Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

What Shall I Do - Part Eighteen

Mar 12, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: What Shall I Do...

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Nu 21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

Today we will look at attitude towards the Word of God.

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Sunday March 12th 2023
What Shall I Do……..
Part 18

1). Heb 6:7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

We had looked last week at Orpah and Lot as examples of the picture given through the earth that receives the rain that often comes upon it from Hebrews Chapter 6 and when anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom in Matthew Chapter 13, both providing types for the unfaithful Christian.  And they provide further examples of figuratively eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of being brought forth out of the wisdom from below rather than being child trained by the wisdom from above.
	a). And as we thought about our own situation in relation to this, we had pondered how this could be possible. As we receive the rain that comes often upon the earth, at least twice a week in a formal setting for us, surely this must result in receiving the child training of the Lord and fruitfulness on our part? But the clear teaching of Scripture is that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, quite the opposite is possible, even for those of us sitting here this morning.
	b). And to account for this possibility, we had returned once again to the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt - Nu 21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

We had seen that God had provided for them bread that would sustain them on their journey, and this bread was symbolic of the spiritual nourishment that God provided for them – 1 Co 10:3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

But from the outset, the nation was ambivalent towards God’s provision, continuing to call it ‘manna’, literally, ‘What is it?’ Even though they had been told what it was. Rather than receiving it for what it was, God’s provision, they made comparisons between it  [the wisdom from above] and what they ate in Egypt [wisdom from below] – Nu 11:5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

And in their minds, they determined that the Egyptian diet was superior to the Theocracy diet. And as we have seen, this began by not honoring, by not valuing, that which God had given them.
	c). And we had also found a parallel to this at the Lord’s first Advent 
Jn 6:41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” [See here the wisdom from below]43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. [Learned from the Scriptures – Child training] 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has life for the age. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. [with respect to the age to come] 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. [with respect to the age to come] 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will have life for the age; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. [Think Israel, not the whole ‘world’] ” 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”

Jesus was the bread which came down from heaven through whom the Jewish people could have life for the age, but the nation’s attitude towards Him was one of ambivalence also. They made the comparison between what He offered [wisdom from above] and what they had [wisdom from below] and chose Caesar as their king instead. They did not honor or see the value in what God was giving them in sending His Son, and nor could they, because their attitude to Jesus was exactly the same as their attitude to the OT Scriptures - Mt 15:7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Jn 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

And as we continue in John Chapter 6, we find that even Jesus’ disciples walked away from Him and the truth He embodied - Jn 6:53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. [for the age] 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life for the age, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live [have life for the age] because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. [for the age to come] He who eats this bread will have life for the age.” 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”…………………. 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of age lasting life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And what marked the difference between those disciples who walked away and those who didn’t? The answer is seen in v68-69. Even though the disciples who stayed did not understand what Jesus was saying, they had come to believe and know that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God and that He was the One with the words of life for the age to come. Where else could they go if they desired to have that life?
	d). And what about the disciples who walked away? Nothing is said. But there was nowhere for them to go except back to the leavened teaching of the religious leaders from whence they had come.
	e). And needless to say, we can find a parallel to this with respect to Christians and the Word of the Kingdom – 2 Ti 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

In the statement in v3 we can find a parallel to the cucumbers, leeks, onions, and garlic of the first generation of Israel and the commandments of men of the generation alive at the Lord’s first Advent. And we can take what we see in v3 all the way back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden. In these verses from 2 Timothy is an implicit attitude to the preaching of the Word of Truth that has complete ambivalence to God’s glorious provision. And in this we can again see what is pictured through the types of Lot, and Esau, and Orpah.
	f). And what of ourselves, who have been called out of Egypt, who for years ate cucumbers and leeks, and governed our Christian lives around the commandments of men, and unknowingly ate from the tree in the midst of the Garden? Well, as we have seen from our examples, it is a matter of  our attitude to what we have subsequently heard as the Word of the Kingdom has been preached to us – 1 Th 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

