Lord of the Sabbath- Mathew 12:1-13

This is a sermon report on the Sabbath and what we are to do on this day.

V.1-2 Here on their way to the temple, the twelve disciples, who had probably not had time to eat before because of the teaching that had been going on before, were plucking and eating the heads of grain in the fields that they were walking through.

At this time there were laws that the religious leaders would take from the scriptures concerning the Sabbath and interpret them on their own understanding, without looking to other commands given in the scriptures to see what the laws really meant.

When the Pharisees see the disciples plucking and eating the grain, they start to accuse them of not acting lawfully on the Sabbath. In v.3-8 Jesus answers to the pharisees by telling them about David when he was running for his life from King Saul (1 Samuel 21:1-6).  We see that Ahimelech was afraid when he saw David coming to him alone. This was the David that slew the giant and was a famous warrior. Why would he be coming to him (Ahimelech?)

David then obviously lies to the priest about why he is there, and asks for food. The only food  in the temple was the show-bread, which David probably knew was there. The show-bread was reserved for the priest's use in their ceremonies. Ahimelech gives the bread to David which was an act of mercy on his part.

Jesus also gives the example of the priest's in the Old Testament. He talks about how they would do double the amount of work on Sabbath while all of it was for the Lord and in obedience to Gods commands. He shows through reasoning how they are always adding to the laws of God and condemning people when it was completely lawful for them to do simple things like obey the law of God in taking food to someones house to feast with them. While their law-book would say that they could not carry anything larger than a fig out of their house.That wouldn't be much of a feast if all each person had was a fig!

The rules that the religious leaders added to the true law of God are ridiculous and in no way seen in any part of the Bible. The commands of the Bible for the Sabbath always work together, but the religious leaders would take one command from the scriptures and take it to mean something else when if you look at other commands you would know the command differently and completely without you having to try to reason what it means. To interpret scripture you must look and search the scriptures. What God wants us to know, He explains in His word.

Jesus tells the pharisees that He desires mercy and not sacrifice. In  Mathew11:30 we see that the Lord delivers us from the burden that we carry when we are not saved.God made the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not to be a burden for man. But when the religious leaders make a bunch of rules for the Sabbath that were not specifically commanded in the Scripture they make it a burden.
God did not desire that we make sacrifices to try to please God on the Sabbath. Instead, he desires to take one day and give it to man to rest their bodies and souls in the things of God. This is the will of God in giving us a day off from the work and burden of this world and to rest in Him. He also desires us to act mercifully to others, and to do the will of God in showing the love and mercy of God in our actions. Jesus demonstrates this later in healing the man with the withered hand.

Jesus in V.9-13 shows that we are allowed to do things that would be an act of mercy to others. Like maybe to go to the store and buy medicine for someone who is sick if you have no medicine available or no one to ask for some.

What we are to do on the Sabbath:  In Isaiah 58:13-14 it talks about not doing what we would and should usually do on  the other six days of the week. Meaning that we shouldn't seek the pleasures of this world for our own comfort. We are to do what God commands us on this day which is to think completely on Him the whole Sabbath and to do His mercies to others. This should be a delight to Christians. But this command is also given to all of creatures (Ex. 20:8-10) it doesn't just say those that are saved.
 In Nehemiah 13:15-18 we are clearly shown that to sell or to buy for our own gain is profaning the Sabbath. We are to trust God in providing for us on the Sabbath. We are told to provide and get ready for the Sabbath before it begins so that we will not be distracted from thinking on Him the whole day. Even though, because of our sinful nature, we cannot possibly think on God the whole day, we as Christians are to have a desire and make an effort to do just that. We who are sons of God have the gift of repentance when we do not obey this command perfectly. But we should have the desire to do this perfectly.

One other thing that I want to show is that God knows what we need. We also have a picture in the Sabbath of being freed from the penalties of sin. In Genesis 3:17-19 God punishes Adam and all future by saying that for the rest of time man will always have to work to eat and survive. On the Sabbath we are commanded not to work on this day. We are not held to work to survive on this day but to delight in God the whole Sabbath without being distracted by the things of this world.
When we say that it is okay to work on the Sabbath we are saying that God should be like Pharaoh in Egypt when he would not let the people of Israel rest on the Sabbath. This is blaspheming the name of God.

