Sermon Four Last Things (5)

We are looking at the subject of meditation. If we profess to be Christians that implies certain obligations on our part. A Christian will pray. Devote yourselves to prayer, Paul says (Colossians 4:2). A Christian will read their Bible. Psalm 1 says of the blessed person that their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.

We should also give ourselves to meditation. Psalm 119:15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Philippians 4:8 Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Use your mind to go over these things.

To help us in this we are suggesting subjects that you can usefully meditate on.

Three weeks ago we spoke about how we can think about God himself - his nature and attributes. Rather than thinking of God in a vague and disorganised way take Question and Answer 4 of The Westminster Shorter Catechism. It asks "What is God?" and expects the answer "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

Then the week before last we thought about the states of Christ - his humiliation and exaltation. His humiliation begins with Christ's incarnation, the Word becoming flesh. Then there are the sufferings that he endured on our behalf all his life, culminating in his death, death on a cross and his burial in the tomb. His exaltation begins with his resurrection from the dead on the third day, followed by his ascension into heaven so that now he is in heaven where he is at God's right hand, interceding for his own and from where he will one day come to judge this whole world.

Last week it was human nature in its fourfold state -

1 Pre-fall man in the State of Innocence in Eden

2 Fallen man in the State of Nature in his sin and misery and inability to change, the state of all of us by nature

3 Reborn man in the State of Grace; our present state as beievers

4 Glorified man in the State of Glory in heaven.

To put it simply, there is Before the fall, After the fall, After regeneration and In glory.

This week I want to commend to you another topic for meditation - This is to do with Christian eschatology, or the last things. It is about what is often called the Four Last Things (theat is the last four things to do with man). These are Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. We are talking about the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife.

They are often commended as a collective topic for pious meditation. St Philip Neri apparently said "Beginners in religion ought to exercise themselves principally in meditation on the Four Last Things." Traditionally, the sermons preached on the four Sundays of Advent wold be on the Four Last Things.

The Puritans used to like to write on the subject. Among their tomes are The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven by Robert Bolton; published posthumously in 1639. Four Last Things - Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell by William Bates, which appeared in 1691. In 1683 John Bunyan published a poem on the subject. It was called One thing is needful or serious meditations upon the Four Last Things. The Four Last Things have become a common theme for artistic and literary works as well as theological writing but I'll leave you to explore that for yourselves if you wish. What I want to do is simply to stimulate you to think about these things.

1. Meditate on the first of the last things - death

First, we want to meditate then on death. In hebrews 9:27 it says people are destined to die once. There are four main things we want to say under this heading.

1. We want to define death. Death is to do with separation. In the beginning there was no death but Adam and Eve were warned that if they should eat from a certain tree in the Garden of Eden they would surely die. As you know, they did eat and so they died. First they died spiritually. A separation was introduced that had not been there before - a separation from God.

Spiritual death was followed in due time by physical death - the separation of body and soul or spirit. That is what happens when a person dies. On the cross Christ gave up his spirit. That was unique. Normally it is God who decides when a person's spirit and body are separted. Their visible body and their invisible soul are separated. The body remains here on earth and is either buried or cremated or whatever. The spirit or soul appears before God to be assigned to heaven or hell. It is only at that the resurrection that body and soul will be reunited.

2. We want to remind ourselves that we can all expect it at some point. As is often said death is a fact of life. It is true that there will be a generation that escapes death - those who are alive when Christ returns - but for most of us we can expect one day to die. It is good to meditate on the fact.

I think Adoniram Judson the 19th century missionary to Burma went wrong when he adopted the practice of sleeping in his own coffin at one time. We should meditate on the fact that we will one day die, however. As each day passes, the closer we come to that day.

3. We want to remind ourselves too that it is the last enemy. It is important too to see that death is an enemy, the last enemy the Bible calls it. Many people say they are not afraid to die. Woody Allen famously said so - although he added more realistically that he didn't want to be there when it happened! Stephen Hawking the scientist who suffered from a rare moto-neuron disease who died in 2018 often said it. For example in a 2011 interview he said “I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.” This is to underestimate what death is. Death is not natural even though it is so common It is a curse, an enemy to be faced and we ought to reckon with that.

4. Fourthly, we want to say that death is different for unbeliever and believers. It is a fair inference from Scripture that the death of the unbeliever is not the same as the death of the believer. This becomes clear once you ask the question - why did this person die, an unbeliever? Romans 5:12 tells us sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. We are sinners and so we die. But what about believers? Why do they also die? The death of the believer is part of his sanctification. The believer is no longer in fear of death - Christ came to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:15). In 1 Corinthians 15:56, 57 Paul says The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, death is still an enemy but an enemy we can face by the grace of God as we take the last step on the road that leads to heaven.

2. Meditate on the second of the last things - judgement

The second thing we want to think about is the judgement which immediately follows on from death. Hebrews 9:27 again people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. Romans 14:10 ... We will all stand before God's judgment seat.

Again there are several things to say.

1. When? - the time. It is clear that when Jesus comes again there will be a great and general resurrection from the dead of all and then the judgement will begin. Revelation 20:13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

2. Who? - the Judge and the judged. The Judge will be Jesus himself. Paul speaks in Acts 17 of God having set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. Jesus was raised from the dead for this work. Matthew 25:31, 32 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him .... All the righteous will also be involved in the judgement with Christ, especially the Twelve. 1 Corinthians 6:2 Do you not know that the Lord's people will judge the world? Matthew 19:28 I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

The judgement will involve those of every nation (Genesis 18:25 - The judge of all the earth. Matthew 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him ....). All people: Hebrews 12:23 - God, the judge of all. No-one will escape. It includes the angels too.

3. Where? - the place of judgement. This is open to debate but it appears to take place here on earth.

4. What? - the nature of the judgement. We are told that all will be gathered and then the books will be opened. Revelation 20:12a And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. The Puritan Thomas Vincent identifies these books as being five in number. He is probably right. What are these books?

1 The book of God’s remembrance - The names of all who ever lived are known to him. He knows when and where they lived and the various dispensations of providence to them for their good. he especially know all they ever did and thought, good or evil.

2 The book of men’s consciences - God has given each person a soul. Part of the function of the soul is to act as conscience. Conscience includes a record of good and evil. In this life conscience is often rather sleepy and defective. But it can be stirred up. $ Have you ever written a secret message with lemon juice? When the heat is applied the writing suddenly becomes clear. That's how conscience will be then and things long suppressed and forgotten will be brought to light.

3 The Book of the Law, God’s Law – this is known to God's people. It is on their hearts and it is written in Scripture. Its requirements are found on everyone’s conscience to a greater or lesser degree. By this standard we are all to be judged. The Law is summed up in the Ten Commands.

4 The Book of the gospel - This is the only answer to the Law. By this book all the sins of believers will be refuted. Even in the case of the weakest $ Ever read a book or heard an argument that looks unanswerable - then seen it answered. So the gospel answers the seemingly unanswerable Law. The gospel says that by repenting and trusting in Christ all your failure to keep the Law can be forgiven because Jesus has lived an died in your place to satisfy the justice of God.

5 The Book of Life - Revelation 20:12, 15 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. ... If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. This is the book containing the names of all the elect. No-one has ever seen it. It is no good trying to peer into it. All we know is that there is such a book with the names of all who trust in Christ and live for him in it.

1 Corinthians 4:5 God will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. ... 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body.