What shall I do……receive the Word of the Kingdom for what it is, the WORD of GOD. Words of life, words of hope. Spiritual words by which we may be trained and through which we may grow to maturity. Words of reality and words of certainty concerning our King and His Kingdom. Honor it and value it as a treasure beyond compare. And even if we don’t understand at times and things don’t seem to make sense, we don’t look back to the leaven or walk away offended, because we know that in the Word of Truth are the words of life for the age. Where else would we go if we desire to have that life? We will remember – Heb 2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

And as we know from the verses from Hebrews Chapter 6 that we began with this morning, as we receive the ‘rain’ so we must allow for our ‘cultivation’ that we might be fruitful, and that we might abound in every good work. And we have seen from our examples, it is a question of our attitude to the ‘rain’ we receive that will determine both our acceptance of the child training and its outcome. And with this in mind let’s look at the metaphor of the ‘rain’ and see how this is used to show the inseparable connection between God’s Word, the Word of Truth, and the fulfillment of His purpose elsewhere in the Scriptures, that we might be encouraged by it.

2). Let’s begin with Israel, the land of their calling, the land of Canaan, and the rain associated with the realization of God’s purpose for them in that land - Ho 6:1 ¶ Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
	
We cannot help but see the inextricable link between the restoration of Israel in the land of promise, on the third day, during the Millennial Kingdom and God’s return to His people, promised in the Scriptures, that is likened to the latter and former rain – Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…….

And we see the same thing again in - Joe 2:21 Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things! 22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. 23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you-The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. 24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25 "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame.

And again in Solomon’s prayer in - 2Ch 6:24 "Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, 25 "then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers. 26 "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27 "then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

We can see in our three examples here that the rain is intimately connected with issues surrounding the restoration of Israel to the land at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom; it has to do with God’s return to His people and the blessing and the fulfillment of God’s promises to them, the culmination of His promises to Abraham.
	a). In the rain, we can see God’s return to His people, the promised blessing for the people, and the promised blessing for the land, the land of Canaan, following national repentance, within the Theocracy, during the Millennial Kingdom. 
	b). And implicit in the coming of the rain and God’s return to His people is the promise that the hearts of Jewish people will turn to their ‘fathers’, the prophets, the OT Scriptures – Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

And to add a further dimension to this we see in – De 32:1 ¶ "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass.

Isa 55:10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

In Deuteronomy, the Word of God is seen as the rain, rain that nourishes the tender herb and the grass. This is the Word that contains the promises of God regarding the inheritance, promises that provide the absolute assurance of hope concerning what is to come in the future. And given Israel’s present condition, the promise of the future realization of this hope is glorious beyond belief. And the certainty of this is what we see in Isaiah.
	c). And within a NT context, we can equate the rain that brings forth life with the living water of - Jn 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

Then to bring the rain metaphor into a church context we have this in – 
Jas 5:7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

And here for us, is a parallel picture to that which we have seen with respect to Israel.
	d). The verses from James begin in v7 with a call for patient endurance as we wait for the coming of the Lord, our appearance at His Judgment Seat, an event that will precipitate the fulfillment of His promises to us, a time that remains yet future. And the patient endurance we are to have during this time of waiting is then likened to the farmer who waits patiently for ‘the precious fruit of the earth’, fruit that comes by receiving the early and the latter rain.
	e). Then in v8, there is a further call for us to have patient endurance like the farmer, along with a command to establish our hearts as the coming of the Lord and our appearance at His Judgment Seat is at hand. This then is another call for us to be steadfast and immovable, to be established in and upon the Word of Truth, to abide in Him, through the child training of the Lord, that we may reap an abundant harvest in due season.
	f). All is Millennial in its scope and carries with it the absolute assurance of being realized, God’s Word, the Word of Truth, will not return to Him void but will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. Not only for us but also for His chosen people and the Gentile nations as well.

