From ccrlist at tulip.org Thu Nov 3 10:54:01 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Thu Nov 3 10:54:23 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 30 Oct 05
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20051103104802.022d3e40@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
Praises are due for multiple infant baptisms and new members this coming
month. Alas, another of our families are moving home to the south. But at
least we are stable. We thank you for praying for three new families
earlier this year, we are almost there, but must request some additional
prayers for sustained growth instead of replacements.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Selah: Sacred Songs of the Psalter
Max A Forsythe ? Anno Domini 2005
======================================================
Psalm 33
04 For the word of the Lord is right and true,
His works demonstrate His faithfulness.
05 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord.
06 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of His mouth all the starry host.
07 He gathers the waters of the sea as in a container;
He stores the deeps in reservoirs.
08 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the peoples of the world stand in awe of Him!
09 For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stands firm.
====================================================================================
Creator & Sustainer
For the Lord?s Day: the 30th of October 2005
Introduction: Two themes sound forth in trumpet flare in these short six
verses: these thematic doctrines of God include the facts that not only is
He the creator but also the sustainer of all that exists. In addition,
Delitzsch posits a third underlying foundation. The God of Creation is to
be praised because ?as the God of revelation in the kingdom of Grace, His
word is upright in intention, and, without becoming in any way whatever
untrue to itself, straitway fulfilling itself. His every act is an act in
truth, which verifies the truth of His word, and one which accomplishes
itself.?
If those words were mathematically expressed in an ordinary spreadsheet, I
am certain that the error message of a circular reference would open up in
dismay at the intended simplicity of the complexity. Yes, it is easy for
the human mind to wander and talk in circles, when we barely understand
something. So let me try again to plumb the depths of the intended Hebrew
poetry that opens this wonderful section of our Psalm for today.
Verse four is our focus: ?For the word of the Lord is right and true, His
works demonstrate His faithfulness.? Calvin attempts manfully to help us
in our understanding: ?The Psalmist first sets forth God?s general
providence by which he governs the whole world; and he tells us that he so
exerts his power in the whole course of his operations, that the most
perfect equity and faithfulness shine forth everywhere.? That definitive
statement doesn?t help the average student too much does it? His next
sentence is more pregnant with meaning: ?Some will have the terms word and
work to be synonymous; but I think there is a distinction, and that word
means the same thing as counsel or ordinance, while work signifies the
effect or execution of his counsel.? The meaning here comes full circle in
its reasoning in Calvin?s summary of verse four: ?The amount of what is
stated is, that whatever God appoints and commands is right; and whatever
he brings to pass in actual operation is faithful and true.?
In later verses here, we will see that the works of creation and sustenance
all proceed from the ?breathing out? of His very words. Verse nine cuts to
the chase and demonstrates where we are heading in the course of our
meditation this morning: ?For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded,
and it stands firm.? Do you see the two outcomes of His speaking: ?it
came to be? and ?it stands firm?! And all because He intends it so by
providence of primary and secondary causes within the flow of history, as
His purpose and intent is accomplished in all things.
Development: Verse five returns our thoughts to the underlying foundation
of the two lessons being taught here:?He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord.? In our language, we
might add at the beginning of that verse the word ?because.? But God is
God, He simply is and He does whatever He pleases, but because of His
essential character all things work towards demonstrating the goodness of
His person. Even when vile men and creatures determine to undermine His
purpose, always and every He turns their evil, not only against them but
also towards the fulfillment of His underlying purpose of showing forth the
glory and honor of His precious name. Too many people in our culture
mistakenly believe that the beauty of the earth remains unflawed, and that
the cosmos stands alone and apart from any deity. Yet, how few appreciate
the dangers of ?Mother Nature? in storm, earthquake, flood and fire, the
last year?s multiple disasters leads them on only to blame the fallen
corruption of nature itself against any refusal to believe in their
fictional tales of mankind?s mere presence causing a warming trend and
thereby arousing the ire of simply natural forces.
