The Lord's Side

(#2, Imperial 1954; CE Sing, 1955)

 Read Exodus 32:15-26.

Then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the Lord's side -- come to me!"

The occasion for the call.

This call to separation is set in the wilderness, at Mt. Sinai.

ƒ   It is a testing time in Israel; their leader had disappeared (v1).

ƒ   They looked too much to man and forgot God (v1).

ƒ   They turned "quickly" from God's way (v8).

ƒ   They committed the sin of idolatry (v4).

Which is the Lord's side?

w     The Lord's side is the side of righteousness.  "What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?" (2 Cor. 6:14).  "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God..." (1 John 3:10).

w     The Lord's side is the side of freedom.  "And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Rom 6:18).  "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).

w     The Lord's side is the side of life.  "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life" (John 3:36).  "He who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (Jn 5:24).  "If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Rom 8:10).

To whom is this call given?

We must remember this is a call given to believers (2 Cor. 6:14) and to unbelievers alike.  At Mt. Sinai the Levites responded. Will you likewise respond?

A call for a clear decision.

No neutrality is permitted.  We cannot be on both sides (Matt. 6:24: no man can serve two masters).

Many lines divide the people of God (rich and poor, old and young). But one line will never be erased.  That is the one that divides the Lord's side from Satan's.

The Priority of the Sovereignty of God

(#1224, Imperial, c1968)

Read Exodus 20:3.

The Ten Commandments are not a basis for salvation for they were addressed to a redeemed people (Ex. 20:2).  They become relevant to us today when we understand that the Bible deals in principles applicable to every age (Rom. 15:4).  What God once said to Israel He is trying to break through into our modern situation.

Every man must have a God.

You may not call Him God but he is there.  Martin Luther once asked, "What means it to have a god?"  He answered his own question: Whatever thy heart clings to and relies upon, that is properly thy god.  The question is not whether we believe but in whom or what we believe.

The first commandment states, "Thou shalt have no other god before me."  It is a matter of priority.  As Elijah presented to Israel on Mount Carmel, "If the Lord is God follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him" (1 Kings 18:21).

Modern threats to the priority of God.

    1.  Individualism.  Pre-occupation with self.  It is the business and professional person who becomes absorbed with individual success.  He has no time for God.  It is the rebellion on our college campuses and among extremist groups.  It all centers in the exalted concept of self.

    2.  Nationalism.  "My country right or wrong."

    3.  Institutionalism.  This can involve religion: denominations or our particular church or mission agency can claim loyalty that belongs to God alone.

    4.  Materialism.  This is the insistence that comfort, pleasure and wealth are the highest goals of life.

    5.  Secularism.  This may involve technology or the Great Society.  These cannot take care of nor remedy any ills of society.

Conclusion

What are the real driving forces of your actions when you are free to act as you wish?  We need to evaluate those objectives to which we give the greatest thought, time, attention or priority.

Who or what is your God?

The Pathway to Blessing

(#1235, Imperial, c1968)

Read Genesis 32:17-31.

This is not the story of Jacob's triumph over God or even the story of prevailing prayer as we have sometimes made it.  This is God's triumph over Jacob.

The Man Jacob.

w     Jacob's planning, v7-8.  Jacob is still self-reliant.  He is arranging for the presence of Esau.  Jacob was a man who felt himself able to help God, to manipulate events so as to bring about the Divine plan.

w     Jacob prays, v9-12.  Jacob arranged matters before asking God to help him.  His heart was more set on planning than on praying.

Jacob Meets God.

Jacob was so absorbed in meeting Esau that it never seemed to occur to him that his great need was to meet God.  This would prepare him to meet Esau.  Note the steps in which the human is met with, overcome, and blessed by God.

     1.  Jacob was left alone, v23-24.  The family was sent ahead,  The household was sent ahead.  He was now alone with God.  He had nothing left but God.

     2.  There wrestled a man with him, v24.  The wrestling was on God's part.  All through the night Jacob resisted, refusing to yield.  He held out in his own strength until...

     3.  He touched the hollow of his thigh.  We must be brought to the end of ourselves, our strength, our self-reliance.  Often, as with Jacob, God must deal a crippling blow before we will yield.