3. Meditate on the third of the last things - hell

It is clear that after the judgement every person is assigned either to heaven or hell. No third alternative is suggested. The moment we die we are judged and our souls go to heaven or hell then there is the final detailed judgement and from then on body and soul are either in hell or heaven.

So, thirdly, we come to hell. This is where all who have failed to repent and trust in Christ will end up after death and judgement. This is where they will be forever.

Hell is a fact just a much as heaven is a fact. Jesus spoke of both. Therefore, as much as we may shrink from the task, we ought to consider it. In Matthew 25 three verses speak about hell. Verses 30 and 41 and 46. In those three verses, which draw on various Old Testament images we learn a number of things about hell. Know that hell is

1. A place outside. Matthew 25:30 Jesus says throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some translations prefer to speak about throwing him into the outer darkness. Whichever, the point is that hell is outside, exterior, on the edge.

The picture, more specifically, is the one in Revelation 22:14 Outside outside the city are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, etc for (21:27) Nothing impure will ever enter New Jerusalem, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Hell means being shut out of heaven, shut out from God's presence. It is to be left outside.

2. A place characterised by darkness Hell is also spoken of as a place of darkness. Darkness often stands for ignorance and evil, chaos and disorder and death. Light speaks of life and darkness of death and decay and one day the distinction that God originally made between light and darkness, night and day, will be made permanent and lasting. In heaven there will be light and it will always be day, in hell it will be only darkness and night.

3. Where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The other thing verse 30 mentions is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again it is the very opposite of heaven. Gnashing of teeth is a striking phrase. Commentators suggest it speaks of remorse of conscience, torture of mind, a sense of inexpressible pain, furious rage, black despair. No doubt all these are included. It is a horrible picture – people weeping, not quietly and meekly but grinding or gnashing their teeth. Sometimes people speak of the cries of hell. This is what we are talking about – the sound of weeping and anguished gnashing of teeth.

4. Where are those who are cursed. In verse 40 the King says to the goats on his left, the unbelievers, Depart from me, you who are cursed. A curse is something you can't shake off. If you are cursed then nothing you can do can lift that curse. It remains. Human curses, of course, cannot make any real difference to anything, but we should still refrain from them for it is very unkind to curse someone and it can play on some people's minds so that they believe that the curse is real. When God curses a person it does make a difference. There is non escape. That curse ends in hell. Now this whole world is under God's curse and we are all affected. The only way out is if the curse falls on someone else instead of you. And that's the great message of the Bible. Christ has taken the curse on himself at the cross so that all who trust in him, before it's too late, may be delivered and know God's eternal blessing.

5. A place of eternal fire. Perhaps the best known thing about hell is that it is an eternal fire. There are plenty of sceptics, of course. Some say that the word eternal doesn't mean eternal here and it is true that the word used can mean age rather than eternity. However, it is clear that when it says at the end of the chapter Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life eternal punishment and eternal life must last for the same amount of time and that is forever. Others ask how hell can be darkness and eternal fire when we know fire makes light. However, we know enough about electromagnetic radiation and microwaves, perhaps, to understand that intense heat may be unseen. Anyway these details are surely not to be understood in a literalistic way. They are there to help us to understand the horror of that place. One reason God has given us fire and the pain it causes is to warn us against hell. Let's take in that lesson. An everlasting fire is almost inconceivable. $ The nearest we come to it is the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem that was apparently always burning, its fire never going out.

6. A place of eternal punishment. Finally (46) we are told that this is eternal punishment. The idea of punishment is not a popular one today - that is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person in response to behaviour deemed wrong. The idea is abroad that there should be no punishment – only therapy and rehabilitation, paying one's debt to society, etc. This is one reason that we have so many problems with law and justice. In fact there is such a thing. Indeed, there is endless punishment from God for all who refuse to come to him for mercy. It is a sobering fact.

4. Meditate on the fourth of the last things - heaven

Finally, heaven is not only where God lives but where his people will be with him forever and ever after death and judgement. Let me remind you of some things about heaven. In heaven

1. There will no longer be any sea. Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. The Bible is very clear that this present heaven and earth is not going to last forever. One day soon it is going to be destroyed and replaced by a new heavens and a new earth. One of the features of this new heavens and earth according to this verse is that there will no longer be any sea, which seems like a rather strange thing to say until, firstly, we remind ourselves where and when this final book of the Bible was written. John wrote this remarkable book while he was exiled, as a punishment for his Christian faith, on the small Island of Patmos and over 60 miles from Ephesus. Day after day John was surrounded by sometimes stormy sea and all the time to reminded him of how cut off he was from fellowship. But he knew that one day that would be over and he would be with the saints of Ephesus and of the other churches he wrote to in the new heavens and the new earth and there would be no more parting. It is out of the sea that the Beast comes in Revelation and the sea stands often in Scripture for restlessness and turmoil and trouble.

2. There will be no more tears or pain. Revelation 21:4 God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. This is another aspect of God making everything new. Here is the refreshment his people will know, the victory that will belong to all who turn from sin and trust in Christ. I suppose it is true in this world that we cry less as we grow older, especially in public. Babies cry all the time, children quite a lot, teenagers rarely and grown ups hardly at all. But that is not because we do not want to weep at times. When we hear of a death of someone close to us or when we remember the times we had with them before they died, when we are in pain or suffering or in sympathy with others who are in pain or suffering. This world is full of tragedy. There are orphans, widows and widowers. There are people with no money or no friend in the world. People who just do not know what to next or where to turn. There are people learning today that they or their loved ones have life threatening diseases. This fallen world is a world of suffering, sickness, death. If a tear does not come to your eye from time to time then perhaps you are simply not looking at what is going on or have hardened yourself off to too great an extent.

3. There will be no Temple. Verse 22 another glorious negative. John: I did not see a temple in the city, and if that may seem strange it is immediately explained because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. No need for a temple when God himself and his Son are there! That is how it will be. It is a marvellous thing that now we can pray and immediately be in God's presence. That is an amazing thing and a taste of heaven. How much more so in heaven! Today we may have doubts of the Lord's nearness but never at all there!

4. There will be no night. Verses 23-26 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. Now in Scripture night or darkness also has a meaning that often comes out. It stands for ignorance and evil, for chaos and disorder. It is often used to describe unbelief (the kingdom of darkness) and hell – the very opposite of heaven.

5. There will be nothing impure. With that idea we can take verse 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Not only will it be a place of sweetness and light, where there is no sin or evil of any sort but there cannot be in heaven any person who does what is shameful or deceitful. No, the only people there are those, as it says here, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. In other words only true Christians will be in heaven. That obviously raises the question for all of us of where we stand.

6. There will be no longer be any curse. Finally 22:3, 4 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. What spoils everything in this world and what means there is no escape from hell without Christ is the curse that it is under and has been under since man's fall. This is no idle or ineffective curse but one that is real and that reaches all not just some. But there is a place in this universe the curse does not reach and one day that kingdom will be revealed and set up and all who belong to Christ will find safety from the curse in that place.

Sermon The Sinfulness of Sin (7)

We have been thinking about things that we can and ought to meditate on as Christians. One of the subjects we've yet to look at is what is called the sinfulness of sin. A number of Puritans wrote on this subject. They saw, as we need to see, that if we fail to see how sinful sin is we will be tempted the more to indulge in it and tell ourselves it is not such a bad thing after all.

