Evening Service, 15 March 2009

What an encouragement this is to us when we find ourselves caught up in sin and would return to the Saviour’s side in repentance. Have you wandered from the Saviour’s side, do you no longer enjoy sweet communion with Him, have you become a backslider? Perhaps in the hour of trial you denied Him, in a time of testing you failed Him, giving more thought to your own interests than His.  May the arrow of conviction enter your heart! But may also the balm of comfort be applied to you as here to John and later to Peter. May the power of God draw you back to Christ where alone you can and will find restoration, comfort and peace. Here is encouragement for you! See the Saviour suffering under your sin responding in wondrous grace – how much more so now will He in His resurrection victory and glory! Cease your wanderings and return at once to Christ. Who knows what honourable task He has for you.

3.  A Revealed Relationship

Though there is as we have seen much more happening here than a dying son’s concern for the future welfare of his mother and a transference of that responsibility to a trusted friend, yet we ought not to diminish this reality for it appears in the context of a right relationship with Jesus.

Indeed this is emphasised to us by the response of John and Mary, for we read “And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

This is not a declaration that John was to look to her as ‘Queen of the saints’ or the ‘Mother of the Church’, or that all disciples were to call her ‘Mother’ as in the film ‘The Passion of the Christ’. No these words indicate that John took care of her. And that Jesus spoke to her first and then to John indicates that she is to look to John for support, not John or any other to her.

  Indeed apart from only one further reference in Acts 1:14 where Mary is seen with her other sons as just one of the body of believers praying in the upper room and given no more prominence than that, this is the last reference to Mary in the NT. And this reference highlights John’s relationship with her because of their joint relationship to Christ by faith.

It is by going into John’s care that Mary revealed her relationship with Christ as her Lord and Saviour. Her going into John’s care was a display of submission to Jesus, to His will.

And this is how John responded to his restoration of this right relationship with Jesus, by taking her into his home, that is taking personal responsibility for her maintenance and care just as a son would do for his mother. Again it was an act of submission to Jesus, as well as an act of love for Jesus.  

From this we can see that a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is always seen in our lives, in the way we relate to others. In other words the heart-beat of practical godliness is our relationship with Jesus. As Matthew Henry reminds us, ‘Those that truly love Christ, and are beloved of Him, will be glad of an opportunity to do any service to Him or His.’

What better way to show the fact of a right relationship with Christ than to mirror that love to His people. This is the point John makes later in 1 John 3:10; 4:11,14 The way we relate to Jesus affects the way we relate to others, especially to other believers. When the relationship with God is real it will flow into our relationship with other believers and be revealed most clearly there.

Have you heard this saying from the cross? Have you entered into that essential relationship based on faith in Jesus as Saviour and God, do you hear Him assuring you of His continuing love for you, and do you show that in your relationship with His people, the church? May God give us grace to that end!

Morning Service, 15 Mar 2009

Last week we saw that in relationships within the church it is essential that we “Bear with one another” (Eph 4:2) – that is, we are to take account of our diversity, the reality of human frailty, the liberty God has given us within the boundaries of His commandments, as well as the need to validate the authenticity of our understandings. The other side of that of course is that we must also labour to be more bearable to our brethren!

However, not all tensions within the church fellowship can be or ought to be responded to in this way. There are times when the real issue is sin – including those times when we failed to forbear, but found ourselves responding sinfully.

If we are to live together to the glory of God we need to be able to exercise biblical forgiveness. From the outset we need to see that this cannot be treated as a theoretical exercise, nor is it one in which we are left to make up the rules, guidelines.  No – everything we say needs to be governed by the phrase: “just as God in Christ also forgave you”. This is our motivation and framework for action.

1. …the problem

If we are Christians it means that we are a people whom “God in Christ … forgave”. If you have not faced your sin before a holy God and found the only relief in the life and death of Jesus then you are not a Christian.  But if you are a Christian you know what forgiveness is about – how essential and wonderful it is. You also know that you still need God’s forgiveness on a daily basis.

But it also means that sin will have a continuing influence in your relationship with others. If God has to daily face this problem, what makes us think we won’t? If we are to “be forgiving” it means we will be sinned against, and that others will at times find us sinning against them.