Later in Mathew 12:14 we see the irony of all this when after debating with Jesus the pharisees break the Sabbath by plotting to kill Jesus and committing murder in their hearts.

These are some of the things that we are to do and not to do on the Sabbath. There are more commands concerning the Sabbath but I won't post about them now.

The Four Speaches of Moses - Part 2

The fifth commandment commands us to honor our father and mother because the Lord has commanded us to do so and the promise if we do is that we will live long on the earth and it will go well with us. This is the first commandment with a promise.

All authority is come from God, even the most wicked authority is from the Lord. There are certain ways that we should treat all authorities: with respect, honor, and obedience. All authority starts in the family. If authority is not honored in the family, it will not be honored in the church, and if it is not honored in the church than the authority of the civil magistrate will not be honored. We see the continuation of this commandments in 16:18-18-22.


The sixth commandment states that we should not murder. When we think of murder we think about someone brutally taking the life of someone else. But in Mathew 5:21-22 it says that when you hate your brother you are committing murder in your heart. As humans, we see differently than how God sees sin. The continuation of this commandment in 19:1-22:8.

The seventh says that we should not commit adultery. Again, we can see that the Lords ways are not our ways. In Mathew 5:27-28 we see that when we look at a woman to think evil thoughts about her we commit adultery in our hearts. This is also found in 22:9-23:19.

You shall not steal is the eight commandment. There are many ways to steal from people. Some of the ways that you can steal are found in 23:19-25:12. Some of the ways are taking a newly-wed man into the army. In doing this you are stealing from him, if he dies in battle, the fruits of his wife, land, and life. You are also stealing the husband from the wife. When we use our life and our possessions for the glory and pleasure of ourselves, we are stealing from God what belongs to Him. When you do not tithe, you are stealing from God (Malachi 3:8).

The ninth of the commandments is that we should not bear false witness against our neighbor. If we do, then we disobey the command given by God which is that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.

The last commandment is that we should not covet anything that is our neighbors. The Lord decides what to give to His children and if we covet anything of this world that our neighbor has, we are declaring that God is not sufficient for us. We should do the most to glorify God with what we have(26:1-15).

The last of the three speeches is found in ch.27-31:13. If we love God we will want to listen and obey all that He commands. We do this as part of repenting of our sins and accepting God as our savior and allowing God to work in our lives. There are no carnal Christians. You either don't obey and the Lord curses you, or you obey the Lord and He blesses you in the way that He chooses.

Here are the links to sermon reports to the last parts of this chapter: The first sermon of the year, and The last days of Moses.

The Four Speaches of Moses - Part 1

Listen and Observe, That You May Live
Deuteronomy 1-34

This is the last sermon on Deuteronomy given by my elders in Hope Baptist Church. This sermon, by Mr. Brown (one of the elders at Hope,) is a review of the book of Deuteronomy.

The first of Moses' sermons can be found in Deuteronomy, chapters 1-4. The Lord desires to have control and authority over our time, our energy, our thoughts, our actions... even though all these things are His already. The Lord also wants to carry us through the wilderness...the times of trouble in our lives that we have to go through to get to the promised land. We must also take and let the Word of God change and take control of our lives.

Six things about the book of Deuteronomy:

1. Going through and studying this book, we can see that it covers our whole life.
   
2. It confronts the "sufficiency" of the "wisdom" and feelings of our heart and life.
   
3. It shows our deprivation: (spiritually and physically).
4. We can find the picture of the Gospel and the glory of God throughout it.
5. It shows the superiority of God and His ways.
   
6. Lastly, it causes us to love what Jesus loved.

The second and longest speech can be found in Ch. 5-26.
The laws given in chapter 5 are given to us to protect and guide us in a land of idolatry. And since these laws come from God we must obey them. But the ultimate protection and guidance comes from God.

The first of the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God is that you shall no other god but Him (God). There are many "gods" in this world and all have worshipers. There's entertainment, security, money, nature, "toys." All these things are gods that people can worship. There are many more Gods of this world, hundreds and thousands of more things that people can worship or take as a god. Our security should be in God, not in this world or the things that it can offer. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also(Mathew 6:21). We can see this played out in chapters 6-11. This is the first and greatest commandment.

