Truth Archive

Hymn 1
Exodus 15:23-25 And when they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink? And he cried under the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet; there he made for them a statue and an ordinance, and there he proved them.
For many years I have heard about the sheep industry in Australia. I have heard there are millions of sheep being raised in your country. I have heard something is changing and sheep farmers are not so interested in sheep anymore, the money is just not in it. I have been told since coming here there is no money in raising sheep anymore. There is no value in a sheep. And there is no value in a lamb. And people are turning to something else that has value in it.
I thought about Jesus the Lamb. Could it be that people are feeling like there is no more value in the Lamb, no longer any value in Jesus? We are finding that in the world. The world is pushing the lamb out of the picture. Because people no longer see any value in the Lamb. They are looking at something else that has value to them. Looking for something else to fill their time. I fear within my own heart and the heart of the Lord’s people that we would ever feel there is no longer any value in the Lamb. That would be sad if that was in my heart.
Did you ever notice in that hymn the five things it says about Jesus? In verse two it says he was despised and afflicted, homeless, rejected and poor. None of those things are desirable, and none of those things are a pleasant situation to be in. And Jesus had them all. Homeless and poor was more by choice, because he was setting the standard and the example for the New Testament ministry, and he himself was homeless and poor for the gospel’s sake. He was also afflicted and that means he faced experiences that were hurtful. He faced experiences that left him hurting. Being rejected means he was being cast out and he was a castout. Then there is this word despised. And that means he was treated as of little value. Despised not worth very much. And it would be a terrible thing if I despised God’s Lamb. And what I hoped for myself and for all of us that we could just really see clearly the value of the Lamb. To see the tremendous value of Jesus the Lamb. And I would hope that Jesus is more precious to me than he was a year ago and he will even be more precious a year from now.
Here in these verses I read they came to this pool and they were all thirsty, they had travelled through the wilderness and they came to this pool of water and they thought At last we have found some water! They went to the pool of water with their cup and they dipped their cup into the pool of water and they took a sip and the water was bitter. Have you ever had bitter water in your cup? We have just heard about Jesus having bitterness in his cup. We do not like to drink bitter water, and we do not like experiences of life that are bitter. Like taking a sip out of our cup and it is bitter. That is what it was like with these people and the water was bitter.
They came to Moses and said What are we going to drink? Moses cried to the Lord. God showed him a tree and when he had cast the tree into water the water was made sweet. Who would have thought that would be a solution?
Isaiah 11:1-2 There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
It is talking about Jesus and it calls him the branch with B. You could think of Jesus being like a branch cut off from heaven, cut off from his place in heaven. Actually, cast down to the earth where the problem was bitterness. Because of his coming, bitter things can be sweet. We face the bitter experiences of life and we wonder what could be a solution, what could bring comfort? What we need to do is to bring Jesus into the picture, bring the branch into the picture. That will be the solution. Bitter things will be made sweet.
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceedingly wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children who were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. That was fulfilled which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted, because they are not.
I cannot even imagine this experience, that someone like Herod, so selfish and cruel, could come up with such a decree to cause all these little children to die. I cannot imagine being one of the soldiers that was given the job of doing it. Probably just young men themselves. Maybe a lot of them young fathers. They came into the homes looking for the little children. No wonder it says there was weeping! There were mothers and there were fathers. I cannot grasp it. Where would you find comfort in such a terrible experience? Those parents facing that tragedy. There would be a tragedy a lot worse for those parents. That would be if those parents themselves came to the end of life and died and appeared before God and they found out they are not saved. That their soul was not saved. That would be a far worse tragedy.
What was the comfort for all these parents? The only thing I can think of: yes, we have gone through this terrible tragedy, but Jesus has come. Jesus has come. We don’t need to lose our souls. In the tragedy of life, the cup is full of bitter water. We don’t know how we can drink it. Maybe the only comfort is that Jesus has come. When we go out into another year, we don’t know what mixture will be in our cup. What bitterness there may end up being. If Jesus comes into the picture, the Branch will bring comfort.
Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Here are some shepherds who see the value in the flock. They are keeping watch over the flock by night. The shepherds are awake so the sheep can rest and be at peace. The shepherds are watching. They are watching for the enemy that might come. The shepherds have learned something about the enemy. They have learned that the enemy usually attacks at night. We read about bears and wolves and lions being enemies to the sheep. The bears and wolves and lions have learned if we attack at night there is a better chance of success. The evening comes and the shepherds gather all the flock together and get all the sheep into a little sheep fold for the night. The shepherd puts his bedroll across the door into the sheepfold. If anything happens to come in at night, he has to deal with the shepherd before he can get to the sheep.
We are the sheep. Jesus is the shepherd. The devil is the enemy. Our enemy likes to attack in the dark. Sometimes we call bitter experiences dark experiences. The enemy will attack in a dark experience. Maybe it is because he has had success sometimes. Maybe the devil has attacked you just like he has attacked me in the darkness. Somehow, we have survived and we are here. I don’t know how many times the Lord and Jesus have stepped in this year and have beaten off an attack of the enemy when I knew nothing about it. We are thankful we are here.
What would happen if the enemy attacked the sheep? We have an account of this from the shepherd himself in 1 Samuel 17:34-36 David said to Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep. There came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defiled the armies of the living God.
Here we have the account of what happens when the enemy attacks the sheep. In David’s experience there was a bear and a lion. We don’t have many details about the bear attacking. All he did was slay him. But when the lion attacked, the lion got a lamb. And the lamb was in the lion’s mouth.