Now I don’t like a lot of rides at the amusement parks, etc, but I do like dodgem cars –dodging in and out of cars, trying to avoid collisions, getting ahead. But inevitably someone gets in the way and I find myself ‘just having’ to bump them!  Usually the steering is not quite what I would like, nor is my reaction space. At times I’m taken by surprise as others crash into me – even if I see it coming I’m not always able to get out of the way. Now all that has an element of fun about it, and generally it is harmless.  But the fact is that there is no fun when it happens for real on the road.

There is even less within the church. We are forgiven by God, yet we still collide with one another; we go in the wrong direction and we hit each others bumpers, etc, and even perhaps have a head-on collision with one another now and then. The result is that we need to stop, and get out of our cars and exchange details and try and sort out the problem.

It is important that you and I realise that we will be called upon to forgive other believers who have sinned against us. It is also important to realise that we will find ourselves in that position of asking for their forgiveness. That’s what makes this issue so vital. If there was no sin there would be no need of forgiveness, but because sin is a reality within believers then there will be the regular need of forgiveness between us and within the church, and we must give a priority to it.

2. …the promise

Forgiveness has been described as ‘Giving up the right to hurt you for hurting me’. There is some truth to that, but it fails to get to the heart of forgiveness which is a positive thing. It is not just what I won’t do, it is what I will do.  What is that? 

Well, what does God do when He forgives?  The answer is given simply in Jer 31:34 – “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” That’s a promise! Forgiveness is essentially a promise. We see also what He promises: “their sin I will remember no more”.  This is what God does when He forgives us: He promises not to remember our sin anymore. Notice God does not say He will forget our sins – He cannot. He knows everything. Rather He promises to not remember our sins. He will not remember them against us; keep them before us; deal with present sins on the basis of our previous record. Once He has forgiven us it no longer is on the record. What a glorious promise this is! See Ps 103:12 (put away as far as east is from west); Micah 7:19 (cast into the depths of the sea).

When you forgive someone you are making such a promise to them.

But what a promise! I will not remember these sins you’ve done against me anymore. I will not throw them in your face. I will not treat you on the basis of them. I will not use them against you. I will not dwell on what you did in my private thoughts, stewing over them and getting embittered. I will not speak of them to others to poison their thoughts of you. As far as we are concerned it is as if they never existed. Anything less then according to the Bible you haven’t forgiven them. The only exception being: unless it would be absolutely necessary for your good (but even then not shoving it in their face or seeking their harm, but graciously motivating or helping them to address underlying issues or its consequences. Here we see that forgiving is not forgetting, but it will lead to forgetting.

Here is the vital difference between accepting an apology and forgiveness. Jay Adams wrote: ‘There is nothing about an apology in the Bible … the world’s substitute for forgiveness and it doesn’t achieve the same end.’

Think about it. The word ‘apology’ originally means ‘to make a defence’ – ie., of my action. Now someone comes to you and says, ‘I am sorry I did…’ Where does that leave you? They’ve talked about their feelings, but what can you do with that? There is no confession. No promises of changed behaviour. Nothing is settled from your side. In fact when you think about it, they have not really been all that concerned about you at all, but about how bad they feel. 

But when someone comes and says “Forgive me for…’ then you have to make a decision. When you say ‘Yes I will’ then a promise has been made.  Something has been settled, and now you can move on together.

3. …the pursuit

What do you do when a brother/ sister has sinned against you? Do you feel sorry for yourself?  Do you phone others and hold a pity-party? Do you go to the prayer meeting or to an elder and say ‘I want you to pray for so and so because he is getting out of hand’ – in effect gossiping about what he or she did to you?

What did God do? Of God the Father we read in Romans 5 “when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (v.6), and “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (v.8).  God took the initiative to establish forgiveness.

Jesus, God the Son, at the cross said, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34).  Notice how this was said in the context where Jesus was providing the basis on which God could bring forgiveness to them.  In effect this is a short-hand prayer, by which Jesus was asking God to bring them to where He could forgive them. And that was a prayer God answered as we read in Acts.

