Outline God-directed obedience Wholehearted obedience Sacrificial obedience Inward obedience Loyal obedience Introduction The bible discusses two types of sorrow over sin.  There is godly sorrow which leads to repentance, and there is worldly sorrow which ends in destruction, 2 Cor. 7:10, ‘ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.’  We can see these two different types of sorrow demonstrated in the denial of Christ by Peter and Judas.  In the case of Peter we see a man who is sorrowful but who eventually returns in repentance to Christ, but with Judas we see a man who is sad over what he has done but ends up taking his own life.  I have found it many times in my experience with working with addicts that there is always sadness related to sin.  It is impossible to push deep into the heart of sin and be a slave to sin and not experience the poison and the destruction of sin.  There have been men who have wept over what they have done to their families, they have come in a complete transparent humility that willingly owns their guilt and heap shame and guilt upon themselves.  However, their sadness is not a sadness that grieves over the actions as being against God and they mourn its horror as something that violates His will and contradicts His holy person.  Instead they are sad because they don’t like the consequences of their actions.  They don’t like the feel of the consequences.  They have not come to agree with God about their sins and are willing to turn from sin altogether.  If you offered them consequences free sin they would jump at the opportunity because they weep not out of a profound Spirit wrought understanding of...

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Outline Christ and the temple Christ’s and the priesthood Introduction The Third Temple is the name given to the Temple which certain eschatological views hope to see rebuilt in the Millennium. Presently on the temple mount in Jerusalem where Solomon’s temple once stood now sit two Muslim structures preventing the rebuilding of any temple. Orthodox Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple mount and so pray at what is called the Wailing Wall. But everyday they pray for the rebuilding of Ezekiel’s temple. Orthodox Jews are divided as to whether any sacrifices need to be offered in the temple because when Herod’s temple was destroyed the Rabbi’s taught the now templeless Jews that prays were the sacrifices God desired not blood sacrifices. Not so with modern day Christians. There are many Christians who because they read OT prophecy in a certain way insist that Ezekiel’s Temple must be rebuilt in the Millennium, and that this temple will observe all the sacrifices mentioned in Ezekiel, observe the Saturday Sabbath, have a Davidic royal line with princes, and other OT things like circumcision and feast days. One of the verses used to argue this point is Romans 11:29, ‘For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.’ They think that the list of privileges in 9:4-5 must be the gifts Paul means here so the Land, the temple, the priesthood, the sacrificial system, the feast days and many other OT practices can have a legitimate revival in the Millennium. So today we are going to do three things. We are going to give a brief interpretation of 11:28-31; then we will demonstrate how Christ fulfils the temple and then how He fulfils the priesthood. We hope to show how any return to these things is going backwards and runs the...

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Outline The nature of God The sovereignty of God The holiness of God Introduction Man always pretends to be a professional when it comes to the knowledge of God, but in truth this is the area of our greatest blindness and where we need God to give us the greatest help. Whenever the men of the Bible ever encountered God in a vision that revealed something of His true glory we see that they put their hands over their mouths, fell down as dead or declared their utter sinfulness. We instinctively exchange the truth of God for lies. We are so certain of our knowing that we make our knowledge and experience the frame of reference that God must subscribe to. From time to time God has to break down our idols that we have built and re-impress upon us the true nature of His glory and being. God has been blasphemed by both the Israelites and the Philistines and in 1 Sam. 5-6 He will set the record straight Himself. This trend to domesticate God is alive and well today. There is a brand of theology called Open Theism. They have rejected what Christians have traditionally believed and have a god that is shaped by modern values.  Love is God’s most important quality. In other words things like Hell are thrown away, and love becomes a tyrannising principle that silences other attributes like holiness. Love is not only care and commitment but sensitivity, vulnerability and responsiveness. In other words, God loves like human beings and can be changed by emotional appeals, feel pain and loss, and enter into a give and take transaction like that between humans. Creatures exert an influence upon God, namely we can help Him feel sad or glad, we can change His mind and influence...

