PMCBC

Psalm 52

Introduction

• When David wrote this psalm, he was angry, and rightly so.
• Doeg was one of the many men around Saul who catered to his whims and inflated ego in order to gain power and wealth.
• He typifies all who promote themselves at the expense of truth and justice.
• Doeg was an Edomite, which means he was descended from Esau, the enemy of Jacob.
• The battle between the flesh and the Spirit still goes on.
• However, it’s possible that David was also writing about Saul, who certainly fits the description given of the proud, powerful tyrant.
• There has always been a certain amount of evil in high places, and God’s people must learn to handle it in a godly manner.
• David paints for us three contrasting scenes.

1. The Sinners Are Boasting (vv.1-4)
2. The phrase “mighty hero” is the equivalent of our “big shot” and was spoken derisively.
3. Doeg and Saul were mighty in their own eyes but insignificant in God’s eyes.
4. David was insignificant in their eyes but important to God.
5. David depended on the mercy of the Lord, while Saul and his men depended on themselves and their own resources.
6. With tongues like honed razors, they issued orders and told lies without considering the consequences.
7. Even when they told the truth—as Doeg did about David—they did it with evil intent because they were possessed by a malignant spirit.
8. Their words devoured people and destroyed them.
9. It isn’t difficult to find people like Doeg and Saul in our twenty-first-century world.
10. Ill: A composer of a musical score sometimes includes some discords to create an overall pleasing effect. In a similar manner, God’s ultimate purpose for the world was best served by a plan that allowed for the presence and activity of evil.

1. The Saints Are Laughing (vv.5-7)
2. Verse 5 is the central verse of the psalm and marks the turning point in David’s experience as he contemplated the wickedness of the human heart.
3. “Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.”
4. He was confident that God would one day judge Saul, Doeg, and all who follow their evil philosophy of life.
5. Note the powerful verbs: “bring you down…snatch you up…pluck you from your tent…uproot you.”
6. The righteous would only seebut not stand in awe of the holy wrath of God.
7. There they would laugh in derision at the humiliating fall of these pompous leaders.
8. What Saul and Doeg did to the priestly community at Nob (2 Samuel 22:6ff), the Lord would do to them, for sinners ultimately fall into the pits they dig for others (Proverbs 26:24-28).
9. Ill.: Lord Byron, a brilliant poet, spent his life in a mad search for pleasure. Moderns would say, “He tried to live it up.” Then in despair he wrote: “The thorns I have reaped are of the tree I planted. They have torn me and I bleed. I should have known what fruit would spring from such a tree.”

1. The Faithful Are Serving (vv.8-9)
2. The contrast is clear: the wicked are like uprooted trees, but the godly are like flourishing olive trees that are fruitful and beautiful.
3. Saul and Doeg would perish, rejected by the Lord, but David and his dynasty would be safe in the house of the Lord!
4. It’s possible that the tabernacle at Nob had olive trees growing around it, and David would have seen them.
5. The olive tree lives for many years and keeps bearing fruit, and certainly David was a blessing to the nation while he lived and long after he died—and he is blessing to us today!
6. He trusted God’s lovingkindness and the Lord did not fail him, and he never failed to give God the glory.
7. The phrase “hope in your name” means to depend on the character of God as expressed in His great name.
8. The psalm ends with David vowing to praise the Lord in the congregation as soon as God established him in his kingdom.
9. The private victories God gives us should be announced publicly for the encouragement of God’s people.
10. Meanwhile, though evil may seem to triumph, we must continue to obey and serve the Lord and not get discouraged.
11. The “last laugh” belongs to the Lord’s people!
12. Ill: In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl, successor of Sigmund Freud of Vienna argued that the “loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect on man.” As a result of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, Frankl contended that when a man no longer possesses a motive for living, no future to look toward to, he curls up in a corner and dies. “Any attempt to restore a man’s inner strength in camp,” he wrote, “had first to succeed in showing him some future goal.”
13. Amen!

Application

• There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
• Knowledge is understanding the formula for water is H₂0, and not H₃O.
• Wisdom is ability to see life from God’s perspective and applying His truth, skill, and experience to live in a right relationship with Him and others.
• We apply this knowledge and wisdom when we consider God’s wisdom in making ice float.
• This is called biblical discernment.
• Many Christian commentators point to the New Testament book of James, often called the “New Testament book of wisdom,” to define “Seven Attributes of Heavenly Wisdom.”
• In James 3:17, we find, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
• Other scholars suggest the pillars represent the structural themes or moral pillars found throughout the book of Proverbs.
• They are:
  • The Fear of the Lord: Revering God as the starting point of knowledge.
  • Righteousness and integrity: Living ethically and doing the right thing.
  • Knowledge and Learning: Having a hunger for truth.
  • Prudence and Speech Management: Controlling what you say.
  • Purity: Avoiding moral and sexual pitfalls.
  • Justice: Being fair in business and life.
  • Diligence: Choosing hard work over laziness.
• Understanding the world through God’s eyes gives us peace amidst chaos and uncertainty.
• With this in mind, let’s live our lives with the hope that Jesus promises us.
• Amen!

SERMON NOTES —- 10/25/26: — HOWDY!! Halloween and the Day of the Dead is coming up next week. So now we’ll take a look at how this fits a season of Harvest and Autumn. Well, there’s some thoughts to take a good look at and deserving of some review and deep thinking. I say the smartest man in the world was Job because as a baby, he could talk. You say, “No baby can talk.” I say, “The Bible says he cursed the day he was born!” If we diagram that sentence . . .

Ah well, that’s a good laugh, so, let’s get started:

· The Day of Atonement: September 21, 2026, a month ago.

• Hallow-een – A combination word for “Hallowed Evening” the evening before All Saints Day. I am persuaded that the Aztecs were convinced by the Spaniards to move their “Day of the Dead” calendar day to coincide with “All Saints Day”. And on that day, the Aztecs and Latino Community would parade the skulls of the dead while Europeans of Spain, France and Germany would visit the graves of loved ones – friends and relatives – to leave a small stone or coin on the tombstone, sometimes flowers and like we once found beneath a funerary marker, an open bottle of beer.

I. INTRODUCTION – The Day of Atonement:

The Bible dictionary says atonement as rendered in Romans 5 that this is the payment or propiation in blood for sin which had been ultimately paid by Christ. For that reason and while mentioned 79 times in the OT, it is only mentioned once in the NT. The Judian Family call it Yom Kippur and suffer tearfully for those passed away. But the Saved are joyful that that piece of business was Finished at Golgotha Calvary. The price has been paid!! No more sacrifice or blood needed for that spilt by Christ Himself. The saved of the Spirit offer thanksgiving where the lost—well now, those folks have a problem.

To the chosen and the elect this labor based on the Will of God and within the Father’s interests, is no longer done or needed. Again, not boastful and proud, but humble and contrite. Isaiah 66:2.

Matthew 11:29 says we’re to be gentle and humble in heart. Put on ones face and wear a smile. To be kind and gentle as good stewards so to get along with humble means Philemon 3:21.

II. The Legacy:

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, and on the All Saints Day, we put on a heart of

• Compassion, Colossians 3:12.
  • Kindness, 2 Peter 1:7.
  • Humility, Philemon 3:21.
  • Gentleness, 1 Corinthians 1:21.
  • Patience, Colossians 1:11.
  • Thanksgiving and Praise to God, Revelations 7:12

For He has paid the price and promised the Saved

• The Crown of Victory, 1 Corinthians 9:25.
  • The Crown of Rejoicing, 1 Thessalonians 2:19.
  • The Crown of Righteousness, 2 Timothy 4:8.
  • The Crown of Life, James 1:12.
  • The Crown of Glory, 1 Peter 5:1-4.
  • The Crown of Honor, Hebrews 2:9
  • The Crown of Permanence, 1 Corinthians 9:25.

And whichever crown or crowns awarded, like the 24 elders surrounding the Thrown of God, we will lay those at His Feet with a smile—not a smirk—and with an expression of humility and meekness, 1 Peter 3:4.

III. A Harvest in Texas:

Nevermind about those foreign states, we’ll just concentrate on the Lone Star State of Texas. I often wondered how we got that “LONE STAR” symbol, so I’m guessing it had to come from both farmers and ranchers, carrying a Bible wherever the crop or herd took them.

In the book of Ruth, we find that Boaz was both a barley and wheat farmer, Ruth Chapter 2 and it was Ruth out gleaning in the grain fields that she met Boaz. Just a note: While we all know what food a wheat is, we may not know that barley is also a diet food which lowers cholesterol and improves digestion, so we now know of the diet and table dressing that Ruth and Naomi had. And Ruth was King Davids great-grandmother—-ergo the lineage of Jesus our Lord and Savior.

The harvest is great but the workers are few as it says in Luke 10:2. Let me read that passage and you’ll see the value of what Jesus places:

“And He (Jesus) was saying to them (the 70 missionaries, in teams of 2), the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore. . .v.3 “Go your ways…” and with a message say, v,9 “The kingdom of God has come near…” and in v.16 “The one who listens to you, listens to Me, and the one who rejects you, rejects Me and the (Lord) who sent Me.” This was a call to witnessing and outreach.

Texas—your “way”—is hungry for such witnessing. And that’s our mission. Challenge for the day: Be on guard for the witnessing for Christ Jesus.

IV. God First in Everything:

Get to work—a labor of Love for our Lord by quickening one’s heart to listen and follow the Holy Spirit, thus above all to grow in Faith (Luke 17:5). Have a positive attitude and conduct so as to become joyful with all the fruits of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:22 & 23 a list which includes self-control. A forgiving heart and a faithful walk led by the Holy Spirit so as to grow in faith. Especially important primarily to God and in one’s elder years and retirement.