God the Holy Spirit convinces of sin (John 16:8,9). He brings about the new birth (John 3:8) by which people are brought to repentance and faith. It is He who exercises the sanctifying influence that turns believers from sin, and lead us in God’s paths (I Cor 6:9-10 – “such were” cf Eph 4:17ff; Ezek 36:27 – “I will put my Spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes”).

In other words this is exactly what God has been and is doing in this world: He pursues forgiveness. Now “just as God in Christ also forgave you”, we too are to pursue forgiveness. So Stephen prays as he dies ‘Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin”’ (Acts 7:60). Likewise Paul in 2 Tim 4:16 declares, “At my first defence no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.”

We are to pray for their forgiveness, to pursue it prayerfully before God who works in people’s hearts. But we are also to pursue it personally. Luke 17:3-4 (cf Matt 18) calls us to go to the one who has offended us. Why? To get even with a length of spiritual 4-by-2?  No! The whole point is to seek to extend forgiveness and accomplish reconciliation. Often though it is with the “rebuke” that we want or do stop, but Jesus calls us to press on to where we can “forgive”.

This strikes at the very heart of being a Christian. In Matt 6:12 we read: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Then in v.14 Jesus adds: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This is the only petition of the Lord’s Prayer that has an explanation. That has to be significant! Jesus is forcing us to ask whether we love what we ask for. How can we say we are serious about God’s forgiveness if we are not serious about forgiving others? Forgiveness is not merely something we look for and are thankful for when we sin. It is infectious. It is a mark of genuine conversion.

In practice this involves two elements. Firstly there is what has been called Attitudinal Forgiveness. When we have been sinned against we are to develop a forgiving attitude by handing over the matter to God to deal with, trusting in God’s justice and grace. We see this in Mk 11:25, “Whenever you stand praying forgive, if you have anything against anyone…” Note here it is just between you and God. The one who sinned against you is not present nor have you gone to them. You are praying. The result is that you don’t brood over it with resulting anger, bitterness or resentment; but you focus on loving them and finding ways to bring them to forgiveness and reconciliation.  We ask God to help to respond with grace, mercy and love, desiring only their good; whilst asking God to work in their heart and bring them to repentance so that we can have a reconciled relationship, using even me in any way to help them.

Then, secondly, there is what might be termed Transactional Forgiveness in which verbal forgiveness is verbally conveyed to others based on verbal acknowledgment of repentance. That’s what we see in Luke 17:3 where we are told than when someone repents we are to forgive them. Here we see that verbal forgiveness is tied to verbal repentance. Matt 18:15-17 makes it clear that we cannot be fully reconciled to those who have not repented (otherwise we couldn’t follow the process described there).

It means that we will seek to maintain a forgiving spirit, and be ready to forgive any who ask us.  But even more, it means that we so long to extend forgiveness we will pray for it, we will seek out the offender and take steps which are aimed at bringing them to repentance.

But someone will object: ‘Why should I do it?  They sinned, they should come to me!’  Yes they should, but in answer: (1) Aren’t you glad God didn’t wait for you, for you would never have come!  (2) Because God says so!  (3) In this command there is great wisdom. The offender may not even know of their sin. You may have misconstrued their action and unless you go to them the air will never be cleared.

Others will object: ‘How can I forgive someone who hasn’t repented?’ It is true that God does not forgive without repentance. Yet for many this is but a self-justification for doing nothing to encourage then to seek forgiveness. What they are really saying is ‘I don’t want to forgive them unless they convince me!’ But Jesus says we cannot hide and rest behind their lack of repentance, we are to lead them to repentance so that they would pursue forgiveness. That’s what God does even in His children (Heb 12:3ff). Forgiveness should be sought even when it is not sought.

Some say they will when my faith is stronger. The disciples used this objection in Luke 17:5, “Increase our faith.” Jesus told them about the tiny mustard seed – you don’t need greater faith, use the faith you have.

Yet others ask – ‘But how often do I have to do it?’ If “seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Lk 17:4). That is, effectively each is a first time.  Also Jesus doesn’t allow us to look for fruit before we forgive. That is something we place before them on the basis of our forgiveness (Lk 3:8), remembering fruit takes time and encouragement.