Now whenever we think of sin we need to be very careful. We are like very dry wood that can catch fire in a moment. If we are not careful, thoughts of sin will quickly turn to sins and that will be no advantage to us at all. You know that in certain laboratories they keep strains of different diseases like anthrax and smallpox and so on. You can imagine that they are always very careful indeed when they handle such material. We must proceed in a similar way.

To help us then what I want to do is to lean on the work of Jeremiah Burroughs and his work the evil of evils. His book is in four parts but I am just going to pick out three particular lines of thought from Part One in order to give you an idea of how to think about the sinfulness of sin.

Burroughs starts in a surprising place perhaps. He begins with Job 36:1 where the young man Elihu says to Job Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction. He is very unfair to say what he says we know but he does point up a clear danger - a person may well feel he would rather sin than suffer. However, as, Burroughs points out and goes on to demonstrate, we should take the very opposite view. As he puts it "It is a very evil choice for any soul under heaven, to choose the least sin, rather than the greatest affliction." So here is a good way to think about the sinfulness of sin. Begin by thinking of sin and suffering and see that - let's put it this way - it is better to suffer than to sin. With that we want to demonstrate that sin is always opposed to God and so must always be resisted and then we want to add some further conclusions, all drawn from Burroughs.

1. It is better to suffer than to sin

We can argue the case by the means of four further propositions

1. It is an evil choice to choose sin over suffering. This must be so as the wages of sin is death and The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning (1 John 3:8)

2. God's servants have chosen the worst suffering over the smallest sin. Isn't that what the story of the martyrs down the ages teaches us? These men and women chose to suffer death rather than to sin against God.

Think of that list towards the end of Hebrews 11, the chapter about faith where (35b-38) the writer speaks of others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Think of Paul and his sufferings (2 Corinthians 11:23-29) Comparing himself to the so called super-apostles he says he has worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely,and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Is this not the example of Christ himself? Anything rather than to give in to temptation?

3. There is some good in suffering but none in sin. We are not saying that suffering is a good thing but whereas some good can come from suffering we all recognise, no good can come from sin. About suffering David says (Psalm 119:71) It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. As for sin we have already said it leads to death and is of the devil. Paul says in Romans 7 that nothing good dwells in him, in his unregenerate flesh - for all that is there is sin.

There is nothing good in sin in and of itself. It cannot lead to good. Any good that comes is in spite of sin not because of it. It contains no good principle from which good can come. The Bible never tells us that sin will lead to some good in the way that it does with suffering. In Isaiah 42:3 God says When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. There is no parallel promise about sin. Hebrews 12:8 says If you are not disciplined - and everyone undergoes discipline - then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Suffering can be a proof that God is your Father - sin is not like that. Jesus says blessed are those who mourn and are persecuted but he does not bless those who sin.

If you suffer, you can cry out to God but if you sin it's not the same - sin is a barrier to prayer. You can accept suffering complacently - you must not do so with sin. You can even rejoice and thank God that you suffer by God's grace but there's no joy in sin, nothing to be thankful for.

Burroughs says of sin "... it is so evil that it is not capable of any good at all; the air though it be dark, yet it is capable of light; that were a dismal darkness that were not capable of light to come to it: and that which is bitter, though never so bitter, yet it is capable of receiving that which will sweeten it: that which is never so venomous, yet is capable of such things as will make it wholesome; but sin is so dark that it is incapable of light; so bitter, as there is no way to make it sweet; so venomous as it is no way capable of any wholesomeness."

Sin remains even if you add all the good to it there has ever been. I know people have this idea that they can balance out their sin with good deeds but no amount of good can make sin good. Isn't that something the case of Jimmy Savile demonstrates well. Who cares about all the good he did when you think of the evil he also did?

Even when a sin is committed for a good reason, the evil still remains. You know how people sometimes convince themselves they can sin for a good reason - steal to feed my family, tell a lie to save someone from trouble, kill someone so that God's cause is advanced. But sin is still sin. A thing does not become good just because you did it with a good motive in mind. Would it be right to kill yourself to stop yourself committing a sin? Of course not.

We cannot make any sin good and nor can God. How could he ever declare a sin good? His eyes are too pure to look on evil. he cannot tolerate wrong (Habakkuk 1:13).

It is true that some sins are worse than others - it is worse to do something wrong than to think it - but no sin is good in itself. There is never a situation where it is good to sin. If you ever think like that, the thought is from the devil.

So by way application let's remind ourselves of some things

1 Sin is not the work of God. He made only what is good and there is no good in sin.

2 Sin's promises are all delusions. Sin offers pleasure, praise, profit. It's a lie. There's no good in sin.

3 Never venture anything good for sin. it cannot work.

4 Never make use of anything good to sin - not another person, your own body or anything else.

5 To make something sinful your chief aim is the height of wickedness.

6 All time spent in sinning is time wasted

7 Those who spend most of their time doing what is wicked are useless members of society.

8 You need never debate for a moment over any sin whether you should do it or not. Don't!

4. There is more evil in the least sin, than in the greatest suffering. Just one more thing here. Sin is evil because it is the thing that most opposes God, who is the chief good. To quote Burroughs again

Perhaps I might scare you in preaching of Hell and damnation, but discovering this I now speak of, the opposition sin has unto God; it has more in it to humble the Soul in a saving manner, and to cause the Soul to feel sin to be most evil where it is most evil; to be the greatest burden where it is most weighty. ... That sin is most opposite to God the chief good.

Burroughs spells it out - sin most opposes God's nature; it is opposite in the way it works against God; it wrongs God more than anything else; it strikes at the very being of God.

2. Sin is always opposed to God and so always must be resisted

Three things here

1. Sin is in itself opposite to God.

1 There is nothing directly contrary to God except sin. That is the very definition of sin - it is against God. 1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. It is against God's law.

2 God would not be God, if there was even one drop of sin found in him or even if he caused there to be sin in another or it he only approve of it in another or if he did not hate sin as much as he does.

It is like what would happen if just one drop of deadly poison should get into a glass of water.

God hates evil - Psalm 5:4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. 11:5 The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. If he did not hate sin as much as he does then he would no longer be the holy God he is and if he were not that God he would not be God at all.

2. The way sin works is always against God. It is important that we grasp this.

The Bible tells us sin is hostile to God Romans 8:7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.)

It is hostile to God and promotes hostility from him (Leviticus 26:27, 29 If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.)

It is an attempt to resist God (Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!)

It is to quarrel with your maker (Isaiah 45:9)

3. Sin resists God and strikes against him.

To sin is to show that you hate God because sin is always against his law. Sin is rebellion against God. We often don't think it is but it is. Remember when King Saul disobeyed God and he thought it was no great sin but Samuel says to him (1 Samuel 15:22, 23) Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. To sin is to despise God and his Word. Remember those words to David (2 Samuel 12:9) Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

More, sin is a striking out against God. When you sin you show you wish that God was not so holy, that he was not as he is. It is impossible for us to harm God but sin is really an attempt to destroy him.

To sin is certainly to wrong God. To sin is to say there is not enough good in God for me - I need something else. It is to pretend that he cannot see us - he is not present or he does not know what I am doing. It is to deny the wisdom of God and to besmirch his holiness as if it was nothing. You are pretending that God is without power and is unjust. Worse than that it is to fly in the face of his mercy and grace. What? asks Paul shall we sin so that his grace can abound. No way!

To sin is to oppose the Father who made you, the Son who laid down his life for you and the Holy Spirit in you whose one purpose is to make you holy.

It is to ignore all that is written in God's Word and to oppose the very end for which God gave you life and all that he ever intended.

