Text: Psalm 51

This is one of the greatest prayers for mercy in all of the Bible.  David commits adultery with Bathsheba. He then kills Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.  After over a year of his conscience eating him up with this sin, God uses Nathan the prophet to point the finger at David and convict him of his sin.  This psalm is David’s response.

Forgiveness and mercy (vss 1-4)

Verse 1

David pleads for mercy.  He is not an Old Testament Jew who is obeying the law for salvation.  David is guilty under the law for adultery and murder, both of which require the death penalty.

If only our sin did this to us!

David isn’t looking for salvation, he’s begging God to clean him up from his sin.

Verse 2

This is more than David regretting getting caught, David is completely disgusted with his sin and knows he can’t clean himself up.

How shall a young man cleanse his way? Taking heed to the word of God.  Washing of water by the word…

Verse 3

David doesn’t defend his sin.  He doesn’t justify himself, he acknowledges his transgressions.

David’s sin is constantly on David’s mind.  The law could never purge a conscience.

Preaching is meant to strengthen and bring out your conscience so that sin can be dealt with.  Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Verse 4

Justify God rather justify yourself.

God is the Judge.

Forgiveness and a new birth (vss 5-12)

Verses 5-6

Need for a new birth hinted at.

Verse 7

Exodus 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

Hyssop branch would be used to dip in the blood of the Lamb and applied to the doorposts at the passover

Verse 8

Loss of joy is often times the result of sin.

Fruit of the spirit is joy.  Elements of the world get in and the fruit rots.

Verse 10

Create in me a clean heart, in other words purge my conscience.  Almost like a new creature.

Renew a right spirit, the spirit was wrong because the heart has participated in sin.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature

Verse 12

Free spirit and Spirit of the Lord is liberty

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Galatians 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

Galatians 5:1, 13 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. … 13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Forgiveness and evangelism (vss 13-15)

(vss 12-13) – God taking his holy spirit and ceasing to uphold David by his spirit would mean David would be unable to be “evangelistic.”  He wouldn’t be able to preach.

Filled with the Spirit of God meant boldness to preach God’s forgiveness

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Text: Job 8

The Lord takes man’s words very seriously because they are an expression of his heart.  Bildad responds to Job with a nasty spirit.

Bildad’s slander

Bildad’s accusation based on God’s justice (vss 3-7)

God is just (that sounds real good), therefore God has taken everything from you because you’re wicked, Job.

While God is just, God isn’t the one that took everything from Job.  The devil did.

Why didn’t God stop it from happening?  Faith’s trials are precious to God.  

Bildad’s accusation based on tradition (vss 8-10)

This is the way we’ve always done it.

It’s always been this way.  Innocent people are never treated this way.

Bildad accuses Job of being cut off because he’s a hypocrite (vss 11-22)

Vss 11-14 Bildad says you’ve forgotten God so your life has dried up.

Vs 15 Bildad says Job’s life is a fake, a facade.

Now Bildad says this stuff because Bildad is secretly jealous of Job’s wealth and now he has a chance to stick it to him.  Proverbs 10:18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Vss 16-20 Bildad argues that if Job were such a good person God would not have uprooted him. (Vs 16 photosynthesis)

Bildad’s folly

An interesting note: Joseph was in prison for 13 years for something he didn’t do.  Joseph was sold into slavery and falsely accused of sexual assault by a very powerful wife in Egypt – she was a #MeToo.  Joseph suffered greatly before being greatly exalted. Now look at Genesis 46:13; Job was one of Issachar’s sons, so Joseph is Job’s uncle.

If Bildad knew chapters 1-2 in Job where God gives the behind the scenes view of what’s going on he wouldn’t have answered Job this way.

Proverbs 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

Bildad fails to give God time.  The Lord is not done with Job, but Bildad thinks He is.  Bildad thinks his disagreements with Job are also God’s disagreements with Job, but they aren’t.

Aren’t there some folks who have more than you that you are jealous of?  And if they took a shot in their income and lost some things you’d be glad and in your heart you’d say it’s because God finally got after them.

The consequences of Bildad’s slander

* Job 42:7-8 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

* Bildad made God very mad at him.

* Bildad had to go to the one he slandered and make amends.

* Bildad could not pray to God anymore until the thing was right between he and Job.

