How Much Do We Care?

We encourage you to join the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem for their Easter Service, 6:30AM Israel time, Sunday April 1 which is 9:30PM Saturday March 31 Mountain Time in the US.  There will be a link on their web page, www.GardenTomb.com.
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(#861, Imperial, 1960, 1967)

Read Lamentations 1:8-13.

Our text comes from the laments of Jeremiah as he weeps over the destruction of Jerusalem, the Holy City.  Judah and Jerusalem had been laid waste by Babylon. They were in trouble.

w    She became as a widow (v1).

w    She was comfortless (v2).

w    The feasts were abandoned (v4).

w    Her beauty had departed (v6).

w    She had grievously sinned (v8).

Out of her trouble came the cry, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?" (v12)  The nations seemed unmoved by Judah's plight. 

This text can also be used as the cry of a lost world -- a world in darkness, doubt and death.  The world is crying: "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"  So few are disturbed about the awful condition of people without Christ.  Christians seem unmoved by the conditions of the lost.  We are calloused.

Is it nothing to you that every man, woman and child outside of Christ is condemned already and is dead in trespasses and sins?  If we believe that God's Word is true and that men are lost and bound for an awful eternity, then how much do we care about souls?  God cared enough to send His Son.  Christ cared enough to die for our sins.  Someone cared enough to tell you about Christ.  What is the level of your care?

ƒ      Do you care enough to dedicate yourself to the Lord?  Are we seeking to hang on to our own life?  Or can we say with Paul, "Lord, what will you have me to do?"  Or with Isaiah, "Here am I Lord, send me!"

ƒ      Do you care enough to give?  Often it seems that those bound by superstition and fear give far more than we who are set free from sin and guilt.  Our love for money may, in fact, hide the face of God and the pleading faces of a lost world.

ƒ      Do you care enough to pray?  More is accomplished by prayer than we ever dream.  When Christians pray souls are saved.  But prayer is hard work and selfishness will have to be put aside if we are to pray effectively.

ƒ      Do you care enough to witness?  Do we care enough to speak to others about the Saviour? 

Is it nothing to you -- all you that pass by?

Evaluating the Things of Life

(#858, Imperial, 1960; CE Executive Committee 11/1962)

Read 1 Kings 17:8-16.

R.G.LeTourneau, the great Christian manufacturer, tells of one of the turning points in his life when he was forced to make a decision between staying home one evening and designing a very important part of his earth moving machinery which had to be ready the next morning or going with the members of his Christian group to a Mission meeting.  He put the Mission first and was able to design the equipment quickly after he arrived home.  Here LeTourneau began putting God first.

One of our greatest needs in the Christian life is to evaluate life properly.  Many of our problems arise from not being able to evaluate properly, thus failing to put first things first.  Today's story of Elijah and the widow woman illustrate the need and value of putting first things first.  Two important words are "first" and "after" (v13).  What we put first in our lives determines largely what comes after.  The widow could have put herself and her son first, and she would have died from starvation.

ƒ      Man's first is not always God's first. Luke 9:59-62.  Man is inclined to put the material, the necessities he calls them, first. As these men, we first want to make a living, build a house, pay the bills.  Often the things we put first would come out much better if we were to put God first.  We forget how closely related the spiritual is to the material.

ƒ      God's firsts.  Matt. 6:33.  In this passage the 2 important words are "first" and "added".  Many seek the Kingdom of God, but not first!  God will "add" time, strength and money if we put first things first.

ƒ      Things that should come first.

w    Seek ye first the Kingdom of God (Mt. 6:33), the place where God's will reigns.

w    Presenting our bodies, giving ourselves first (2 Cor. 8:5).

w    Financial giving, laying in store the first day (1 Cor. 16:2).

w    Soul winning.  "He first finds his own brother" (John 1:41).

 What comes first in your life?

The Shortest Word in the English Language

(We will return in about a month, Lord willing, to continue our studies in Luke's gospel.  We will post another set of meditations taken from the ministry of my father, Bertram J. Youde.  Each includes the sermon number from his file, the place(s) and years when he shared these thoughts.)

(#857, Imperial, 1960)

Read 2 Cor. 13:5-11; Luke 18:9-14.

2 Cor. 13:5 says to "examine ourselves".  "I" is not only the shortest word but the most important letter in the alphabet. 

w    It is the person you see when you look in the mirror. 

w    It is the person responsible for your very action. 

w    It is the person who gives you the most trouble.

ƒ      "I" is the center of sin.

w    Sin is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).

w    Sin is that which defiles a man (Mark 7:20-23).

w    Sin separates us from God (Isa. 59:2).

w    Sin hinders prayer and power (Psalm 66:18).

w    Sin excludes from heaven (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

ƒ      "I" is the center of pride.

w    The Pharisees greatest sin was pride.

w    Pride goes before destruction (Prov. 16:18).

w    Pharaoh's pride destroyed him (Exodus 5:2).

w    Naaman's pride almost cost him his life (2 Kings 5:1-11).

w    God resists the proud (James 4:6).

w    Pride keeps many from Christ.

ƒ      "I" is the center of the Saviour.

w    In Christ there is no condemnation (Rom. 8:1).

w    In Christ we are new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 2:20).

w    Christ is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

w    Christ is our security (Col. 3:1-3).

 "I" is the center of faith.  Have you trusted in the SavIour?