Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/9/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/9/14

Luk 3:1  Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

Luk 3:2  Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Luk 3:3  And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

This is when John the Baptist began to preach.  It was not a favorable season for someone to preach the baptism of repentance.  I am very impressed with him this morning and convicted that I have the same anointing as he did, that I will be obedient to the call of God.

Luk 3:4  As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Luk 3:5  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

Luk 3:6  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

It is a marvel how God works to bring men and women into a realization that there is bible salvation.  Their path crosses someone that marches to a different band.  There was something different about John the Baptist and his disciples.  Jesus then showed up at a very dark time and brought forth a message that backed up everything that John had preached.

Luk 3:7  Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

This was quite an introduction of a preacher.

Luk 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

The power, the strength, the value of the message of repentance was great in the days of John the Baptist and Jesus and was very valuable in the disciples going forth to preach the gospel.  After the day of Pentecost the message was valuable and today how valuable is this message of repentance!

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance.  It is so important that you and I continue to realize how important repentance is in our dealing with individuals.  We live in a world where everyone says that they are praying but there is a very small amount of them that have brought forth fruit to repentance.

It is a wonderful thing when an individual comes to the realization that “what I really need to do is repent and get right with God.”

John had discernment. 

Luk 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Luk 3:9  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

John the Baptist was God’s chosen man to bring the message of repentance prior to Jesus Christ.  This is an old message but a valuable truth.  He came preaching repentance and preached to a crowd that were saying, “We already know God and have it right.  We have it together.” 

John said, “Wait, if there is not already on your tree the fruit of repentance then the axe is laid to the root of the tree.” 

People say, “I’m going to put up this shield and don’t you think that you will get to me with what you are preaching.”  That is not the issue, the issue is: if there is not the fruit of repentance on that individual’s testimony, the Bible declares that, not by me, or by you, or by any group of men, the axe is laid to the tree and it is hewn down and cast into the fire.

Any one life that does not have the fruit of repentance, it doesn’t matter what religion they belong to or how much they say they love Jesus, when Jesus comes to inspect the fruit if there is not the fruit of repentance on that tree, the axe is laid to the root and it is hewn down.

We go from John the Baptist to Jesus:

Mar 11:12  And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

Mar 11:13  And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

In Palestine figs trees have the ability to contain fruit 12 months of the year.  This tree had beautiful leaves upon it, yet no fruit.  The new crop of figs was not there yet.

Mar 11:14  And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

Mar 11:15  And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

Mar 11:16  And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

Mar 11:17  And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mar 11:18  And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

Jesus was headed to the synagogue where the religious people were and left the lesson of the fig tree with his disciples so that they would understand.  The tree looked beautiful with leaves.  The religious people were there to worship but had not heeded the message to repent that John the Baptist and Jesus had preached. 

Jesus said to His disciples, “This tree will never bear fruit.”  It was not long until His disciples saw that the fig tree was dead.

It was a spiritual lesson to his disciples.  The literal Jews were not going to listen to Him.  When individuals refuse to repent then there is no hope.  That is just how it is.  When we refuse to repent then there is no remission of sin and there is no fruit on the tree and the reality is that the tree will be cut down.

Jesus came preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

1Pe 2:1  Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

1Pe 2:3  If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Lay aside all malice:  in reality getting saved is not a difficult thing.  It may be difficult to count the cost or think, “If I get saved I will have to give this or that up.”  The reality is that when an individual is ready to get saved it is not difficult for them to get saved.  When they come to God repenting, the sacrifice has already been made and God the Father and Jesus the Son and the Holy Ghost is ready to do the work.

When an individual comes to get saved, there are those things that have been a part of their life that they must be willing to lay aside.  The first is malice the second is guile and hypocrisies and envies. 

When we get saved we are a babe in Christ and then immediately realize that we are starting a new life.  You cannot get saved with hatred in your heart, but we must have a season where we say, “God all that was ever done to me…”  It is a common thing in life to have been wronged and need to forgive. 

If you are looking at things the wrong way then quit doing that.  If you are going places that hinder you then quit going there. 

As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.  There is rest from sorrow.  Tony Cox lost his mother and father in three weeks.  I want to tell him that there is a rest from sorrow.  You talk about a loss!  His dad was Ben Cox, who built 100’s if not thousands of miles of roads in Western Montana.  Brother Roy was the powder-man for him.

If we have tasted of the rest of knowing that our sins have been forgiven, that He is gracious, it has created within us an intense appetite for the wonderful things of God.

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,

Peter wrote this epistle to every one of us that have found Jesus Christ precious.  There is a way to have more and greater grace. 