Reverend Billy Graham once wrote: Discipleship is a combined word stemming from the word “discipline”. Remember too that Jesus gave only one commandment for us to love one another as brothers and sisters of the Church family. And we’ve been given a good student’s working tool: The Holy Bible.

Read the Bible from cover-to-cover. How many of us have done that? Take a week, month, or year and fully comprehend each word of His Holy Word—The Holy Bible. Do so prayerfully and, if need be in order to learn it’s meaning, seek the help of other disciples or your pastors. They may have answers to inquiry.

V. Finish of a Work:

Remember as I once reported: Work towards the ultimate goal. All growth in faith requires due diligence toward a completion and a finish. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ set the example as He hung on the cross and with His last words said, “It is finished.” “It” being his mission of that day here and His purposeful completion of the Father’s Will for the time.

Remember too: Grow in faith—that’s our challenge.

FAITH SEES THE INVISIBLE; BELIEVES THE INCREDIBLE; AND RECEIVES THE IMPOSSIBLE.

While you may have the impression that you’re only a work in progress, there is a definite achievement in finishing the work. Your body, mind, and spirit will know—so will God.

Closing Prayer.

A commitment to learn of God’s Will because we Love Him and one another.

Invitation:

1. To confess before the church one’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, asking for obedience in the rite of baptism.
2. To confess a rededication of faith in the Lord and His Will.
3. To offer a personal pledge of obedience to a Call of the Holy Spirit.
4. To petition membership in this church family confirming prior completion of salvation confession.

Haggai 2:20-23

Introduction

• Haggai has encouraged the Jewish people to stay on the job and finish God’s house.
• Now he has a special word of encouragement for Zerubbabel the governor, and it was delivered on the say day as the third message.
• Being a faithful preacher of the Word, Haggai was always listening for  God’s voice and sensitive to whatever the Lord wanted him to say and do.
• Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin, and therefore of the royal line of David.
• But instead of wearing a crown and sitting on a throne, Zerubbabel was the humble governor of a struggling remnant of the Jewish nation, trying to complete the building of a rather inglorious temple.
• What a discouraging situation for a royal prince to be in!
• So, God gave His servant Haggai a special word of encouragement for the governor.
• Were the nations around Jerusalem larger and stronger?
• Rest assured that the Lord will care for His people Israel as He has always done in the past.
• The same God who enabled Moses to defeat Egypt, and Joshua to conquer the nations in Canaan, would protect His people so that His purposes could be fulfilled through them.
• Israel will endure until the last days, and then the Lord will defeat her enemies and establish her in her kingdom.
• The Lord called Zerubbabel “my servant,” an exclusive title reserved for specially chosen people, and Zerubbabel was indeed chosen by the Lord.
• God compared him to a royal signet ring.
• The signet ring was used by kings to put their official “signature” on documents, the guarantee that the king would keep his promise and fulfill the terms of the document.
• Zerubbabel’s ancestor, King Jehoiachin has been rejected by God, but Zerubbabel was accepted by God.
• “As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakin king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I wouls still pull you off” (Jeremiah 22:24).
• God was reversing the judgment and renewing His promise that the Davidic line would not die out by would one day give the world a Savior.
• That’s why we find Zerubbabel named in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
• This message must have encouraged Zerubbabel to stay on the job and finish the work God gave him to do.
• He was special to God, chosen by God, the servant of God!
• He was as near and dear to God as a king’s signet ring.
• The people of Israel would have many centuries of struggle and suffering before them, but the Messiah would come, and one day, Israel’s enemies would be defeated and the glorious kingdom established.
• As you read the Old Testament, you see how “salvation history” progressed from age to age, always moving toward the fulfillment of the messianic promise.
• Many people played different roles in the drama, but each of them was important.
• Abraham founded the nation, and Isaac and Jacob built it.
• Joseph protected it in Egypt and Moses redeemed the people from Egypt.
• Joshua gave them their promised inheritance, and David established the kingdom.
• In spite of sin, suffering, and failures, the Davidic line never ceased, and the day came when Jesus Christ, the Son of David, was born in Bethlehem.
• When the Christian church celebrates the birth of Christ, people remember Mary and Joseph, the magi, the shepherds, and even wicked King Herod; but they rarely think about Zerubbabel, a humble player in the drama, but a faithful one.
• We can’t leave Haggai without noting some practical lesson for God’s people today.

1. The Work of God is Begun, Sustained, and Encouraged by the Word of God
2. “So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet of Zecharia, a descendant of Iddo” (Ezra 6:14).
3. When God’s servants proclaim God’s Word in the power of the Spirit, things begin to happen.
4. “Is it not clear, as you take a bird’s-eye view of church history,” said Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “that the decadent periods and eras in the history of the church have always been those periods when preaching had declined? What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or of a revival? It is renewed preaching.”

1. God’s Servants Must Work Together to Build God’s Temple
2. Haggai and Zechariah, an older man and a younger man, both ministered the Word to the Jewish remnant, and God blessed their mutual efforts.
3. It’s tragic when preachers and churches compete with one another and even carry on public disputes that give the enemy ammunition to oppose the gospel.
4. “For we are all co-workers in god’s service” (1 Corinthians 3:9).

1. When the Outlook Is Bleak, Try to Uplook
2. Apart from God’s promises, we have no hope.
3. As Vance Havner used to say, “Faith sees the invisible, chooses the imperishable, and does the impossible.”
4. Our work today is a part of God’s work in the future, and we want to do our best!

1. Putting God First Is the Guarantee of God’s Best Blessing
2. Why should God’s work suffer while we pursue pleasure and comfort for ourselves?
3. An affluent generation of Christians that is wasting God’s generous gifts on trivia and toys will have much to answer for when the Lord returns.
4. Matthew 6:33 is still in the Bible, and so is Romans 14:12.
5. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
6. “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12).

• Apart From the Power of the Holy Spirit, Our Labors Are in Vain
• “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Philippians 2:13).
• God still demonstrates His power and receives great glory through the weak things of this world.
• If we’re too strong in ourselves, the Lord can’t use us.
• That’s what ruined King Uzziah, “for he was greatly helped until he became powerful” (2 Chronicles 26:15).
• Amen!

Haggai 2:10-19

Introduction

• The Lord spoke to Haggai again and gave him a message about sin.
• God couldn’t bless the people the way He wanted to because they were defiled, so it was important that they keep themselves clean before the Lord.
• “Clean” and “unclean” were very important concepts to the Jews living under the old covenant: in fact, this is one of the major themes of the book of Leviticus.
• If a Jew became defiled, perhaps by toughing a dead body or an open sore, he was separated from the rest of the camp and required to bathe before being allowed to return.
• In some instances, he had to offer a proper sacrifice to restore fellowship with the Lord.
• Haggai went to the priests, who were the authorities on this subject, and asked them two simple questions, not for his own education but for the benefit of the people who were present.

1. Question #1: Holiness (vv.11-12)
2. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Ask the priests what the law says: If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?” The priest answered, “No” (Haggai 2:11-12).
3. When an animal was presented on the altar as a sacrifice, the meat was considered holy: that is, belonged to the Lord and was set apart to be used only as He instructed.
4. The priests and their families were permitted to eat portions of some of the sacrifices, but they had to be careful how they ate it, where they ate it, and what they did with the leftovers (Leviticus 6:8-7:38).
5. Why?
6. Because you can’t transmit holiness in such a simple manner.
7. Even though the garment is holy (set apart) because of the sanctified meat, this holiness can’t be imparted to other objects by the garment.

1. Question #2: Defilement (v. 13)
2. Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled” (Haggai 2:13).
3. The answer was obvious.
4. Haggai had made his point: you can transmit defilement from one thing or person to another, but you can’t transmit sanctity.
5. The same principle applies in the area of health: you can transmit your sickness to healthy people and make them sick, but you can’t share your health with them.

1. The Application (vv.14-19)
2. “What is Haggai driving at?” the people no doubt were asking, so he told them.
3. The people working on the temple couldn’t impart any holiness to it, but they could defile it by their sins.
4. Not only was it important that they do God’s work, but it was also important that they do His work from hearts that were pure and devoted to God.
5. The prophet reviewed their recent history.
6. During the years when they were selfish, they experienced the discipline of the Lord (Haggai 1:1-11).
7. The Jews weren’t keeping the terms of the covenant, so God couldn’t bless them as He promised, and their economy fell apart.
8. When the grain was in the fields, God smote it with mildew and hail, and after the grain had been harvested, the supply didn’t last.
9. Listen to the words of Deuteronomy 28:22, “The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.”
10. Why had God done this to His people?
11. To get them to turn back to Him with all their hearts.
12. “Yet you did not turn to me” (Haggai 2:17).
13. They were so concerned to build their own houses that they ignored the house of God, and yet the rebuilding of the temple was the task that had brought them to Jerusalem!
14. Haggai was issuing a call to repentance, and with that call came the assurance of God’s blessing.
15. “From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. ‘From this day on I will bless you’” (Haggai 2:18-19).
16. He was reminding the people of the promise God gave Solomon after the dedication of the temple.
17. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
18. Had the workers been devoted to the Lord when the foundation of the temple was laid, God’s blessing would have followed immediately; but the people were sinful at heart, and their sin grieved the Lord and defiled their work.
19. “Is there yet any seed left in the barn?” (Haggai 2:19).
20. The answer had to be “No.”
21. It was late December and the men had just plowed the fields for the winter crops.
22. Haggai was calling on them to trust God for the future harvest.
23. It was another example of Matthew 6:33, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
24. “From this day on I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19).

Conclusion

• We cannot separate the “spiritual” from the “material.”
• The construction of a new church or the maintaining of an existing building should be just as spiritual an endeavor as an evangelistic crusade or a missions conference.
• One of the best ways to show our spiritual devotion to the Lord is by using material things to His glory, including money and buildings.
• The managing of material blessings demands as much sanctity as the managing of the “spiritual” ministries of the church.
• It must always be that sin hinders the work of God, and robs us of the blessings of God.
• It was the sins of the people that brought about the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the nation, and their sins could hinder the rebuilding of the temple and the renewing of the Jewish nation in their own land.
• Listen to the words of Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.”
• Haggai asks the people to look back and then to look within.
• They’ve learned about God’s glory and God’s holiness.
• Amen!

