LBC Sermons & Messages

John 7:37-52

It’s the last day of the Feast of Tabernacle. It’s early morning, the sacrifices are being prepared, and the priest leads a procession to the pool of Siloam where a pitcher of water is obtained, The temple choir is singing Psalms 113 and 114 and the water is poured into a basin which drains out at the base of the altar, all the while the congregation, at the appropriate time, is waving palm branches and singing “Hosanna”- God saves. Suddenly, Jesus cries out from the congregation “if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me … out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

The symbolism of the water is that it represented the Holy Spirit (Isa 12:3) and the pouring at the base of the altar is a picture of Moses in the wilderness, striking the rock to get water (Exo 17:6). Jesus was claiming that the water which flowed from the temple would now flow from him, the new temple. The source of life is found only in him. Moses supplied bread; Jesus is the bread of life. Moses gave water, Jesus is the living water. The prophet Joel had predicted the Holy Spirit was going to come upon all the believers in Christ, baptizing them, sealing them, and indwelling them.

Upon hearing this, there a great division among the people based upon their ignorance of the scripture or refusal to believe it, the same as today. The leaders showed their arrogance and prejudice, the same as many do today.

The question is, “who is this Jesus? Is he a deceiver or the promised Messiah?” Your decision will determine your eternal destiny.

The gospel of John has been presenting Jesus as the Son of God. “Word became flesh”, “behold the Lamb of God”, “as Moses lifted up the serpent … believe in me”, “my Father has sent me”, “I give you living water”, “I do the works of my Father”, “the scripture testify of me” “the one who believes in will have eternal life”

Again, “who is Jesus?” Heed the admonition of v17 and with repentance, accept Christ as your Savior.

II Kings 2:11-15

A unique event, which we wish the Lord, had given us more details. Verse 11a, we find Elijah and Elisha “talking together”, fellowship with each other, Elijah continuing to disciple Elisha. While we may retire from our occupational employment, there should be no retirement from the ministry that God has given to each one of us. We may not be able to do all that we once did, but there is always something that we accomplish. This is what Elijah was doing.

In verse 11b, we are given a glimpse of the translation of Elijah to glory. The principle of this event shows that God alone is indispensable. While it is never easy to lose a loved one, it should never neutralize us but let it thrush us into new relationship in the Lord. It witnesses that death is not a cessation of life. Paul wrote “away from the body present with the Lord” II Cor 5:8. Centuries after this event we see Elijah once more on the Mount of Transfiguration, alive standing with Moses and Jesus Christ. The teaching of this event is that some day the Lord is going to suddenly return for his people. (Rev 3:10; I Thess 1:10, 5:9). This event reveals that we of the church age look for “the rapture”, an event that will take all those who are “in Christ”, whether they had already died or are still living and usher us into the presence of the Lord, that same as what happened to Elijah.

In verses 12-15, the ministry has been passed on to Elisha. So it is with us, when a loved one is taken home to be with the Lord, we carry on with the ministry until God the Father answers Christ prayer for us in John 17:34 “Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory …”

Elijah was a man of faith. Not a super human but simply a man who trusted in God. May this also be said of us when we come to the end of our ministry?

John 6:22-71

The day after the miracle of the feeding of 5000, the people come back seeking Jesus. Not finding him there they cross the Sea of Galilee and find him in the Synagogue at Capernaum. Jesus rebukes them for seeking him for the wrong reasons and needed to seek him as the source of eternal life by simply believing in him whom the Father has sent.

The people in effect tossed the gauntlet down by asking Jesus to prove that he was God and referred back to the time of Moses, when Moses caused Manna to come down from heaven. Jesus then offers them something better by stating that he was the “Bread of Life”, the true bread that results in eternal life. He attempts to elevate the feeding of the 5000 of physical food to the spiritual level.

