Christian Quotes

Tonight I want to read just one verse to you from the Old Testament book of Leviticus 17:11. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

I want to talk to you tonight about the blood of Christ. There is nothing more precious to the Christian than the blood of Christ. It brings us so many benefits and blessings. No wonder the devil hates it! No wonder he wants to take the blood of Christ out of our hymn books. No wonder he wants to take it out of our Bibles. The devil wants us to have a humanistic, bloodless religion; but thank God for the precious blood of Jesus!

What are some of the benefits of the blood of Christ? What are some of the blessings that can only come to us because of the shed blood of Jesus? One of the first things is ATONEMENT—covering for our sin. Others are RECONCILIATION, FORGIVENESS, JUSTIFICATION, REMISSION, REDEMPTION, SANCTIFICATION, ACCESS TO GOD, and VICTORY.

Tonight I want to look for a few moments at just one of these blood-bought benefits: Atonement.

Matt. 7:21-27

The passage I just read is found at the very end of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, which is the longest recorded discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the greatest and most important sermon of all time. You remember that this great sermon begins with what we call the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…blessed are they that mourn…blessed are the meek…blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness,” and so on. Then He goes on to talk about other matters, such as adultery and divorce, making oaths, loving our neighbors, prayer and fasting, earthly riches, worry, hypocrisy, and so on and so on.

As our Lord comes to the end of this wonderful sermon, He begins to issue various warnings. Have you ever noticed how much of the New Testament is occupied with warnings? Why is that? It’s because living on this earth is such a serious matter. Our lives are so short, compared to the eternity to which we are all destined. What we do here, the choices we make, are going to have consequences that reach out far into the ages upon ages ahead. At the same time, there are so many things down here competing for our attention. Even as Christians, it is so easy to get distracted, to get our eyes off eternal matters and to only think of the here and now. And so the New Testament is full of warnings, proddings, wake-up calls. And this little illustration at the end of this great sermon is one of those warnings.

What is our Lord warning about in this little story of the two builders? Well, we’ll have to look at the context for a moment. He has just been talking about false prophets—wolves in sheep’s clothing. “Beware of them,” He says. There will be people, religious people, ministers, pastors, preachers, who will appear to be sheep because of their outward deportment, but inwardly they are wolves. “Don’t be deceived,” our Lord is saying. “Don’t trust them; don’t follow them. Beware of them.”

As you know, for the last several months in my devotional talks we’ve been looking at the Lord’s prayer in Matthew chapter 6. However, I want to take a break from that tonight and look at something completely different.

I’m going to be reading from the book of Ephesians. I know that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable, but it does seem to me that the book of Ephesians is one of the mountain peaks of the Bible—full of wonderful truth regarding Jesus Christ and His great atoning work on the cross for us sinners and of the whole scope of redemption from before the beginning of time until that great consummation in the ages to come. It’s also full of practical application of gospel truth to our daily lives.

I want to read just a short passage from Ephesians 5:15-20.

The first verse in the passage I read is a kind of key verse for the whole section beginning there and ending at chapter 6:9. This passage concentrates on the believer’s  walk, and especially with regard to relationships. After making some general statements about relationships, Paul will talk specifically about relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and masters and servants.

Two key concepts are the words “walk” and “wise.” “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.” Circumspectly means diligently or accurately. Our Christian life is not to be aimless and erratic, but diligent, orderly, watchful, careful.

Text: Matt. 6:5-13

Once again tonight we are going to be looking at this model prayer that the Lord gave to His disciples and to the church. You remember that we’ve already talked about the invocation: “Our Father, which art in Heaven” and how it reminds us of our intimacy with God and that we are part of a large worldwide family of those who are God’s children by new birth. It also reminds us that because God is our Father, nothing is too small for us to bring to Him in prayer because as a Father He cares intensely about us; and because He is our Heavenly Father, His omnipotent power makes Him able to do anything.

After the invocation, we looked at the first of the 7 petitions: Hallowed be Thy name. This is a prayer that God’s name will be reverenced and held sacred throughout the world. It is a prayer that men and women, boys and girls will come to know God and that as His children they will honor and obey Him and treat His name with the sacredness it deserves.