Haggai 2:1-9

Introduction

• It’s one thing to get God’s people back to work and quite another thing to keep them on the job.
• Dr. Bob Jones Sr. often said that the greatest ability a person can possess is dependability, but too often potential workers excuse themselves and say, “Here am I, Lord, send somebody else.”
• “To work is to pray,” said Saint Augustine, and God’s people can do any legitimate task to the glory of God; “So whether you eat or drink of whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
• The rebuilding of the temple was a very special task, for it meant the restoring of true worship in Jerusalem; and completing the project would please the Lord and be a great testimony to the unbelieving nations who were watching the remnant in Jerusalem.
• Haggai delivered three more brief messages to encourage the laborers to complete their assignments.
• In each message, he asked them to look in a specific direction to learn what God wanted them to learn.

1. Discouragement (vv.1-3).
2. When the foundation of the temple had been laid sixteen years before, some of the older men had looked back in sorrow as they remembered the glory and beauty of Solomon’s temple (Ezra 3:8-13).
3. It’s likely that Haggai was a member of the older generation and had seen the temple before it was destroyed, but he certainly didn’t weep with the rest of his peers.
4. He rejoiced that the work had begun, and he wanted to see it completed.
5. Rather than ignore the problem of discouragement that was sure to come when the people contrasted the two temples, the prophet faced the problem head-on.
6. He picked an important day on which to deliver his message: October 17, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
7. This feast was devoted to praising God for the harvest and for remembering Israel’s pilgrim days in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:34-43).
8. But the important thing about the date was this: it was during the Feast of Tabernacles that King Solomon had dedicated the original temple (1 Kings 8:2), and Haggai wanted the people to think about that.
9. The restored building had nothing of the splendor of Solomon’s temple, but it was still God’s house, built according to His plan and for His glory.
10. The same ministry would be performed at its altars and the same worship presented to the Lord.
11. Times change, but ministry goes on.

1. Encouragement: God’s Presence (vv.4-9)
2. Haggai didn’t deny that the new temple was “as nothing” in comparison to that Solomon had built, but that wasn’t important.
3. The important thing was that this was God’s work and they could depend on Him to help them finish it.
4. Haggai said “Be strong” to the governor, the high priest, and the people working on the building, and those two words would be very significant to them.
5. During the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews had the book of Deuteronomy read to them, so they heard the record of the three times Moses told Joshua and the people to be strong.
6. No doubt they also remembered that three times the Lord told Joshua to be strong, and when King David charged Solomon with the task of building the original temple, three times he told his son to be strong.
7. “Be strong” wasn’t an empty phrase; it was an important part of their own Jewish history.
8. It’s one thing to tell people to be strong and work and quite something else to give them a solid foundation for those words of encouragement.
9. Haggai told them why they should be strong and work: because the Lord was with them (2:4).
10. The promise of God’s presence was an encouragement to both Joshua and Solomon.
11. Believers today can claim the same promise as they serve the Lord.
12. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
13. Encouragement: God’s Covenant (v.5)
14. The promise of God’s presence with His people is guaranteed by His unchanging Word.
15. When the tabernacle was dedicated by Moses, God’s presence moved in, for the Lord had promised to dwell with His people.
16. “Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them” (Exodus 29:45-46).
17. The same Holy Spirit who enabled Moses and the elders to lead the people would enable the Jews to finish building the temple.
18. The prophet Zechariah, who ministered with Haggai, also emphasized the importance of trusting the Holy Spirit for the enablement needed to do God’s will: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6).
19. A. W. Tozer once said, “If God were to take the Holy Spirit out of this world, much of what we’re doing in our churches would go right on, and nobody would know the difference.”
20. What an indictment!

1. Encouragement: God’s Promise (vv.6-7, 9)
2. With prophetic insight, Haggai looked ahead to the time when the Son of God would minister in this temple and bring the glory of God into its precincts.
3. Herod’s temple replaced the temple Zerubbabel built, but the Jews still considered it “the second temple.”
4. Certainly, the glory that Jesus brought into that temple was greater than the glory of the tabernacle or the temple Solomon built.
5. Then Haggai looked even further into the future and saw the end of the ages, when God would shake the nations and Jesus would return (Haggai 2:7).
6. This verse is quoted in Hebrews 12:26-27 and applied to the return of Christ as the end of the age.
7. God had shaken Sinai when He gave the law; and He will shake the nations before He sends His Son.
8. But today, God’s people belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken; and they will share the glory of Christ when He establishes that kingdom on earth.
9. In both Jewish and Christian tradition, the phrase “the desire of all nations” (Haggai 2:7) has been generally interpreted as a messianic title of Christ.
10. The nations of the world inwardly desire what Christ alone can give, whether they recognize this spiritual yearning or not.
11. Charles Wesley followed this interpretation when he wrote in his Christmas hymn, “Hark! The Herold Angels Sing”:
    1. Come. Desire of nations, come!
    1. Fix in us Thy humble home…
12. The glory referred to in Haggai 2:7 is the glory that Jesus brought to the temple in Jerusalem, but the glory in verse 9 refers to the glory of the millennial temple that will function during Christ’s reign on earth.
13. God not only promised the coming of Messiah and the glory of God in the future temples, but He also promised peace.
14. “In this place” refers to the city of Jerusalem where the Messiah will reign as “Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
15. Those who believe on Jesus today have peace with God because of His atoning death and victorious resurrection.
16. They may also enjoy the “peace of God” as they yield to Christ and trust wholly in Him.

• Encouragement: God’s Provision (v.8)
• Finally, the Lord assured them that, in spite of the bad economy and their lack of wealth, He was able to provide all thy needed.
• “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine” (v.8).
• True, the remnant had promises of provision from the government, but government grants are limited.
• God owns all the wealth, even the wealth stored in the king’s treasury, and He can distribute is as He desire.
• God promises to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.
• It’s better to fail in an endeavor that you know will ultimately succeed than to succeed in an endeavor you know will ultimately fail.
• The humble temple the Jewish remnant was constructing would not last, and even Herod’s ornate temple would be destroyed by the Romans, but there would one day be a glorious temple that nobody could destroy or defile.
• Knowing this, the discouraged remnant could take courage and finish their work.
• Amen!

Haggai 1:12-15

Introduction

• Ill: There was a young man who was visiting his grandparents. His grandpa was in his study reading and the boy walked in carrying a peach. The boy said something that his grandpa didn’t hear; so, he handed the peach to him. Thinking his wife had sent him a snack, grandpa took it and ate it. Just as he swallowed the last bite, the boy said, “Grandpa, I didn’t want you to eat it. I just wanted you to get the worm out!” Not listening can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Amen.
• When God speaks to us by His Word, there’s only one acceptable response; and that’s obedience.
• We don’t weigh the options, we don’t examine the alternatives, and we don’t negotiate the terms.
• We simply do what God tells us to do and leave the rest to Him.
• The British preacher Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy once said, “It’s obeying in spite of consequence.”
• We must respond to…

1. The Voice of the Lord
2. The leaders and all the people united in obeying God’s instructions, and they were motivated by a reverent fear of the Lord.
3. After all, He is the “Lord of hosts,” a title used ten times in this little book.
4. It means “the Lord of the armies,” the God who is in supreme command of the armies of heaven and of earth.
5. Obedience always brings further truth, as John 7:17 says, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own,” and the prophet assured them that God was with them in their endeavors, as verse 13 says, “I am with you,” declares the Lord.
6. “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:7).
7. The obedience of the leaders and people was the result of God working in their hearts just as He had worked in the heart of King Cyrus and in the hearts of the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel.
8. “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
9. We must also respond to…

1. The Stirring of the Lord
2. Haggai delivered this first message in 520 BC, but it wasn’t until three week later that the people resumed their work on the temple.
3. Why the three-week delay?
4. For one thing, it was the month when figs and grapes were harvested, and the people didn’t want to lose their crop.
5. Also, before they could build, the Jews had to remove the debris from the temple site, take inventory of their supplies, and organize their work crews.
6. It would have been foolish to rush ahead totally unprepared.
7. It’s also possible that they took time to confess their sins, and purify themselves so that their work would be pleasing to the Lord.
8. Let’s remember the words of David in Psalm 51:16-19, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God will not despise. May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.”
9. The church today can learn a lesson from the Jewish remnant of Haggai’s day.
10. Too often we make excuses when we ought to be making confessions and obeying the Lord.
11. We say, “It’s time to do such and such.”
12. We act as though we fully understand “the times and the seasons” that God has ordained for His people, but we don’t understand them.
13. Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:6-7).

Conclusion

• Any interpretation of the Bible that limits God and encourages His people to be lazy instead of busy in ministry is a false interpretation and must be abandoned.
• If the Lord is to be pleased with us and glorified before an unbelieving world, we must hear His Word, believe it, and act upon it; no matter what the circumstances may be.
• After all, God is with us, and “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
• Amen!

Haggai 1:7-8

This is what the Lord Almighty says, “Give careful thought to your ways. God up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.