The Jews grumble at this teaching, because they simply see him as an ordinary man, able to perform miracles yet not accept him as God. Jesus replies that they will not believe in him unless the Father draws them. We have in the chapter the synergy between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

How does God draw mankind to Jesus? It’s thru the scriptures, the Word of God, and the working of the Holy Spirit, by taking the scriptures and convicting us of sin, righteousness and judgment. The other side of the coin, is that we need to respond to it by “feeding on Jesus”, that is receiving him by faith as our Savior (Eph 2:8-9 and Rom 3:19-26).

After this teaching, many of those who had been following him, turn away and no longer walked with him. Jesus asks Peter, would he also turn away and Peter replied “no”.

In the area of salvation, and the church, and worship and personal conduct, there is no “plan B”. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the way, the truth and the life and that we must turn to him in faith by repenting and believing in him as our Savior.

Behold, today is the day of salvation.

II Kings 1:1-18

The issue in this passage, is the same as at Mount Carmel in chapter 18, who is sovereign God or Baal?, and who is charge God or Ahaziah?

King Ahaziah has had an accident and sends his messenger to inquire of Baal-Zebub if he was going to recover. God sends Elijah to the messenger with an unsolicited answer to give to the king, that he would not recover. King Ahaziah sends soldiers out to capture Elijah and bring him back, but are killed by fire coming down from heaven. Finally the third group of soldiers approach Elijah showing the proper respect towards him and God, where upon Elijah goes to the king and gives him the same message. Ahaziah dies and the succession of the line of Ahab is finished. The prophecy given years earlier to king Ahab has come to pass.

In verse 3 the question is asked, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you seek other gods”?

Today we live in a society in which neo-pagan practices, “other gods”, are quickly being accepted. Higher consciousness, use of crystals, karma, past life therapy, transcendental meditation, YOGA, universal forces are all being promoted by gurus, spirit guides, etc. The occult is being accepted by society, exactly what King Ahaziah was doing in not seeking Jehovah.

The Bible teaches that in the last days, people will “have a form of godliness … deceiving and being deceived” (II Tim 3:5-13). And John 5:44 states, “they will not seek the glory that comes from the only God”; therefore Rom 1:28 tells us “that God gives them up to a reprobate mind”.

We need to ever alter to theses forces and purge them out when they attempt to make inroads into our homes. Be like King Josiah in II Kings 23:4-7, takes them out and destroy them completely.

Leviticus 7:1-6

Guilt is something that every man, women and child experiences. We incur legal guilt when we violate a legal or moral law. We also experience emotional guilt, when our conscience feels remorse when we do something wrong. The world attempts to deal with guilt by either narrowing the scope of it or by blaming something else as having caused it.

The Bible teaches that guilt is the result of our relationship with God is broken and needs to be mended. The guilt offering is God’s solution to dealing with it and is closely related to the sin offering. Lev 5:5-6, 15 states that when we have guilt bring a sin offering or if we have sinned bring a guilt offering. The guilt offering is God by His grace making provision for us for not knowing it at all, not understanding it all and feeling a sense of God’s righteousness and of falling short of it, yet not knowing why.

It was required in the Old Testament for violation of the Lord’s holy things (Lev 5:14-16) and for committing an unknown sin at the time of the infraction (Lev 5:17-19). What may be some of these holy things for us in the church age? We are to keep the Lord’s name holy (Matt 6:9), the gospel is holy (Gal 1:8), or bodies are the temple of the Lord therefore holy (I Cor6:19-20) and the observation of communion is holy (I Cor 11:27). Are we guilty of violating the Lord’s holy things? I dare say we are.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our guilt offering. Isa 53:10-11 “to make his life (Jesus’ life) a guilt offering”. Heb 10:10-18 “through the sacrifice of Jesus … we have been forgiven”. There is no need to carry around the burden of guilt. If we have guilt, confess it unto the Lord and get on with your life of serving the Lord. Rom 3:23-24 states “we have all sinned, but God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty … thru Christ.”

We all have guilt on our hands, the solution is to turn to Christ, acknowledge our sin and guilt and accept him as Savior. His work at Calvary has paid for all our sin and guilt.