Quite the contraire: it is their refusal to understand the works of the
Almighty that prompts the wrath of Him who will not be long ignored. The
warming trends being caused by our own sun, do indeed work within the
working out of His divine counsel. It will be some time, but some good
will come out of every disaster, whether it be the improvement of culture
through the washing of waters or the challenge to those whose world is
turned upside down causing them to turn to the Lord of all the earth in
repentance.
Verses six and seven celebrate the establishment of all creation and the
ongoing rule of those elements thus created. Here we see the biblical
revelation stated for any and all who will hear:
?By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of His mouth all the starry host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as in a container;
He stores the deeps in reservoirs.?
Calvin tells us that it is important for everyone to understand that God is
indeed behind the ordering of creation for a specific reason: ?until God
be acknowledged as the Creator and Framer of the world, who will believe
that he attends to the affairs of men, and that the state of the world is
controlled by his wisdom and power.?? This line of reasoning helps us to
understand the vital importance of evolutionary theory to the modern mind
set! For if God be denied the credit for creation, thereby creation may be
set free from His rule and control, thus man becomes godlike in and off
himself, free to be corrupt and to destroy any and every form of goodness
known to man.
The poetry here celebrates the creation of the highest heights in the
heavens all the way to the bottomless depths of the deepest ocean. All of
this, and everything in between was established by the commanding word of
the Lord. And in that word, was power and might spoken forth to accomplish
His will and purpose. Even the mighty waves must hear his voice and keep
to their appointed place as if the mighty waters were simply stored in a
humble cottage for personal use. On the shelf of the cottage there may be
?jars? of water, as some translations imply. In addition, underground in
the cistern would be the run off of the roof or the springing up of
underground waters to refresh body and soul. All of these waters and
breaths, from ?A to Z? (as demonstrated in our multitude of tropical storms
and hurricanes) are His to arrange and deploy according to His purpose.
Application: Our last two verses, the eighth and ninth, tell us what we
are to make of such wonders:
?Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the peoples of the world stand in awe of Him!
For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stands firm.?
Understand this, the psalmist is telling us, there is a God, and as Francis
Schaeffer has noted in our own time: ?He has spoken!? The very fact of
creation and the incredible goodness that flows out in blessings untold
should convince us, that, even in spite of the fallen frailties of nature
itself ? there is a God who holds the natural forces in check. And the
fact that not all of the summer storms reached our shores, should give us
pause to thank Him who ultimately controls wind and wave.
Therefore, we might pencil into the text, ?Let all the earth fear the
Lord.? Or at least, as does ninety per cent of our own population ?let all
the peoples of the world stand in awe of Him!? But, in our country ? the
God of creation and sustenance is not allowed within the doors of our
humanistic temples ? those very institutions that were once established by
Christians to make certain every child, every student and advanced scholar
could read and know the words of God revealed in and through His
word. Commentators on the Fox Network at least are beginning to show the
humanistic assault upon Christ and Church in this fair land. It is a fact
well known to any and all who participate in those ?educational?
institutions where only half the truth is allowed and only if those
?truths? are framed within the context of Satan?s greatest lie.
Some worldly scholars suppose that they throw us a carrot when they allow
for a Big Bang theory, supposing thereby that we might be appeased in
knowing the Name of the source of that explosion. But still, it is the
very Name of God that must be made public. This is the very problem of the
popular ?intelligent design? program. Certainly, it is noble indeed to
attempt any restoration of godly concepts, but the gambit falls short of
what is necessary: to speak the truth in love. There is a God, and He has
spoken, therefore ? let all the peoples bow before Him and acknowledge Him
as God and King. This is what the world needs to know so that all the
elect may take it all in and answer the power and might of God?s display by
saying: Amen.
======================================================
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
============================================================================
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel033b.htm
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From ccrlist at tulip.org Fri Nov 11 08:51:03 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Fri Nov 11 08:51:22 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly for 6 November 05
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20051111084919.022daa30@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
I have sent along a message that I gave for the retirement of several
ruling elders in Michigan.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
The Good Race
For the Lord?s Day: the 6th of November 2005
Tyrone Covenant Church (PCA)
2 Timothy 4: 1-8
?I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge
the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom; preach the
word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort,
with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will
accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will
turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for
you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my
departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on
that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. ?
