has the ability to give His people the peace they long for.

And as we contemplate that, I’m always reminded of the story of Jesus and His disciples. We talked about it recently in Luke’s gospel.

Luke 8:22-25 “Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

Did Jesus know that storm was coming?
• I’d say Jesus commanded it, and purposely sent His disciples right into it.

Was His power manifested through it?
• Absolutely!
• They should have attributed the storm to Him, they most certainly attributed to Him the power to stop it.

Did He have the ability to sustain them through it?
Did He provide peace in the midst of it?

And the point is that they should glorify Him, which they did.

• DON’T BE AFRAID TO ATTRIBUTE THE STORM TO GOD
• DON’T BE AFRAID TO TELL THE WORLD THERE IS MORE TO COME
• DON’T BE AFRAID TO TELL THE WORLD THEY HAD BETTER WORSHIP HIM IN HOLY ARRAY

If you continually tell the world that these smaller storms are not of God,
Then how do you plan to tell them that He will one day destroy it all?

You’d be better off to tell them that this was a warning shot.
And their only hope is to submit to Him
Because the God of the storm will give strength and peace to His people
In the midst of it.

Let me close with one other Psalm, which we’ll just read:
Psalms 96 “Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name; Bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the LORD in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”

• Elihu saw the storm coming and told Job he’d better change his tune.
• David said the same thing there.

Glorify God because of His power,
And submit to Him and worship Him accordingly!

So there’s your song the next time the storm rolls in.