Brother Gary Sunday Morning 7/27/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 7/27/14

Exo 2:1  And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

Exo 2:2  And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

Exo 2:3  And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

Exo 2:4  And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

Exo 2:5  And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

Exo 2:6  And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

Exo 2:7  Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

Exo 2:8  And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

Exo 2:9  And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

Exo 2:10  And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Act 7:20  In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

Act 7:21  And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

It is wonderful to be able to preach about Moses.  He was gifted of God to write the first five books of the Old Testament.  We are so blessed to have the Word of God. 

The Bible tells us that Pharaoh’s daughter took this little child from the water and looked upon him.  God moved upon her heart as she looked upon this little child as he wept.  Moses sister wasn’t far away and came to offer the services of a Hebrew nurse. 

All of you mothers can perhaps remember the first three months of your child’s life and it nursing.  It was at three months that this mother placed this child in the ark.  She took the ark to the river and put it among the flags. 

Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe with her maidens.  She looked in the basket and heard the child weep.  They believe that Moses was nourished in his father’s house maybe for five years.  Then he was taken and in the care of Pharaoh’s daughter’s house for 35 years. 

Moses was nourished by God.  There are many results in his life the one recorded in Numbers 12 records his humility:  “He was the most meek man on the face of the earth.”

Wednesday night I taught from Colossians 3.  The lesson is that way back in the early days of the gospel message, there were those that rejected the gospel, the sure foundation, the judgment and the lines and they chose another way. 

They said that they didn’t need God or the Bible; they had a direct connections with the angels that caused them to be above the teachings of the Word of God.

That spirit has always been around to discredit the Word of God, the teachings of the Word and to discredit God.

I ask the question to myself first:  “What need of nourishment do I feel?”  Every one of us has a personality.  We come from the training in our own house, from the training that we received from pastors, Sunday school teachers, and others.  We have all been exposed to teachings contrary to what the Bible says.

This is to everyone in this audience that will acknowledge and own that there is a deep need in their life for the nourishment from God. 

All of us have heard those that will make what they do so big and shrink that which others do.  When they come to the realization of how needy they are I hope that God can still be found.

What need of nourishment do you feel this morning?  God knows our need of nourishment.

Isa 28:1  Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

Isa 28:2  Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

Isa 28:3  The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

Isa 28:4  And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

God moved upon the prophet to deal with those that had the crown of pride.  But verse 5 is what God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit will be in the Gospel Day.

Isa 28:5  In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

In Psalms 90, the last verse says, “Let the beauty of the Lord rest upon us.”

The beauty of the Lord is Jesus Christ and His presence first in our life.  Without Jesus Christ in our life we are so empty; we are so void that we are as M.R. Wheeler, the man that wrote the story of the empty man.   

We are worse than the man missing a leg.  We are as the vessel that is walking around without any of the vitality of Jesus Christ in our life. 

He is the beauty.  Without Him there is no beauty in our life.  Without His sweetness, His presence, we can struggle along but there is none of that beauty between us and God and us and mankind.

Isa 28:6  And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

The prophet instructed that Jesus would be for a Spirit of Judgment.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

People take the attitude, “We don’t want any judgment and we don’t want anyone telling us anything.”

I am not here to tell you anything, I am here to point you to God and His truth that has stood the test of time.

Judgment to the line:  This is how it is.  God in His love to us allows us the wonderful privilege to be nourished in His house.  He comes to us on an individual basis with His presence. 

When God has something for you to be nourished by He prepares the heart, the soul, the understanding, and the appetite.  He helps us to know how empty everything is without Jesus in our life.

Isa 28:7  But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

Isa 28:8  For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

God moved upon the prophet to tell us of the Gospel Day.  Men, women, boys, and girls get intoxicated on whatever it may be: pleasure or anything that is in the world that would cause them to lose their focus.  Those tables are always filthy.  It is so sad how all the pleasures in this world end with disappointment and heartache.  All it takes is time.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

Everyone that is in this audience is headed for the final judgment.  We are all headed for eternity.  We need to have a desire to be taught knowledge.  Doctrine is the truth that will save you. 

If we as the church are not careful our entire focus will be on life in its most briefness.  Ninety years is very brief.  When you and I think of eternity ninety years is short.  Ninety years is only old in the thought of the time world.  But in the thought of eternity it is so short that it cannot even be measured.

The question is, “Who will understand knowledge?”  Who will understand that “I have this season that I am here and there is a reason that I am here.  I have this season to labor, to enjoy, to follow life, to marry, have children, and have grandchildren.”  There is more to life than just this season of whatever duration it will be.

Who will have the knowledge, “I am here for more than what the pleasures of this life can bring.”  Material things and tangible things will never bring satisfaction and will not lay up treasure in heaven.

Who will understand the doctrine?  The majority of people don’t want to hear about doctrine.  They say, “You can believe anything and go to heaven.”  That is not true.  If it is then why do we have the Bible?

Drawn from the breast:  When Moses was three months old he was taken from his mother for a while and then was taken back to be nourished for a time.

Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Precept upon precept:  if we are going to be weaned from the breast and have knowledge and understand, we must get the precepts right and the foundation right. 

I visited with two young men in desperate need of help from God this week.  Their need is the first precept. 

In Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned and there was no one seeking after God.  There are times when you walk into an audience and you wonder, “Is anyone in this audience seeking after God?” 

What the schools need, what the hospital staff needs, what the seniors need is the first precept.  Before they can get to God they must get past the hindrance.  For every one of us in this audience this morning we will be placed with something we have to get past to get to God.

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

The very first precept is getting a call out to God, to begin to pray.  How many people do you know that would even tell you that they know how to pray?  My sister told me with her own mouth, “Gary, I forgot how to pray.”  Yet she was nourished in my father’s house!

Don’t think that it won’t happen in your family.  The enemy is a thief.  It had only been a few generations.  Adam and Eve were not far from Enos.  Yet here Enos was the first one in two or three generations that began to call upon God. 

Oh to recognize my need of nourishment! 

Line upon line:  This is not a crash course in becoming a saint pilot.  It is first starting out with the basics.  The first ‘basics’ is crying out to God and saying, “God I need to be saved.  I need to be a new creature in Christ.  I need to be washed by the blood.  I cannot change myself.” 

Everyone here has sinned and come short of the glory of God.  We all had to start with the first step.  “I need a new life.  I need to come up from that horrible pit.  I need divine intervention to get out from it.” 

There is hope.  If they will begin to cry out to God there is hope.  It has to be precept.  It has to be the desire, “I want to know about spiritual things.  I am not looking for a better job or more money.  It isn’t monetary that I need, or a better house, car, or clothes.  I need one thing and it starts with precepts and lines.”

That line is when God comes down, “Judgment shall I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet.”  Jesus will be just the size of these three grandchildren on the second pew and as they grow He will be just their size again.  He will come right to their level with precept upon precept and line upon line.

Each of us must choose the precepts and the lines.  No one else can choose for us.

This precepts and this line upon line will bring rest for the weary.  You will faint if you don’t take line upon line and precept upon precept.  I look at some of you that are young and can hike five miles when I am doing the first.  That strength is natural.  We have the wonderful blessing and promise that there is rest for the weary.  It is found in precept upon precept and line upon line.

Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

There is refreshing.  The refreshing is a word from the Hebrew that means the same as the calm after the storm.  You will encounter storms.  You will encounter violent storms, storms that are as a boat on the ocean, up and down, up and down.  You will feel your heart aching and breaking. 

He promised that is you look to the precepts and line upon line there would be rest to the weary and a refreshing.