3. Some conclusions about sin

Just a few conclusions and we are finished

1. Only a few people really grasp what they are doing when they sin against God.

2. How we need a Mediator who is both God and man and that is what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He understands our state but he is also God and so is able to save us completely.

3. Few of us are as humbled as we ought to be for sin. We will only humbled as we should be if we remember that it is against God and against him alone that we have sinned. Otherwise God's Name will not be sanctified, there will be no lasting humiliation and our souls will continue to hanker after sin.

4. Admire the patience of God. How much sin there is in the world and yet he bears and forebears

5. Here is a way to break your hearts for sin and to keep you from temptation. Meditate on the sinfulness of sin.

6. If sin be this sinful, it should teach us not only to be troubled about our own sins but also about the sins of others.

7. If sin has done so much against God, then shouldn't all of us who are converted be up and doing for God?

8. If sin is so much opposed to God, we can see why God is so very opposed to it.

No wonder he dealt with the angels who fell as he did, no wonder he has dealt with Adam's children as he has. It comes out in his Law, in the way he will punish even sins that seem small to us. Think of the flood and the massive deluge that was. And think too of hell and how he is going to judge this world one day.

Above everything else we can see how much God hates sin when we consider the cross. Think for example of Gethsemane and what we learn there - how he began to be sorrowful and troubled. He says My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Think of him falling with his face to the ground and praying, and how his sweat his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Think of his cries to God. My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.

There are many other things we could say about sin in light of the cross and Christ's sufferings there nut our time is gone.

So the sinfulness of sin what a sobering thing to meditate on. It is good to do it neverhtheless.

Sermon The Offices of Christ (3)

We are talking about the need for Christians to meditate and I've been suggesting things to meditate on - God, his word, his works, etc. Something very profitable to meditate on would be the threefold office of Christ, the fact he is our great Prophet, Priest and King.

When we say ‘Jesus Christ’ you know Christ is not his surname but a title based on the Greek word which in Hebrew is Moshiach or Messiah. Both words mean anointed one ie one who has oil put on his head. In Acts 10:38 Peter says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power … In the Old Testament prophets, priests and kings are the ones who were anointed. Thus when we call Jesus Christ we mean he is Messiah, the anointed one – anointed not with oil but with the Spirit, to be our prophet, priest and king. Some ideas of Christianity stress only one or other of these offices. Some ignore them all and speak only of Christ as a man whose good example we must follow which is really heresy. If we are biblical we will give attention to all three offices as seen in Christ. So

1. Meditate on Christ the King

Who is the most powerful man on earth today? Perhaps the President of the USA but his power is limited as America is a democracy. For real power you need to be an absolute monarch - a King or an Emperor. Down the years some kings have gained the title great – Constantine the Great, Alfred the Great, Rhodri Fawr, Frederick the Great, etc. As great as they may have been they all died and few have the power today such kings once had. However, there is one Great King still alive today who, though he died, he rose again and reigns forever. He has a kingdom that can never fall - Jesus, King of the Jews, the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

Remember how when the wise men came to Jerusalem looking for Jesus they asked for The King of the Jews and when he was eventually crucified the title above his head read The King of the Jews. The Jews wanted Pilate to change it to 'He claimed to be ...' but he refused. He was simply being awkward but the fact is that this really was The King of the Jews – the great king promised in the Old Testament. For Pilate and others, it was a joke – Here is the King of the Jews: a helpless, crucified criminal. What can he do? But three days later he rose from the dead. Pilate's conversation with Jesus before the cross went like this (John 18:33ff) - Pilate asked him if he was the king of the Jews. Jesus explained his kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place. You are a king, then! said Pilate sarcastically. Jesus replied You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

Jesus undoubtedly claimed to be a king then. Early in his ministry (John 1:49) Nathanael calls him the King of Israel and he accepts it. This is why he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfil Zechariah 9:9 ... See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey .... When the people acclaimed him as king he accepted it. However, he was no earthly king. After feeding the 5000 they wanted to make him king by force but he resisted. He didn't come down to be an earthly king. Rather, he came to bring in God's kingdom – Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. But this kingdom is no earthly kingdom, it is from another place – from heaven. That is why he willingly laid down his life as he did. Earthly kings fight and seek to conquer earthly territory but that never was the way his Kingdom advanced. Earthly kings seek to capture castles and conquer lands but King Jesus came rather to capture men’s hearts and conquer their sins. By nature you are a rebel against him. You say We will not have this man to be king over us but Jesus is at work through his Spirit in this world and goes out conquering and to conquer. He calls on all today to lay down their arms, cease resistance and bow to him. Acknowledge him as Lord and Master, your rightful sovereign.

Three aspects of his kingship to meditate on. Think of him as

1. A merciful King

By might and by right he has authority to rule over you. We all deserve death at his hands but by his amazing mercy there is a way of escape. If you will only bow down before him then rather than destroying you as would be right he'll forgive you and have mercy on you and give you the freedom and the desire to live for him. Today is a day of amnesty, a day of grace. All who acknowledge Jesus as Lord can know mercy. All who stubbornly refuse and hold out against him must realise that a day is coming when they will have no choice in the matter. They will have to bow the knee and acknowledge his Lordship. His offer of mercy is limited. It is not forever.

Psalm 2 is graphic. It describes the rebellion of the kings of this earth against God’s anointed king and describes how in reaction God laughs and scoffs then rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, he has installed his King on Zion, his holy hill. This is where Christ is declared to be the Son of God: You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron sceptre; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. That’s how it will be for rebels at the judgement. The conclusion then is that earthly kings, should be wise ... Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. In other words Jesus, God’s anointed, will rule over all one day. We will all bow down to him. So before that day, kiss the Lord Jesus with a kiss of peace. We must take refuge in him, before his wrath flares up to destroys us.

2. A glorious King

In another Psalm, Psalm 24:7-10, we read Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty - he is the King of glory. It is clear that it is a description of the glorious return to heaven of the triumphant Lord Jesus Christ following his victory on the cross. Earthly kings like to be called 'your majesty', wear crowns and robes, sit on thrones and surround themselves with gold and silver. Without those things there is often nothing majestic about them at all. But the Lord Jesus is glorious in his own person and works. He is glorious, great, full of splendour and majesty. He is God. Because we think so much of him on the cross where he faced shame and suffering, we can easily forget his real glory. Yet even there his glory is seen. How majestic he is. How different to those who crucified him. Think of some of the things he said on the cross - to the thief who repented – Today you will be with me in Paradise and for the crowds Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Think of his triumphant It is finished!

3. The Supreme King

Way back in Numbers Balaam foresaw it (24:17) I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. The psalmist saw it too (89:27). He hears God the Father say of the Christ I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. Psalm 110:1 is similar The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Yes, he was despised and rejected but Isaiah sees that is not the end of the story (49:7) ... to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. He is called (Revelation 1:5, 17:14, 18:16) ... the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - ... On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. He is the Lamb in the midst of the throne of God. There is none greater and ultimately we will all bow down to him and give him glory. The nations are his. 1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet

2. Meditate on Jesus the Prophet

1. Think what a prophet is

We are probably less clear on what prophets are. We tend to think of prophets as foretellers of the future. That is understandable but in the Bible the chief meaning of prophet is someone who speaks the Word of God. In Exodus 6 God says to Moses See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. So a prophet is one who speaks on God’s behalf. He speaks what God tells him to say.