Introduction: This evening, I would ask you all to divide the text just
read into two portions. Verses one to five would be the first group and
verses six though eight the second. Now think of those two scriptural
portions as book ends on a shelf, serving to frame all that stands between
them! The next step in your imagination is to apply that image to the
lives of the elders standing before us this evening. The first scriptural
book end would have been the challenge of their calling when they first
were persuaded to be ordained as an elder. The second scriptural book end
is that which follows after their honorable retirement from the regular
duties and demands of the office over many years and even decades.
Certainly, we are not here to send them off never to be heard of again ?
the honorary title of ?Elder Emeritus? simply removes them from the daily
and weekly grind that can wear down so many honorable and honest
men. Their accumulated wisdom and experience is still vital if the younger
elders run into a situation that challenges their thinking and
understanding of biblical application and solutions to difficult problems.
Development: The first portion of our text outlines the necessary skills
that were fine tuned over many years. I can remember my father, who was an
elder as far back as I could remember. He once told me that the wisdom of
our confession sometimes took many years to grow into. In fact he said he
gave lip service to the idea of the preservation of the saints well into
his thirties, but by then he had seen the proof of the doctrine in the
lives of those he was called to serve.
Ours was a small church of hard scrabble farmers in a declining era and
area. Invariably, a pastor would stay four to five years until the church
ran down its savings and then there would be an interim of two to three
years while the church saved up for the next pastor. In the times between
the ruling elders arranged for the pulpit to be supplied and accomplished
all of the ordinary work usually passed off to the minister. A retired
pastor covered the funerals, weddings and necessary counseling.
On one occasion, when the savings were not building up as quickly as the
session thought necessary, they resolved to go visiting by twos to see if
they could find some more souls to be brought into the congregation. As it
turned out, that was the most successful evangelistic work every
accomplished in the congregation. Sadly, a liberal pastor was pawned off
on them and all the hard work and teaching was undone.
Do you see in that report the seasonal nature of the church? There are
times for growth and times for decline and none of those can be exactly
predicted or planned for. In our day and age we must be continually
praying for a great revival ? a period of years in which the gospel is once
again in season! I remember reading about the great Welsh Revival when the
entire country side lined up to hear their local pastors preach. Nothing
much had changed, but suddenly ? their preaching was anointed by the power
of the Holy Spirit and Wales was changed in two or three short years.
Sadly, the country of Wales, as well as all of Europe is in need of another
revival and reformation. It is estimated that England and the surrounding
counties of the grand Union have been evangelized at least three or four
times. Another has been prayed for over the last seventy years! Even in
our own country we can see the impact and the influence of the church
winding down ? the church at large is almost comatose. The fads and
fancies of the church growth and improvement gurus only move people from
one place to another. Do you see that prediction in our text for this
evening? I am sure that our elders emeritus here tonight have seen the
swing of the pendulum in this regard several times over down through their
years of service. But in spite of all the peculiarities of any
congregational history, the necessary works of the kingdom must be dealt
with year in and year out. Their work has included: teaching the
congregation, sharing the sacraments, doing the dirty work of discipline,
holding the hands of the weak, encouraging the poor and supporting the
pastor and one another even when they are not always in total agreement.
Application: But all of that is finished on a day by day basis. A
semi-retirement is now in order for them while the rest their weary bones
and prepare their hearts to one day meet their maker. Four short years
ago, I was able to walk out of public education after twenty-five years. I
was jaded; bone tired and the public conflicts had really tormented my
soul. I can still teach of course in several areas and venues. I am even
involved in extreme education; which used to be called Driver?s
education. One of my friends asked me if I had nerves of steel. And
earlier this week a bank teller asked me how anyone could do the job? I
felt like telling her that compared to being a pastor ? it was a piece of
cake! However, I simply explained that no matter what work I find
available, I feel the same as Stonewall Jackson. He was once asked how he
remained calm in the face of battle. His simple reply indicated that
because of the love of God for him, he felt just as safe on the field of
battle as he did at home in bed!