Introduction

• When the Babylonian army set fire to the temple, this destroyed the great timbers that helped to hold the massive stonework together.
• The stones were still usable, but the interior woodwork had been demolished and burned and had to be replaced.
• According to Ezra 3:7, the Jews purchased wood from Tyre and Sidon, just as Solomon had done when he built the original temple (1 Kings 5:6-12).
• “Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia” (Ezra 3:7).
• Now Haggai commanded the men to go into the forests on the mountains and cut down timber to be used for repairing and rebuilding the temple.
• What happened to that original supply of wood?
• Did the people use it for themselves?
• Did some clever entrepreneur profit by selling wood that has been bought with the king’s grant?
• We don’t know, but we wonder where the people got the wood for their paneled houses when no wood was available for God’s house.
• Let’s make a practical application.
• In my ministry, I’ve noted that some professed Christians buy the best for themselves and give to the Lord whatever is left over.
• Ouch!
• Workout furniture, clothing, items that are virtually not usable are donated to the church.
• Like the priests in Malachi’s day, we bring to the Lord gifts we’d be embarrassed to give to our family and friends.
• “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?” (Malachi 1:8).
• But, when we do this, we commit two sins: (1) we displease the Lord, and (2) we disgrace His name.
• The Lord told the people through Haggai: “Build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored” (Haggai 1:8).
• God delights in the obedient service of His people, and His name is glorified when we sacrifice for Him and serve Him.

1. “Hallowed Be Thy Name”
2. This is the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9), but it’s often the last thing we think about as we seek to serve God.
3. Jesus said, “I always do what pleases him” (John 8:29), and that’s a good example for us to follow.
4. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
5. Let’s dive deeper.
6. The phrase “hallowed be thy name” is a request asking that God’s name be honored, revered, and treated as holy.
7. It means acknowledging God’s supreme, sacred nature and expressing a desire for His character to be respected above all else.
8. The word “Hallowed” is an archaic English word derived from the same root as “holy.”
9. It means to sanctify, consecrate, or treat as sacred.
10. The phrase “thy name” represents more than a label.
11. It encompasses a person’s entire identity, reputation, and character.
12. When Jesus taught his followers to pray this, He was essentially encouraging a shift in perspective.
13. The phrase carries three primary theological implications.
14. First of all, reverence.
15. It is a commitment to not treat God trivially or use His name lightly.
16. Second, recognition.
17. It is a prayer that God’s glory and holiness become visibly known and acknowledged across the earth.
18. Third, surrender.
19. It serves as a reminder to the person praying to make God the ultimate focus and authority in their daily life, rather than making a name for themselves.

1. A Displeased God
2. It certainly didn’t please God or honor His name when the people neglected God’s house and built elaborate houses for themselves.
3. We know that God doesn’t live in temples made by hands.
4. Acts 7:48-50 says, “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?’”
5. Our church buildings are not His holy habitation, but the way we care for these buildings reflects our spiritual priorities and our love for Him.
6. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan said it best in a sermon he preached on Haggai 1:4 many years ago: “Whereas the house of God today is no longer material but spiritual, the material is still a very real symbol of the spiritual. When the Church of God in any place in any locality is careless about the material place of assembly, the place of its worship and its work, it is a sign and evidence that its life is at a low ebb.”
7. Well said!

Haggai 1:5-6, 9-11

Introduction

• Haggai’s second admonition invited the people to examine their lifestyle and actions in the light of the covenant God made with them before the nation entered the land of Canaan.
• The word translated “consider” in the KJV is translated “give careful thought to” in the NIV.
• It was time for the people to do some self-examination before the Lord.

II. Believe God’s Promises

• This is what the Lord Almighty says, “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Haggai 1:5-6).
• How would you define a self-examination?
• In the Bible, self-examination is the intentional, prayerful practice of assessing your own spiritual condition, thoughts, and actions against God’s standards.
• It serves as a tool to ensure genuine faith, confess and repent of sin, and prepare for worship.
• What are some key biblical passages concerning this topic?
• 2 Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test.”
• 1 Corinthians 11:28: “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.”
• Lamentations 3:40: “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
• What is the purpose of self-examination?
• Authenticity: To confirm that your faith is real rather than just a cultural habit or outward show.
• Preparation: To approach God’s table or prayer with a clean heart and a reverent attitude.
• Correction: To catch destructive behaviors, pride, or ungodly attitudes early so you can seek God’s forgiveness and grace.
• What is healthy or unhealthy examination?
• Healthy self-examination: Looks at your life with the help of the Holy Spirit to identify sin, find assurance of God’s love, and redirect your focus toward Christ.
• Unhealthy introspection: Occurs when it becomes an obsessive, self-absorbed focus on your own failures, which can lead to unnecessary guilt, doubt, and spiritual depression.
• God’s covenant stated clearly that He would bless them if they obeyed His law and discipline them if they disobeyed.
• “If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of you land yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:18-20).
• Indeed, their strength was spent in vain!
• They sowed abundantly but reaped a meager harvest.
• When they ate and drank, they weren’t filled or satisfied.
• Their clothing didn’t keep them warm and their income didn’t cover their expenses.
• As supplies became scarcer, prices got higher, and a shopper might as well have carried his wealth in a wallet filled with holes!
• What about the tithe?
• The story of Ananias and Sapphira is recorded in Acts 5:1-4.
• What had they done?
• They sold some property and kept some of the money for themselves, thus lying to Peter and to God.
• They were struck down and died for their sins.
• Tithing is a good place to start when it comes to systematic stewardship.
• After all, if an old covenant Jew under law could gladly give tithes to the Lord, should a new covenant believer under grace do less?
• But the tithe is only a start!
• The principles laid down in 2 Corinthians 8-9 encourage us to give offerings to the Lord and trust Him for all that we need.
• Listen to the words of 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
• Because the Jews returned to the land in obedience to the Lord, they thought He would give them special blessings because of their sacrifices, but they were disappointed.
• Again, listen to Haggai 1:9, “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains in ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.”
• Verse 10 says, “Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
• Verse 11 says, “I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
• Once more, the prophet revealed the source of their trouble: the people were too busy building their own houses and had no time for the house of the Lord.
• It’s Matthew 6:33 all over again!
• Had the nation believed what God promised in His covenants, they would have obeyed Him and enjoyed His blessing!
• However, we must be careful not to turn giving into a “business arrangement,” for our obedience should be the evidence of our love and faith.
• Christian industrialist R. G. LeTourneau used to say, “If you give because it pays, it won’t pay.”
• He was right.

Conclusion

• The Lord never made a “prosperity covenant” with the church as He did with Israel.
• In fact, our Lord’s first statement in the Sermon on the Mount is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
• “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).
• God has seen fit to bless some Christians with wealth, but it isn’t a guarantee for every believer, in spite of what the contemporary “prosperity preachers” claim.
• If we help to meet the needs of others, God does promise to meet our needs, but this isn’t a pledge of material prosperity.
• No matter how much God gives us materially, we all must say with Paul, “poor, yet making many rich” (2 Corinthians 6:10).
• Amen!

Haggai 1:1-4

Introduction

• When the foundations of the temple were laid in Jerusalem in the your 536, the younger men shouted for joy while the older men wept (Ezra 3:8-13).
• Although Haggai probably had seen Solomon’s temple in its glory, he was undoubtedly among those who expressed joy for the Lord was at work among His people.
• But it doesn’t take long for zeal to cool and God’s people to grow apathetic, especially when opposition began an ominous growl that soon became a roar.
• The shout awakened the enemies of the Jews, aroused official opposition, and caused the work to stop (Ezra 4:1-6, 24), and the temple lay unfinished from 536 to 520, when Haggai and Zechariah brought God’s message to Zerubbabel and Joshua.
• In this first passage, the prophet gave four admonitions to the leaders and to the people to encourage them to get back to work and finish rebuilding the temple.

1. Put God First in Your Lives
2. The first statement in the divine message went right to the heart of the problem and exposed the hypocrisy and unbelief of the people.
3. “The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house” (v.2).
4. This is their defense for their inactivity.
5. Billy Sunday called an excuse “the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.”
6. Benjamin Franklin wrote, “I never knew a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else.”
7. Congregations all over this country have made excuses for not following God’s plan of action when faced with a challenging project.
8. I am happy to say that this congregation faces challenges with boldness and no fear!
9. What evidence did the Jewish people need that God’s time had come?
10. How could they doubt that it was God’s will for them to rebuild the temple and restore true worship in Jerusalem?
11. Hadn’t God moved King Cyrus to free the exiles and commission them to return to Jerusalem for that very purpose?
12. Let’s read Ezra 1:1-4.
13. Didn’t the king generously give them the money and materials they needed, and didn’t the Lord graciously protect the exiles carrying the temple treasures as they traveled from Babylon to Judah?
14. The Jews certainly knew the words that the prophet Isaiah had recorded about Cyrus: “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuild.’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid’” (Isaiah 44:28).
15. Isaiah had also written, “I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness; I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 45:13).
16. By stopping their work, the Jews were admitting that they had no faith in God’s Word or in God’s power to perform.
17. In light of these facts, on what basis were the people refusing to obey God and build His house?
18. For one thing, both Isaiah and Jeremiah had predicted a national restoration that would amaze the Gentile nations and bring glory to Israel, but that wonderful event had not yet occurred.
19. The people failed to understand that some of these promises would be fulfilled in the end times (the last days); and when the situation in Judah became worse, the people questioned the dependability of the Word of God.
20. Perhaps some of the scribes studied Jeremiah’s promise about the seventy years of captivity and decided that the allotted time hadn’t yet ended.
21. Only fifty years had transpired since the temple had been destroyed in 586, said the experts, so the Jews would have to wait another twenty years for the prophecy to be fulfilled.
22. God took them at their word, and the work stopped for sixteen years.
23. The temple was completed in 515, so the scholars got their seventy years accounted for!
24. The people were terribly inconsistent: it wasn’t time to build the house of God, but it was time to build their own houses!
25. And some of the people had built, not just ordinary dwellings, but “paneled houses,” the kind that kings built for themselves.
26. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
27. Haggai’s congregation had never heard that great promise, but the principle behind Christ’s words was written into their law.
28. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).