2. Know Jesus is a prophet

There are not as many Scriptures about Christ as Prophet as those about Christ as King but there is plenty of evidence that Christ is not only the Great King but also the Great Prophet. Indeed it is not something in any doubt. Muslims, for example, are happy to accept Jesus was a prophet. Of course, we want to assert that he is more than a prophet. There are many others too willing to accept that Jesus is at least a prophet.

People who heard Jesus on earth spoke of him as a prophet. Mark 6:15 As the people debated who Jesus is some said He is Elijah. And still others claimed, He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago. Luke 7:16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. A great prophet has appeared among us, they said. .... It was the conclusion made too by the woman at the well (John 4) and the blind man who was healed (John 9).

Others were more sceptical. We read of a Pharisee who invited Jesus to his house. When he saw him receive attention from an immoral woman (Luke 7:39) he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner. Jesus not only knew what sort of a woman she was but what the Pharisee was thinking too! Also Matthew 21:11 ... This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee 21:46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet Luke 24:19 ... a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

There were times too when the crowds got even closer, as in John 6 and 7, where we read (6:14) After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. (7:40) On hearing his words, some of the people said, Surely this man is the Prophet. What they meant by that we’ll come to in a moment.

We should also say that Jesus accepted the designation prophet. Luke 13:33 ... I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day - for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! Mark 6:4 Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honour.

In John 3:32 he testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no-one accepts his testimony. 7:16 My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 8:26 he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world. 12:4-50 Then Jesus cried out, When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. ... There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. ... whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.

3. Know Jesus is the prophet spoken of by Moses

As we said, there were times when people thought may be Jesus was more than just a prophet. In Deuteronomy 18 Moses says The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire any more, or we will die. The LORD said to me: What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

This prophecy reached a partial fulfilment in the sending of many different prophets in the Old Testament period culminating with John the Baptist. People were looking, quite rightly, for an ultimate prophet – the Prophet. When John was asked if it was him he said ‘No’. But what about Jesus? In Acts 3 Peter certainly makes that connection with Deuteronomy 18. Perhaps the two clearest places it comes out are Hebrews 1:1-3a and John 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Every true prophet reveals truth about God but the Lord Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being. He is the unique Prophet. His is the final revelation. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John's choice of the word Word is highly significant. Here is the one who is God but who uniquely communicates God. John 1:18 No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. This is how to know God – through Jesus Christ. He is the one who perfectly reveals God. If you want to know what God is like, look only to Jesus.

4. Think of the implications

See that the one great Teacher or Prophet you need above all is Christ. It is not easy to admit our ignorance but we have to. We don't know everything that is clear and sometimes what we think we know we need to learn again. Therefore we need to cast ourselves entirely on Christ and learn from him. Matthew 28:20 … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. How do we do that?

• Read the Old Testament. Luke 24:27 Jesus beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,(ie the Old Testament) he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Even the Old Testament prophets, as Peter says (1 Peter 1:10,11) searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
• Read the New Testament. The New Testament tells us not only about the Great Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, but is all inspired by the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Christ. These are truly the words of Christ and must be listened to. Matthew 11:27-30 All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

We need to listen to God's Word. Listening is not enough, of course – we must do what it says.

3. Meditate on Jesus the High Priest

Jesus is only called a priest in the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. However, there are references to his priestly work in other parts of the New Testament.

1. Think about what a high priest is

Basically a prophet represents God to man and a priest man to God. We have a definition in Hebrews 5:1 Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. So Selected from among men – it has to be a man, a human being. Appointed – ie by God. To represent them in matters related to God – the high priest’s role is to represent man in anything related to God. He is a mediator. To offer gifts and sacrifices for sins – especially his role is to do with sins. He offers gifts to God and makes sacrifices to deal with sins.

In the history of religion, there have been and are all sorts of priests and high-priests. Think of Roman Catholicism, pagan religions, etc. In the Old Testament, each patriarch was a priest over his household (Noah, Job, Abraham, etc) but when God brought Israel out of Egypt for various reasons a priesthood was established with all the priests coming from one tribe - Levi. The greatest work of the high priest was on the annual day of atonement (Yom Kippur) when he would go into holiest place of all with blood to make atonement for Israel. His other work was to represent and pray for God’s people. The purpose of this priesthood and Temple and sacrifices was to point people, imperfectly and symbolically, to what Messiah would do perfectly and actually. What was true of Aaron and the high priests that followed is true too of Christ.

2. Think of the ways Christ is pictured in the Old Testament high priests.

1 Called by God

Hebrews 5:4, 5 No-one takes this honour upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father. {Psalm 2:7}

2 Anointed and holy

John 1:32 Then John gave this testimony: I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. Hebrews 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need - one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Jesus is the holy messiah.

3 Liable to temptation so sympathetic to sinners

Hebrews 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. 4:15, 5:2 ... we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but ... one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -yet was without sin. …

4 Making complete atonement by himself alone

Hebrews 2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

5 Interceding for his people

Hebrews 7:25, 9:24 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. … Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. In God’s presence he is present pleading for his own.

3. Think how Jesus is superior to all earthly priests?

Of course, there are many ways in which the high priest was inferior to Christ, as are all human priests. This teaches us that we do not need a human priest but one great high priest, Christ. Eg

1 He does not need to make atonement for his own sins

Hebrews 7:27, 28 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. ... Every human priest needs atonement for his own sins. What is the point in going to someone who himself needs atonement when you can go to someone like Jesus?

2 He is a Melchizedek priest

Hebrews says Jesus was not a Levitical priest like Aaron. He was from the tribe of Judah not Levi. He became a priest, however, like Melchizedek (the Priest-King Abraham meets in Genesis) not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (7:11) it would have happened but there had to be a change rather and Christ became (as announced in Psalm 110:4) a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek. A New Covenant replaces the Old and there is a new priest. Hebrews 8:6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. Trying to find salvation through an earthly priest going back to what is inferior.

3 He goes on forever

Hebrews 7:23 24 Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office but because Jesus lives for ever he has a permanent priesthood

4 He offered himself

Hebrews 9:25, 26; 10:11,12 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year ... But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. … Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

5 His once for all sacrifice is enough

Hebrews 9:25-28; 10:11-14 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year ... Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself … Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people ... Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. … by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

In true Christianity there is no priest class. All are priests under the one great high priest Christ.

• Trust in Christ for he alone has dealt once and for all with the sins of his people
• Trust in Christ for he alone has opened up a way into the presence of God for his people
• Trust in Christ for he is the only one who goes on praying for his people night and day

At least since the time of Calvin, it has been common to speak in these terms. When God created man he gave him at least three things:

• knowledge/understanding
• righteousness/holiness
• dominion over creation

However, when man fell these things were lost. We are all now by nature ignorant, lost, defeated. Outside Christ we are spiritually ignorant, spiritually lost, spiritually dead. So think

• I need spiritual discipline, guidance and rule. Left to myself I make a mess of life but when Christ rules, all is brought into order and beauty. I need Christ as my King. Why do I need Christ as a king? Because I am weak and helpless.
• I also lack knowledge. I don’t know God. I don’t understand spiritual truth. My great need is to have someone teach me spiritual truths. Jesus is the one who alone can teach me satisfactorily. Why do I need Christ as a prophet? Because I am ignorant.
• I also need to be saved. I am far from God by nature – morally polluted, corrupted, unrighteous. By his perfect priestly atonement and his faithful priestly intercession Christ is the only one who can remove sin and bring me near to God. Why do I need Christ as a priest? Because I am guilty.