* Bildad ran the risk of living on without the ability to ever speak to the Lord in prayer again.  That’s what happens if Job doesn’t pray for him.

Text: Matthew 7:6

Pearls before swine, giving what’s holy to the dogs; the principle is clear that something very valuable has been ruined by someone who can’t appreciate it.

The most common way this is interpreted is this.  You need to be careful what you tell unbelievers. You’re supposed to use discernment in which unbelievers you tell the truth to.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs

What is holy?

Holy is to be set apart for the Lord.  Be ye holy as I am holy saith the Lord.

Holy ground in Exodus 3:5.

Holy doesn’t mean sinless because dirt isn’t sinful or sinless.  Holy means set apart for the Lord. It is sanctified and set apart from the world.

So God chose a piece of ground on this earth in order to reveal himself.  Eventually, that piece of ground would go to the dogs because of the unfaithfulness of Israel.

What do you mean go to the dogs?  That piece of ground called the holy land would have nations living in it whose religion and teachings would justify murdering babies and other horrific practices.  God would tell Israel that when they get to the promised land they are to destroy the nations and destroy every article of the culture including all motion pictures (Numbers 33:52), otherwise God’s people would become just like the dogs they fail to drive out.

Eventually what is holy would go to the dogs.

Holy convocation in Exodus 12:16.

Again holy isn’t necessarily sinless, but it does mean separated for the work of God.

God would set aside a time here for Israel to stop their work and together spend their time in rest and feasting called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The only work to be done here is whatever work needed to be done to prepare the food and eat it. Every Israelite is expected to participate. God would use this feast as a piece of bigger picture that would become clear centuries later.  Israel wasn’t required to know the bigger picture here, they’re just required to obey God’s instruction.

As time goes on Israel doesn’t have time to take off work.  The sabbaths get neglected. The feasts are given up on. God’s holy things become a joke.  And 700 years pass when a king named Hezekiah has enough conviction to try to get the country back on track.  2 Chronicles 30:1-14. This holy convocation had gone to the dogs.

Holy sabbath in Exodus 16:23

These would be ignored because Israel refused to stop work since it meant less money.  So they worked through the sabbaths until God finally got tired of it and said there are 70 sabbath years that have been ignored and I’m going to force my holy land to rest.  And in comes Nebuchadnezzar to haul the Jews to Babylon.

Holy nation in Exodus 19:6 that ends up going to the dogs.

Holy men in Exodus 22:31 as part of a priesthood that ends up going to the dogs.  It’s this priesthood that stands around the Lord Jesus Christ mocking him on the cross

Psalms 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

Isaiah 56:10-11 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

Holy place in Exodus 26:33

Holy garments in Exodus 28:2

Holy things and holy gifts in Exodus 28:38

Holy crown in Exodus 29:6 that went on the priests mitre.

Holy oil in Exodus 30:25

Holy sanctuary in Leviticus 16:33 which would go to the dogs.

Holy name in Leviticus 20:3.  Leviticus 22:32 Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel:

Holy instruments in Numbers 31:16 which would go to the ...

Text: Colossians 1:4

Paul is grateful after hearing of the Colossians faith, love, and hope.  Tonight we’ll look at love for the saints. God’s people love God’s people.  This is one of those defining characteristics. Love can have feelings, but it is not a feeling.  It is support of someone else; wanting to improve their life whatever way you can.

Brother Andrew

One of the most loved Brother Andrew stories recounts a risky incident from early in his ministry. On this occasion, Brother Andrew approached the Romanian border in his car—which was packed with illegal Bibles.  He could only hope the border guards were moving swiftly and not paying much attention, which might allow him to pass through undetected. But just as he was hoping this, Brother Andrew saw the guards stop the car at the front of the line. He watched, in anticipation, as the vehicle’s owners were forced to take out all of the car’s contents and spread them on the ground for inspection.  Each car that followed received the same treatment, with the fourth car’s inspection lasting the longest. The guard took a full hour to sift through it, including removing hubcaps, taking the engine apart, and even removing the seats.

“Dear Lord,” Brother Andrew remembers praying, “What am I going to do?”  As he prayed, a bold idea came to Brother Andrew. “I know that no amount of cleverness on my part can get me through this border search.  Dare I ask for a miracle? Let me take some of the Bibles out and leave them in the open where they will be seen.” Putting the Bibles out in the open would truly be depending on God, rather than his own intelligence, he thought. So when the guards ushered Andrew forward, he did just this. “I handed him my papers and started to get out. But his knee was against the door, holding it closed.”  And then, the almost unbelievable happened.