Indeed, our pursuit must be such that we assure them of our forgiveness. God of course repeatedly does this throughout the Bible, and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So it is of no surprise that in 2 Cor 2:5-8 we read concerning one who was repentant: “rather forgive and comfort, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow … reaffirm your love for them.” this s to be genuine and not in word only. This also means that were to encourage the development of trust.  Yes we need to realize that forgiveness and trust are not the same thing. Prov 14:15 tells us “the naïve believes everything”. Don’t be naïve, yet working towards reconciliation, including building trust and even overcoming and facing the consequences of sin, is what we must also give ourselves to if we are to “comfort”.

But if we are to forgive one another surely it requires certain other things also. Do not provoke each other to offend. It is not enough for me to say ‘I can’t help it if he is short tempered.’ True, but because you know your brother’s weakness in certain areas you are required by love to help him avoid those sins. Losing his temper maybe your brother’s sin, but irritating him so that it is no surprise that he did is yours. If you have been sinned against do not make more of it than you ought by exaggerating it; don’t publish it about as a gossip; and never directly or indirectly avenge yourselves. Don’t resist evil with evil.

It is no understatement to say: ‘Forgiveness is the oil that keeps the church running smoothly.’

One of the jokes that keeps doing the rounds of the Internet relates to a lady going to a motor spares shop and asking for a ‘710’ cap. This of course left the salesman bemused and confused until she showed him where it was supposed to be. The joke comes with a graphic which shows that it was an OIL cap – she was reading it upside down.

Sadly when it comes to forgiveness in the church many don’t seem to know any more than this mythical lady.

Yet the Bible has a great deal to say about forgiveness, speaking of God’s forgiveness – both providing the means of forgiveness through the death of His Son for our sin, of drawing us to faith in His Son to receive this forgiveness, and of assuring of His ongoing commitment to forgive His children.

But what does it mean when things get difficult between us as people? The Bible calls us to “forgive one another just as Christ forgave us” (Ephesians 4:32).

Today’s message explores the Bible’s teaching on forgiveness in our relationships, drawing out its need, it’s essential nature as a promise, and practical help for when we find ourselves in those situations we are sinned against.

In being dealt with by God’s Word today, ask: How’s the oil-level with me? Is there someone I need to forgive, or to go and talk to, whom I have been avoiding because of what they did (or I thought they did)?  Is there someone you have held forgiveness from? Indeed is there someone I need to repent to and ask forgiveness of? Then ask “Will you forgive me?”

Evening Service, 08 Mar 2009

What’s next? We’ve all thought about that question at some time. Maybe in reading a novel with its twists and turns of action or unfolding mysteries, and you think what will the author put them through next. Many have been the times when we have completed a task, and then we look around and ask ourselves ‘What’s next?’

It may be a rest; it may be a new task. But there always seems to be something next. Life is not static. It is always moving on. Life is like a maze with many corners – corners which sometimes we face with excitement or with uncertainty and even at times fear. In going around life’s corners we find it very helpful to have others who can see ahead for us, and who lovingly guide and where necessary warn us of approaching dangers so that we might avoid or survive them somewhat unscathed. We would be fools not to listen to godly wisdom.

This is no clearer than when we face that last corner of life: the one that is marked death. When we die, then what? What’s next?

Here hangs a man on the cross – no I don’t mean Jesus but one beside him – who realises that he is facing that last corner. But here is one who also realises that here in Jesus he has finally found someone, the only one, who can guide him safely around that corner. So he cries out to Jesus “Remember me…”; to which Jesus replies in the midst of His own suffering, “Truly I say unto you, Today you shall be with Me in paradise.”

The first word of Christ from the cross gives us comfort in the face of our sin; the second brings comfort in the face of our sin’s ultimate consequence: death. “The wages of sin is death” we read in Rom 3:23. If ever you have stood looking into a grave after the coffin has been lowered you know how sobering this reality is. We are in moments like that confronted with our mortality, but also with questions: What next? Not just will there be more for me, but what will that more be like for me? Have I any hope? Or more importantly, do I have any legitimate ground for the hope that I have? I s there any comfort offered? Surely what makes this word so special to us is that it brings comfort in the face of our death. 

