Brother Gary Sunday Morning 9/1/13

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 9/1/13

Zep 3:16  In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

This is applicable to the Gospel Day.  “In that day…”  We are thankful for the Gospel Day.  We are thankful that Jesus established His church and that we are a part of it.  We are happy to be a remnant.  It deals with Zion:  Let not thy hands be slack. 

In the New Testament Jerusalem and Zion:

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

We are happy that there is not only the literal Mt Zion but also the spiritual Mt Zion.  There is the literal and the heavenly Jerusalem.  There are several things that are significant to Zion:  it is the general assembly of the Church of the Newborn.  We have come to God and the spirits of just men made perfect. 

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

The scripture tells us to go on to perfection.  It is wonderful that after we get saved God has a plan for us to be perfected as this scripture says, “we have come unto the spirits of just men made perfect.” 

A lot of people when they get saved have traits of the human and the carnal life that they must be cleansed and purged of.  I remember God dealing with me on my moodiness. 

My dad woke up happy every morning.  When I got saved I was still a moody young man.  I came out in the morning and Dad was singing and enjoying the good things of God and I was still moody.  God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit took me in hand and helped me to realize that this moody thing had to go.

We have come to Jesus.  We have come to brothers and sisters in Christ.  We have come to God and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.  Isn’t it a wonderful thing that we haven’t come to the Old Testament rules but to a new covenant that He writes upon our hearts?

We have come to Zion and we have come to the New Jerusalem.  “Let not thy hands be slack.”

There have been many that have been taught, “Accept Jesus and then live however you want to.”  That is heresy.  You don’t get saved and then live however you want.  The bible is full of the importance of not letting our hands be slack. 

May God help me to help you to understand how convicting the Word of God is to let not our hands be slack.

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

2Pe 1:11  For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God witness to our souls over and over again to give diligence to make our calling and election sure. 

‘Wherefore’ is there to refer back to what had been said earlier in the chapter. 

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Peter was writing to those that had obtained like precious faith.  He said grace, divine inspiration of God upon our soul and it’s reflection into our life, and peace be multiplied through the knowledge of God.

If you want more peace and grace then know more about God and His son.  He then wrote that all things that pertain to life and godliness come through the knowledge of God.

Glory means the presence of God.  Virtue means moral excellence and strength.  We live in a world that will zap your strength.  We need the strength of God to help us to gird up the loins of our mind, tuck everything in so that nothing comes in and robs you of your peace, joy, and strength.

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We were born into this world with a nature to sin.  “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

When we come to Jesus confessing and repenting, we ask God to forgive us of our sin and we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.  We walk along and before long we realize that we have a nature that pulls us back to sin. 

Adam and Eve were made in the image of God but didn’t stay that way.  Since they sinned, they had children in their own image.  One of their sons served God and another committed murder.

Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

We all could get on a high horse and say, “Our nationality pride!”  That is nothing to be proud of we don’t choose our literal family but we choose the Family of God that we belong to. 

We can have that old nature eradicated and not be like a peacock and full of pride, “I’m this and I’m that and I’m something else.” 

There is one thing to be proud of and that is that the prodigal has returned home, has been forgiven and is wearing the white linen.

This thought of getting saved and living however you want to is heresy; it is not what the bible teaches.

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

After we get saved we enter into the training of the discipleship; I needed to be trained to add these things into my life.

Add to your faith virtue, courage and strength, and to virtue add knowledge.

You may be here and am as I.  I have a learning disability.  I was a special student with a special learning disability.  There is one thing wonderful about God.  If you want to know, you don’t have to even know how to read or write. 

There is testimony after testimony of individuals that got saved and didn’t know how to read or write and God began to talk to them.  Brother Wilson speaks of a farmer that got saved and would come to church Wednesday night and ask, “Pastor does it say in the bible to cast not out your confidence, does it say to live holy?”  Brother Wilson would say, “Sure it does right here…” 

If you get saved, every subject that pertains to your past, your present, and your future you can know.  Some people want to play stupid, “I don’t want to know that so that I am not accountable at the judgment.”  How stupid are you? God knows everything and knows this too.