Conclusion

• It’s obvious that the nation had its priorities confused, but are God’s people today any different from those ancient Jews?
• Local churches can’t expand their budgets for world evangelism because the money isn’t there, and yet many church members don’t believe Matthew 6:33 and put God first in their giving.
• Measured by Third World standards, Christians in the Western world are living in luxury, yet their giving is low and their debts are high because their wealth is being used for things that really don’t matter.
• When we put God first and give Him what’s rightfully His, we open the door to spiritual enrichment and the kind of stewardship that honors the Lord.
• A century after Haggai ministered, the prophet Malachi accused the people of robbing God of tithes and offerings and thereby robbing themselves of blessing (Malachi 3:7-12), and his words need to be heeded today!
• Amen!

HOWDY!! Labor Day coming up next week. You know, we need to sing yet another hymn. Grab a hymnal and turn to Hymn #462 – We’ll Work ‘till Jesus Comes. And that’s what we’ll take a look at now – Good Work and just how that fits a response to Stewardship. Well, there are a number of “-ships” one can look at. Examples include:

• Seamanship 0 in the Bible
• Craftsmanship 0 in the Bible
• Leadership 0 in the Bible
• Friendship (Prov. 22:24 says“. . .make no friendship with an angry man.”

and James 4:4 even says, “Friendship with the world is hostility toward God.”) Otherwise 0 in the Bible.

• Lordship 2x in NT
• Fellowship 16x in NT
• Stewardship—twice in the NT

I. INTRODUCTION – The Meaning of Stewardship:

The Bible dictionary says oikonomia as rendered in Luke 16:2, 3 ,4 that this is the steward’s challenge and position within his lord’s staff but also the use of oikonomia —a form of trust and commission under the leadership and direction of Jesus. He’s the boss, the leader, the Captain of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Lord of His Church and His Creation and us.

And in Jesus’ own words as he was assuring Peter’s stewardship responsibilities, one hears for the very first time the word “Church”, Matthew 16:18.

A stewardshp assurance to the chosen and the elect is a labor based on the Will of God and within the Father’s interests, not manmade interests. Not boastful and proud, but humble and contrite. Isaiah 66:2.

Matthew 11:29 says we’re to be gentle and humble in heart. Put on ones face and wear a smile. To be kind and gentle as good stewards so to get along with humble means Phileman 3:21. The reward of good stewardship and humility as commanded in Colossians 3:12-15 where we read:

II. STEWARDSHIP CHALLENGES FOUND IN THE BIBLE:

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of

• Compassion, Colossians 3:12.
  • Kindness, 2 Peter 1:7.
  • Humility, Philemon 3:21.
  • Gentleness, 1 Corinthians 1:21.
  • And Patience, Colossians 1:11.

So also we must

• Forebearing with one another, Colossians 3:13.
  • Forgiving each other, Ephesians 4:32.
  • Put on love for each other, 1 John 4:7.
  • Be bound in unity, Ephesians 4:13.
  • And with the sincerity of thanksgiving, 2 Corinthians 1:12.

Also to be fearless, obedient and trustworthy, but not arrogant, angry, and boastful. We are to be lead to the goal in keeping steady with loyalty to God’s presence and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. According to Psalms139:16, our days are numbered. And joyfully with assurance we know that day we’ll be with Him in Paradice.

III.             A GOOD STEWARD’S ASSURANCE:

The good Beatitudes John 5: 3-11 indicate that the Father also blesses those who love His Son with their entire personality and stewardship. God loves those who love Him (Proverbs 8:17) And in 1 John 4:7 this Love is from God-

— a sweeping entirety of intense perfection that is complete and without reservation for that which is good—difficult for any person aside from Jesus to match. Without prayer and study of the Father’s inspired word, His Bible, one can only guess how perfect the Father’s love and blessings are for a good and faithful action of stewardship.

And the Lord above answers a good steward’s prayer. We’ve all heard it said that sometimes His answer is “YES” and sometimes “NO”, and sometimes, “Not right now.” But never “Maybe.” But of all supplications (Psalms 28:2) or our petitions (Philippians 4:6) offered in prayer by the person of good stewardship to the Person of Our Lord, will be heard.

Challenge for the day: Be on guard for your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

IV. APPLICATION OF GOOD STEWARDSHIP:

Get to work—a labor of Love for our Lord by quickening one’s heart to listen and follow the Holy Spirit. One cannot nor does the Holy Spirit allow for hatred, envy, anger, sin, blemishes of heart, resentment, temperamental or fearful. But have a positive attitude and conduct so as to become happy with all the fruits of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:22 & 23 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. A forgiving heart and a faithful walk led by the Holy Spirit.

And remember as in John 19:30, Jesus’ last words hanging on a cross were, “It is finished.” He had completed his task. He didn’t say, “I quit.” Because He had finished His long prophesied work, His earthly ministry and His labor of the ultimate sacrifice for his friends because of his Great Love for us all.

See John 15:13. And further on in the same breath, He commanded that we love one another. John 15:17

IV. CONCLUSION:

Remember as I once reported: Billy Graham reminded us about our emotions that though God given, that “If we didn’t experience emotions we couldn’t know God’s peace and joy.” But Brother Graham went further to remind us of Jesus’ statement about the “greatest commandment “that we’re to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.” That from our Lord is direct from Matthew 22:37 and Deuteronomy 6:5. And that inks it for your entire personality—emotions and all. Know this: Any action or attitude we sustain becomes habit, and any habit repeated becomes a way of life and personality known by others, and any such known way etched as it were in granite become a legacy.

FAITH SEES THE INVISIBLE; BELIEVES THE INCREDIBLE; AND RECEIVES THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Closing Prayer.

A commitment to serve Jesus Christ and God’s Will because of our Love for Him and for one another.

Invitation:

1. To confess before the church one’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, asking for obedience in the rite of baptism.
2. To confess a rededication of faith in the Lord and His Will.
3. To offer a personal pledge of obedience to a Call of the Holy Spirit.
4. To petition membership in this church family confirming prior completion of salvation confession.

John 14:27

Introduction

• As I am absorbing all that we have gone over in our study of the Holy Spirit, I have come to the conclusion that I need to respond to it all from a personal angle.
• Many things are going through my mind that I am sure that you can relate to and probably have sensed yourself in our study.
• Knowledge without application is useless!
• So, why not apply what we have learned to our everyday lives.
• Most of you have heard of the “Serenity Prayer.”
• It is a prayer attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr, who lived from 1892-1971.
• Neibuhr was an American theologian and writer.
• The first printing of the Prayer was published in 1950, but some accounts have seen it as early at 1934.
• The first four lines are from the original text, with the remaining portion were penned by an unknown author.
  • God grant me the serenity
  • To accept the things I cannot change;
  • Courage to change the things I can;
  • And wisdom to know the difference.
  • Living one day at a time;
  • Enjoying one moment at a time;
  • Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
  • Taking, as He did, this sinful world
  • As it is, not as I would have it;
  • Trusting that He will make all things right
  • If I surrender to His will;
  • So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
  • And supremely happy with Him
  • Forever and ever in the next.
  • Amen.
• Let’s examine this marvelous prayer in detail.

1. The Meaning of the Prayer
2. The first two lines are a prayer for peace to accept what cannot be altered in oneself (serenity).
3. The third line is a request for fortitude to overcome that which is possible to achieve or overcome.
4. And the fourth line is a prayer for discernment to know when to accept a situation or when to challenge it.
5. The meaning behind the second part of the Serenity Prayer asks for contentment in day-to-day life.

1. Is the Prayer Found in the Bible?
2. The Serenity Prayer is not found in the Bible.
3. However, much of the sentiment of this prayer is rooted in biblical themes.
4. The request for “serenity” from God is a common theme in the Scriptures.
5. For example, Christ himself promises peace to His followers: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
6. And the Apostle Paul, when writing to the church at Philippi, implies that the peace of God comes when we have given all our anxious thoughts to God in prayer: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
7. In the second request for “courage” (to change things I can), there is a promise in Scripture from the writings of the prophet Isaiah: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
8.  In the letter to James, we are encouraged to ask God for His Wisdom, and He will give generously: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who give generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).
9. What is God’s wisdom?
10. The following is how James defines it: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17).
11. John Wooden once said, “There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.”

1. Meditation on the Serenity Prayer
2. Let’s examine each stanza from the original text of this prayer and make biblical application.
3. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.”
4. This calls for a place where we are calm, peaceful, and free from stress.
5. This is Holy Spirit led.
6. Be still for one minute.
7. In our world today, this is probably one of our hardest things to do.
8. The best time that I have found to do this is in the early morning.
9. “Courage to change the things I can.”
10. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
11. As you are still and listening to the Lord, bring to mind any areas in your life that you are failing in, and where you want to see change in.
12. Ask God for His courage and strength to overcome these problems.
13. Allow God’s light to flood your being with His strength and hope.
14. “And wisdom to know the difference.”
15. In Proverbs 2:6, we find, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
16. Everything ultimately comes from our God in heaven—the clothes we wear, the food we eat, our families and loved ones, and the very breath in our bodies.
17. Give thanks to God for His goodness and the wisdom that he has nurtured in you.
18. Offer Him your life and allow Him to lead you in the areas where change is possible, and ask for His grace to cover you in the areas where you feel things are too difficult for you right now.
19. From wisdom we are led back to serenity, and a place of rest and calm.
20. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds n Christ Jesus.”