The Blessing of God.

w     A new character.  Jacob went from "Supplanter" to a "Prince", God's Prince, one worthy to lead, rule, and overcome.

w     A new power.  He now had power with men because he had met with God.  He was ready to meet Esau.

 

This crippling is not needed if we yield at the beginning.

How We Should Study Our Bible (2)

(Radio, c.1947)

 Read Psalm 119:9-16.

When shall we study our Bible.

If we expect the truths of the Bible to open up to us we must open it's pages regularly.  Let us not make this a casual reading but a period of meditative study.

Dr. Howard A. Kelly, a great surgeon, a teacher in Johns Hopkins University, and a diligent student of the Bible, says...

Let my DAILY Bible then be my rock and my citadel, my high tower overlooking the city of Zion where I dwell secure from all the wilds of the enemy, the sword of my spirit for defensive and offensive warfare on the arch-enemy of our souls, an armory full of weapons, not carnal but spiritual and mighty through God to the casting down of strongholds.

Our attitude in Bible Study.

To understand thoroughly any book we should know the mind of the author.  The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible.  Thus we must have His mind.  Thus we must come to the Bible...

     1.  Prayerfully.  "The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sun dial by moon light."  In opening the Bible we ought to pray from the 119th Psalm: "Open thou my eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of Thy law."  Nothing else will open the Bible to us as prayer will.

     2.  Obediently.  "Sin soon separates from the Bible those whom the Bible does not separate from sin."  Much of our inability to understand the Bible is due to the fact that our lives are out of accord with its teachings.  "If any man willeth to do his will he shall know of the teaching whether it is of God or whether I speak for myself." (John 7:17).

     3.  Persistently.  It takes hard work to master God's Book.  "God's thoughts are never revealed to listless readers but only to eager searchers."  The Bible is like a mine and its jewels are not to be picked on the roadside.

The Bible: it is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.

How We Should Study Our Bible (1)

(Radio, c.1947)

Read Psalm 119:105-112.

The Value of Bible Study

Did you ever hear a man say...I was an outcast, a wretched inebriate, a disgrace to my race, and a nuisance to the world, until I began to study mathematics and learned the multiplication table.  Since that time I have been happy as the day is long.

But thousands will tell you...I was wretched; I was lost; I was ruined, reckless, helpless, homeless, hopeless, until I heard of the words of the Bible.

Dr. Torrey says, There is nothing more important for the development of the Spiritual life of the Christian than regular systematic Bible study. The soul's proper food is found in one book, the Bible.

Why Study the Bible

ƒ   Because it is the world's greatest literary masterpiece.  It is the world's most wonderful book and the world's best seller.

ƒ   Because it is a treasure-house of truth.  The greatest treasures in the world are found in God's Word, and they are treasures, if once found, no one can take from us.

ƒ   Because it is the Guide-book of life.  We may compare life to a trip we are making, and in order to reach our destination we must follow the map which is the Word of God.

ƒ   Because it is a revelation from God.  In it we have revealed God, His attributes, and His will.  We cannot know God nor can we know Jesus as we ought to unless we read the Bible.

ƒ   Because it has stood the test.  Gibbon, Voltaire and Chesterfield strove, each in his own way, to destroy the influence of Christianity.  Yet, after Gibbon's death, in the house which he occupied on Lake Geneva, a Bible depository was established.  The printing-press that produced the infidel works of Voltaire before long was appropriated to the work of printing Bibles.  And the clubroom where Chesterfield's friends used to meet to encourage each other in hostility to the Bible became the vestry of a church where prayers of saints and penitent sinners were constantly heard.

This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.

Psalm 9

Again we hear David coming before the Lord, pleading for deliverance from enemies.  In this prayer the righteous are seen as being the oppressed and the enemy as the oppressors.  It is the humble man seeking God’s help against the proud.  Note these simple thoughts that show the movement of this prayer.

·        In v1-5 David speaks of the “predicted outcome” (v1-2) based on God’s “past actions” (v3-5).  The 4 “I will” statements in v1-2 show David’s confidence; he will praise God and proclaim His works with respect to the immediate trial.  The 5 “You + verb” statements are encouragements to David’s faith.  We need to pray in this way, giving ourselves encouraging thoughts that will build our faith as we bring our needs to God.  v3 in the midst of the stanza tells what is predicted for the enemies of the man of faith and the people of God.  They will fall in God’s presence, not David’s.  In other words, God is the one to trust.  In this stanza David speaks to God.