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Outline Mystery explained Mystery applied Introduction Matthew 24:32-35, ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’ This is one of the more abused texts when it comes to talking about Israel. Many modern day popular interpreters see 1948, when Israel became a nation marking the time of the fig tree budding, and so we have had many people claim that it will be any day now that Christ will come. One writer claiming that a generation is 40 years long claimed it would be 1988, but was proven to be a false prophet. All such prognostications are contrary to scripture and a misunderstanding of how Christ was using this text. In Matthew 24:3 we see Jesus is asked three questions by the disciples, that relate to the destruction of the temple, the signs of His coming and the signs of the end of the age, ‘As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”’ Verses 32-35 are with reference to the signs that foretell the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. we can know this because v36 makes very clear that the second coming of Christ will not be known and be unexpected, ‘”But concerning that day...

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Outline Emergency religion Pragmatic religion Idolatrous religion Introduction One commentator calls this section ‘rabbit foot theology’ because of the superstitious and unbiblical way in which the Israelites follow the living God in chapter 4. That about sums up the religion of the day. We are moving now into a new section where Samuel who has been introduced is put away for a few chapters and God takes the foreground. We have had several statements of God’s acting against the wicked and prophecies against the corrupt leaders of Israel, God is now going to act in fulfilment of those things. In this opening salvo we are introduced to the Philistines. These were a people who lived on the coast and were there when Israel arrived in the Exodus, (Ex. 13:17). By the end of the time of Joshua they had established their five capital cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. Incidentally the modern word ‘Palestine’ is derived from Philistine. They were used by God to chastise His people during the time of the judges (Judges 3:31), and their false religion was a snare to Israel (Judges 10:6-7). Delilah is a famous Philistine we would be familiar with. They obviously were the superior power in the area and even controlled who could have iron (1 Sam. 13:19-22). When we see Israel wanting a king to lead them into battle, it is likely that the Philistines are the reason why. We will see God fight His own battles against the Philistines in chapters 5-7, this chapter begins the narrative of judgement by beginning at the house of the Lord. The Philistines are employed by God to remove the corrupt priesthood and make a way for more godly leadership. In particular we are going to be focusing on Israel’s view of God...

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Outline Visible vs. invisible O.T. vs. N.T. Introduction ‘We believe in one holy; catholic and apostolic church.’ This is a confession from the first council of Constantinople, one of the universal creeds of the Christian church. This statement says four things about the church that it is one, that it is holy, that it is universal/catholic and that it is apostolic. Today as we continue to reflect on Romans eleven we want to think with Paul about the oneness of the church. As Paul has been talking about the place of Jews and Gentiles in God’s plan of salvation he has been using the picture of a single olive tree to make his point. Paul is revealing to us his underlying convictions of the nature of the church. These are most important and we must dig into these. What is the church? Who are the people of God? Are denominations sinful? These and many other questions are answered from looking at Paul’s understanding of the people of God as a single olive tree. Today we will be looking at things that are traditionally set as polar opposites: the visible vs. the invisible church; the O.T. vs. the N.T.

Outline The judgement of no prophet The call of a prophet The ministry of a prophet Introduction What is the worst thing that could happen to you? If we ask this question of God and of an unbeliever we would get two different answers. The unbeliever would answer, ‘The worst things that could happen to me are my loss of freedom, restrictions on my speech, choices, desires.’ War, debilitating sickness, the death of a child, unfaithful spouses, poverty, these and other physical afflictions would likely rate highly on the list. But if you ask God what are the worst things that can happen to you the answer would be very different. Where the world values libertarian freedom to whatever your heart desires, Romans 1:24-27 tells us that God punishes those who deny Him by giving them up to their sins without fear or conscience. John Lennon in his song portrays the ideal world as a world without religion, where there are no churches, preachers, people standing up to tell you what’s right or wrong. According to the book of 1 Samuel, the lack of the word of God is not a sign of progress but darkness and judgement. You probably remember 1 Samuel 3 from your Sunday school lessons as a good lesson on how to be a good little boy or girl, ready to listen and do what God says. This certainly is one of the ways we can apply this chapter, but we must not miss the significance of this chapter as a time of darkness where God in His faithfulness breaks into that darkness and appoints a prophet to expel the darkness. So today as we consider the appointing of Samuel as prophet we want to think about the judgement of no prophets, the calling of a...