Certainly, like your ruling elders here, my experiences over the years have
been battle tested in spiritual warfare. So too is the calling for every
elder in some way or another. You do not need to ask them to show you
their scars, their private hurts and moments of discouragement ? but they
are their! And yet, by the grace of God, their service has blessed all of
those with whom they have ministered over the years. And for that service
we are all grateful.
Let me close with a little secret by which the Lord blesses those who have
seen hard service. Whenever a teaching or ruling elder has momentary
doubts about his calling, very often the Lord sends an unexpected
blessing. Earlier this summer I received an email from a former catechism
student of mine clear back in 1973. Having finally matured in the faith,
she had reviewed what she had learned and traced the most important
teachings back to when she first thought of them. It was at that point she
decided to look for me on the web and to thank me for the foundation laid
up for her so many years before. Now, you don?t have to do it this
evening, but if any of you hear have fond memories of the particular
ministry of the men standing here tonight, then please put them down on
paper or cyberspace and share them with those who because they loved the
Lord God of heaven and universe ? did then share that love and concern with
you.
You will be glad you did and those who receive your reminiscences will be
doubly blessed in knowing that their labors were not in vane! May the Lord
God of heaven and earth bless you all within His precious and holy will in
all ways, always. Amen.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
From ccrlist at tulip.org Tue Nov 22 12:12:02 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Tue Nov 22 12:12:26 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 13 November 05
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20051122120750.022da6e0@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
Too busy last week, this week looks a little better.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Psalm 32
05 I acknowledged my sin to You,
I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ?I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,?
You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
06 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to You while You may be found;
Surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
07 You are a hiding place for me?
You preserve me from trouble?
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
Confession
For the Lord?s Day: the 20thof November 2005
Introduction: Our text today is slightly convoluted and somewhat strange
in its translation. Much advice in this regard is given in my Translator?s
Handbook. However, the general sense of the three verses is clear ? and as
we all have difficulty in swallowing our pride and admitting our sins and
errors ? we may safely overlook the minimal problems and visit the
important points concerning the brief outline concerning confession, which
is before us.
In general, my Translator?s Handbook tells us that ?the turning point in
the psalmist?s experience was his decision to confess his sins.? We may
also note that the same vocabulary, ?sin, iniquity and transgression? is
used again from the first portion of this psalm.
Development: So, it is to these three words in verse five, that we first
turn our attention as we explore the weight that is ever and always lifted
from our souls when we are willing to confess our misdeeds, short comings
and deliberate sins. Our Confession defines sin as: ?Sin is any want of
conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.?
The world may well stand in amazement at both aspects of sin so
described. The immoral frailty of not doing what should be done has long
been out of favor and understanding. And in our post modern world, it
would appear that guilt has been assuaged through the simple redefinition
of every deviant sin as merely a variant lifestyle option. We have only to
consider the official and unofficial organs of the minority politicos to
realize that truth is respected as carefully and energetically as it once
was by the Soviet editors of Pravda, which in the Russian language is their
word for truth! For more than a few decades, Soviet libraries had to cut
pages out of the official State Encyclopedia and past others in, all to
keep up with the social and cultural lies that were being mandated.
The big lie is just as terribly important in our time as the
secular-humanist media attempt to foist their on-going story telling as
factual truth in order to discredit their enemies. The popular theory is
if a lie is told often enough, it becomes a viable alternative for any real
truths.
Our second word, ?iniquity? or ?guilt? in the context here is what the
sinner experiences after the sin is accomplished or left undone. ?Should I
have? or ?I wish I had? done something ? is just as much a guilty
experience as that sorrow of having done something spiteful or
purposeful. In addition, we may also include random acts of stupidity here
as well.
The third word: ?transgression? includes the obvious breaking of God?s
perfectly ordained and revealed law. In this regard ? we have to remember
that even the least of our sins must separate us from the loving presence
of the Creator. After all, our God is awesomely righteous and holy, and He
must abhor even the least of sins. And as we have seen in the first
portion of this psalm, the psalmist was in dire anguish apart from the
active presence of his Father in heaven. How different is his calling than
that of those who barely realize the passive presence of God behind the
scenes, but not directly acknowledged in their lives?