The second commandment is that we should not make any image of God. I take this in a literal sense. I believe that we should not make any drawing, painting, or image of Christ. Why do people do this anyway? To try to make us "see" what Jesus did or looked like. It's also a way to worship the picture instead of the real God. Take, for example, the movie, The Passion. The creators of the movie tried to picture what Jesus did and how He died here on earth. When people watch this, they get emotional because they think that this is really how Jesus lived and was killed here on earth. This is simply not true! No one on earth can possibly picture how Jesus looked and how He was beaten and tortured. It is proud and disrespectful to think we can make an image of God. This is also true when people make images and miniatures of Jesus on the cross. The reason that Jesus suffered so much was not because of the abuse of men, it was because when He was dieing, He suffered the extreme wrath of God. He took all the punishment and guilt of every sin ever committed by every person ever born or to be born when He died. That was the true terribleness of the death of Christ and since this commandment connects with the first commandment, we, as Christians, are called to conquer all "gods" and images of God in this world. We see this in 12:1-13-13:18

The third commandment is that you should not take the Lords name in vain. There are many ways to take the Lord's name in vain, not just by swearing. One way we take the Lord's name in vain is when we call ourselves Christians and act like the world (14:1-21.) If we say we are a Christian we are to act and live like a Christian.

The fourth is that we must keep the sabbath day holy. This is the day that the Lord has commanded to be a day of rest. This is a day where we are to meditate on the word of God and to bring glory to God. When it says that we cannot work, it doesn't mean that we cannot prepare food or clean up from our daily living. If it will bring glory to God you are allowed to do it, for example having someone for dinner and cleaning up afterward. On the sabbath we are not supposed to sell or buy anything. We can find all of these guidelines in ch.14:22-16:17.

To be continued in Part II.

The Last Days of Moses

Sermon Report from Sunday, January 23.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

These verses speak about the last days in Moses's life. After he blesses 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel (the tribe of Issachar was absorbed into the tribe of Zebulun), he climbs to the highest peak of mount Nebo, where as the Lord willed, Moses died.

Before the Lord ends Moses life, He shows Moses the promised land from the top of the mountain where He again reminds Moses that he will not enter the promised land. One thing that I want to point out is that you see, in verse 1,2,and 3, the Lord showing Moses the land that the tribes will have. It may be that Moses prophesied or that the Lord actually showed Moses a vision of the land where each tribe would live.

After the sight seeing, the Lord takes Moses life and then the Lord himself buries him. Until this day no one has found the grave of Moses. One reason I learned from the sermon and I agree with is that the Lord did this because He did not want the children of Israel to worship the body of Moses as they may have been tempted to do. The devil has created many other "gods" for us to worship instead of the one true God. (Before the reformation and even now, relics and important dead people were worshiped.) In Jude 1:9 it says that the archangel Michal fought with the devil over the body of Moses. The reason the devil wanted the body is that he wanted Israel to have superstitions and glorify the body of Moses and turn them away from glorifying God to glorifying the acts of Moses.

I also want to point out that when Moses died, he did not die from bad health or old age. In verse 7 it says: "Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished." Think about this! This is amazing! It may be a blessing for a believer to die without having to pass through physical pain and sickness. God does bless some more than others. Also, think about this, Moses had to climb more than 3000 ft. in elevation and he was a 120 year old man! I don't know any 120 year old man who could do this today!

After Moses died, the people of Israel, according to tradition, mourned for Moses thirty days. We also see this happening when Aaron, Moses's brother dies. There is a certain way that Christians should treat the bodies of the deceased. We have to treat them with respect. The burial of Jesus and many others were placed in the tombs, which is part of the earth. The Bible does not say to burn the bodies to ashes, as some other religions do. The bodies of humans are the Lords temple here on earth.

The people of Israel had proved that they needed a leader, so the Lord chose Joshua as the next leader over Israel. Here in this chapter is a Biblical example of the passing on of leadership. To win the leadership in this age, the candidates make themselves look like the saviors of the generation, and when they win, they criticize the last leader and try to make themselves seem better than the last leader. But here in this passage we see a beautiful taking up and passing on of the leadership of the children of Israel. Throughout his life, Joshua was under the tutorship of Moses. Some of the attributes that Joshua had which qualified him for leadership are that he "was full of the spirit of wisdom," his commission was given by God, he was successful with the people, he was faithful to Moses and the Lord. Instead of trying to take the rule of the people and being jealous of Moses, like Miriam and Aaron, He submitted to God's plans for his life.

