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THE GIFT OF THE GOSPEL
Luke 9:37-43 Dr. Chuck DeVane, Pastor Lake Hamilton Baptist Church Hot Springs, Arkansas December 24, 2017 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. — Luke 9:43-45, ESV The beauty of the Gospels is the way the gospel is woven into their fabric. Sometimes the good news is hidden in an otherwise innocuous narrative. Other times it is hinted at in a parable or hit hard with a miracle. Once in a while, however, it is hashed out in plain language by the Savior Himself. Luke uses quotes from Jesus to make the gospel most plain in 9:22, again here in 9:44, finally in 18:31-33, and graphically in the concluding story of the betrayal, arrest, trials, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. Yet in every case, even Christ’s closest disciples did not completely understand the gospel until He was gone. Now that two thousand years have passed, we should be able to make better sense of it. The gospel is the gift of Christ’s life. The gospel is the gift of Christ’s death. And though the gospel is hard to understand, it is easy to accept when accompanied by grace. Consider the gift of the gospel and ask God for His grace to make it your own, or grant you the assurance that it already is. The gospel is the gift of Christ’s life. Jesus came to earth as the majestic presence of God and the simple son of man. He is deity and humanity all wrapped together in one only begotten Son. His birth was accompanied by angels and farm animals. His life was observed with shouts of joy and the silence of fear. His public ministry attracted those who wanted to make Him king and those who wanted to kill Him dead. The Son of God was beloved, but the Son of Man was despised. At the end of the day, however, the God-man was God’s gift to all men. The first glimpse we get of Jesus in this plain rendering of the gospel is “the majesty of God.” Jesus had displayed this to His inner circle up on the mountain. He flashed His deity again after coming down from the mountain in another instance of miraculous healing and deliverance. It was obvious to all that there was no one like Jesus, and Jesus was like no one else. He was, is, and always will be God. It is safe to say at this point that Jesus’ life was safe. People saw Him, for the most part, as a gift from God. His followers were ready to rumble. They wanted to take on Rome and make Jesus the new king. They wanted to overrule the religious rulers and make Jesus the chief rabbi. They wanted Jesus to live and they wanted to live with Him in some kind of earthly kingdom, right then and there. Then, Jesus spoiled the party by speaking of the purpose for which He came to live on earth. The gift of Christ’s life is actually the gift of Christ’s death. This was, and still is, hard to understand. The gospel is the gift of Christ’s death. To His thickheaded disciples, Jesus plainly spoke of Himself as a gift about to be “delivered.” The word is very familiar (found 119 times in the New Testament), intimate (it speaks of activity between family, friends, or close associates), and literally means to come along side and give. Luke uses it positively, as in the introduction to his Gospel when he claims he is giving the good news which “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered … to us” (ref. Luke 1:2). He also uses it negatively, like here and in 22:22 (where the word is translated betrayed). Either way, Jesus is a gift to be given, in life and in death. Like many of you, we have a Christmas tradition in which one member of the family, usually the youngest, gets to take gifts from under the tree, walk up beside the recipient, and deliver the gift. This is the idea presented by Jesus of Himself as a present, hand delivered. But whose “hands” delivered Him? “The hands of men” would include Judas, one of the twelve. I suppose the other eleven would be culpable, too, since they tucked their tails and ran out on Jesus when the chips were down. The washed hands of Pontius Pilate should be included, too, along with the soiled, self-righteous hands of the Pharisees and Sadducees. While we are at it, we should all pull out our own hands and take a look at them. Of course, the unseen hand of God guided Jesus from the cradle to the cross. And, had Jesus not put His own hands on the gospel plow, He would never have planted Himself at the cross. In life Jesus was God and man. In death Jesus was God’s gift to man. A grumpy group of shoppers crammed into a mall elevator on Christmas Eve. After numerous complaints, one spoke up and said, “Whoever invented Christmas ought to be arrested, convicted, and hung from the highest tree.” Then, someone else spoke up and said, “He was.” This is hard to understand. Isaiah tried to explain it seven centuries before Christ was born. Simeon saw it shortly after Christ was born. But with all the angels rejoicing and all the people marveling it was hard for the disciples to let it “sink into their ears” that the gift of Christ’ life was actually