The guard looked at Brother Andrew’s passport and abruptly waved him on. “Surely thirty seconds had not passed,” he remembers.  Brother Andrew started the engine and began pulling away, all the while wondering if he was supposed to pull over so the car could be taken apart and examined. “I coasted forward, my foot poised above the brake. Nothing happened. I looked out the rear mirror. The guard was waving the next car to a stop, indicating to the driver that he had to get out.”  God had cleared the way for Brother Andrew to smuggle the Bible to Christians who had no access to God’s Word.

Love God and love the people of God

* Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

* A new commandment in John 13:34-35

* First of all the Lord Jesus Christ says this because he’s going away

* Second, he says this because it will be part of their testimony in the world.

* People who say they got saved but the crowd they ran with now had no idea that saved soul belonged to Jesus Christ.  Why? They loved the world and forgot to love the brethren.

* Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

* 1 John 2:7-10 – God vs. the world.  God’s people love the things God loves and love the people God loves.  The world loves its own and the people of the world love the things of the world.

* 1 John 3:10-13

* 1 John 4:20-21 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Text: Psalm 50

Judgment begins at the house of God (vss 3-6)

Isaiah 10:16-20

Wheat and tares – Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43

1 Peter 4:17

Gathering a faithful remnant – Matthew 24:21-31

…covenant by sacrifice…

Psalm 51:16-17

Jesus Christ will be the acceptable sacrifice to the Father and even those in the Tribulation will have to trust Jesus Christ: Revelation 12:17, Revelation 19:10

Call upon the name of the Lord (vss 7-15)

Sacrifices had a purpose, but there is no way to sacrifice during the tribulation.

Misrepresenting God (vss 16-21)

God says quit misrepresenting me.

In verse 21 he says you misrepresent me because you think I am like you.

Sacrifice of praise (vss 22-23)

Hebrews 13:15

Text: Romans 2:4

Aren’t you glad God is good?  No, you’re not.

This phrase is interesting in that it brings up two very curious ideas.  The first is that you would despise God’s goodness. That doesn’t even sound reasonable, and it’s not.  The second is that God’s goodness as you interpret it is God’s approval when in fact God’s goodness is His longsuffering through His disapproval of behavior until He can hopefully correct it.

You despise God’s goodness when it’s shown to people you don’t like

You recognize moral failures in others, but you ignore them in yourself.  You want judgment of other people when they do wrong, but you don’t want it for yourself.  Highly critical of others, but not of ourselves.

You say why does that bad person live on?  Sometimes God is giving them an opportunity to get it right.  What you didn’t ask is why do you live on?

You get to a crossroads where you can put on display the goodness of God toward the unlikeable or you can despise the goodness of God toward them.

You despise God’s goodness when it presents us with responsibility

What about when God would like to use you to present his goodness to someone else?

The cross is an offence.  Jesus Christ is unfortunately an offense.  But the cross and the Lord Jesus Christ are the goodness of God.  You’re embarrassed about the goodness of God.

Don’t despise your responsibility to God’s goodness.  Take responsibility for it.

Galatians 4:15-16 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. 16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

You despise God’s goodness when you’re led by overwhelming guilt

God’s leadership will lead you through guilt, but not to guilt.  Guilt is not the destination, it’s something you pass through on the way to restoration.

Some of you believe right now that you are too far gone in sin, or you’re too old to change, or you’re too far down some sidetrack in life to get back on course.

The verse says it is the goodness of God that provides the leadership to get you where you need to be!

God’s goodness is for the purpose of getting you where you need to be spiritually, mentally, emotionally, relationally, etc.

So you have an option.  You can either continue to despise God’s goodness by ignoring his leadership, or you can embrace his goodness and apply these scriptures to your life.

Dad guilt and more often Mom guilt.  And then so many parenting decisions get made out of guilt instead of letting the goodness of God in the scriptures direct and lead.

Regret in life; I’m just too far down the road to change anything.  Well, you can either continue to despise the goodness of God or you believe the verse you just read.