There are some special things that we see about Moses in the last two verses. First, we see that, like John the Baptist, there never has been or will be a prophet like Moses. Than we see that he was special because the Lord allowed him to know Him face to face(no one has ever lived seeing God face to face). Then the Lord used him to do His signs and wonders. In Numbers 12:3 it states that Moses was the most humble man on earth. Humility and meekness are the marks of true men of God.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30.

The First Sermon of the Year

My sermon report for the first sermon of the year on the first Sunday of the year by my elder, Mr. Scott Brown:

Nearing the end of Deuteronomy, we are now in the last two chapters of this amazing book.

Before Moses goes up into the mountain that God has called him to, he blesses the children of Israel.
Just to note that in ch. 34:7 we are told that Moses died in full bodily strength even though he was 120 years old!

In Numbers 12:3 it says that Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth.

The flaming law in the hand of God in v. 2 being given to us is an act of love even though it may cause us some pain when we sin.

Moses was an anti-type of Christ in the way that he blessed the children of Israel before he died, as Christ blessed His followers before He ascended into heaven (Luke 24:50-51). Men of God should be full of blessings.

There were three periods in the life of Moses, each of them forty years. We may be able to see our own life through the life of Moses. The first forty years of his life Moses spent as a prince of Egypt where he thought he was a somebody. Before we were saved we lived for the world and ourselves, always searching for our own pleasure. We believed we were able to govern our own selves and thought we were somebody.

The second period of Moses's life was the forty years that he spent in the desert where he found out that he was a nobody. God brings us hard times to show that when we are in those hard times we must be totally dependent on Him. God uses difficult periods to prepare and sanctify His people for the plans he has for us.

The third period was the forty years that he spent in the wilderness leading the people of Israel to the promised land. This is the time that many are in right now, and the place that we are called to bring other people to.

The reason that Moses was never to enter the promised land, although he saw it from the top of mount Nebo where he died, was because when the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock and Moses, because of his anger, disobeyed the Lord and struck the rock. In doing this, Moses was saying that the Lord was not sufficient for them and showed that Moses needed to do something to make it happen, giving the example of doubting the sovereignty and power of God (Numbers 20:8-11.)

At the end of this journey to Gods kingdom we will sit at His feet and be in awe of His wisdom and power. But we can do this even on this earth by the way that we live our lives. It is awesome how God will ordain our steps when we live in obedience to Him.

One of the amazing things that we see here is that Moses was very meek and patient with the people of Israel, and even though he was the most humble man on the earth there were some times when he wanted God to just take his life! The example that Moses gives is a life of faith and He proves that with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).

The Blessings of God

This Sunday, September 12, Mr. Brown gave a sermon on Deuteronomy 28:1-14. This passage is about the blessings that God gives his people when they do what his law requires.

Here are my notes:

Sometimes we think that we can keep sinning and asking for forgiveness over and over again and still receive blessings from God. It is true that God does bless the wicked (and this is for His glory), but sooner or later he will punish them.

Some Christians think that blessings come from where you live, or what condition you are living in. For example, a family could be living in a comfortable apartment but they make themselves unhappy by thinking if they could only move to the country or maybe have their own farm, then they would be blessed and happy! In their farm then there they could work for God! We need to be satisfied with what the Lord gives us. It may be that it is the Lords will for you to have your own farm. If he makes a way and you feel that it is His will, than move to that farm!

People often think that riches are evil. When they see another who is wealthy they think that that person gained his wealth by doing something illegal or wrong. The Bible does not say that money is evil. It says that the love of money is evil(1Timothy 6:10). Whatever the Lord gives you, try to make it bigger and better. If the Lord gives a gift of speech, than use it for His glory. If the Lord gives you riches, use it for His glory.

The Lord blesses those who practice the law. The law does not justify you, but the Lord will bless you for following his commands.

The Lord sometimes withholds blessings from his children. All of the examples of this happening in the Bible show that all withholding are for His glory and for the good of His children.