We would say as the song:  More about Jesus would I know, more of His grace and fullness show.

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:

It is wonderful to have faith in God this morning.  He is a God that designed that everything we needed would be added to us in the natural life and in the spiritual.

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.

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.

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.

Furnishing all earnestness:  Every one of us has had experiences where there were things that we thought, “I could let that slip.”  Or we thought, “By diligence, I need to take care of this matter.”  As fast as time slides, if you let the oil not be changed in your vehicle, a thousand miles down the road when you see that you have not done it yet, you become diligent and say, “This has to be done.”

This is what He was saying when he said, “Giving all diligence.”  Furnish all earnestness; add to your faith virtue.  Virtue and valor mean courage, strength, moral excellence. 

I think of our tree this morning.  There is no question in my mind, as God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew and Mark that Jesus comes looking for fruit.  It is not enough to have just a beautiful tree.  He must find the fruits of repentance. 

For every one of us that has truly repented, there will be fruits of repentance, there will be that mark in the history of our lives and our conversation where we don’t act as we did or talk as we did.  We don’t listen to the same music. 

We will be reading the bible and we will have a hunger for the Word of God.  I have reached the season in my life where I have to step up the evening devotions a bit where I don’t wait ‘til I go to bed but have devotions after supper sometime so that I can still think well.

There was one thing evident before we were saved: that the most important thing in our life was self.  After we got saved, we came to realize that we needed to be interested in someone else.  We want to do something to help mankind.  We begin to pray for friends and relatives and come to the place, “I want to help someone get saved.”

When you start to serve God it is a lifetime of overcoming.  There will be accusations, temptations, trials.  God is going to allow the enemy to see if you will be drawn away.  Immediately you and I take the issue, “No I am not going down that broad way of sin.”  It takes strength.

Add to your faith virtue and then add knowledge.  We realize that we don’t know everything.  When you begin to talk to someone they usually interrupt you and say, “I know all about that.  That is kindergarten to me, I am past that.”

We that want to make haven say, “God help me to have a hunger for knowledge, for the truths of the Old and the New Testament.”  Help me to have the hunger of those that went down the road before us. 

My father went out into the woods.  If he was looking for timber or hunting, he didn’t want to get lost and would take a hatchet and put blazes on trees.  He would sometimes say, “Look someone has been here before, there is an old blaze on that tree.”  That is the way with those that went before us.  They hungered after God and blazed a tree that there is a way to find God.

Thank God for true wisdom in the seasons of our life.  I think of how little wisdom I had when Karen and I first got married.  I knew that I was to work, pay my tithe, and bring a pay check home.  God is so kind; He sends His word, His message, and a brother or sister in Christ to help us understand.  As we walk with Him.

I still remember when I was first married, I was after every tree I could get and not limbing them very well.  Someone had a talk with me, “You are a new daddy and your wife and daughter need a little bit of your time.  I don’t know how many times it was repeated.  I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t listen the first time. 

I talked to my boss and told him that I needed to go home early Thursday and spend time with my family that weekend.  Kathy is not a baby anymore and I am still learning.  God is not looking at how beautiful the tree looks; he is looking for fruit on the tree.

The trees in our yard are not very pretty, but that fruit!  Karen is not looking at the tree; she is looking at the fruit.  Jesus is the same.  He is looking at you and me and the first thing He wants to see is the fruit of repentance, that changed attitude, that changed life and spirit.

Peter went on to say to add to your faith temperance.  There was this man named Felix that has a wife named Drusilla.  Paul was brought before them and Paul reasoned with them on the topics of temperance, righteousness, and judgment.  Felix trembled.  He trembled at the thought of temperance.

I turned to my own soul and said, “I want to learn more about temperance.  I want to be temperate.”  Temperance is a proper balance of all earthly enjoyments.  You know that I enjoy God’s creation.  I walk for enjoyment.  I love old paths and I like new paths.  I can walk the same path that I have walked for however many years and just be thrilled at what I see on that walk.

I am not here to tell you to not enjoy your garden, your bird feeders, your painting, I think all those things are to be enjoyed but with a proper balance in our life.

I told Karen the other day that I was going to quit eating so much.  I love to eat.  My wife is a good cook and would like to feed me three times a day and I like to eat three times a day.  When I feel myself getting rolley-polley then I think, if I am to walk on this leg I must not get too rolley-polley.

Never allowing the world or the flesh to hinder us spiritually:  I want this to be on my tree, not a bunch of leaves or words.  God is not looking for that, he is looking for fruit.