Nineveh was a city that was 1,500 years old – 15 centuries.  God said to Jonah Go tell the Ninevites they have 40 days left.  Were they too far gone? They could say Oh we’re too far gone! No, they repented and God spared them.

You despise God’s goodness when you proclaim your own goodness

And isn’t that interesting that God’s goodness leads to repentance?  When you and I think of God’s goodness we think of God’s approval of everything you do. And if there is any condemnation on what you’re doing it’s not God’s goodness, it’s bigotry.

God’s thoughts are higher than our and his ways higher than our ways.  Of course they are going to be different. And the Lord is trying to bring your thought up where His are.

You despise God’s goodness when it’s presented to us by someone you don’t care for

You ever have someone you really don’t like say exactly what needs to be said to you?

John the Baptist an outcast.

Text: Matthew 7:1-5

The world’s favorite verse.

Hypocrisy in God’s nation and the theme of hypocrisy in Israel throughout Matthew.

* Matthew 6:2, 5, 16 – Hypocrites are menpleasers incapable of pleasing God.  Hypocrites are slaves to the eyes of other men.

Matthew 15:7-9 – Love God with their mouth at church, hate God with their lives

You know why singing is such an easy replacement for preaching in church?  Because people sing things they don’t mean all the time. It’s easy, and it feels good, to sing God I love you over and over again.  But to submit to the word of God under preaching and living for the Lord, that’s the only thing that will change a hypocrite into an actual servant of God.

Hypocrite is his own measuring stick

Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Lack self judgment

The measuring stick is the Bible.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Gifts of God known by scriptures – How do you know the things that are freely given by God? By God’s words. The scriptures are loved when they talk about the blessings of God.

Judgment of God is also known by the scriptures – The scriptures are hated when you’re shown your sin from the same book that showed you blessings.

But you’re not the origin of the blessings or the judgment.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

This isn’t about someone not letting someone else judge them.  The point is the spiritual man’s judgment originates from the word of God… the same as his blessings originate in the word of God.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Matthew 16:1-4 – Hypocrite is blind to the obvious work of God.

Blind because he’s not looking for the work of God.

And because you’re blind you have no discernment about the things of God.

Matthew 22:15-21 – Hypocrites envy the righteous and want to destroy them.

Notice hypocrites want to catch the righteous in the same sin they are trapped in.  Look closely at 22:16.

Image and ownership.  Render to the owner what belongs to the owner.  God made in man’s image.

Matthew 23:13-15, 23-29 – Hypocrite is a lost religious leech

Sucks the life out, but will not contribute to the work of God.

Pretend religious

Greater damnation

Verse 15 twofold the child of hell.  Well, that hypocrite has no power to put anyone in hell.  But they proselytize and bring them into their religion and once that person is in their religion they pile on guilt upon guilt upon guilt.

Matthew 24:50-51 – Hypocrisy is a sin that will wind you up in hell

The thing we have trouble with is the thing we hate to see in other people.

Mote is a much smaller version of what’s in your hypocritical eye.

Too blind to be of any help.

Too concerned about policing others to concern themselves with their own relationship with the Lord.

And for some of you that is your undoing and is going to put you in hell because it always stands between you and being right with the Lord.

Critical spirit or gracious spirit?

Text: Psalm 49

The last enemy is death.

This applies to everyone (vss 1-4)

Evil days (vs 5)

* Sin has run its course through the body and the corruptible body begins to fade.

* Mind doesn’t work like it used to.  The heart doesn’t work like it used to.  Pains become random and more frequent.

Death is greater than wealth (vss 6-9)

* The enemy of death can’t be bought because this enemy will take everything eventually.

* 1 Timothy 6:17

* In verse 8 the soul is precious, riches are not.  Death will end the opportunity to for redemption. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment.

* I heard a good outline of it that said redemption is:

* Implied

* Denied

* Supplied

* Applied

Death makes this life transient (vss 10-14)

* Vs 10 no one gets out alive and riches pass from one hand to another.

* Vs 11 you’ve seen old dilapidated houses.

* No one thought that would be the state of the house when they were building it. Castles in Europe that are museums, the royal families have been gone for years.

* They call their lands after their own names like King Ranch, Houston, Beeville, Austin, San Antonio, Washington, etc.