1. Application: Discernment
2. What is discernment?
3. Discernment is the God-given ability to distinguish truth from error and right from wrong by applying Scripture to all areas of life.
4. It is essentially the ability to separate, examine, and determine truth according to God’s standards.
5. What are the 5 C’s of Discernment?
6. Counsel of the Saints (Community): Seeking advice from trusted, mature believers who know you and can provide it does not violate God’s perspective.
7. Commanding Scripture (Word): Aligning the decision with the Bible’s clear teachings and principles, ensuring it does not violate God’s revealed will.
8. Common Sense (Reason): Using rational thought and wisdom to evaluate the practical pros and cons, assuming God often guides through human intelligence.
9. Compelling Spirit (Peace): A growing inner sense of peace, desire, or prompting from the Holy Spirit in prayer that brings clarity.
10. Coincidental Signs (Circumstances): Noticing diving providence through open or closed doors, timing, and circumstances that align with the other C’s.
11. What are the signs of lacking discernment?
12. A discerning person is able to see the truth.
13. That’s really what discernment is all about—the ability to see through the lies, facades, and misdirection.
14. Those who lack relationship discernment usually see things in black or white lenses.
15. They see everything in an oversimplified way.
16. What are the seven steps of discernment?
17. First of all, state the question: Clearly define the specific decision or question at hand.
18. Second, gather information: Research, consider the pros and cons, and identify potential obstacles.
19. Third, pray and reflect: Open your heart to the Holy Sirit to move past personal biases and attachments.
20. Fourth, make a decision: Choose the option that brings the deepest sense of peace and spiritual joy, rather than merely the easiest path.
21. Fifth, live with the decision: Before acting, live with the decision in your mind to see if the peace remains.
22. Sixth, act: Take action, often requiring courage to leave behing other options and attachments.
23. Finally, seek confirmation: Evaluate the results—does this decision bear good fruit (Love, joy, peace, kindness, etc).
24. Let us end with two verses that will help us in our struggle with discernment.
25. James 1:5-8 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
26. 1 Corinthains 2:14-15 says, “The person without the Sspirit does not accept the things that come frm the Sprit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’”
27. We are to be discerning people because God has given us all the tools necessary to get beyond our biases and see the world through His eyes.

• Going Deeper
• In John 5:19-20, we read, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”
• Jesus is our ultimate example of how to evaluate discernment.
• Jesus, realizing that His role was that of a servant, never sought to initiate activity for the Father.
• The servant never sets the agenda—the master does.
• The servant must be so alert to what the master is doing that whenever the master begins to move in a direction, the servant quickly joins him.
• Even the Son of God did not assume He knew the best thing to do in a situation.
• Instead, He looked to see the Father’s activity and then joined Him.
• Jesus knew His Father so well that He was keenly sensitive to divine activity around Him, immediately recognizing His Father at work.
• It is possible for us to be so busy trying to bring God into our activity that we don’t even notice Him at work around us.
• He seeks to redirect our attention so that we might join Him, but we tend to be self-centered, evaluating everything by how it affects us.
• We must learn to view events around us from God’s perspective.
• Then we will see our world very differently.
• When God brings someone across our path, we will look to see if God is convicting that person of his need for salvation.
• Perhaps God is comforting someone in her sorrow.
• God might be encouraging your friend as she faces a challenge.
• We will then adjust our lives to join God as He works in that person’s life.
• We ought to live each day with tremendous anticipation as we look to see where God is working around us.
• As our eyes look to see where God is working around us.
• As our eyes are opened to His activity, we will marvel at His great works.
• Amen!

Revelation 21:1-8

Introduction

• We are given a promise and possibility of victory in our daily struggles with the devil, yet an even greater and eternal victory will be ours through the Holy Spirit at the close of this world.
• Salvation is a past fact, justification; a present process, sanctification; and a future consummation, redemption.
• So, we see that the presence of the Holy Spirit in Christian lives leads not only to a realization of the separation from this present world but also to a strong assurance of victory and the glories of the world to come.

1. Final Victory Through the Spirit
2. The word victory in the New Testament is connected with the Holy Spirit, from Jesus’ victory over the devil by the Spirit of God to the words of our Lord as John saw Him presiding over the new Jerusalem and saying to the victorious Christians: “Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children” (Revelation 21:7).
3. In Revelation 21:7 we see the tension of the victory—present in daily life but also not yet present in its fullness.
4. We are children of God already and yet children to be.
5. The future victory and the promised inheritance are both the result of sonship which is ours through the Holy Spirit.
6. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:14, 16-17).
7. We are children of the eternal King living on this side of the veil of death.
8. Like Abraham, neither you nor I have yet fully “receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
9. This hope, these promised, are fanned as the coals of fire, so to speak, by the Holy Spirit.
10. He is at work not only to shape our present lives but also to bring the future glory to the very edge of this present existence.

1. Images of the Promise
2. In various ways the New Testament speaks of the glories of the world to come, indicating that we can but “touch the him of the garment” in this present age.
3. Let us briefly look at three of these images of the promise.
4. First of all, there is the image of the seal.
5. In the New Testament, we find the use of the seal as a sign of ownership, as a sign of recognition to mark those who belong to Christ, as a sign of membership in the church, as a sign of confirmation of the gifts of the Spirit, as a symbol of power and protection, and as a promise of the glory to come.
6. In the Book of Revelation, we see a beautiful use of the idea in the sealing of God’s people with a mark to show they belong to God and will be protected in the coming persecution, ‘Look, he is coming in the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:7-8).
7. The Spirit is given to us as a sign that we belong to God, that we are part of the body of Christ, and that we have been given the power and help of the risen Christ.
8. We have been sealed with the presence of the Spirit as an assurance of our parts in the world to come.
9. As Abraham, “received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised,” so have we received the presence of the Holy Spirit of promise as a seal of our salvation and coming glory (Romans 4:11).
10. The second image of the promise is firstfruits.
11. The general Old Testament usage has to do with the first and finest of the field or flock.
12. In the New Testament, Abraham is spoken of as the firstfruits of faith and Christ is spoken of as the firstfruits of “them that slept.”
13. The first glorious application of the firstfruits image is to our resurrection event.
14. As Karl Heim said so powerfully: “Just as when a dyke in the Low Countries on the shores of the North Sea gives way, even if it is only one little section, we know that, although this is in itself an even of small importance, the consequences are incalculable; beyond the dyke is the tumultuous sea, which will burst through the opening—so Paul knew, when he had met the Risen One, that “He is the first-born of them that slept.”
15. We are told in Romans 8:23, “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”
16. This is the usual idea of firstfruits, and we are assured that the gifts we have received through the Holy Spirit—conversion, sanctification, forgiveness, communion with God, spiritual knowledge, joy, and peace—are but a foretaste, a sample, of the full harvest God has prepared for us n the coming Kingdom.
17. The gifts of the Spirit will be followed by all the glories of sonship!
18. The third image of promise is guarantee.
19. The idea is similar to that of firstfruits, yet stronger.
20. Several passages speak of the Holy Spirit in our live as a guarantee or earnest of our inheritance in glory.
21. “Set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:22).
22. “Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 5:5).
23. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
24. Christians live in an atmosphere of promise.
25. The guarantee of this promised glory is the Holy Spirit who is given by the Father as a first installment or down payment on the glory to come.
26. The ancient papri show many instances of the secular use of the word used in this promise.
27. God has made a down payment, a first installment, toward the full gift of glory for us in sending the Spirit into our lives.

1. Son and Brothers: Slave No More
2. The New Testament assumes that all of us were slaves before coming to Christ.
3. Slave implies a total obedience to the will of someone or something other than ourself.
4. Various passages of Scripture point to this point, including slavery to sin, uncleanness, spirits of the universe, passions and pleasures, and to the law (Romans 6:6-7, 12, 14, 16-23; Galatians 4:8-9; Titus 3:3; Romans 7:1).
5. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
6. In Jesus’ time some slaves did belong to two masters.
7. In fact, one master could free his portion of a slave while the other master would not, leaving a man half free and have slave!
8. The words of Jesus show how absurd it is for people to think they can truly give exclusive and complete commitment to two masters.
9. Sin enslaves us, separates us from God, takes away from us the possibility of deciding the course of our lives, brings forth the rotten fruit of death, and tries to steal the final victory.
10. Slavery is also seen in a positive way as an image of the Christian life.
11. It is used in connection with our changing masters.
12. Being set free is not the goal of conversion.
13. The contrast is not between being either a slave or a free person, but between being a slave to sin or being a child of God.
14. Freedom from slavery, a freedom we receive only in Christ, is important because only then are we free to choose whether we wish to follow Christ.
15. Jesus told the disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made know to you” (John 15:15).
16. Yet verse 14 makes it clear that this fellowship as friends is dependent upon our doing what Jesus commanded, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
17. Paul certainly understood that the only way to rise above slavery is to fully commit ourselves to Christ.
18. So, the contrasting reality to slavery is sonship, as we see in the words of Jesus, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever” (John 8:34-35).
19. So, the Christian is rescued from slavery into sonship.
20. We realize that our adoption by God is possible because of Jesus’ coming as the only begotten Son.
21. Our sonship is shaped by His sonship, and we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.
22. The Holy Spirit leads us into sonship, according to Romans 8:14, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”
23. Because we are sons, God puts the Spirit into our hearts, crying “Abba (Father)” and leading us to say the same (Romans 8:15).
24. This is the term Jesus used in prayer to the Father, and it carries a flavor of intimacy and dependency—very much like our saying “Daddy.”
25. The Holy Spirit is both the “Spirit of sonship” and the “Spirit of his Son.”
26. The Spirit testifies to us that we are children of God by planting that cry of “Father!” in our hearts.
27. One of the finest descriptions of our sonship is that of McLeod Campbell:
    1. Let us think of Christ as the Son who reveals the Father, that we may know the Father’s heart against which we have sinned, that we may see how sin, in making us godless, has made us orphans, and understand that the grace of God, which is at once the remission of past sin and the gift of eternal life, restores to our orphan spirits their Father and to the Father of spirits His lost children.
28. Joint heirs with Christ!
29. Co-victors with Christ!
30. The relationship of being heirs is brought about and sustained by the Spirit.
31. The writer of Hebrews spoke eloquently of the kinship of Christ with us.
32. His young brothers, saying the Jesus partook of flesh and blood that “he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
33. Jesus is the original, and truly righteous, elder brother!
34. Our kinship with Christ means we share Christ’s ultimate victory.
35. To us as conquerors shall be granted the privilege of sharing His suffering, and of sharing His throne in glory.
36. We are certain of ultimate and final victory because Jesus is victorious.
37. “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
38. In his First Epistle, John wrote, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