In verse six, the psalmist encourages the faithful to seek the Father of
lights while He may yet be found. After all, He is only available for a
season and He pursues not every man, woman and child. The ?godly? here are
of course, all of those who have heard the voice of God. Now, this is a
subtle thing to be sure. Years ago I was asked by a PCA elder in Florida
to examine his niece in our area. While he spoke of a possible exorcism ?
this was not the case. She only had an extraordinary acute sense of
hearing. So, that explained the voices she could hear in neighboring
trailers. Had she lived in more suspicious times, she might have become a
Joan of Arc figure? At least in the young ladies case, she had put no
special meaning to the miscellanies of words she had heard.
Again, at Lucknow, during the Sepoy Rebellion in India, the fortified
residents hoped and prayed for a relief force to march to their
rescue. Late in the siege, Scottish lass screeched loudly that help was
?o?er the river and far away.? She had heard the bagpipes of a regiment of
Scots. The firing stopped and the whole residency listened carefully for
the sound of their salvation. ?Kin ye no hear em,? she protested? Not
until the distance was shortened did the English hear the fold tunes to
which her ears had been tuned from her very youth. At the general hearing,
the whole company kneeled in a prayer of Thanksgiving for the relief that
was drawing nigh!
The Psalmist here is the messenger of grace received, and he admonishes the
body of believers to give prayers of confession and thanksgiving to the God
of all grace. If they will, he promises that just as in the case of Noah?s
family, the rush of flood waters will not reach them!
Now, there is some confusion in our understanding of the phrase I have used
to designate the seasonal nature of God?s calling people to
repentance. Some translators suppose that personal ?distress? should be
highlighted here, rather than the periodic working of the Holy Spirit
making the Father known. Now, you don?t need to be a rocket scientist to
see that our preferences in translation may well be related to our
Calvinist or Arminian theology! Either way ? God may still be God:
overcoming our futile resistance and breaking down our pride in order to
bring us to our knees before His loving throne of mercy.
Application: As we turn to our last verse for this morning, we can
certainly understand in the context of Israel?s exodus experience, that all
of our religious singing is about the Deliverer or His deliverance in one
sense or another.
Now, the last line of verse seven is difficult. The Hebrew reads ?[with]
shouts of deliverance You surround me.? Is this a kind of holy white noise
meant to drown out the world at large? Or is it like a portable device
that allows a person to turn off televisions in a public place that is
objectionable? Years ago, I discovered that if I didn?t want to listen to
garbage music at work during the grave yard shift, I could simply tune
another radio, with the volume off: to the same station being played over
the intercom. As long as my hidden radio was within fifty feet of the
other, for some reason it would interfere with the reception of the
offending radio. It only took a couple weeks to convince the rockers that
their tuning of noise was futile. Once they gave up, my headaches went away!
However, we understand the generalities of the Hebrew text here today, let
us be certain that within the shadow of His wings, as another Psalm
celebrates ? there is indeed a hiding place of safety for God?s
children. And in Him, we may have a hiding place from the perversities of
the world at large and even go on to enjoy the spiritual hedge placed
around us to protect us from trouble. May we, like the psalmist here find
forgiveness and sanctuary in His service ? now and always. All it takes is
enough humility to admit that we have sinned. Amen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel032b.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
to:
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From ccrlist at tulip.org Tue Nov 22 12:13:43 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Tue Nov 22 12:14:00 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 20 Nov 05
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20051122121234.022dfc10@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
This should bring us up to date.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
A Jewish Thanksgiving
For the Lord's Day: the 20th of November 2005
Leviticus 23: 39-43 & John 7: 37-43
Introduction: The Jewish Church had quite an order of religious holidays,
even as we do. According to the chart in our Geneva Study Bible, there
were seven major Holidays and between them, there were twenty-one days of
celebration. The Jewish feast of Tabernacles, with which we are concerned
today, lasted eight days in fact. So why should we be exhausted with a
mere four day weekend? Just as the early Israelites traveled to Jerusalem,
so do many of our families travel home for the holidaze! Only we do it in
shorter bursts so as not to disrupt the holiday economy as it were! Yet,
here we are, with the Turkey bones barely bare and the media reminds us of
a greater holiday coming soon to a Mall near you!
Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like the favorite holiday of retail
store owners - Christmas and I believe that many decorations went up long
before Thanksgiving! Once upon a time, there really was a full month
between the two holidays! Now, it seems like mere days. I shudder to
think how much of the work for the second half of the Second Nine Weeks I
will be able to accomplish at school? Ah, yes the merchant's favorite
saint will dominate the Children's hour promising toys and presents galore.
However, it is important to remember that as a Christian Church, our Advent
story is different from that told by and to the world. Ours is the older,
ours is the better story - about Jesus Christ. And today, we will note how
the Son of God appeared in the midst of the Jewish holiday season and
pointed the purpose of that celebration towards Himself. The Jewish
Thanksgiving is still celebrated. It is called the Feast of Booths or
Festival of Tabernacles. In ancient Israel, the people were to go out of
their comfortable houses and live in flimsy shelters made of tree branches.
Development: This act was to remind everyone that Israel had once been
homeless wanderers in the desert. They were to be reminded that God's
Covenant people owe their riches, their lives and everything to God
alone! This feast, instituted by Moses, was celebrated in Solomon's Temple
and it was associated with the triumphant coming of the Lord's Messiah. We
know too that this was a harvest thanksgiving as well. It followed the
grape harvest in late August and early September. As a festival of
thanksgiving - it was at one level for the bounty of the harvest but at
another deeper level it was a thanksgiving for the natural order given by
God that made all of life possible.
The prophet Zechariah looked forward to the day when this Jewish
Thanksgiving would be held all over the world. (Zechariah 14: 16) "And
it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which
came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King,
the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."
This Jewish Festival was celebrated in a series of impressive
ceremonies. Each of the seven days, the people came with branches of Pal
or willow. And during the ceremony the Priest would take a golden pitcher,
walk down the steps from the Temple to the Pool of Siloam. When he
returned through the Water Gate, the people would recite from Isaiah (12:
3) "Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
The water was then carried up to the Temple to be poured out as an offering
to God. While this was being done, Psalms 113 to 118 were sung accompanied
by the playing of flutes. Then when the choir came to the words:
01 "Oh give thanks to the
Lord, for He is good!
For His
mercy endures forever."
25 "Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I
pray, send now prosperity."
29 "Oh give thanks to the
Lord, for He is good!
For His
mercy endures forever."
The people would shout and wave their branches toward the altar. The water
would then be poured through a silver funnel into the ground. This whole
festival was a vivid giving of thanks for God's giving the gift of water to
the earth which allowed the crops and new wine to grow and be
harvested. It was also an act of prayer for continued rain into the New
Year. Because, unless the rains came again, the new agricultural year
could not begin, so the High Priest prayed to God for rain to come
again. Now, by Jesus' day, another prayer had been added. Since the gift
of rain was regarded as the outward sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit, so
the High Priest would beseech God to once more pour out His Spirit upon Israel.
At this point in the ceremony, we believe that Jesus stood up and took the
minds of the people from the common thanksgiving to a more important event
- the coming into the world of God's only Son. Right in the midst of the
Jewish celebration - God in Christ came unto His own to call attention to
the fulfillment of these Old Covenant prayers. Just at the moment that the
Jews were praying for the revelation of the Spirit - there was the Holy One
of Israel in their midst. And now that He had center stage at His own
festival He gave the great invitation "If anyone thirsts, let him come to
Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures has said, out of
his heart will flow rivers of living water."
The only ones who can ignore the invitation are those who deliberately shut
their eyes and ears against it. And well do we know that in this busy
holiday season, many hearts, minds and souls will be shut up tighter than
any thing you can imagine.