·        In v6-12 there may seem to be a variety of things said, but in the end it is David stating his theology, his view of God.  In v6-8 God endures.  Even if the enemy destroys, God will still be there and will judge the destroyer.  In v9-12 God is a refuge for His people.  And note how His people are described or defined: they are the oppressed (v9) who know Your name …  who seek You (v10), the humble (v12).  Again, this is an encouragement to faith.  It is the way we need to pray.  We need to speak truthfully about God in ways appropriate to the struggle we are facing.  In this stanza David speaks both to the enemy and to God.  It is as if he is in the middle, facing the enemy, with his God standing behind him, so to speak.  And yet it is a conversation held in the presence of the rest of God’s people so they too are encouraged.

·        In v13-20 we come to the prayer.  There are two requests: have mercy (v13-14) and arise, O LORD (v19-20).  He pleads for God’s heart and then God’s strong arm.  The enemy is addressed in the middle of the 8 verses.  He will reap a harvest of what he has sown, which is the essence of God’s judgment (v15-16).  And he will be turned to hell because God will not always forget (or seem to forget) the needy (v17-18).  There is a great progression here, as David prays intelligently, pleading on the basis of the good theology he espoused in the middle stanza of the Psalm.

v13-14: have mercy that You may receive praise			v19-20: arise O LORD, don’t let man prevail & receive praise
	v15-16: the wicked will reap a harvest so God will be known in judgment (v6-8)	v17-18: the wicked will be turned to hell so God will be seen as refuge for the needy (v9-12)

     One thing that is constantly seen in the Psalms is the knowledgeable praying of God’s people.  They do not come with the same old things.  Every situation is related to the character of God as well as to His past works.  Faith rests on truth.  So let us pray intelligently.  Let us pray the truth.  Is that not what it means when we are told that we have confidence in prayer if we ask anything according to His will (1 John 5:14)?  Pray with good theology.  Pray with the encouragement of the record of God’s dealings with His people in the past. 

May God be praised!

What Is Your Life

(#995, Imperial, 1963, 1968)
Read James 4:13-17.

 Mary Roberts Rinehart: A little work, a little sleep, a little love and its all over.

Edmund Cook: This life is a hollow bubble.

Voltaire: We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.

Colton: Life is the jailer of the soul in this filthy prison, and its only deliverer is Death.

Browning: Life is an empty dream.

Shakespeare: Life is a walking shadow.

R. Campbell: Life is a dusty corridor, shut at both ends.

James asks, "What is your life?" What empty commentaries the above are on the subject of the meaning of our existence.  Life can be very wonderful depending on our conception of life.

False conceptions of life.

ƒ      Life consists of things.  In this materialistic world in which we live, we measure life by what we have.  But Jesus said, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things he possesseth" (Lk. 12:15).

ƒ      Life consists in thrills.  Young people look for thrills: dope, LSD, marijuana, riots.  Moses chose to suffer affliction with God's people rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.  There is pleasure in sin; but a life-goal of pleasure won't satisfy.  "She that liveth in pleasures is dead while she liveth."

ƒ      Life consists of theories (or knowledge).  Never has there been a day of greater knowledge.  Yet there has never been greater dissatisfaction.

The true conception of life.

See the things men desire; then see in Whom they are found.

w    Happiness, John 15:11.

w    Life, John 14:6.

w    Peace, Eph. 2:14.

w    Hope, Col. 1:27.

w    Security, Col. 3:1-4.

What is life to you?  Paul said, "For me to live is Christ."

Sin

(#994, Imperial, 1963)

Read Genesis 3:1-13.

Sin is no respector of persons (v1).

Sin came right into the Paradise of God.  Some people may get the idea that they are a special sort of people, that sin cannot hurt them.  If any should have been free from the danger of sin it should have been Adam:
w    the first from the hand of God;
w    he walked with God;
w    he lived in a most beautiful environment.
But sin is no respector of persons.

Sin always appears beautiful (v6).

If you believed all liquor adds you would think it would produce lives of happiness and character.  But look at the taverns, the jails, the hospitals.  Read the newspapers.  The billboards don't tell us the full story.  Satan appears as an angel of light.