So the enemy of the lamb became the enemy of the shepherd. David went and smote the lion. The lion dropped the lamb. Then the lion rose up against the shepherd. Did you notice what the shepherd did? David said when he rose against me, I took him by his beard. I don’t think you do that with lions unless you are a shepherd, you love your sheep, and the enemy has taken one of your lambs.
We are like sheep. Jesus is like our shepherd. The lion is like our sin. Our sin gets a hold of us and is on the way to destroying us. David got very close to that lion. Took him by the beard. That is getting very close to those snapping jaws! Jesus got very close to our sin. He took it upon himself. More than that. He lost his life. He gave his life for our sin. He got very close to our sin. That is what took care of our sin. He smote our sin. He took care of it. It is no longer a threat to us.
David killed the lion. The lion lay dead. No longer a threat. What did David do next? It doesn’t tell us. But you could guess. The next thing the shepherd does. He turns to that little lamb that is lying there bleeding and wounded. Then the Shepherd bends down and scoops up that little lamb. Holds it to his breast and comforts it. How have we been treated by God and Jesus when we have sinned? He has treated us so gently and so kindly.
Amos 3:12 Thus saith the Lord: as the shepherd takes out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.
Turning to that little wounded lamb, all that is left are two legs and part of an ear. I would look at that and see it as hopeless. That is all that is left. The sin has finished with us. Sometimes we are left an awful wreck because of sin. If all that is left are two legs and a piece of an ear, they are still two legs that can walk and a piece of an ear that can hear. We are so thankful that in the Lord’s eyes there is still wonderful hope, if that is all that is left.
The little gathering in John 12. Lazarus was there. He had just been raised from the dead. Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They were good friends of Jesus. Lazarus got sick. Perhaps he got sick because he sinned. The Jews had the connection between sin and sickness. If they sinned, they could expect to get some kind of sickness. Somehow the lion got hold of him and was destroying him, and because of sin Lazarus got sick. The sickness was so severe that Lazarus died.
When Jesus came, they took him to the grave. There is Lazarus all wrapped up in the grave clothes and the door is sealed. Jesus said Where is he? They said In there. Then Jesus wept. I don’t think Jesus was weeping because of that friendship bond. Perhaps he was weeping because of where sin had taken Lazarus. What Lazarus was wrapped up in. It was where sin had taken him. Somewhere Lazarus would never have expected to be bound. That is what sin will do to us. It will leave us wrapped up. Entangled in things we never thought we could be so entangled in. Sin will leave us entangled. Sin will take us to places we never wanted to go and we never thought we would go. Jesus was there and he was able to speak a message: Lazarus, come forth! Everything depended on Lazarus responding to that voice. Lazarus came forth. He was untangled from the mess. Wonderful relief to be released from that. Are we released from what entangled us? Released from where sin has taken us?
In chapter 12 there is this little gathering: six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany. There was Lazarus who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper. Martha served. Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Sunday morning meeting is all about Him. Sometimes I get taken up with what I am going to say. If we can, keep that in our mind when we go to the fellowship meeting: it is all about Jesus. So after the meeting Jesus will be satisfied. This little gathering place was in Simon the leper’s home. How could you have a gathering in the leper’s home? There is only one way: that is if the leper has been cleansed.
So in this gathering there is Simon the leper, Lazarus who was raised from the dead, Martha who was serving in someone else’s home, Mary with her ointment she is sacrificing, and 11 disciples who are trying to follow.
Think of all the songs that were bursting from their hearts.
Simon’s song is He has made me clean.
Lazarus: He has given me new life.
Martha: I want to be a help where I can.
Mary: I want to express my love to him.
Those 11 faithful disciples: I want to follow.
Imagine how that would feed the heart of Jesus. The wonderful spirit each one of them shared at that little meeting. We can contribute to the little meeting we are in by the spirit that we bring and by the song that we bring.
Don’t bring anything discouraging to the meeting. Maybe you have had a hard week and lots of discouraging things. Don’t bring that into your testimony. That is not going to encourage anyone. Judas was in a meeting and it brought a sour spirit. I say to myself, Don’t bring a sour spirit to the meeting, it will spoil everything.
I may just have enough time to say something about the emblems. The bread. Jesus said This is my body which is broken for you. That is the part of Jesus that was human. This is the part of me that was human and broken for you. That part of Jesus that was human was broken many times before he got to Calvary. Every time his will was denied. Every time he resisted temptation. Every time he cast out the wrong thought. Subdued a wrong spirit. It was like his body being broken. The part of him that was human. When we take a little piece of bread we are saying I am willing for the part of me that is human to be broken. I am willing to deny myself, I am willing and I want to resist every temptation and I want to cast out every wrong thought and subdue every bad spirit.
The cup. This is my blood which I shed for you. The scripture teaches us there are two conditions for forgiveness. One is that we repent. The other is that we forgive. When we take that cup, we are saying I have fulfilled the conditions for forgiveness. I have repented from anything I need to repent from. I have forgiven everybody I need to forgive. They are the two conditions for forgiveness.
When we partake of those emblems we remember Calvary. Likely not everyone in the meeting is qualified or has the privilege of partaking of those Emblems. That doesn’t mean the emblems can have no meaning. We sang in that hymn 391: As we look upon the emblems we remember Calvary. Those of you who are in a Sunday morning meeting and it isn’t your privilege to partake of the emblems yet, I hope you will use the opportunity as you look upon the emblems that you will still remember Calvary. You might consider the emblems as if you were partaking of them. For all of us it could have a deeper meaning. I hope this will make the Lamb more precious to you this coming year. Amen.