3). Now we know that fruit must be produced, because it is fruit production that is necessary if we are to receive our inheritance.  We will remember that according to Matthew 21:43, that it will be those from the new nation, the new creation in Christ, who do produce fruit, the fourth sowing in the Parable of the Sower, who will be given the Kingdom of the Heavens. Bearing the fruits of the Kingdom then and bearing herbs useful to those by whom it is cultivated are two ways of saying the same thing.
	a). And in the verses, we read from James, we can see the connection between receiving the rain, fruit production, patient endurance and the establishment of our hearts. And in the phrase, ‘establish your hearts’ we have a present process with a future consequence - De 28:9 "The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.

And here in Deuteronomy, is the unmistakable connection between being established and faithful obedience to the Word of Truth. For Israel, seen in these verses, their faithful obedience is in relation to receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And for us it would be no different, except for us our faithful obedience is in relation to the heavenly realm of the Kingdom rather than the earthly.
b). And not surprisingly this is exactly what we find in – 
Ro 16:25 ¶ Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—

According to what Paul calls, ‘my gospel’, ‘and the preaching of Jesus Christ’, we find the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began. The good news that God would call out a people for His name from among the Gentile nations to be fellow heirs of the same body, a Bride for His Son, who is appointed the Heir of all things.
c). And this good news by which we may be established, has been made known ‘to all nations’ by the prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for a clearly specified reason, ‘for obedience to the faith’ by those who have received it, those who are cultivated, those who are child trained by the Lord. And we will notice that it is obedience to ‘the faith’, a phrase used exclusively in connection with the Word of the Kingdom, that is referred to.
d). That obedience to the faith that comes from being established must result in fruit production should be obvious for us and faith’s connection to receiving the Word of Truth is scripturally evident – 
Ro 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing [when anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom], and hearing by the word of God.

The Word of Truth is Spirit, just as God is Spirit, and there can be nothing in this Word, as there can be nothing in God, that can have any connection with our old man. Nor could there be as our old man is inextricably connected to this world which is under a curse, and the god of this world who rules in this age. Our old man is connected to that which has already been rejected, whose end is to be burned.
	e). So then, if we are faithfully obedient to the Word of Truth, the rain that often comes upon the earth, and we are cultivated by it. then we will of necessity be led by the Spirit and we will walk in the Spirit – 
Ro 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Ro 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

This is the same thing that Jesus spoke of, as we saw last time, in – 
Jn 15:1 ¶ "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word who was made flesh, and we cannot abide in Him apart from being established in His Word. And only in this way can we, through the child training of the Lord, be faithfully obedient and walk in the Spirit. And this is made clear for us a few verses later – 
Jn 15:8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 ¶ "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

Abiding in Him is to keep His commandments, to be faithfully obedient, and to keep His commandments is to abide in His love. And without keeping His commandments and abiding in His love we can produce no fruit. This is very straight forward.
	f). Keeping His commandments, being faithfully obedient, is a very simple concept to understand but becomes more difficult in practice, because of our ever-present sin nature and the Laodicean leftovers it still clings to – Mt 16:24 ¶ Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

And here again, in these familiar verses, we are reminded that to keep His commandments requires us to deny ourselves, it requires us to take up of our cross. And in doing so, we must be mindful of acknowledging that our old man remains crucified there. Aligning ourselves with the Word of Truth on a consistent basis. It can be no other way than this, as there remains that constant conflict between the man of flesh and the man of the spirit, the cucumbers and the Bread of Life, Abraham and Lot, Jacob and Esau, Ruth and Orpah, the herbs and the thorns and briars – Ga 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

We will continue weeding our garden next time if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

What Shall I Do - Part Eighteen

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

What Shall I Do - Part Eighteen

Mar 12, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: What Shall I Do...

Category: Sunday Morning

Refresh
A Recap from the Sermon