LBC Sermons & Messages

II Corinthians 4:1-6

On this memorial day, we have an obligation to remember those men and women who have given their lives in defending our rights and freedoms. As believers in Christ, as our Lord and Savior, we have an obligation to the ministry of the glorious gospel of Christ. How we carry out this ministry is of the utmost importance to our Lord. In this section, Paul gives us some marks that need to characterize us as we minister to others.

The first mark is integrity (v2). We must renounce underhanded ways, trickery, the use of ungodly methods, etc. In other words our lives our to be an open book for all to see, no playing of games. What you see is what I am. In relationship to those around me, they should see (Ch6:6-7; purity, patience, kindness, truthfulness and righteousness) and in relationship to the Word of God, we must stand in awe of it, tremble at it, speak it, search it, handle it correctly, preach it, and make it the standard of our conduct and the supply of our spiritual nourishment.

The second mark, is that of steadfastness (v3-4). Proclaiming the “light of the gospel” to the lost. If anyone will not believe, it is not the fault of the skill of the one proclaiming the message, nor the packaging of the message, nor the technique used in proclaiming the message. But the fault lives in the condition of the hearers heart, that has been blinded by the god of this world. We as believers must stay committed to just proclaiming the gospel message.

The third mark, is that of humility (v5). Nothing will more effectually humble a believer than to look over his past life and remember it is by the mere mercy of God that we are entrusted with the high office as an ambassador of Jesus Christ.

The secret of all this is found in v6. We have in our hearts, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of JesusChrist”. God had brought us to conviction, regenerated us and sealed us unto Himself. We relate this thruth by living a life of integrity, steadfastness and humility.

Genesis 9:18-29

What constitute righteouness in the Old Testament? These individual, heard the message from God and with a sense of fear and reverance they obeyed God. Noah was told about a coming judgment and obeyed by building a boat. Abel heard how to approach God and he obeyed by bringing the right sacrifice. These were all righteous individuals.

This account of righteous Noah, reveals to us that while there is now a new relationship, and new assurances from God and a new world order, but at the same time our sinful heart continues on.

This is not a high point in the life of Noah, for he falls prey to the sin of drunkenness and nakedness. His youngest son Ham, observes the shameful condition and tells the brothers apparently in lurid detail and with relish. There is no indication of any immoral activity involved between them. Where upon Noah makes a pronouncement concerning his sons, Shem and Japheth and his grandson Canaan.

Why is this recorded? Rom 15:4, gives us the reason.

It should have been an encouagement for the nation of Israel when God was bringing them into the promised land, then occupied by the Canaanites. The Canaanites were all ready under a curse and would have been defeated, but sadly the nation of Israel did not rely on this fact.

Secondly, it is a warning to us Alcohol renders us insensible and imperceptive, and the Word of God speakes often of its dangers. In the OT nakedness is strickly forbidden and was always considered undignified and dishonoring. Saddly our society today has ignored God’s warning. Sin continues on, even to this day.

We need to emulate Noah’s faith by heeding and obeying what God has revealed to us in His Word. But we must never get to a point where we think we will not sin. Remember we still have a sin nature, just like Noah. Staying in the Word of God, will keep us from sin. So stay there.

II Corinthians 3:12-18

The glory of the new covenant gives us, new life, righteouness and the Holy Spirit and as such we have a true hope and great boldness. This hope is based upon the fact that God has made us sufficient and therefore we can confident of the results of Christ working thru us, making us bold, open and fearless in our “walk in Christ”.

Paul in these verses gives us a contrast between the old and new covenant.

The Bible teaches us in Exodus 34:29-35, that when Moses met with God on Mount Sinai and was given the Law that his face shone. We are now told that when Moses realized the glory of the Lord was fading from his face, that he wore a veil to keep the people from seeing the fading glory and to this day that veil still covers their heart (Rom 11:8), which keeps them from seeing the greater glory of the new. In our society today people wear all sorts of veils all of which keeps them aleininated from the glory of God.

In contrast when a person turns to the Lord as their Saviour, the veil is taken away which gives us the confidence that we now belong to Him. and gives us the freedom to serve the Lord without fear. We are free from thre penalty of sin and we have the freedom to be bold about in our new life of glory in Christ. God’s law is written on our hearts and we He begins to transform us into the image of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ from one degree of glory to another thru the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.

In John 9:39,41, the account of Jesus healing a blind man teaches us that Jesus came for the purpose 1) of exposing our spiritual blindness (veils) that man might recognize his sinful condition and turn to Him and 2) to confirm the spiritual blindness of those who profess to “see” but did not because of their unbelief

The song “Take time to be holy” states it this way. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim; In the light of His glory and grace”.

Genesis 9:1-17

Covenants are formal, binding agreements that men and nation live be. In our text this evening, God makes a covenant to Noah.

The covenant states that mankind should be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. It places a fear of man upon the animal realm. It gives us new dietary instructions and teaches us of the sanctity of human life. It is these verses that gives usd the background for human governments to control evil. The uniqueness of the covenant is found in verses 9-12. Here we discover that this covenant is 1) unconditional, man is not required to do anything to ratify it. 2) it is universal, there will never be another world wide flood, and 3) it is everlasting, in that it will continue for all future generations.