the gift of Christ’s death. This is the gospel, straight out. Even spoken plainly, it is hard to understand. But the real question is, do you accept it? The gospel is hard to understand, but easy to accept. The disciples found the gospel hard to understand because “they were afraid to ask Him” questions. Fear God but never be afraid of God. He loves you and is eager to hear your questions, no matter how small or serious. And nothing is more serious than the gospel. It is hard to understand how one person could be both God and man. But this is the gospel, the life of Jesus Christ. He is eternal in His existence, yet born of the virgin Mary in His first advent. He lives, He lived, He lives again, and one day you will see Him, live. It is hard to understand how someone as divine and loving as Jesus could die, much less be killed, much less be crucified on an old, rugged cross. It is further hard to understand how His perfect life could provide a sacrificial death that makes me perfect and perfectly forgiven before God. He died, He died for me, and in His death I die to sin, its power, its punishment, and one day its presence. It is hard to understand the gift of the gospel, but easy to accept when accompanied by the gift of sovereign grace (ref. Luke 10:22). One will never understand the gospel if they deny either the deity or humanity of Jesus Christ. One will never understand the gospel if they deny the holiness of God and His holy hatred of sin. One will never understand the gospel if they do not see their own hands on the hammer and nails that put Jesus on the cross. One will never understand the gospel if they see all religions as equal, or no religion as necessary, or the Christian religion as a means of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. As a matter of fact, no one can really understand the gospel at all. It is, in the words of the Apostle Paul, the gospel gives “peace that passes understanding” (ref. Philippians 4:7). But many have accepted peace with God through the gospel, by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. “Let these words sink into your ears.” Copyright © 2017 Lake Hamilton Baptist Church, All rights reserved.
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DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Luke 9:37-43 Dr. Chuck DeVane, Pastor Lake Hamilton Baptist Church Hot Springs, Arkansas December 17, 2017 37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. 40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God. — Luke 9:37-43, ESV The greatest commandment in Scripture is to love God. The second is like it, that we should love other people as much as, if not more than, ourselves. I think we would all agree that the first is easier to obey than the second. In the same vein, worshiping God is much easier than working with people. Worship is a mountaintop experience. Peter, James, and John had such an evening with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration. After worshiping God, however, they had to “come down from the mountain.” So do we. And down from the mountain, people and problems await. The Problem with People I do not claim originality with this sentiment, but I have always said that the problem in the world today is that it has people in it. They are the worst. The worst thing about people is that they are all sinners. They display all kinds of unfaithfulness toward God and engage in all manner of ungodly conduct against one another. It is enough to make you want to go up on a mountain and spend the rest of your life with God, and God alone. But God, who never leaves us alone, commands us to “come down from the mountain” and live among the people. When Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration, “a great crowd met Him.” Reading between the lines of Luke’s Gospel with the other Gospels, this was not a friendly, faithful crowd. It was a mess of sinners. In the crowd that day were Christ’s inner circle (Peter, James, and John), the other nine (one of whom was a traitorous spy), casual onlookers, desperate parents, the usual tax collectors and prostitutes, and any number of religious leaders looking to contradict Jesus and catch Him in some fault. This is quite a mix of disciples and deadbeats. The problem with them all, according to Jesus, is they were “faithless and twisted” (also translated “perverse,” “crooked,” or to use a word similar to the original, “disastrous”). The twelve in the crowd were puffed up with pride, jealousy, and treachery, as we shall see in subsequent texts. The onlookers came not for spiritual things they could share with God, but for material things they could get from God. The usual sinners were sinning as usual. The rotten religious leaders stunk to high heaven, Even the concerned parent confessed his unbelief. Who wants to live with such people, work with such people, go to church with such people? I do, because Jesus does. I do, because I am one of them. Stated in another unoriginal thought, “Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst” (ref. 