Badenoch Free Church

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Sunday Morning 23 Sept 2007
 
2 Samuel 14:14 14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.
 
Death is a coming! Banishment / estrangement
But God wants life! “devises ways”
 
Context:
Chap 13 - one of the kings sons (Amnon) rapes one of the kings daughters (Tamar). - his half sister! The Brother of Tamar, Absalom (Amnons half brother) kills Amnon in revenge and then flees to Gershur for 3 years.
Chap 13v39 - King David has gotten over the lose of his son Amnon and now wants his other son Absalom back from exile.
 
Chap14- Joab sends to the king a wise woman from Tekoa to tell the king a story about 2 sons who get into a fight, and one kills the other. Then the rest of the clan want to kill the last living son and take his inheritance. The woman has no husband and only one son left! The woman wants the last sons life secured by the oath and protection of David.
Having got that assurance the woman wants to tell David something: v12. - she asks why the king has not brought back his banished son!
 
So what is the story all about?
A ploy to get David to restore his relationship with Absalom. Chap14v1-2.
The 2 sons represent Absalom and Amnon.
The picture of the grieving mother represents David’s heart for Absalom.
Out of the story comes the text:
The first part of the text is quite straight forward: “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die.”
We are all going to die! Just like Amnon died! There will be no recovery from death. The picture of Death - “water spilled on the ground”
Death is unavoidable. All of us will face death at some point. Our physical bodies will be “spilled on the ground”.
We are dying already. Our lives are a pint of water that keeps losing drops! A little bit more is spilled out each day! Soon there will be none left!
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.” psalm 22v14
Never know when the last drop will go : Colin McRae
The second part is quite amazing:
“But God does not take away life”
God is the giver of life, he never invented death!
Yes our lives are in his hands, and we live by grace!
The very breath we breath is a gift. This would be true even if the fall never happened!
And He will judge the world, and cast the rebellious into outer darkness, but this is his “strange work”. Never intended!
In rebelling against God we brought death on ourselves!
Yet death is the last thing God wants.
He has done everything He could to prove that he wants life! By sending Jesus!
King David therefore need not take away life! Need not kill Absalom.
Death is the antithesis of God and all that He stands for! 
the creation pours forth life - the tree outside, bursting with life!
The population of the world continually increasing! Etc
Yet death there is. We need to come to terms with it! How? :-
 
The final part:
We can overcome death!
“instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. ”
Far from taking life, God is all about restoring relationships between estranged groups.
We are the banished ones. Adam used to walk freely in the presence of God.
But was banished from the garden because of sin! We are still banished today!
But we need not remain “estranged” - God has planned and worked out his way of restoration!
Cities of refuge - people could run to for safety.
Jesus Christ - the Strong Tower - run to Him!
This final part brings us to the great thrust of our text: which is best summarised by
1 Corinthians 15:53-54 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
 
Death is not the End. Salvation - Eternal Life: there for anyone to take!
 
God is the king! We are the banished!
But God wants us back! His heart longs for us!
We are all going to die, but God wants to restore relationships with us before we do!
What about you? Do you want your relationship restored with God?
 
 
Sunday evening 23 sept 2007
 
Mat 11v1-6
Last week WWW, this week TTT.
In Mat 10, we have a great chapter on Mission.
Now at the start of chap11 we see a snapshot of how that Mission works out.
 
1) Teaching:
Matthew 11:1 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
 
V1 - summary statement of Jesus carrying on the work of mission.
(Galilee not in the Greek text. Cities is used.)
He sends his disciples on mission - chap 10 - but he does not stop himself.
“instructing” - commanding. The disciples are to follow the words of Jesus, they are in the Kingdom and must be loyal servants.
To those outside the kingdom Jesus “teaches and preaches” !
Overall Jesus taught, but he taught differently depending on who the audience were. When we come to the word, what is our attitude? Do we come as disciples or onlookers? As obedient servants, ready and willing to obey?
However you come: recognise the importance of Jesus the Teacher.
He has the words of eternal life! He has the truth that will set you free!
He will tell you about reality. About life.
2) Testifying:
Teaching naturally flows to testifying. We tell people what we have learned.
Children love to testify about what they have just seen or learned in school.
Matthew 11:2-3 2 When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"
 
Note: Some unnamed person is testifying to John in prison! Probably one of his disciples. Through this witnessing / testimony John wants to know, if Jesus was the One??
Was Jesus the Messiah or was there someone else?
A vital question: was Jesus the Saviour?
(From Luke7v11-17 we know what the testimony was: the raising of the son of the widow of Nain.)
Application: The important thing for us to recognise at this point is the work we are to do in testifying. We are to get people to ask for themselves, is Jesus the One. This is what our mission is all about : getting people to Jesus through our own experience of Him!
John was no rebel against the cause of God. He was the last great OT prophet.
But yet he has this question about Jesus! Was he really the Messiah? Or was there someone else?
John was expecting the Messiah to come, he just wasn’t sure if that was Jesus.
Note: John was in prison. “prison mood” - began to doubt possibly.
Had time to think! Needed reassurance.
Vital that our faith in Jesus is thought out. We believe in Jesus because we have thought it through! Think through any doubts. Don’t be afraid of asking questions.
Christian belief is not illogical.
We are not asked to put our minds on hold. Not a superstition.
Christian belief is based on great historical fact!
Application: take time to think! Don’t put off until tomorrow. Think about Jesus, is He really the One?
“I just don’t have time” - cannot use this excuse. You have time to eat and drink. Then you have time to Think.
3) Telling:
The teaching leads to testifying which in turn leads to telling : more testifying.
This is how the work of the gospel proceeds! There is no other way. We teach, we testify, we teach, we testify.
Salvation depends on this simply cycle!
Matthew 11:4-6 4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
In reply to Johns questions Jesus quotes from OT passages that tell of the work that the Messiah would do. (Isa35v5f, 61v1)
What was that work? To turn the world right side up again!
The blind see / disabled walk / lepers are cleansed / deaf hear / dead live / even the poor hear the good news!
These picture messages would have been very powerful for John in prison.
The Messiah came to do away with sin and all the effects of sin!
That is what we are to Tell!
The message of Jesus is that He turns the world right side up again.
The world was never meant to be the way it is!
The world was never meant to be dumb, deaf and blind!
God does not want death, sadness, pain and misery!
The way the world is grieves God!
Yet there is hope! This is what we are to TELL.
 
6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
Some will turn away and be offended on account of Jesus.
But happy are those who do not!
Tell people what you “hear and see” about Jesus.
Tell people what the bible says about Jesus.
Tell people what you see of Jesus in your own life.
TELL.