Then last time we looked at the second petition: THY KINGDOM COME. Jesus is a King, and some day soon He is coming back to earth to set up His Kingdom—a Kingdom of righteousness and joy and peace. But until He comes and sets up His visible Kingdom, He is already setting up His Kingdom in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls—those people who surrender their lives totally to Him and acknowledge Him as their King. So when we pray “Thy Kingdom come” we are praying for two things: we are praying that His invisible Kingdom of grace will be extended—that more and more people will surrender their lives to Him; that the gospel message will go forth with power throughout the earth; and we are also praying for the coming of that great day when His Kingdom of Glory will be manifested and visible on the earth. Thy Kingdom Come.

Tonight we want to look for a few moments at the next petition: THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

Text: Matt. 6:5-13

Some time ago I began focusing my devotional talks here on the Lord’s prayer. On the first occasion we looked at the words, “Our Father.” The next time we looked at the larger phrase, “Our Father, which art in Heaven.” Then on the third occasion we looked at the first of the seven petitions found in the prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.”

Just very briefly to recap:

This is a model prayer—not necessarily to be repeated word for word—a skeleton or outline.

“Our Father” reminds us of our intimacy with God. “Our” reminds us that we are part of a family that is worldwide. “Our Father in Heaven” reminds us that this Father is the creator and supreme Ruler of the universe—all powerful, all knowing. Nothing is too big for Him. But because He’s our Father, nothing is too small.

After the invocation follow the seven requests:

1. Hallowed by Thy name

2. Thy kingdom come

3. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven

4. Give us this day our daily bread

5. Forgive us our trespasses

6. Lead us not into temptation

7. Deliver us from evil (or better, “from the evil one”)

INTRODUCTION

I want to speak about a MAN.

He is only mentioned in one place in the Bible.

His whole biography takes up a mere 11 verses.

Only six verses of his actual words are recorded in the Bible—just six!

We know hardly anything about him.

He was not a king or a political leader.

He was not a prophet—at least not in any official sense.

He was not a priest as far as we know.

We don’t know what his occupation was; whether he was rich or poor; or whether he was married or had children.

But we do at least know his name: his name was SIMEON.

Let’s read together his short biography. It’s found in Luke 2:25-35.

Here we have the extremely short biography of an ordinary man walking in total obedience to the Spirit of God and as a result being a partner with God in His purposes at a very important juncture in the history of the world.

John 1:29-36

I want to draw our attention tonight to the second half of verse 29: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” This is a very familiar verse to most of us I’m sure, but I wonder if our familiarity with it has deadened our sense of the greatness of these words. What kind of an effect must they have had on those who first heard them? Here was John the Baptist declaring that this carpenter from Nazareth was someone of worldwide and infinite significance. John the Baptist was declaring that all the prophecies and revelations of the Old Testament that looked forward to a Saviour and a deliverer had finally been fulfilled in this Jesus of Nazareth—the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

What did John the Baptist mean by calling Him the LAMB of God? Was he talking about His gentle, meek disposition? Was he referring to the fact that He was innocent and pure? Not primarily. Yes, Jesus IS meek and gentle, but John’s reason for calling Him the Lamb of God goes much deeper than a mere description of His disposition.

What would be the first thing to jump into the mind of Jew if someone began talking about the Lamb of God? Wouldn’t it be the lamb of the daily offering in the temple? In Numbers 28 the children of Israel were commanded to offer two sacrificial lambs every day—one in the morning and one in the evening. Day after day, day after day, for weeks and months and years and even centuries the daily sacrifice had been slain and offered as a sacrifice.

Or if was not the daily sacrificial lamb that those standing by thought of, then possibly they thought of the Passover lamb—that lamb which was slain and whose blood was sprinkled over the lintel and doorposts as a pledge of deliverance from the destroying angel. Every year at the Passover feast there would be a re-enactment of this ritual of the slain lamb to remind of their deliverance from the destroying angel.