Go to Christ the King for deliverance from Satan's power and to come into the glorious kingdom of God; Christ the Prophet for enlightenment; Christ the Priest for reconciliation and forgiveness.

Sermon The Works of God (9)

At the moment we are in a series looking at things to meditate on. We've been saying that if we profess to be Christians that implies certain obligations on our part.

• Christians pray. Devote yourselves to prayer, Paul says (Colossians 4:2).
• Christians read their Bibles. Psalm 1 says the blessed person delights in the law of the Lord
• Christians also meditate on God and his Word, as Psalm 1 says, day and night.

To help us in this we are suggesting subjects that you can usefully meditate on. So far we've looked at four subjects - God's nature and attributes, the states of Christ (his humiliation and exaltation), human nature ion its fourfold state and the four last things (death, judgement, heaven and hell).

In the list I am working from the Puritan George Swinnock also mentions the offices of Christ (His being prophet, priest and king) the vanity of the creature, the sinfulness of sin, the love and fullness of the Saviour. Then at the end of his list he has the divine Word and the divine works.

A great deal of our time meditating will be spent simply meditating on a verse or several verses of Scripture. You take a verse, say John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You think of the fact the sentence begins with God - where we must always begin. It speaks of God's love (God so loved). It is always good to meditate on God's love. When it comes to world you'll have to decide what it means in that context - obviously not the planet, probably not all the people in it, either. Probably the world in the sense of its wickedness and lostness. God so loved the world that he gave - he did something about it. He gave his one and only Son ... and so on.

Besides meditating on God's Word, we should meditate on his works. This can be a little more difficult to get to but there are lots of resources for us. So for example, have you ever sat and thought about water? Perhaps not but it is worth doing.

Let me quote from part of an article I found on water.

... Water might not immediately come to mind when we think of God's good gifts to us. But it is so well designed for our use that a simple glass of water should make us aware of the fingerprint of the Creator and give him glory.

Water is not only essential to life on earth, but also incredibly useful. We drink it, cook with it, bathe in it, clean with it, play in it (or on it in colder times) ... Water regulates earth’s temperature, provides a habitat for the seafood we eat and is essential for growing all of our food. And those are only a few of water’s uses!

Water is colourless and tasteless, making it perfect for cooking. If it had a flavour or even a colour, certain foods would be made much less appetising. Research has even shown our bodies may be able to taste tasteless water, alerting us if we are drinking something that looks like water but is not actually water. Water in its pure state has a neutral pH (not an acid or alkali), again making it perfect for cooking and drinking.

Water is ideal for transporting dissolved substances, such as minerals, nutrients and waste, throughout (or out of) our bodies.

Water is one of few liquids that expand when frozen, allowing it to float on liquid water. If water sank when it froze, aquatic life in colder climates would be impossible.

Water molecules stick to each other, creating surface tension. Surface tension allows insects to walk on water, makes rain fall in droplets, allows particles to float in water and keeps water from immediately evaporating.

... Water was one of God’s first creations. Genesis 1:1, 2 says God created the heavens and earth and initially the earth was covered in water. As 2 Peter emphasises, the earth was formed out of water and through water (2 Pet 3:5). On day two, this water was separated so some remains on earth and some is spread throughout the heavens ....

I'm sure you could do that with other subjects such as air and fire and so on. What I thought we could usefully do this morning is to consider some of the animals God has created. Probably the best way to do that is to go to Scripture and some of the passages that mention animals and direct our meditation in that way. I want us to look at four places

1. Learn from the various animals mentioned in the closing chapters of Job

So first let's go to the closing chapters of Job, chapters 38-40, where a number of creatures are mentioned. The reason they are mentioned, along with things like snow and ice, rain and hail, the stars and the sea, is to underline the simple truth that God is in control and that if we wish to challenge the way he runs this world then we need to get some education first. There is a whole lot going on in this world that we know very little about.

The references to animals begin at the end of Chapter 38 (39-41) where God asks the question

Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food? Now we have a tremendous advantage over Job I guess in that we know what is being spoken about here. We have seen documentaries that show lions hunting or ravens feeding their young. When we see such footage we ought to remember that it is God who created all these creatures and who cares for them all in the wild. He is in absolute control.

The passage goes on to speak about mountain goats, wild donkeys, the wild oxen, ostriches, horses and birds of prey like hawks and eagles. Job has to put his hand over his mouth and humble himself. What does he know?

And then it starts up again. God speaks this time about the Behemoth, a land creature, and at length, the Leviathan, a sea creature. The writer has a lot of fun. He says of the Leviathan (41:4) Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house? We are not sure what these creatures are. Are they creatures still around today like a hippo and a whale or are they extinct creatures like dragons and dinosaurs? Whatever they are, the point still stands - God has made these magnificent creatures and he sustains them and every time we see or think about such creatures we ought to acknowledge the greatness and power of God.

2. Learn from some lions and a great fish in the Books of Daniel and Jonah

Understandably, the stories of Daniel in the lions den and Jonah in the belly of the great fish are among the most famous in the Old Testament. In Daniel 6 Daniel as an old man becomes the third highest in the Persian kingdom under Darius. Due to the envy of his enemies he ends up, despite all Darius can do, as you know, being thrown into a den of lions, which were kept for amusement and as an occasional means of punishing offenders.

You are well aware that lions are dangerous creatures. Every few weeks or so you can read about people being attacked and often killed by lions. $ For example the other day 22 year old Alexandra Black was killed by a lion in a Conservation Centre in Indiana when an enclosure was being cleaned. She had a degree in animal behaviour and had started working as an intern at the centre two weeks before. Attempts to tranquilise the animal failed so it was shot dead. It's unclear how it escaped the area that was supposed to be locked.

Now what happens in Daniel's case is that though he is lowered into the very den where these lions are kept he spends a whole night there unharmed. It is wonderful to read what happened the next morning (Daniel 6:19-23) At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions? Daniel answered, May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty. The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, and don't miss this because he had trusted in his God. This is a dangerous fallen world but we will be safe if we trust in the Lord. When Daniel's false accusers and their families are thrown into the same den (24), strikingly before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

The story of Jonah is similar in some ways, except in this story Jonah is actually swallowed by a great sea creature but he prays from the very belly of the fish and is miraculously vomited out alive.

Plenty of people say it didn't happen, of course, and it is not something we can be sure has happened since. There are lots of stories but none seem to be authentic. There are sea creatures that could swallow a man whole - a sperm whale or white shark for example - the problem is surviving once in there. It is likely that Jonah was bleached by the stomach juices. If we believe this is God's Word there is no need to doubt the truth of the story. Like the story of Daniel it is a story of the power of faith, the goodness of God and the fact that he is a God who can raise us from the dead.

3. Learn from the various animals mentioned in Proverbs 30

Proverbs 30 is by a man called Agur son of Jakeh. Chapter 30 refers to some 12 different creatures as Agur endeavours to drive home various points. Let's think about these different animals then.

1. Learn from the leech about insatiable things. 15, 16 The leech has two daughters. 'Give! Give!' they cry. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, 'Enough!': the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, 'Enough!'

So we begin with the humble leech. As you know, the outstanding feature of leeches is that they are bloodsuckers. It sounds horrible but we should be thankful for them. The medical profession still use them - for example to improve blood circulation. The leech's insatiable desire for blood is a pointer to four other things - the grave, the barren womb, land in time of drought and fire.