Years ago, before it became listed as a Fall Holiday, Thanksgiving was
celebrated by Thank You cards for what other people had done for them. The
popular cult also had it that the first Thanksgiving was to the Indians who
had shown the Pilgrims how to grow food and survive in this New
World. Very many in the Jewish crowd probably saw no further than the
ritual rain dance by which they hoped to appease and appeal to the
spiritual power behind the rain clouds. Very few today would take notice
of Christ's claim to the holiday of Thanksgiving. They are like another
stiff necked people who would endear rein- of another kind to pull Santa's
sled, instead of the Lord of the Universe who would be born of a virgin in
an animal's pen. Remember, there is no other way to come to Jesus except
we thirst, as Jesus well notes in this passage. We must know that this is
how salvation really works. It does not happen because we will it to happen.
It happens in just the same way that we satisfy our need for life giving
water. Do you actively plan on drinking water, or do you just get
thirsty? Ask anyone on a diet that has been required to drink specific
quantities whether they thirst or not? There is one diet that requires the
consumption of several gallons of water a day! You know, it is very
difficult to will ourselves to drink specified amounts of water when we do
not feel the urge to do so! In the same way, Jesus tells us, if you feel
within your deepest heart that you need Him, then come - "come to me," He says.
The next words are a promise added to the invitation. "and drink". Here He
declares that He is not a dry and empty cistern, but an inexhaustible
fountain. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah 44:3 "For I will pour water on
him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on
your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring."
Here is the promise of what is to be fulfilled through the coming of
Christ. But, there is a qualification. We must go back to the words of
Jesus again for this phrase: "He who believes in Me"! Then who can
believe? Regularly we are compelled to take in some quantity of water in
order to survive. But we drink only to be thirsty again. Manmade religion
is little better than this - again and again people come to be filled, only
to be disappointed. Jesus here points out that we must be brought to Him
to realize our need. We must be ready to accept Him on His terms and
assent that He is all that He claims to be in the New Testament.
Application: Here is one greater than any holiday if we will accept Him
through faith. Then there is the implication of the text that as we drink
of Him - we are filled and when His Spirit comes into us - there overflows
from within the waters of life - giving us more desire for knowledge of
Him. The first fruits of the Spiritual gift lead on to a further
increase. And what God starts within a believer's life, He will continue
and finish.
The reaction in the Jerusalem crowd is mixed, even as it is today. Some
said openly "Truly this is the Prophet." Others claimed "this is the
Christ." There is a lot of dissension even today. Many would have us
believe that Christ was only one amongst many prophets like Mohammed,
Buddha or Confucius. They did not dislike His teachings, they even approve
of the teacher. Yet, they do not understand nor relish what He really
says. Perhaps in time they will grow into a deeper understanding - even as
the disciples themselves grew the more they came to know about
Him? Immediately some guess who He really is, "this is the Christ," the
long expected Deliverer. How can that be others question - Christ comes
not from Galilee. And so Jesus must go on and demonstrate ever so more
forcibly the real nature of Who and What He really is.
Another holiday and He will be raised up on the cross for all the world to
see that He truly was the King of the Jews. But even the events of the
Passover will not convince everyone. We still live in a divided world and
season in and season out, what ever holiday points to our Lord Jesus
Christ, very many will take little notice and think none too deeply about
whom the Holidays would show a waiting world.
This season of this year, some two thousand years after the Jewish
Thanksgiving reported by the Apostle John - may the Holy Spirit interrupt
our own holiday and show us to whom these special seasons point to! That
we and all of those we love may learn that Christ is Lord indeed and if we
will believe in Him will be filled for all time. "If anyone thirsts, let
him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has
said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
May that invitation and promise be ours today and always. Amen.
Rushsylvania United Presbyterian Church (USA) 21 Nov 73 - Logan County
Mission (PCA) 23 Nov 84
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA) 20 Nov 88
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PREACHING RESOURCES
Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John. [Not for Theology]
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament.
Knight, George A.F. Leviticus.
Noordtzij, A. Leviticus.
Parker, T.H.L. Calvin's Commentaries:_The Gospel According to St John.
The Holy Bible: New King James Version.
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Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/trf/Jhn/Jhn06g.htm
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