Don't always be worrying about what you are going to eat or wear. The Lord always takes care of his children.

Let's obey God, for in doing so, he is delighted to bless us.

God Forbid.

This Sunday, June 26, 2010, Mr. Brown talked about Galatians 6:11-18. The title of the sermon was:

God forbid that I should boast- except in the cross of Christ.

We should not use our Christendom as a way to bring glory to ourselves. We should glorify God in all we do. Any actions we do, do not save us. It is the Lords mercy that saves us, if we obey his commandments. Once you are saved the world will hate you. You will be persecuted and mocked, but if you stay strong your reward will be great! The gospel can be very terrible or very wonderful to someone. It depends if you are a true Christian or not. We should be proud to be Christians. But that does not mean that we are better than everyone that is not a Christian. We are sinners saved by grace alone.

Not a Good Offering

Sermon report:

This is a sermon report on Mal. 1:6-14 which was preached by Mr. Horn on Sunday, June 17 . In verses 6-8 the Lord tells how the priest disrespect the laws of the Lord and how their attitude shows that they think that the Lord should accept whatever they give Him. The priests were giving the kind of bread that had been given to idols. They also would not prepare the sacrifices the way that the Lord had commanded them to. Then when they were told what they were doing wrong they would say, “What are we doing wrong?” The Lord challenges them by saying that if they had given the governor the same objects would he be happy with them? The Lord gives them a second chance by telling them to ask for forgiveness and plea for mercy. In verse 11 the Lord says that sinners and heathens all over the world will come to love him and worship him. In verse 13 the people say that it is a weariness to serve the Lord. The lord tells them that if a man has the ability to give the best and does not then He will curse him. Another way of putting that is like coming to church and falling asleep in the middle of the sermon or singing just because the other people are singing, or reading and praying to God to save yourself and not because you love and fear God. These are all corrupted offerings and the Lord is NEVER pleased with these kinds of offerings.

What Did We Do Wrong?

On Sunday June 27, 2010, our elder, Mr. Horn's sermon was about Malachi 2:11-17.

Malachi 2:11-17 (New King James Version)

¹¹ Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The LORD’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
¹² May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,^a]">[a]
Yet who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
¹³ And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the LORD with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
¹⁴ Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the LORD has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
¹⁵ But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
¹⁶ “ For the LORD God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence,”
Says the LORD of hosts.

“ Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously.”
¹⁷ You have wearied the LORD with your words;
Yet you say,

“ In what way have we wearied Him?”
In that you say,

“ Everyone who does evil
Is good in the sight of the LORD,
And He delights in them,”
Or, “Where is the God of justice?”

Here are some of my notes:

The name Judah is another name for Israel.

The Lord will not accept the offering of the people because of the adultery that the men of the city have committed. One example of this happening is that the people have given sacrifices that are not up to God's standards. The Lord told them to give a lamb or animal without blemish to the priest to sacrifice to God. But the people were giving animals that were blind, sick, lame, or even stolen! There is one mistake that we cannot make while reading this passage of scripture. We have to see that this passage can and does apply to us! A false offering can be many things. Here are some examples of a false offering:

· A false offering can be a prayer in the midst of other people to impress them with the prayer or with your supposed holiness.

· It could also be that you go to church just to show the congregation that you are a pious person.

· It could be that we only obey our parents while they are watching us and not at all times.

· You can also pray for forgiveness of a sin and you still do it over again, and again, and again.

But in this chapter the men of Israel have committed adultery against the wives of their youth. And because of this the Lord will not accept their offerings. And then the men say, "Where have we sinned? What did we do wrong?"

God HATES divorce!

"Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let non deal treacherously against the wife of your youth..."

How do you deal treacherously with the wife of your youth?

-Lusting. Going to places on the computer or other places that you know you will be tempted or see things you shouldn't see.

-Being unkind.

-Not loving or cherishing her as the weaker vessel.

-Not washing her with the Word of God.

The men of Israel would ask God over and over again to accept their sacrifice. The Lord would grow weary of listening to the peoples pleas. God would tell them that they were wearying him with their false sacrifices to him. But they would only say "What did we do wrong?"

We weary God when we call evil "good" and good "evil."

Don't expect your prayers to be answered when you don't do what God tells us to do.