1. Romans 8: To View the Land
2. The eighth chapter of Romans is the high point of Paul’s letter and the glorious mountain peak of his theology.
3. Some scholars fee that in his eighth chapter Paul surveyed all the distance he had covered in the letter—from the dismal darkness of the godless pagan in chapter 1 to exult in the life in the Spirit in chapter 8.
4. The blessed hope toward which the Spirit points us is twofold: to be like Christ and to be with Christ.
5. Jesus’ followers’ glorious hope is to be with Him.
6. The finest description of heaven is found in John 14:1-4, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
7. The reward promised by the Spirit to those who overcome in the seven churches of Revelation are tied to the presence of Christ in glory, as Revelation 3:5 states, “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.”
8. To be like Jesus is the goal of all the spiritual shaping we as Christians undergo by the Spirit, as Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brothers and sisters.”
9. We may not understand all that this verse says, but it is clear that our becoming like Jesus is the primary work of the Spirit in our lives, as 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
10. We submit to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives and expect to become like Christ in our victorious last day: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
11. A taste of that life which we will share in Christ’s presence and likeness is given us in this world.
12. The character which the presence of the Spirit has put into our lives—joy, peace, hope—is a firstfruits, a foretaste, a sample of the victory to come beyond this world.
13. The future will be like the joy which we presently experience in our highest, best, and closest moments with the Spirit.
14. Our hope is not based on what we are presently missing in this world of sin, what we have not received, rather on what we have received in the Spirit.
15. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we have already moved out of a natural existence, lives moving toward the grave and judgment, and are moving toward lives which are supernatural.
16. The early churches had a tradition of serving milk and honey to new converts at their first communion to symbolize the real presence of the world to come.
17. The resurrection has taken place in us: We have passed from death to life.
18. The New Testament teaches us that the more we sense the nature and reality of the world to come pressing in on this world in our lives, the more we long for the fullness of that glory.
19. We groan because we sense the coming glory.
20. We are like sick folk on the road to recovery, who fret and chafe under the present restrictions soon to be removed.
21. This is reflected in Romans 8:19-22, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
22. “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived—the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
23. Amen!

Revelation 12:12

Introduction

• “A mighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing; Our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing, For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great. And, armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.”
• These are the words from the Martin Luther hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”
• These words strike a “cord” in each of us, and sometimes a not very pleasant one.
• Some in our world consider Satan not real.
• A friend on mine was visiting a Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. He paid the attendance fee, and was walking around looking at all of the attractions. Suddenly, he sensed movement behind him. He turned around to see a mechanical dinosaur walking around snorting and entertaining the kids. For a brief split second, my friend was deeply concerned, only to realize that it was just a mechanical device.
• But Satan is real, and the tragedy is that too many Christians act as if he were not.
• We do not get such an attitude from the Bible.
• Every New Testament writer, without exception, referred to the devil or demonic powers.
• The evil dimension of powers of darkness is no mere superstition, no veneer of the first century; it is at the heart of the New Testament story.
• Jesus certainly believed in the devil and struggled with him all through His ministry.
• If our Lord accepted the reality of the devil, then surely if we deny or ignore him, we do so at our own peril.
• The devil and his cohorts are called by a multitude of names in the New Testament, such as the devil, Satan, spirit of wickedness, thrones, angels, demons, prince of the powers of the air, the destroyer, and the god of this world.
• These various names show that the biblical writers were not concerned with what they called the devil or his horde—all these represent one kingdom headed by one being, the devil.
• They were concerned with the reality of Satan, and Satan’s goal is the complete destruction of every person in every way.
• That kind of enemy frightens me.
•  Jesus struggled a lifetime with Satan.
• At the Last Supper He said of the disciples, “You are those who have stood by me in my trials” (Luke 22:28).
• The temptations at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry were a test of strength which showed the devil to be the weaker of the two.
• Satan then left Jesus “for a season” (Luke 4:13).
• The various encounters with demons were of Satan, and we read that the devil even got into the inner circle of disciples: “Then Satan entered Judas…one of the twelve” (Luke 22:3).
• Satan obtained the power to sift Peter and would no doubt have succeeded, but for the prayers of Jesus, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).
• To the soldiers who came to the garden to arrest Him, Jesus said, “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).
• Jesus’ death on the cross struck at the very stronghold of Satan and defeated him.
• The resurrection is the ultimate proof of Christ’s victory over the devil.
• A great spiritual battle has raged in heaven and on earth since the birth of Christ.
• On earth, he roams the world like a hungry lion, making war on the brothers and sisters of Christ: “Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down on you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12).
• Our study of life in the Spirit would be incomplete if we ignored that dark opposition, that spiritual enemy, we call Satan!
• We Christians are in a war!
• At the battle of Bull Run during the Civil War, the high society of Washington came out to watch the Union Army obliterate the rebels and found themselves being peppered with gunfire!
• Christians who think the struggle with Satan is a similarly amusing Sunday afternoon outing may find themselves likewise in the midst of battle!
• For, in Bunyan’s words, there are always “archers standing ready in Beelzebub’s Castle to shoot them, who should knock at the wicket-gate for entrance” (The Pilgrim’s Progress, p. 267).
• Several things we must remember in our spiritual warfare.
• We must remember that we could not dare to do battle with Satan if he were not already ultimately defeated, if he were not already crippled.
• The invasion of Satan’s kingdom has already taken place in Jesus’ ministry, and the decisive battle was won on the cross; we are in the mopping-up action.
• A second thing to remember is that our spiritual battle is not against flesh and blood, but against unseen spiritual powers of evil, who, even when seen, may appear as angels of light.
• “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
• A third truth which we must ever keep in mind is that the devil knows he only has a short time, as Revelation 12:12 states, and that enrages him.

1. The Christian’s Battle with Satan
2. A few years ago, a pastor friend of mine told me of an encounter that one of his church members had with a patrolman, making a comment that I will never forget. The patrolman “pulled her over” on the main street, and that in itself is embarrassing enough, but especially to a lady of her standing in the community and church. And it did not help for the pastor to come by just then and waved to both the lady and the patrolman. Later, the lady told my friend her response to the patrolman for stopping her for speeding: “Why, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, arresting fine ladies like me! You ought to be out there after the criminals!”
3. That illustrates our idea that Satan ought let us good folk alone!
4. But Satan has declared war on each of us who belong to Jesus!
5. Our hymnals are full of military images to describe Christian life: “Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross,” “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” “Am I a Soldier of the Cross,” “My Soul, Be on Thy Guard,” “Fight the Good Fight,” and “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” just to name a few.
6. Paul used the images of war and used them effectively.
7. He told the Roman Christians to put on the armor of light and, writing to the Ephesians, enumerated the various items of the Christian soldier’s armor.
8. In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul said that, though the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they are, nevertheless, mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds—the strongholds of sin and of the devil.
9. In 1 Corinthains Paul compared himself to a soldier and claimed the right to live by the gospel, just as a soldier lives at the expense of those for whom he fights.
10. In the Epistle of Philippians, Epaphroditus is called Paul’s “fellow soldier”; and similar expressions are found in the Letters of Timothy and in the Second Letter to the Corinthians.
11. To Timothy, Paul said, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3), and added that no man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular affairs.
12. Military language came naturally to Paul.
13. In fact, we can say that any Christian writer who wishes to employ the image of the spiritual soldier need look no further for an example than the writings of Paul.
14. Behind the individual soldier in any battle is the larger unity of which he is a part.
15. The individual soldier represents and gets his meaning from the army to which he belongs.
16. Behind the army is the country or kingdom for which it fights.
17. So, our struggle against the devil is a struggle between two kingdoms.
18. In Matthew 12:25-26, Jesus said these words, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand.”
19. Then, in verse 28, Jesus said, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
20. The battle is God’s kingdom against Satan’s kingdom.
21. Satan’s kingdom is this present world, twisted and broken by sin.
22. His goal is to tempt people and institutions to rebel against God, to distort the truth of God’s love, and to enslave people.
23. The seriousness and severity of Satan’s corrupting rule in the world is seen in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.
24. As Paul addressed the problem of a man openly living an immoral life, he urged the church to “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5:5).
25. By this he apparently meant to withdraw Christian fellowship from the man, to treat him as an unbeliever, to take from him the comfort and guidance of the church.
26. They went to thrust him back into the world where, in the midst of moral corruption and hopelessness, he might feel isolated and separated from God’s love and surrounded by the hellish hopelessness of Satan’s world and come to his senses.
27. The world outside the church is dominated by Satan.
28. But the soldier has not only the assurance that he is part of an army which carries the banner of the kingdom of God against the kingdom of Satan but also has the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit to help him defeat the devil.
29. Remember Paul’s fine statement of the exchanged life in Galatians 2:20, “yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”
30. That is the note which sounds above the conflict.
31. The unceasing struggle against the spirit of Antichrist, which was raging in the days of the disciples John and yet continues, has the sure outcome of victory because “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