* Vs 12 Nevertheless… I love how that is so nonchalantly said.  They’re wealthy, they’re honourable, but anyway (nevertheless)

* Vs 13 their way is their folly…

* So the world has a way of doing things

* John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

* Vs 14 the upright have dominon over them in the morning

* That’s first the 1000 year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ

God is the redeemer (vs 15)

* David isn’t looking for redemption because he’s keeping the important parts of the law.  David is looking to the LORD to redeem him.

Fear not (vss 16-20)

* Vs 16 politicians  like Haman

* Vs 17 The Egyptians thought they could fill the tombs of the dead with food and money for the afterlife.

* Vs 20 Having understanding is the difference between life and death.

God and Satan as fathers.

Conception of children

* Satan becomes a father by pleasing yourself* He produces children through temptation of the lust that is in you.* John 8:42-47* Temptation* Satan becomes your father by bringing out something that’s already in you.  It’s a natural course for you to take.* James 1:13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (God didn’t make you this way and He didn’t make you do what you did) 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.* He produces children through temptation of the lust that is in you.* So his children are known by the sin that entangles them – liars, thieves, murderers, idolaters, adulterers, fornicators, abominable, wicked, etc.* God becomes a father by believing his promises* Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.* John 1:12 – son of God, referring to the new Spirit that you’ve received* new creature – 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15* The child is a son of God, 1 John 3:1-2, although the child of God hasn’t appeared yet.* 1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Characteristics of children

* Satan’s characteristics* Carnal desires* John 8:44: lusts, murderer, abode not in the truth because no truth in him.* Appetite of the flesh is the appetite of the devil.* 2 Timothy 3:8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.* Carnal thoughts – James 3:14-16 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.* God’s characteristics* The new nature of this new child of God has been authored by Jesus Christ and written down in the Bible.* Colossians 3:9-12 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;* Obedience to the Father is a characteristic – John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.  Appetite is to obey the word of God.* 1 Peter 2:2… desire the sincere milk of the word

Crowning of children

* Satan’s children* Crowned in this world, Luke 4:5, before being discarded.  Luke 4:5-6 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.* Pleasures of sin for a season… and ultimately cast into a lake of fire with their father – Revelation 21:7-8 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,

Text: Matthew 6:25-34

This is about God as a Father.  And God is a Father based on His promise and someone’s response to his promise which is called faith.  Verses 31-33 sum up this part of the sermon.

Fatherhood of God

* God the Father of Israel* Matthew 6:31-33* As a nation, Israel has God as a Father.  God gave Israel direction, protection, provision, and care that the Gentiles (the nations) didn’t have.  But having God as the Father of the nation didn’t mean all Israelites were saved as individuals. If you are Jewish it is possible to have God as the Father of your country and you die and go to Hell.* John the Baptist came preaching repentance to Israelites.* Jesus Christ told a Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus ye must be born again.* Jewish people are not forgiven of sins because they’re Jewish, that’s covered in almost every book in the New Testament.* But being Jewish did have its advantages – Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;* This is the perspective that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming from when he’s talking to the disciples here.* Application to the nations* You and I would fall under the Gentile category – we are just the nations.* The Jewish people are the first to have this offer made; it is to the Jew first then to the Greek. To the Jew first then to the Greek does not mean to the Jew only then to the Greek something totally different.  Let me make this clear here. Because Jesus Christ is directing his instruction to these Israelites doesn’t mean he’s going to say something different to the Gentiles when the time comes.* Can you find in the Bible where God is also willing to be a Father to anyone outside of Israel?* Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.* Now everyone will say, Oh yea, I have faith in Jesus.  But go back to Matthew 6:30, O ye of little faith.  That’s not a good thing. (How many of you have heard of the parable of the mustard seed?)* God is a Father by faith.  And faith means you seek the kingdom of God.  And you look to the God of Heaven to bring a reward with Him.* 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Faith or fear

* The fear of not having enough or not having more is the most pervasive, common, motivation of people. And almost every decision revolves around that fear.  That’s what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) and then over there in Luke 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after.  So this is the standard for a world headed to a fiery judgment.  This is what a dying, God rejecting world is motivated by because they have no heavenly Father.* So the contrast to the dying world without any Heavenly Father is this, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.* Take no thought… (vss 25, 27, 28, 31, and 34)* Command to anyone who will have faith in verses 25, 31, 34 – Take no thought…  God’s word is a book that tells you how to think and what t...