Sin seems to be the logical and wise thing to do (v6).

The tree was to be desired.  But one is never justified in doing wrong.

Sin dulls the sense of responsibility (2:16-17).

God had warned of death.  But that warning seemed vague compared with the thrill anticipated through sin.  The fear of God's warning was lost.

Sin cannot be covered up (v7-13).

Remember Cain, David, Achan, King Saul.

Be sure your sin will find you out.

He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. Prov 28:13.

Sin's harvest is never reaped alone (6:6).

Sin always leads to judgment (v17-19).

They were put out of the Garden.  Existence now came by labor and sorrow.  And there was death, separation from God (Rom. 6:23).

Good news - Christ died for our sins.

The Wilderness Journey of Life

(#958, Imperial, 1961)
Read Psalm 84.

There are 3 Wilderness Psalms: 42,63 and 84.  Each reflects a thirst after God.  In this Psalm the Psalmist is longing for fuller communion with God, a desire springing from a KNOWN delight.

The Tabernacles of the Lord (v1-4).

The Old Testament tabernacle was the place of God's dwelling.  There He communed with His people.  In the New Testament God dwells in the believer (1 Cor. 6:19-20).  The tabernacle is not the church building, nor is it Jerusalem or Samaria, but it is where the believer is, or where 2 or 3 are gathered. 

Note too that the real issue is not "where" (the Tabernacle) but "Who" (the Living God, v2).  The issue is fellowship with God.  In His presence there is rest and peace and blessing (v3-4).

The Valley of Baca (v5-8).

This is the valley of tears and weeping, the valley of bitterness.  None of us are spared disappointments or sorrows.  But note...
ƒ      This is not a box canyon for the Christian; rather it is a valley he passes through (v6).
ƒ      There is a well in this valley and One Who can make the bitter waters sweet.  (For the Christian the Cross makes the bitterness of life to be sweet.)
ƒ      The believer then goes from strength to strength (v5,7).  The Lord is our strength.

Divine Bestowments (v9-12).

    1.  Atonement (v9).  The Psalmist asks God to look upon the face of Christ, the One Who has made atonement for him.  He calls attention to the glories of Christ.
    2.  A  Sun (v11).  This is a source of light, life, warmth, beauty and fruitfulness.
    3.  A Shield (v11).  Here is protection. The Lord is round about His people.
    4.  Grace and Glory (v11).  Grace to fit present needs. Glory to fit all future needs.
    5.  All Good Things.  No good thing will God withhold.

How blessed is the man who trusts in Thee!

The Sufficiency of God

(#957, Imperial, 1961)

Read Psalm 43.

Here the Psalmist appears as a man whose affections were set upon God, one who in the midst of changes and circumstances and dangers always looked up.  The Psalmist always found God to be sufficient in every circumstance.

God his Judge (v1-2).

The Psalmist had enemies.  He was oppressed, persecuted, reproached.  He prayed: "judge me and deliver."  He appeals for God's vindication and deliverance.

God his Strength (v2).

He had not power against the enemy (2 Chron. 20:12) but God was his strength.  Be strong in the Lord (Eph. 6:10).

God his Guide (v3-4).

He prayed for light and truth.  We understand that Christ, the Word, is the Light of the world and the Truth!

Notice where God leads the Psalmist.  It is to...

    1.  His holy hill.  Into His very presence.  When God guides he leads us to Himself, to worship, to sit at His feet.

    2.  The Altar of God.  God leads to the place of sacrifice.  We must sacrifice our bodies (Rom. 12:1), our praise (Heb. 13:15), our gifts and service (Heb. 13:16).

God his Joy (v4).

God was his exceeding joy.  This can be said of no other joy.  It is joy that never ends, with our hearts set upon God.  And remember, the joy of the Lord is our strength!

God his Hope (v5).

The experience of Hope is that of triumph over conditions & circumstances which are calculated to produce despair.

If there is no danger or despair, there is no necessity for hope.  God is our hope!!!

God the Health of his Countenance (v5).

The face is the index of character.  We cannot change the face without changing the heart.  The ugliest face can be transformed in the presence of God as we give Him His rightful place in our lives.

He is El Shaddai ... the All-Sufficient One!