1. The Weapons of Our Warfare
2. Just how does the devil make war on us, and what spiritual weapons shall we use in standing against him?
3. The devil attacks us both as individuals and as churches.
4. Temptation is the specific weapon the devil, and he builds on the marriage that “the grass is greener on the other side.”
5. But the best he can actually offer us is counterfeit crown, phony power, and ultimate ruin.
6.  A study of Paul’s letters will show us how serious is the tempter’s power, as Paul feared his work with the Thessalonians might have been in vain due to Satan’s tempting, as described in 1 Thessalonians 3:5, “For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.”
7. Paul the bachelor warned how the devil tempts us sexually, as described in 1 Corinthians 7:5, “Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
8. Even the candidate for bishop must be aware of the snare of the devil, as described in 1 Timothy 3:7, “He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
9. From the biblical warnings, we can know we are making progress in spiritual growth if we are the target of the devil’s darts of temptation.
10. To feel no temptation may mean that Satan already has his way in our daily lives and that we are not worth his attention and energy.
11. In that case he has destroyed our witness for Christ.
12. A lack of feeling temptation may mean that we have been so lulled and deadened by the devil so that we do not feel his terrible onslaught when it comes.
13. As a rule, however, those who seek a close walk with the Lord will feel the brunt of the devil’s temptation.
14. The comment of the author of a thirteenth-century religious manual is so true:
    1. Let no one of holy life think that she will not be tempted. The good, who have climbed high, are more greatly tempted than the weak. And this is to be expected, for the higher the hill the more the wind blows about it. The higher the hill of holy, exalted life, the more and the stronger will be the Devil’s blasts and the winds of temptation.
15. Usually, the seasoned saint seems unaware of having achieved some measure of victory over the devil; she is more aware of her weakness and need for the power of the Holy Spirit.
16. The most seductive and effective temptations of Satan are not the sins of the flesh.
17. True, these have traditionally been seen as most serious and have led us almost to idolize purity from fleshly sins.
18. We should be aware of the power of the flesh, but we must not ignore the sins of the heart and mind.
19. We have these three—the world, the flesh, and the devil—and while the devil is behind both, the lust of the world, and the lust for fame and fortune and self-trust is equally evil and damning.

Conclusion

• How shall we withstand temptations and live victorious lives in Christ over Satan?
• We find three vital words on this challenge in the New Testament: blood, witness, and armor.
• Revelation 12:11 says, “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
• We cannot hope to withstand Satan in our own strength, nor must we; we have been cleansed of our sins by the blood of Christ.
• In the spiritual power released in Christ’s death and resurrection and bestowed upon us, we can defeat Satan.
• The cheapened use of the cross in vampire movies to ward off evil is a caricature of the face that the blood of Jesus, applied to our lives in salvation, truly is effective in keeping Satan at bay.
• Psalm 34:1-7 is a beautiful statement of the value of a person’s testimony of the presence, forgiveness, and goodness of the Lord.
• “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. It will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”
• The word testimony here is the same word as martyr, and we know that often the early Christians sealed their testimonies—their witness—with death.
• Reflecting on our testimonies and sharing them when proper are, indeed, powerful tools in resisting Satan.
• The third concept in defeating Satan, along with the blood and witness, is armor.
• The classic passage dealing with our spiritual armor is Ephesians 6:10-18, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
• The armor is for protection and as such enable us to move offensively for Christ.
• The image of Christians making their spiritual stand, girded in the armor of the Holy Spirit, watchful and wielding the Sword of the Spirit is a grand picture!
• Not half-hearted, discouraged Christians, but ones whose warfare, though carried out on our knees, is filled with the trumpets of the morning and the reward of the Savior in whose power we conquer our age-old enemy.
• Let’s end with the words of John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress,
  • “I am going to my Father’s; and though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who will not be my rewarder.”…So he passed over, and the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.
• Amen!

1 Corinthians 12:12

Introduction

• A famous scholar posed this question, “When is the Church really the Church?”
• Certainly not when it turns its face toward the past and ignores the present and future, for to do that imprisons the church in tradition.
• Certainly, the church is not really the church when it cuts itself completely loose from the past and casts itself into every whim and wave of modern thought, for that way leads to heresy.
• The church is truly what God intends it to be when it is guided by the Holy Spirit.
• The church is truly the church when it realizes it is the church of the Spirit.
• Just as Jesus was supremely guided by the same Spirit.
• The reality of the church shows the vitality and reign of the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is not the spirit of the church, but the Spirit of God; that means the church is answerable to the Spirit and created by the Spirit.
• In a famous sermon on the Holy Spirit, Augustine said, “What the soul is for the body of a man, that is what the Holy Spirit is for the body of Christ, which is the Church; what the soul works in all the members of the body, that the Spirit works in the whole of the church.”
• The Spirit, then, is the soul of the church, and as such He is free, creative, and has authority to give gifts, bring peace, and rebuke the church.
• The Spirit animates and makes alive the church, and so He is to the church as breath is to the body.

1. The Spirit Creates the Church
2. The church universal, and its local expressions in every community as churches, is created not by the whim of man nor the will of the flesh, not by human invention nor happenstance, but by the Spirit.
3. In most of the ancient creeds of the church the order is the Spirit, then the church, then the communion (fellowship) of the saints, and forgiveness.
4. The Spirit creates the church as Acts 2 so powerfully portrays.
5. The most vivid picture of the church is that of a body.
6. This image is used in the New Testament in two ways: First of all, Christ as the body; and, we as Christians as the various parts of the body.
7. “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
8. Paul was describing the local church in terms of its gifts, saying that the many gifted Christians, who make up the church as all together forming the church, the body of Christ.
9. The fullest and clearest expression of the Spirit-created body is found in Ephesians, where Christ is spoken of as the head of the body, the church.
10. Paul prayed that we may “grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:15-16).
11. The same clear image of the Spirit-led church as Christ’s body is seen in Ephesians 1:22-23, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
12. The second image stressing the relationship of the Spirit to the church is that of a temple.
13. There are three primary passages of Scripture which reveal the work of the Spirit in this regard:
14. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
15. Ephesians 2:18-22, “For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
16. 1 Peter 2:5, “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
17. The point is this: To defile the temple of God is to risk personal punishment by God.

1. The Spirit as Protector of the Church
2. Not only is each Christian the temple of the Spirit, but also the entire local church and, indeed, the church universal, is a spiritual temple indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
3. The church is the place, above all, of the presence of the Spirit.
4. In this role, the Spirit is the guarantee of the purity of the church.
5. As we ponder the work of the Spirit in creating the body of Christ, the temple of God in the Spirit, and in the work of defending the purity of the church, we must raise a question: Do we as Christians, and as churches, place far too much emphasis on the physical building and not nearly enough on the spiritual nature of the church of which was are a part?

1. The Spirit Places the Christian in the Church
2. The Holy Spirit brings each believer into the church through the baptism of the Spirit, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit as to form one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
3. There is no entrance to the church except by the Spirit’s baptism.
4. The church into which we are placed by the Spirit is not easily seen.
5. Each local church is but the tip of the great iceberg, as it were, of the larger church which shall one day gather before the throne of God.
6. The true church is smaller than our church records show, and greater than all our church rolls!

1. The Spirit and the Mission of the Church
2. The Spirit does not just keep the Church going: He keeps it going out into the world with the Gospel.
3. The Holy Spirit gives the church guidance for understanding its existence and purpose; He empowers it for the task; He gives a sense of urgency to the mission; He rebukes the church when its memory grows dim.
4. The hand and heart behind the church, guiding it across the centuries, is the Holy Spirit.
5. This is clearly seen in the first recorded meeting of the churches as the church in what is known as the Jerusalem Conference of Acts 15.
6. We read in Acts 15:28-29, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”
7. The Spirit would not allow the church to merely be a sect of Judaism, and the Holy Spirit today will not allow the church to be the servant of nationalism or culture.
8. The Spirit guides not only the universal church in its mission but also the local church and the individual Christian.
9. He sets overseers over the churches, as Acts 20:28 says, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”
10. This guidance of the Spirit gives the church boldness.
11. A leading characteristic of the first Christians was boldness, courage.
12. The authorities took note of the boldness of Peter and John, and apparently, they and all the Christians in times of harassment and persecution were able to give a reasoned account of the hope within them.
13. This is fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that they were not to worry about what to say when hauled before the authorities; “for the Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:12).
14. A widening circle of evangelism is directed by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
15. Evangelism’s power and directions are the work of the Spirit: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
16. The Spirit directs individuals concerning where to witness.
17. He sent Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch on the desert road to Gaza.
18. He sent Peter to Cornelius.
19. He separated Paul and Barnabas from the church in Antioch and sent them forth.
20. The Spirit gave direct guidance as to where Paul was to preach, turning him away from certain areas and sending him to others.
21. So, we see the Spirit selecting the missionary, sending the missionary, and preparing the hearts of those to whom he would preach.
22. For a church to be a vital, living church, it must be a witnessing church.
23. There must be an excitement, an enthusiasm, a burden for lost souls.
24. As the old saying goes, “No heart is pure that is not passionate; no virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic.”
25. Since we are frail and imperfect, having our treasure in earthern vessels, the Spirit also exercises a disciplinary role.
26. An instance of the rebuke of the Spirit which was, no doubt, long remembered by the church at Antioch was the sharp rebuke the Spirit delivered through Paul to Peter.
27. Paul “opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain man came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group” (Galatians 2:11-12).
28. Perhaps the most painful rebuke of the Spirit recorded in the New Testament is that given through Paul to the church at Corinth.
29. In 1 Corinthians, Paul taught the beautiful doctrine of the individual and the church as temples, dwelling places of the Spirit.
30. Then he had to turn around and rebuke them as the Spirit’s mouthpiece, “What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?” (1 Corinthians 4:21).
31. He went on to rebuke the church for condoning sexual immorality in their midst and commanded them to exclude the guilty party.
32. In 2 Corinthians the person guilty of sexual immorality repented and was restored to the fellowship of the church.
33. The Book of Revelation gives us a vivid picture of the rebuking work of the Spirit.
34. In chapters 2 and 3 are found the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor.
35. Each letter concludes with an admonition to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
36. A reading of these letters will show that only the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia escaped the rebuke of the Spirit for coldness of spirit, for spiritual blindness and poverty, and for compromise with evil.
37. “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
38. Amen!