1 Timothy 1:15). The problem with people is that people are just like me, We are all sinful, selfish, wounded, weary, in desperate need of the grace of God and a deeper faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The People with Problems God is love but Jesus is not always nice. He called a member of another race a “dog,” characterized His religious enemies as “a bunch of snakes,” and when He came down from the mountain Christ called His own disciples “faithless” and the crowd around them “perverted.” So much for the milquetoast Jesus. Lots of love and lack of tact can go together, though, when you call attention to someone’s problem in order to remedy it. That’s what Jesus does for all of these people laden with their various problems. Good news for you and me, Jesus loves people with problems. For the disciples, Jesus pointed out the problem with their faith and showed them how to improve it. A case requiring healing and exorcism had been brought to them. In the recent past, Jesus had given the Apostles power and authority to heal and cast out demons. The power came from the Lord and the authority is the Lord, but apparently like Moses at Meribah, the Apostles tried to cure the boy in their own strength and name. This is faithless, and faithlessness does not work. Jesus showed them the way, by doing what the Father had commissioned Him to do on earth, heal the sick, preach the gospel, expand the kingdom of God. Faith is trusting God, going forth in His name, and doing what He has called and commanded us to do. If you are a disciple, God is calling you to gather for worship then go out and help people. Do it! For the crowd, Jesus unveiled the problem with the devil and showed them God is ultimately in control. The devil and demons have been around for a long time, and they’ve always been a problem. They were especially a problem in Jesus’ day, for then they descended upon His geographical location in droves. Here, however, they were defeated. As a young pastor, a laymen expressed his theology to me in this way: “God votes for you, Satan votes against you, and you cast the deciding vote.” This is patently absurd and virtually heretical. I am not Lord. Satan is not equal to the Lord. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth. For the sick boy, Jesus delivered him from his problem and gave him back to his father. This poor father and son had double trouble, the physical pain of epileptic seizures and the spiritual problem of demonic possession. One probably led to the other, and Satan seized this opportunity to try to make Christ and the fledgling Christians look bad. Jesus came out of this episode, as always, smelling like the Rose of Sharon. “All were astonished at the majesty of God” (ref. vs. 43). It would not be the last time Jesus faced the darkness and came out smelling like a rose. The Person for Problem People At the end of the day, Luke’s aim is not to highlight the problem with people, or claim the gospel is here to merely help people with their daily problems. His purpose is to expose the greatness of God, affirm the deity of Jesus Christ, and call all people to trust in Him for salvation. Look at that last phrase again, “The majesty of God.” This episode pointed people to God. Down from the mountain, the devil is there to do us harm. People often do not help and sometimes make matters worse. But everything God does is good, or at least it works together for good. God is great, God is on the throne, and God is love. God is the supreme person for problem people. But wait, as the people down from the mountain extolled “the majesty of God,” they should have put two and two together (or three in one). God healed the boy. Jesus healed the boy. Jesus is God. Jesus Christ is Lord! Jesus is the supreme person for problem people. Remember, finally, another thread running through the Gospel of Luke, the other Gospels, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our greatest problems are not epilepsy and demonic possession. Our greatest problems are not poverty and lack of adequate health care. Our greatest problems are sin and death. There is only one person for this problem. “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (ref. Romans 10:13). The person for problem people is the savior for sinful people. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in Him. Follow Him, up and down from the mountain. Copyright © 2017 Lake Hamilton Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Check out the weekly happenings at Lake Hamilton Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas. A GLIMPSE OF GLORY