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Outline Arrogant branches Humble branches Introduction Christians often act like children. I don’t mean in the good and childlike-faith way Jesus encouraged in the gospels but in the sinful and immature way of the playground. Think back to your youth and the laws of the jungle that we lived by. There were the cliques, the in crowd and then those who were out. We remember being on the outside of some group we desired to be a part of and remembered the mortifying humiliation of not being included because we took our sense of value and identity not from what God says about us but what others think of us. Then remember the time you were included the great relief you felt, and then all of a sudden you had the power to approve of others being accepted and you were a brutal gate keeper who kept out those who are as desperate as you used to be. You excluded on the basis of any difference be it race, sex, the music you listened to, or the part of town you came from. You had a sense of your own superiority and were conceited and felt yourself better than others. You split off into rivalries and in a mob mentality abused others whether it was physical, verbal or emotional. The trouble is we don’t outgrow these tendencies, for they are the tendencies of sin. We may not have the same childish reasoning, but the same behaviour still takes place in the life of adults. We long to be included for our sense of value; we become brutal gate keepers who keep people out; we are still shallow in our evaluation of other people not seeing them through the gospel of grace but a worldly score keeping system; we may have...

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Outline Eli’s sons Eli’s rebuke Eli’s prophecy Introduction To the everyday worshipper in Israel the religious and political leadership of Israel looked hopelessly corrupt. Eli was a weak leader who had allowed his sons to pervert the worship of God and were next in line for succession. Things were looking bleak for the future. However, we have just had Hannah’s song, a song that speaks about God dealing with those who are sinful and exalt themselves, how He will cut off the proud and wicked. We would expect this chapter to open with a war against the Philistines, but instead we see judgement beginning with the house of the Lord. The reader of 1 Samuel is being given an inside line on God’s plan. Outwardly, everything looks corrupt and hopeless, but quietly God is working out His purposes. The text before us falls naturally into three parts. All three parts give an account of Eli’s life and then interject the boy Samuel. So the first section deals with Eli’s sons, and ends with positive comments about Samuel, 2:18-21; the second section deals with Eli rebuking his hardened sons but ends with positive words about Samuel, v26; the third section is a prophecy against Eli’s house which ends with Samuel 3:1a. The overarching theological truth that we will see in this section is that God is the shepherd of His sheep and will ultimately provide godly leadership for His people in Christ, He may work unseen but He is working; but there are also several practical points that we can take away about godly leadership in the church and the home.

Outline Salvation in justice Sovereignty over sin Introduction God works in mysterious ways, or God’s ways are not our ways are familiar statements that help us to remember that there are mysteries bigger than our ability to understand. This section of Romans 9-11 is full of the complexities of these mysteries, God’s distinguishing love, God’s unconditional election, God’s sovereignty over unbelief in the hardening of unbelievers. Well today we continue to be faced with profound mysteries. We have two mysteries facing us from these verses; that God brings salvation from justice, and that is sovereign over and uses sin to accomplish His purposes. These are called mysteries because they are surprising. Firstly, when we think of God giving justice to sinners, we would hardly think that this would result in salvation. But God works in such a way as to confound us, to humble us and to cause us to stop and take note of His profound wisdom. Similarly, we would not think of a holy God employing sin to accomplish His will but this we will see as well. Paul explains these two mysteries in 11:11-15. The first is that from God giving justice to Jews Gentiles are saved, salvation coming from justice; and secondly, through the Gentiles getting saved, the Jews are provoked to salvation through jealousy. Paul sums up these mysteries in 11:30-31, v30, ‘For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience.’ Paul talking about to the Gentiles about receiving salvation tells us that we received it because the Jews were judged. V31, ‘so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.’ Paul then speaks about how the Jews will be provoked...

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