There never comes a point where the grave says ‘Okay, enough people have died’. Death goes on and on and will until Christ returns.

It is a terrible thing for woman to want children and yet not be able to. It is not good saying to such a woman ‘Well you’ve been trying for a few years now. Best give up on it.’ No, while there is a possibility of bearing children she will long for it. Pray for such people.

Think also of how drought, on one hand, can devastate a country and of how fires can do such damage. Again it stirs us to pray.

The leech gives us insights then. Beware of your passions and ambitions. They can be powerful things. Look to Lord and his will, rather.

2. Learn from the vultures and ravens about obeying your parents. Verse 17 seems a strange proverb The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

It is from a desert culture where a child is warned by its parents not to wander off. Once or twice the child disobediently wanders, however, but thankfully is found again unharmed. Again it is reminded to obey its parents. But then it strays again. This time there is no happy ending. It is only some time later that the child is found its eyes pecked out by ravens, its little body eaten by vultures.

3. Learn from eagles and snakes about what happens when difficult things become easy. 18-20 There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman. This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, 'I've done nothing wrong.'

First we are reminded of some amazing, incomprehensible things. The first two concern animals

The way an eagle flies through the sky. They do it with amazing ease. Not like us at all.

The way a snake moves across rough rock. Snakes have no legs but can quickly move along even on rough ground. How different we are - barefoot on a pebble beach for example.

He also mentions a ship far from port - out on the high seas. What a majestic sight - a ship sailing on the sea. The last reference is either the act of wooing or the actual mysterious act of love.

Some see the point of comparison in the fact no trace is left in each case. Rather the point is that these mysterious things seem hard, almost impossible - flying, moving smoothly over rock, riding the waves, a man seducing a maiden - but happen. In verse 5 we see the adulteress who sees the act of adultery as like having a meal. You think that a terrible thing, I trust. How can she live with herself? For her sex is no big deal. Yes, the first time perhaps it was something (like the first time you see an eagle fly, a snake on a rock) but no longer. Her conscience is seared. What about you? Are you so used to certain sins, you think nothing of them? What a danger! Recognise it. Repent!

4. Learn from from four small creatures about using resources wisely. (Skipping over verses 21-23) 24-28 Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags; locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks; a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings' palaces.

Four small creatures that are wise in certain respects

Ants - small insects that work hard all summer building up stores of food for winter. (There is a longer section on the ant as an example in Chapter 6)

Hyraxes (or some other small creature like a rabbit). For protection these creatures wisely hide in holes in the rocks, safe from predators.

Locusts - Larger than most ants but still small. Together they cause large scale devastation.

Lizards - If you've lived in hot climates you know how you see them in people's houses.

In each case the stress is on the animal's limited size then on the wise way they overcome that disadvantage. Creatures with little strength or power, with no king and that are easily caught make preparations for winter, hide in the crags, advance in ranks and are found in palaces.

We should praise God for these different creatures he has made and learn not to despise the weak. We too are weak and must learn to make the most of our circumstances. Out limitations must not be an excuse for doing nothing. Rather, prepare for judgement day; hide in the Rock who is Christ; unite with other believers and despite your weakness be bold to believe you may enter the palace of the Great King by grace.

5. Learn from four other creatures about true dignity. 29-31 There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; a strutting cockerel, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.

Here we have three stately animals - a fearless lion, a strutting cockerel, a he-goat - and a king with his army. Nothing is spelled out but it is likely that Agur is getting us to think about the nature and variety of dignity. We need to recognise where true dignity lies - not in our own bravery, our clothing, our uniqueness or our strength. Rather true human dignity is in being made in the image of God. That image is recreated when we trust in Christ.

4. Learn from the four animals mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 10:16

To finish, let's meditate a short while on Matthew 10:16. There Jesus is about to send out his disciples on mission and he says I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

So in one short sentence Jesus mentions four animals for us to think about, when it comes to evangelism. In each case it is only one characteristic of the animal that is in mind and if you want to understand what Jesus is saying you need to get that right. If you decided that the thing about sheep was that they produce wool, about wolves that they are nocturnal, snakes that they are found on the ground and doves that they are white, you would not learn much. In fact with the latter two Jesus spells out that is the shrewdness of snakes he has in mind and the innocence of doves. As for sheep and wolves, in that context they are marked by ferociousness and vulnerability.

And so we say we must go out and tell people about Jesus but we are vulnerable people going out among wolves who can easily undermine what we say and do us spiritual or even physical harm if we do not take care. I remember talking to a fellow student when I was in college who had come full of enthusiasm to tell people about Jesus. For him that meant getting involved in student life - drinking and dancing and so on. What he was finding, however, was that not only was it not going very well in that he wasn't winning others over but he was getting more and more worldly. He was forgetting that he was a sheep among wolves, who were baying for his blood.

With that is the call to be as shrewd as a snake and as innocent as a dove. We need to carefully think through how we can best win people. When a fisherman goes fishing, he will make sure that he has the right bait for catching the sort of fish he is after. We too have to do similar thinking. At the same time we need to be innocent, not trying to take advantage of people or trick them.

A few years ago I was in a research centre in South Wales. I thought I recognised the man in charge there. He was a friend of a good Christian friend of mine. We got chatting and he remembered coming to our church one Friday night to see a film. The film was called To Russia with love and he had been led to believe it was some sort of spy film. In fact it was a Christian film about the gospel in Russia. Misleading this man, boy as he was then, was certainly shrewd but it lacked innocency and so it utterly failed. It simply left a bitter taste and so the man was no nearer to becoming a Christian by it.

Sermon Man's Fourfold Nature (4)

We are looking at the subject of meditation. If we profess to be Christians then that implies certain obligations on our part. If a person is a Christian they will pray. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful says Paul (Colossians 4:2). They will read the Bible - it is God breathed and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training us to be righteous. We should also give ourselves to meditation on God. In Psalm 119:15 David says that he meditates on God's precepts and considers his ways. In Philippians 4:8 Paul encourages us ... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Use your mind to go over these things.

To help us in this, we are suggesting subjects that you can usefully meditate on. The week before last we spoke about how we can think about God himself - his nature and attributes. I don't know if you have tried this but it would be good for all of us to take some time and find a quiet spot where we can give ourselves to thinking about God. Rather than thinking of God in a vague and disorganised way you could do worse than to take Question and Answer 4 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and just go through it slowly and carefully. It asks "What is God?" and the expected answer says "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." If you could just spend a minute or so on each element there - God being a Spirit, his infinitude and eternity, his immutability or unchanging nature. That would be ten minutes well spent.

Then last week we thought about the states of Christ - his humiliation and exaltation. We suggested that with the humiliation you could begin by thinking about Christ's incarnation, the Word becoming flesh. Then there are the sufferings that he endured on our behalf all his life, culminating in his death, his death on a cross and his burial in the tomb. As for the exaltation, it begins with his resurrection from the dead on the third day, followed by his ascension into heaven so that now he is in heaven where he is at God's right hand, interceding for his own and from where he will one day come to judge this whole world. Again, what could be more profitable than to give yourself some time to think through all those various stages in the states of Christ.

