What Do You Have To Say? What Does The Lord Have To Say?

“He will prepare the people for their Lord” (Luke 1:17). Before the people could come to Jesus, they needed to come to John. The role of the witness is to lead people to Jesus. They come to us with the question, “What do you have to say?” As they listen, they become less interested in what we have to say and more concerned with hearing the Word of the Lord. What is it that leads people beyond the words of man to the Word of God? “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:16).

Historical Truth And Spiritual Truth

“You will know that what you have been told is true” (Luke 1:4). Historical truth underlies the spiritual truth through which the Spirit brings home to our hearts the meaning of the Gospel. Without the historical truth, there is no Gospel. The Gospel is not based on myth. It is God’s testimony to His truth: truth - unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. The historical truth of the Gospel is not something that we can set aside, as we search for some deep meaning, which is independent of historical truth.

There is work to be done.

What will the future hold for us? One thing we can say is this: there is work to be done – God’s work. God is calling us to do His work and He will give us the strength that we need (Ezra 1:2,5). ‘At such a time is this’, a time when many are turning away from the Lord, showing little or no interest in worshipping and serving Him, a time when many are living according to the world’s standards with no real desire to please God and do His will, God is looking for people who will make a whole-hearted commitment to a life of serving Him. He is looking for people who will say, ‘Serving the Lord – this must be the great priority of my life, the most important thing’ (Esther 4:14,16).

Serving the Lord will not be easy. There will be many times when we will feel like giving up. We will be tempted to follow the crowd rather than following our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. When it seems that we are in danger of being overwhelmed by such temptations, we must say, ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’. We must remember that Jesus went to the Cross for us and we must say, ‘There will be “no turning back”’. We must not by put off by those who have no real love for the Lord: ‘Though none go with me, I still will follow’. We must make our choice: ‘The world behind me, the Cross before me. No turning back’ (Mission Praise, 272).

Sometimes, as we serve the Lord, we may wonder, ‘What’s this all about? Where is the Lord in all of this?’ When such thoughts fill our minds, we must take encouragement from God’s Word: ‘He knows the way that I take’ (Job 23:10). We must remember God’s great faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23). In the Lord our God, we find ‘strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow’ (Songs Of God’s People, 37). As we look to the Lord, we will catch a glimpse of His eternal purpose for us (Ecclesiastes 3:11) – He is ‘fitting us for heaven to live with Him there’ (Church Hymnary. 195).

My prayer for each of you is that you will learn to ‘turn your eyes upon Jesus’. I pray that you will ‘look full in His wonderful face’ and find that He is ‘altogether lovely’. As you learn to love Jesus more, you will discover that ‘the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace’ (Mission Praise, 712; Song of Solomon 5:16). Through the great love of Jesus Christ our Saviour, may we all grow stronger in our commitment to worshipping and serving the Lord our God.

Lord, when we feel like there’s no hope, show us that You are “the God of hope.”

Lord, when we feel like there’s no hope, show us that You are “the God of hope” (Romans 15:130. This is why we believe that “there is hope” (Jeremiah 31:17). Our hope is in You – the God of great faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23). With You as our God, how can we ever feel that we’re hopeless? – To ask this question is to answer it! You are our God. You are our hope. Thank You, Lord.

Bebo Norman - a million raindrops

The sinner becomes the singer ...

Psalm 40:1-3

The sinner becomes the singer, the servant and the soul winner.

 * “a desolate pit”, “the muddy clay” - This is our sin. We bring our sin to the Saviour.

 * “a new song” - This is our song of salvation. This is the song that our Saviour has given to us.

 * “Many will see...” We do not sing for ourselves. We do not live for ourselves. We live for the Lord. We are to win people for Him.

Before a song can be a song of praise, it must be a song of salvation. We praise God because He has saved us.

Sin Comes From Satan. Salvation Comes From God.

Sin, Judgment … And Salvation (Genesis 3:1-24)

Genesis 3:1   –  “The serpent” (Satan) raises doubts – “Has God said?

Genesis 3:2-3   –  The woman tells Satan what “God has said.”

Genesis 3:4   –  Satan contradicts God’s Word. Note the progression from questioning God’s Word to contradicting His Word.

Genesis 3:5   –  “Your eyes will be opened.” You will see everything in a different way. You will know “good” as something you’ve lost. All you’ll have left is “evil.” That’s not exactly how Satan said it would turn out. What can you expect from someone who contradicts God’s Word? – Nothing but lies!

Genesis 3:6   –  This is the beginning of sin. We listen to Satan. We do what he says – instead of listening to God and doing what He says.

Genesis 3:7   –  “Their eyes were opened.” They saw what they had become through their disobedience to God’s Word.

Genesis 3:8   –  Sin leads to hiding from God.

Genesis 3:9   –  “Where are you?” Why is God looking for them? Is this nothing more than the voice of accusation? There is something more than that. There is the voice of love.

Genesis 3:10   –  The sinner does not hear the voice of God as the voice of love. He hears only the voice of accusation.

Genesis 3:11   –  More questions from God – He makes us think about what we have done.

Genesis 3:12   –  Passing the buck!  

Genesis 3:13   –  More passing the buck!!

Genesis 3:14   –  Here, we have the Word of judgment – but that’s not the only Word that God speaks to the sinner.

Genesis 3:15   –   This is the Word of salvation. It’s the first prophecy of Satan’s defeat. Christ will win the victory over Satan.

Genesis 3:16-19   –  Sin has its consequences!

Genesis 3:20-24   –  In these verses, we read about “the tree of life.” Here, we catch a glimpse of Christ who died on the Cross for us. It’s through His death that we receive eternal life.