God establishes a sysmbol for this covenant, the rainbow. God states that He will remember His promise everytime there is a rainbow in the sky, and to this day this covenant continues just as He has promised. By implication man when he sees a rainbow, he to remembers.

The major teaching of this covenant is three fold: 1) God is establishing a new world order. Similar in some respect as to the one given to Adam, but also different. Noah is the new Adam, the old is passed away the new now reigns. 2) God is revealing His faithfulness to all mankind. The rainbow sysmbolizes this and there has never been another universal flood upon mankind and 3) It is our assurance that God will once again in the future establish a new order. This is found in Rev 21-22, where we see God creating a new heaven and a new earth for His people, those who have trusted in Him for their salvation. The world was made for the righteous and we can be confident and assured that this will surely come pass.

So the next time you view a rainbow in the sky, remember what it symbolizes and be thankful for God mercy and grace in saving us and keeping us.

Proverbs 31:10-31

Mother’s Day, is a day set apart to take time to honor our mothers. We send flowers, call them, give them breakfast in bed or take them out to eat and this is how it should be, not just once a year but through out the year.

In our text, the writer is revealing the greatness and effectiveness of a godly mother, in any context and in any society. She is of inestimable worth and greater than rubies.

We live in a day when families are struggling and marriages are fast disappearing from our society, as we once knew them. Satan has attacked the home from the beginning and today our society has bought into a godless type of humanistic value system for our homes and marriages. Still within this type of environment a mother can develop and maintain a godly influence upon her family.

The key is verse 30, charm and beauty are temporary but a genuine “fear of the Lord” is the indispensable core of a godly mother. The demands of motherhood are tremendous, and this can be seen in the description of this women in verses 11-29, she is busy, productive, sacrifical and enterprising, etc. In our society today, this translates to managing the home, shopping, taking children to the doctors office, serving as a taxi driver, and on and on and on.

In spite of a busy schedule, she recognizes and makes time for her relationship alone with God. She will be like Mary in Luke 10, staying close and taking in the words of her Lord and Saviour.

Fathers, sons, we need to heed the advise given in verse 31 “give her credit for what she has accomplished”. Give heed to I Peter 3:7 and give her the love, consideration and honor that she deserves, so that our “prayers will not be hindered” Failure to do so, 1) destroyes the picture that marriage provides of Christ and the church and 2) sins against our children since they pick up our attitudes and actions.

Mothers, I salute you.

Isaiah 53:1-3

This chapter deals exclusively with the suffering that our Lord experienced. The first three verses expresses the theme that His suffering was offensive and as a result the world has greatly miscalculated the suffering servant (Jesus) importance to them.

The world’s view of leaders are that they are individuals who are domineering, forceful, physically impressive, and who by their personal magnetism draws people to themselves. Jesus did not fit this picture.

The writer Isaiah, presents Jesus as unimportant, unprofitable, living in a poverish situation. He had no striking appearance and nothing about him attracted our attention. He asks the question in verse 1, “who has believed our report” and the implied answer is no one or very few have believed that this one was actually the “arm of the Lord”, a term that denotes strength.

As a result verse 3 describes our response to the suffering servant. We “despised him”, “hid our faces from him and esteemed him not”. In other word, we evaluated him and determined that he was unimportant, not deserving of our consideration of him because of his suffering.

Who could have known such a unique manifestation of God’s power, would triumph as the King of Glory?

Heb 1:1-3, reveals to us who this suffering servant really is. He is the appointed heir of all things. He is the creator of this universe. He is the possessor of deity. He is the exact representation of God the Father. He holds this universe together. He is our redeemer and He is now in a position of exaltation at the right of of the Father.

Who could have known that this suffering Saviour, would be willing to be humiliated, just for me.

As we approach this communion table, let us take time to remember and to thank God for our “so great salvation”.

Genesis 8:20-22

This world was not created for the unrighteous. In Noah’s time only he and his family trusted the Lord God, so the Lord judges the unrighteous by sending a flood and all were destroyed , except for Noah and his family.

The very first thing he does when he steps off the ark, is to build an altar and by sacrificing some of these animals offers a “burnt offering” unto the Lord as an act of worship. Six hundred years after this event the Lord makes the “burnt offering” an integral part of the Levitical worship system as the only way to approach God.

From this act by Noah, we are given the basic implication of the burnt offering, that it was to signify our consecration and gratitude to a Holy, Righteous God.

Noah was praising God for saving and protection him from the wrath of the flood (his salvation). Also it revealed his complete dependence on God to sustain him, for this offering took food off the table. A lesson that some Christians today need to learn and appropriate.

Rom 12:1, relates the theme of worship for us today. “Therefore … by the mercies of God”, refers to everything Paul has written about in Chapter 1-11, how God has saved us, renewed us and protect us. Same as he did with Noah. Because of that we are to “present our bodies a living sacrifice”. Every aspect of our lives, our talents, our abilities, our desires, our aspirations to the Lord in dedication and gratitude for our salvation.

The problem of a living sacrifice, is that we keep crawling off the altar. We need to develop the same attitude in worship that Noah had of consecration and gratitude for this “so great salvation”.