Luke 9:27-36 Dr. Chuck DeVane, Pastor Lake Hamilton Baptist Church Hot Springs, Arkansas December 10, 2017 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” 28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. — Luke 9:27-36, ESV Kings and kingdoms are glorious things. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of them. The members of the royal family in England are always in the news. Kings and princes in Saudi Arabian ride in fancy cars, each one more expensive than the gross domestic product of the state of Arkansas. Kings know how to flaunt their kingdoms. The greatest King and kingdom of all, however, has been historically low key. Most people do not recognize this King or desire to live in His kingdom. Yet both are supremely wonderful and infinitely mysterious, encompassing the past, present, and future. The King is a person who has come, the kingdom is a place where we can presently live, and both are coming together in a promised and perfect future. When Jesus Christ was born, the kingdom of God came to man. Joseph and Mary saw it, as did Simeon, Anna, and many others. The King and the kingdom of God has come, two thousand years ago. During his earthly ministry, to those who accepted Him and followed Him, Jesus plainly told them the kingdom of God was at hand and in their midst. The kingdom exists wherever and in whomever Jesus Christ is Lord. The kingdom of God is here, now, where two or more are gathered in His name. The final arrival of the kingdom of God, however, is often described in one word: glory. Dōxa is the Greek word, from where we get our Doxology. It means the most, literally, the most exalted person and place. This phase of the kingdom has yet to arrive, since Jesus is not yet exalted in all the world. But He will be, at His sure and soon second coming, with which He will usher in a new heaven and new earth that is brilliant, spotless, and full of glory. In the previous passage in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus promised that his true disciples, those who are not ashamed of Him and of whom He is not ashamed, would see His “glory” (ref. Luke 9:26). Then, He promised that three of them would get an early glimpse. The transfiguration of Jesus Christ that Peter, James, and John witnessed encompasses the glory of the past, present, and future. Thorough the word of God, we can catch a glimpse and sing with the angels about all three realms of glory. Glory is a glimpse of the saints who have gone to be with the Lord. Four men went off by themselves to pray. In Luke’s Gospel, every time Jesus prays, something dramatic happens. In this case, Jesus was transformed from the inside out and Paradise was paraded on the mountaintop. What’s more, four men became six. Moses and Elijah are added to the mix in this glimpse of glory. At the time of the transfiguration, Moses had been dead for 1,400 years and Elijah disappeared without a trace about 900 years earlier. Yet here they were, real men in real time talking with the real God about real things, namely Jesus’ departure, which in the original language is called His exodus. Moses and Elijah are the go to guys on that subject. “Has anybody seen, my old friend Martin, can you tell me where’s he’s gone? He freed a lot of people but the good they die young. I just looked around and he’s gone.” Dion sang this song in 1968 about the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy, good men long gone. Dion didn’t know where they went. Since those four included a life-long agnostic, a lapsed Catholic, a Baptist preacher of the social gospel, and one devout Catholic, I cannot speak for them as a group. Has anybody seen, our old friends Moses and Elijah? Can you tell me where they’ve gone? They’ve gone to be with the Lord in glory, and in this glimpse they appear with Jesus and are witnessed by Peter, James, and John. Moses and Elijah were saints, and a saint is any person chosen by God, saved by grace, who persevered throughout life, and is now in the glorious presence of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the first reason for Christ’s transfiguration. It gives us a glimpse of glory. It provides blessed assurance that our loved ones who lived for the Lord Jesus Christ are in a much better place, walking and talking with Jesus, and enjoying the glory of God. Glory is a glimpse we get now when we walk with the Lord. Now that we’ve looked at those two from the past, let’s focus on the three in that present moment. Peter, James, and John were Jesus’ inner circle. They were fast friends, true followers, men who walked with the Lord, literally and spiritually. Most of their time with Jesus included dirt roads, cramped houses and synagogues, ire from religious rulers, and the fickleness of the crowds. But for one shining moment, a glimpse of glory is in their view. Most of a Christian’s time today is spent in mixed company doing the mundane. We are surrounded by unbelievers and a few fellow believers. We live in neighborhoods, work jobs, and enjoy recreation with people of all stripes, striving to enjoy life and bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once in a while, however, we come into a cloud. The cloud is the pure presence of God. There’s no one in it but God and God’s people. It may be a quiet time with just God, you, and a Bible. It may be a worship hour with a church of people who revere the word of God, observe the sacraments, and discipline themselves to