Don't Let the Devil Steal Your Blessing
Notes
Transcript
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Church, Attending
Many believers don’t see the importance of regular church attendance. Members of Northend Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Seattle received a special announcement in the mail, listing the many things that would be done for them at church on the following “no-excuse-to-stay-home Sunday.”
According to the pastor, cots would be available for those who say Sunday is their only day to sleep. Eye drops would be supplied for those who have red eyes from watching late Saturday-night TV shows. There would be steel helmets for those who say the roof would cave in if they ever went to church, blankets for persons who think the church is too cold, fans for those who say it is too hot, scorecards for those wishing to list all the hypocrites present, TV dinners for those who can’t go to church and also cook dinner. Finally, the sanctuary would be decorated with Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.
Almighty God, You have called Your Church to witness that in Christ You have reconciled us to Yourself. Grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the Good News of Your salvation so that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Under many circumstances, this would be a sermon about divorce. There is a bigger issue, even bigger than the sanctity of marriage. That issue is our willingness to allow Satan to use us in his efforts to entice us to miss our blessing. When it comes to marriage, the devil will cause you to look at your spouse and see all the splinters in your mate’s eyes, not to help remove them, but simply to point out that they exist. When it comes to your work, the devil will remind you of every slight, every unfair incident, every inconvenience, to entice you to despise the means by which God enables you to provide for yourself and your family. When it comes to the church, Satan will point out the ineffective evangelism efforts, the lackluster financial support, the tepid participation, and the lack of ministry opportunities available because others don’t love the Lord like you do, or maybe he’ll point out the poor preaching skills of your pastor as he drones on and on about the same subjects as last month, last year, last decade.
After getting you all aroused and frustrated, he then shows you the alternatives, the things that you could have enjoyed, if only you would just loosen up, look out for yourself, reposition yourself to prosper, or make that change! “You deserve better,” your new spiritual confidant advises you. “You can do bad all by yourself!”
These and other similar phrases bounce around inside your breastplate of righteousness and your helmet of salvation. Your head and your heart go to war against the Law in your mind. Before you know it, you might be ready to “curse God and die,” or perhaps you start laying the foundations for your garden of bitter herbs, as you wait for the root of bitterness to spring up and cause trouble in your life and in the lives of those around you.
Those of you who came to the Midweek prayer and Bible Study last Wednesday received God’s Word of instruction for situations such as I am describing today:
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
Ahh... the virtues of patience? Who needs it?! Thanks to our 21st Century conveniences, we no longer need to be patient, either with things or with people. Whatever you need, some element of modern technology promises to supply, up to and including personal relationships. Given enough time, they might even be able to find a way to let you avoid the judgment seat of Christ - there is a Netflix show, called “Upload,” that offers just that. If you have the money, you can have your conscience uploaded into a virtual reality that is perfect in every way, and you can be made perfect too!
The idea of getting God’s blessings without God’s involvement is so enticing, the devil can even get himself into the church meetings. He’ll have you questioning God’s Word, suggesting that some people are just “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good” when it comes to dealing with real day-to-day problems. Perhaps God didn’t mean what we have understood Him to mean in our teachings. Maybe we should get a further review.
10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
I’m still looking at a bigger fish than your marriage.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Some folk straight-up cheat, while others think that withholding the benevolence due doesn’t hurt anything.
3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
“Wait a minute, preacher, what does this have to do with the Lord? Paul’s talking about the bedroom, not the sanctuary.” But you see, Paul has already established that marriage is the type, and the Lord and the Church is the ultimate reality. Our Lord withholds none of His promised blessings from you.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord is so good to His Church, and He has but one desire, that His house be filled with guests, that His table be filled with joyful celebrants at the feast of victory for our God. “The table is spread; where are those who were invited?” Why are there so many who are ignorant of Christ’s exceeding great and precious promises? Why are so many going to die and be lost when God has reconciled the world to Himself through the shed blood of Jesus Christ our Lord?
Are we withholding what God has a right to, our witness of His grace and mercy, our testimony to His faithfulness? Are we withholding from God the benevolence that is due to Him? When people know everything about us but the thing that has given us eternal life, what are we doing with our tongues but cursing them to eternal damnation, the wrath of God that is poured out upon those who have not believed in His Son?
8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
People want to be part of the Royal Priesthood, and they are, but they don’t want to intercede on behalf of the people or speak on behalf of the Lord. They want the Kingdom benefits, but not the family responsibilities.
That’s exactly what the devil wants to happen; that’s what he wanted - and got - in the Garden from the Woman, and that’s what he wants, and far too often, gets, from the children of God, when we sit on our testimony, when we withhold from the Lord the glory that is due His name.
13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
We pray, “Let Your Kingdom come; let your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” God wills that people come to repentance, but that will only happen as they hear the Good News of Christ.
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
The Lord wants His feast to be filled, and if you are His, you should want it too. Just as the Father sent His Son, and the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, so the Triune God sends us, the Body of Christ, into the world with the purest Gospel of eternal redemption.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Sandi Patty sang these words at Christmas time:
The Father gave the Son
The Son gave the Spirit
The Spirit gives us life
So we can give the Gift of love
And the Gift goes on...
We don’t have to wait for Christmas to give this gift. The devil wishes that we would, but we don’t work for him any more. The everlasting arms that stretched out on the cross shed the blood that took us out of Satan’s family, and adopted us into His family.
The blood that Jesus shed for me
Way back on Calvary
The blood that gives me strength
From day to day
It will never lose its power
It reaches to the highest mountain
It flows to the lowest valley
The blood that gives me strength
From day to day
It will never lose its power!
And the peace of God, that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