This week I want to commend to you another topic for meditation - the four-fold nature of humanity. We should meditate on God. We should especially meditate on Jesus Christ, the Saviour. We should meditate on God's Word and on his works too. We should also meditate on ourselves. There is a danger in such meditation of becoming introspective and self-centred, of course, but there are ways of thinking about ourselves, self-examination if you like, that are both God honouring and profitable. The way I want to highlight this morning is what is called meditating on the fourfold nature of humanity. Some of you, no doubt, will know what I mean when I say that but others of you will look blank and say that you have no idea what is meant. Of those who look blank many of you probably do know what I mean in fact, although you would not have expressed it like that.

So what do we mean when we speak of the fourfold sate of humanity? When we think of human beings as they have existed and do exist and will exist, we can isolate four distinct states or modes of existence. What do I mean? Well, firstly we can go back to Adam and Eve and how it was for them in the Garden of Eden before the Fall and we can identify the first nature of humanity as one of primitive integrity. Of course, we come secondly to the fall of humankind into sin, the state we are now in by nature - humanity's entire depravation. But then, thirdly, we know that even at the time of the Fall recorded in Genesis 3 God gives hints that he has a plan to deliver sinners from their sinful nature and by means of that plan of salvation sinners have been exchanging their sinful nature by conversion to a nature that we can speak of as begun recovery through new birth, the third nature. Conversion here on earth is not the end of the story, only the beginning and so the fourth and final nature refers to the Christian's consummate happiness in the world to come.

There are various ways of speaking about this. In his book Human nature in its fourfold state the Scottish Puritan Thomas Boston writes of

1 The State of Innocence 2 The State of Nature, where he goes on to delineate the sinfulness of human beings in their natural state, the misery of human beings in their natural state and the inability of human beings in their natural state 3 The State of Grace 4 The State of Glory

To put it simply, there is

Before the fall, After the fall, After regeneration and In glory.

A more more modern writer sets things out in table form

Across the top line you have the headings Pre-Fall Man, Post-Fall Man, Reborn Man and Glorified Man. Under those headings you have two lines that say first that a man is able to sin or to not sin, secondly that they are able to sin and unable not to sin. Thirdly, it is that the person is able to sin but is also able to not sin. The final column is where the person is both able to not sin and unable to sin. You see that? Adam and Eve were able to sin or to not sin. Sadly, they did sin and so we are now born into a world where we are not only able t sin but also unable to not sin. Once we are converted we are in the position where we are certainly able to sin but also able to not sin, which is a wonderful privilege. One day in heaven, we will be in the most glorious position of all where we will be not only be able to not sin but also unable to sin, even if we desired to do so, which we will not.

So let's think how we can meditate on this rich subject. The obvious place to go is Genesis 3, where we see the first two natures and then perhaps Revelation 20, which refers to the last two.

1. Meditate on human beings in the State of Innocence - something to ponder

In Genesis 3 we read about how Adam and Eve and in so falling brought down the whole of humankind. If you think about it there must have been a day when one of their children hurt themselves or had to be reprimanded or some other scene where the children expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation and Adam and Eve had to inform them that the world they were in had not always been like it was. There was an age of innocence before the Fall. As the Westminster Confession puts it "Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it."

As the children's catechism puts it Adam and Eve were holy and happy. They had never sinned and there was no misery. However, they did not stay holy and happy. They had the option to end their holiness and happiness and they did.

A A Hodge puts it like this

"Adam in his estate of innocency was a free agent, created with holy affections and moral tendencies; yet with a character as yet unconfirmed, capable of obedience, yet liable to be seduced. by external temptation .... Of this state of a holy yet fallible nature we have no experience, and consequently very imperfect comprehension."

Things to ponder. I think there are two things to ponder here. Firstly and obviously what we have lost. We do not know what it is to be holy and innocent. I suppose the closest taste we get of it is as children. Adam and Eve we are told were naked and without shame as were we to a certain age. But it did not last. And that age of innocence did not last though it is good to ponder it and imagine how it must have been, however long or short it lasted.

But then we ought to think in another way. Dr Lloyd-Jones says somewhere

"Adam was perfect, Adam was innocent, Adam was made in the image and likeness of God, but he was never made a partaker of the divine nature (as the New Testament says) ... that privilege does not make us gods; but it does make a real difference to us. It puts us into a new relationship to God that even Adam did not enjoy. ... Though he was perfect Adam was subject to fall and failure; but – and I say it with reverence and to the glory of God – those who are ‘in Christ’ cannot finally fall away; they cannot become lost. ... In Christ not only are the blessings which Adam lost restored to us, but we are given even more; in this new relationship to God which we enjoy in Christ we stand in a higher position than Adam. .... "

2 Meditate on human beings in the State of Nature - something to deeply regret

As to our present state we are still free agents to some extent but because of the fall we are morally corrupted within and spiritually dead. We are spiritually blind in my understanding, my affections are perverted, I am (to quote the Confession again) "utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil" and hence we have "wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;" so that man "is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself," or even "to prepare himself thereunto."

Article 10 of the 39 Articles of the Anglican church is similar:

"The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God: wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will."

We know man is depraved both from experience and from what the Bible says about human depravity, about our state by nature (the blindness and darkness and deadness it speaks of and the fact that by nature we are slaves to sin and children of Satan) and about our need to be born again.

When Thomas Boston writes of this, he writes not only of the sinfulness of human beings and of the misery of human beings but also of the inability of human beings to change themselves.

It would be good for us all to sped time thinking about how sinful we are - sinful nature and sinful in practice. We are without excuse. And think of the misery that sin has brought to this world too - the frustration and alienation and the malice and war and agony and sickness and death. With that there is our utter inability to change our situation. Education won't do it; wealth won't do it; religion won't do it. By nature we are utterly helpless.

How full of compassion we ought to be for men and women still in their sins and pray for them to be converted. Also be thankful that we who are believers have been delivered from such a state and mourn the days wasted in sin.

3 Meditate on human beings in the State of Grace - something to be thankful for

But then that is not all that the Bible speaks of is it? It also speaks of a being born again, a first resurrection that means that God's Holy Spirit implants in certain people, deep in their souls, a new spiritual principle, habit or tendency that as it is nourished and directed by the same indwelling Spirit, frees a person from his natural state of slavery to sin and enables him to be filled with the free desire to do what is spiritually good. Of course, because of remaining sin, the lingering habits of the soul, there continues to be a conflict within for Christians and we do not perfectly do right. Both what is good and what is evil can be found in us. But we are headed in the right direction and it is good to think about the state of grace and all the blessings it brings and give thanks to God as we mediate on all his love and kindness.

Again we say give thanks to God for his mercies. What privileges are ours, if we believe.

4 Meditate on human beings in the State of Glory - something to long for

The state of grace is not the final state. We believe in a fourfold state. There is also the state of glory that is the blessing of all who go to heaven. In heaven every remainder of the old corrupt moral tendencies is gone forever. The gracious dispositions implanted when a person is born again are now perfected. The whole person is now brought to the measure of the stature of perfect humanity in the likeness of Christ's glorified humanity. And that is how we remain forever - perfectly free and without change in perfect holiness.

What a glorious future we have. Praise the Lord!

Hodge sums up the four like this -

• Adam was holy and unstable.
• Unregenerate men are unholy and stable; that is, fixed in unholiness.
• Regenerate men have two opposite moral tendencies contesting for empire in their hearts. They are cast about between them, yet the tendency graciously implanted gradually in the end perfectly prevails.
• Glorified men are holy and stable. All are free, and therefore responsible.

How good to think about such things and give glory to God. Ponder Adam in the Garden, lament the fall into sin and the wickedness that marks us by nature. Give thanks for regeneration and look forward to the glory to come.