sincerely follow Christ. These are clouds, present tense glimpses of the glory of God. The key to coming into these cloud moments seems to be an unfettered allegiance to the word of God. God’s word in this moment was an admonition to listen to the pure words of Jesus Christ. Black letters matter, too, according to Simon Peter, who would later write that time spent in the word is preferred to the experience he enjoyed at the transfiguration (ref. 2 Peter 1:16-18). We can get a glimpse of glory, right now, just by reading and heeding the word of God. But the best is still yet to come. Glory is what we will gaze at when we see the Lord. The reason Simon Peter valued the word of God over his experience at the transfiguration is that the word is constant, while the transfiguration was instant. The word is ever present, the transfiguration a fading memory. But the day will come when faith in God’s word will give way to the sight of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, coming again in all of His glory. A glimpse of glory will give way to a panoramic view that will never fade away. Jesus was momentarily radiant on the mount of transfiguration. He will be permanently radiant when we see Him through the veil of death or at His second coming to earth. The disciples were momentarily stunned at the sight of the transfiguration, the glory of the Lord, the appearance of the saints. So will we, but we will just have to get used to it. John, writing many years later, summed it up best when he wrote, “We know that when [Jesus] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (ref. 1 John 3:2). Glory to God, indeed, and glory for all of God’s people. The only thing bad about the future glory of the King and His kingdom is that we have to wait for it. For now, like Christ and His chosen three, we have to come down from the mountain. We find, as they do in the next narrative in Luke, Satan and sickness and other stuff opposed to God’s glory are all around us. We suffer from past wounds. We struggle with present challenges. So from time to time, we need to keep looking up, up to this mount of transfiguration. In it we catch a glimpse of God’s glory. But one day, we will revel in it, forever and ever. Amen. Copyright © 2017 Lake Hamilton Baptist Church, All rights reserved. GOSPEL HOPE
Luke 9:18-26 Dr. Chuck DeVane, Pastor Lake Hamilton Baptist Church Hot Springs, Arkansas December 3, 2017 18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. — Luke 9:18-26, ESV Hope is many things to many people, with natural and supernatural implications. Hope is a town in Arkansas where some famous men were born. Hope is a woman’s name, even a member of our church. Hope is a feeling we get around Christmas concerning the present we most want. Hope the first Sunday of Advent, part and parcel of our celebration of Christ’s birth. And, hope is one of three cardinal virtues of the Christian life (ref. 1 Corinthians 13:13). Ordinary hope looks to the future with weighted possibilities. We hope we get what we want when the time comes. Biblical hope, however, takes no chances. It is a sure thing that encompasses the past, present, and future. Hope for the Christian is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hope in the Past I hope that Jesus Christ has died and rose again for my sin and salvation. I confidently believe that this happened nearly two thousand years ago. I stake, in the words of Isaac Watts, “my soul, my life, my all” in the person and work of Jesus Christ as described in this turning point passage in the Gospel of Luke. Who is Jesus? He is not merely a man and a prophet. Jesus is the Messiah, the “Christ,” the Son of God and “Son of Man.” Simon Peter spoke for true believers concerning the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. Fulfilling all prophecy, Jesus was the God-incarnate, virgin-born Savior come to deliver God’s people from their worst enemies. Only the worst enemies of God’s people were not the Romans, Persians, Babylonians, Assyrians, or Egyptians. The worst enemies of God’s people and all people are sin and death. Sin separates us from a holy and loving God. Death is the ensuing, final permanent estrangement from God. Jesus did something, in the past, to defeat them both. He came to “suffer … be rejected … be killed, and … be raised.” This was not the kind of Messiah the Jews were looking for two thousand years ago. But this is the Messiah who came, in the past, in whom I put my ultimate hope. I have found hope in the perfect person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope in the Present Hope in the gospel, like the grace and mercy it brings, is absolutely free. So free, in fact, that most people take it for granted and leave it unclaimed. They have a nominal hope, a worldly hope if you will, that says maybe it’s true and in the end I’ll probably be all right. So how do we have hope, presently, that we really are saved by the free grace and full gospel of Jesus Christ? Ask yourself another question. Am I paying the cost of being