God wants us to be temperate.  The balances don’t belong in your hand, in your friend’s hands or anywhere other than God’s hands.  He puts the Word on one side and puts you on the other. 

It tells a story in Daniel about a young king and his people.  They were having a party and a hand appeared on the wall.  That hand wrote, “thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.”  We are being weighed in the balances and we don’t want our hands to be slack.  We want to have peace.

Add to temperance patience.  The key scripture was concerning Abraham, after he had patiently endured he obtained the promise.  Wait on God.  He is a God that keeps his promise.

Add to patience godliness: God the father loved us so much that He gave provision that every soul could be godly.

Add to godliness brotherly kindness.  One of the saddest things in this world is when men and women profess to be saved and are unkind because for whatever reason they don’t believe Jesus is coming today and they begin to smite their brother and sister.

We live in 2013 and we don’t want to be slack, we want to be diligent and add these things.

2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You can abound in many things.  I could say, “I’m the busiest man in Paradise.”  Everyone else could say the same thing.  Let us abound in the things that the bible teaches, abound in faith, in virtue, in knowledge, in brotherly kindness and charity.

2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Zep 3:16  In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

Zep 3:17  The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.  He will save…

We see that God in Zion is mighty.  Our God is mighty.  There is a mighty God this morning.  Don’t underestimate what He is able to do.  When you look at the creation it is marvelous.  He will save. 

I remember when I got saved I thought I was the worst sinner in the world.  If a man, woman, boy, girl whatever the case is, becomes broken and contrite then He will save.  He will save to the uttermost.

He will rejoice.  God makes expressions.  He made an expression toward Jesus, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.” 

There was a man that was speechless.  God is a God that speaks; He is a God that has liberty.  Many people are so bound up that they cannot give or take a compliment.  (They are so bound that they cannot even eat watermelon.)

God makes expressions and He rejoices.  He especially rejoices when a sinner comes home.  The God of eternity loves to hear you saying, “Lord I know that the answer hasn’t come yet but I am sure that you are sending the answer.” 

If you will seek God and say, “Lord I want your will more than anything else in my life.”  If you will stand in the way and say, “God show me your way and I will follow and serve you.”  That thrills His heart.

He will rest in His love.

It is wonderful that He loved us enough to send our savior, our counselor, our everything.  We come back and as the song says, “I love Him too much to fail Him now.”

We know those that served God for a while and then went away.  It is wonderful when you say, “I want to be true to God.  I will not fail and I will not halt.”  He says, “That is my servant and I know that he will serve me and walk with me.” 

I want to live so that God can expect in the morning to hear my voice and in the evening to hear my voice.  We want to live so that He can anticipate that we will be doing our best for Him. 

It is a wonderful thing that God’s people have always been a singing people. 

I ask myself, “How diligent have I been with all that God has spoken to me about?”  That is solemn.  When people come back and say, “Thank you for helping me there.”  We want to be thankful to God and to each other. 

We live in a time when there is much lukewarmness, slothfulness, and slackness.

God said for us to not let our hands be slack.  The spirit of slothfulness and slackness is one of the most binding spirits in the religious world. 

In Matthew 22 there is a parable of a man that created a feast and the guests didn’t come.  He became angry and sent his servants out and told them to go to the highways and byways and compel them to come in. 

They came to the wedding feast and as they came the ruler of the house looked over the audience and saw one there without the wedding garment.  The ruler said, “Friend where is thy wedding garment.”  Jesus said in this parable that the man was speechless. 

This morning we understand that every sinner needs to repent and be clothed with the garment of salvation.  Without it you do not have on the wedding garment.  Without the wedding garment Jesus said, “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

I remember being taught that as Americans we have a good life.  I have learned the good life is not ours unless men and women are saved and have on the wedding garment and begin to diligently follow God. 

If this morning you are not clothed with the garments of salvation, if you are not clothed with the robe of righteousness, if you say, I want to serve and live for God but I am halting here and halting there and I am not really taking care of my soul but I don’t want to be lost and I hope that I am saved, take care of your soul first.  Jesus is coming.  He hasn’t come but He is coming.  No man knows the day nor the hour but He is coming.