Luke 18:1-8

Hopefully you’ll remember that last week I spoke about prayer, about praying until we get an answer. My illustration was from the parable of the friend at midnight: how we need to be like shameless beggars if we really want to receive from God.

Tonight I want to speak about prayer again. This time I want to show that for prayer to be effective it must be UNCEASING. Once again I’ve chosen one of our Lord’s parables as an illustration—this time the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. In this case, Jesus tells us EXACTLY why he is giving this parable: “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”  And as someone has aptly said, “One thing is certain: IF WE DON’T PRAY, WE WILL FAINT!”

The picture that Jesus paints in this parable would have been quite a familiar one to the Lord’s hearers.  The widow in those days was perhaps the most defenceless person in society. Remember that Jesus in Matt. 23:14 accused the Scribes and Pharisees of “devouring widows houses.”  And James tells us that “pure religion and undefiled before God and the father is this, To visit the fatherless and WIDOWS in their affliction. . . .”

Notice our Lord’s characterization of the Judge: He feared not God, neither regarded man.  If we have no fear or love for God, then we have little reverence or respect for our fellowmen.  The story shows that the man had no real interest in dispensing justice.  The man was absolutely lacking in nobility, finesse, and a true sense of justice. He had absolutely no regard for the misfortunes of this widow and the false accusations that were being made against her.  There was nothing good in the man that the widow could appeal to.  Her only hope lay in UNCEASING APPEALS.  She pestered him and bothered him and came back and came back and came back until she received justice.  Every other expedient was gone, except this one of continual appeals.

Luke 11:1-13

My subject tonight is Prayer, and I want us to begin tonight by asking ourselves a few questions–like: “Do I pray out of a sense of duty–that as a believer it’s something I ought to do; or as a kind of Christian lucky charm, hoping that if I keep up my daily prayers everything will somehow turn out right? Or do I pray with the intention of getting answers; of actually receiving something from God? And do I stay with the thing and stay with God until I receive something from heaven?”

I’m afraid that personally I have to admit that a lot of the time my praying falls into the first category. Not that I’m denigrating praying out of a sense of duty–that’s much better than not praying at all. And I suppose the “bless so-and-so” and “help so-and-so” kind of prayers are heard in heaven. But at the same time I think we’ve got to take prayer into the realm of expecting something to happen as a result. In Psalm 62:5 we read “My soul, wait thou ONLY upon God, for my EXPECTATION is from him.” The Psalmist was clearly expecting something from God as a result of his praying.

It’s this thought of praying UNTIL we get an answer that I want to pursue with you for a little while tonight. Let’s look for a moment at the example of the friend at midnight that we just read in Luke 11. The picture, I suppose, seems a bit strange to us: a weary traveler arrives on your doorstep very late at night and you haven’t got a crumb in the whole house so you go to your friend’s house and batter down the door until he gives you some bread. That seems a strange way of carrying on to us. I wonder what kind of reception we’d get from some of our friends if we went battering on their doors at midnight wanting bread? It seems reasonable that if your house was burning down or something really drastic was happening, then it wouldn’t be out of place to go down the street and shout and bang on someone’s door for help. But the idea of doing that for just three loaves of bread seems incredible.

Scripture: 2 Cor. 5:14-21

The verses I just read to you are from one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Paul is talking about that great subject that was never far from his thoughts: the reconciliation of God and man through the death of Christ.

A key verse in this passage is the one that’s probably best known from this chapter—verse 17: “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (or a NEW CREATION): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” What does Paul mean? He means that the man who has been reconciled to God through Christ has new life, new senses, new faculties, new affections, new appetites, new ideas, and new conceptions. He is like a new man in a new world.

Tonight, I just want to look very briefly at one of the ways in which we are changed when we become a new creature in Christ: The person who is a new creature in Christ has an overwhelming sense of indebtedness to the Saviour. I would go as far as to say that it’s the hallmark of every truly born again soul, that he has this sense of the tremendous debt of love that he owes to Christ; and I would also go as far as to say that anyone who has never experienced this tremendous sense of indebtedness has never truly seen the extent of his sin and has never been born again and never been constituted a new creature.