a true follower of Jesus Christ? The gospel is free, but it costs everything you have. Jesus said so. Denial, death, and discipleship are the costs for following Jesus. These things, according to Christ, must be paid in the present tense to enjoy assurance of one’s salvation. Your hope in the gospel is dependent upon the manner in which you are presently living your life. What is self-denial? It is the radical removal of self from the throne and the acknowledgment that Jesus is Lord. Most people consider themselves to be the most important person in the world. Murderers take lives because their life is more important than the person they kill. Adulterers shatter families because their pleasure is more important than another person’s pain. And every so-called lesser sin stems from this same disease of selfishness that plagues the whole human race. Self-denial is waking up every day and realizing that you are not the most important person in the world. Jesus is. Serve Him by serving others and you will find yourself in the present hope of self-denial. How do you get there? Through the cross, Christ’s and your own. Cross equals death and life, crucifixion and resurrection. Christians must be born again because they died before they were. After we die, we live, for Christ, one day at a time. And Christ is living in us to will and work according to His good pleasure. So how do we please God in the present? We please the Lord by faithfully following Jesus Christ. A follower does another’s will by listening and obeying another’s word. God gives us Himself, His Son, and His Spirit through constant contact with His word, the holy Bible. If you are regularly looking into God’s word and finding ways and means to carry it out in your life, then you are following Jesus, you are carrying the cross, you are denying yourself, and you have every present hope that you are saved by grace and bound for a glorious future. Hope in the Future Gospel hope is anchored in what God has done for us in the past and what He is doing in us in the present. But true to the nature of hope, there is more to come, more to confidently expect. And, it’s the best part about being a Christian. To appreciate the future hope of Christians, though, we have to go back to the past of the Jews. They were right and wrong in their rejection of Jesus Christ. They were right to expect a Messiah who would conquer their earthly enemies, too, all of those who disparaged and persecuted and martyred them over the centuries. They were wrong, however, dead wrong to not see in Jesus the Messiah who would take care of their greatest needs first — forgiveness of sin and salvation from death — before coming a second time to crush enemies and rule the world. So, the Jews in Jesus’ day were ashamed of Him. They scoffed at His preaching and teaching. They mocked Him as He hung naked on the cross. They disbelieved His resurrection. Therefore, they will not share in His salvation and glory. Christ makes it clear here, in this text, that the same is true for those who profess to be Christians today. If you are ashamed to take your stand with Christ and His church, if you take lightly his work on the cross, if you profess to be a child of grace but do not practice a life of worship and obedience, then you will not share in His salvation and glory. “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him” (ref. 1 John 2:28-29). If you do, He won’t, and you will. If you profess and practice your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus will certainly not be ashamed of you, and you will be with the Lord “when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” I hope to see that day. And by hope, I mean confidently expect it will come. Perhaps the greatest paradigm of hope ever put forth on the movie screen is Stephen King’s “The Shawshank Redemption.” I find it so compelling I tend to overuse it as an illustration. Nevertheless, it is story of hope. A man hopes to be free. A man hopes his friend will be free, too. And, he hopes the can be free together in paradise. This pictures our gospel hope. Christ is free from the death and tomb that held Him two thousand years ago. I am now free from sin and death by grace through faith in Him. And one day, we will be free together, face to face, in a new heaven and earth. Put your past, present, and future hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ! Copyright © 2017 Lake Hamilton Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Check out the weekly happenings at Lake Hamilton Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas. |
AuthorDr. Charles F. "Chuck" DeVane, Jr., is the Pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas. His weekly sermon article, "The Gospel Truth," has been published in newspapers in Arkansas and Georgia. Dr. DeVane is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and has served in the pastorate for over 20 years. Contact Pastor Chuck at PastorChuck@lakehamiltonbaptistchurch.org
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