Here is a man facing certain death, but he faces it with faith in Jesus Christ as the one who can make peace with God for him, a faith that Christ responds to with blessing, assuring him of what that death will immediately mean for Him, removing from him all grounds of fear and replacing it with every ground of expectation of joy. Jesus speaks of:

1.  Heaven’s Elegance

You walk into expensive ‘Show Homes’ and you are taken back by the building itself, but also by the decor, by the over-all image of sumptuous elegance. If you remember back to John 14 you will recall that this was the imagery that Jesus used to help His disciples understand what awaited them having just sat as they had in a large upper room which itself would have spoken of some grandeur.

But that is not the word picture that Jesus uses here for this man to encourage and comfort him. He uses instead an image in the strongest of contrast to their present situation. The picture around them was of a marred and destroyed garden, where the dominant trees were instruments of death, and the inhabitants were given over to unbridled sinful anger. The picture assaulting their senses was of curse and judgement. So Jesus uses the biblical picture of the Garden of Eden, called “paradise” in the official Jewish Greek translation, which word comes from the Persian for a garden or royal park.

It is used in the NT to refer to heaven: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2 Cor 12:2-4); “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (Rev 2:7) A parallel passage would be Luke 16:22-23 where Jesus uses the picture of Abraham’s bosom: “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

Jesus is using a deliberate Biblical image of a perfect place where God’s people made perfect live perfect lives – lives without sin or any of its consequences being felt within or in their environment, and free from its intrusion. Its inhabitants will be free from the struggle with internal sinful passions and struggles as well as from the impact of such in those with them, and they will be free from the seductions and temptations of satan from without. Free from the hazards and frustrations of living in an imperfect world – eg the extremes in weather, earthquakes, sickness, and of course death.  Free from the possibility that it will ever change. Free from the presence of sin.

Jesus is clearly teaching the survival of the soul after the death of the body, that at the moment of death both the souls of He and this man would enter heaven (ie, even before His resurrection and ascension). In the clearest of terms Jesus asserts that there is a life beyond this life that surpasses even the very best in this life. ‘None who enter here will be disappointed’ is the clear claim of the Bible.

But it is also one in which there will be a continued existence of personhood for we note that Jesus uses the personal pronouns “you… Me”. The use of personal pronouns indicates consistency with present personhood; that is, we will be recognised as individuals even though it is merely our soul without our bodies for a season, until the resurrection in the final day. Though there is a change of place and circumstances as we lay aside our mortal bodies the person continues after death. The implication also being that it will not merely be some ethereal existence, there will be experiential reality. We will know and be known, we will be in fellowship (“with”) – to be with Jesus implies engaging with Jesus. Heaven is a place of engagement, of activity, of enjoyment as well as of peace. It is not a dream state. The soul may be the immaterial part of our being but it is not insubstantial.

The French humanist Rabelais with his last words said, ‘I am going to the great perhaps’. Jesus wanted to make it clear to this man that it was no great perhaps but a certain paradise that he like Jesus was going to.

2.  Heaven’s Embrace

But even more than that Jesus goes onto assure this man that the moment he crosses over the divide into paradise then he will find himself still with Jesus, that Jesus will meet him there and that they will continue to have real fellowship together: “with Me in paradise”

It has been pointed out that when a Persian king wished to give one of his subjects a special honour, he made him a ‘companion of the garden’, chosen to walk in the king’s garden as a special friend and companion of the king. Thus, Jesus promised the thief that he would be a companion of the King of kings, walking with Christ in the garden of heaven.

Here is the distinctive and prime characteristic of life beyond this life in heaven: it is to be with Christ in all that that word “with” conveys. The man had only asked to be remembered, but Jesus responds saying he will be embraced. He doesn’t pray ‘Lord, prefer me!’, but the Lord assures him of close companionship which speaks of preferment.

By this Jesus makes it clear that life in heaven is not a meaningless existence, but a meaningful one of the highest order. It is Christ who makes it heaven. The happiness and purpose of heaven is to see Christ, to sit with Him, and to share in His glory (John 17:24). Heaven is not heaven without Christ. And amazingly, Christ feels the same way in that He longs to have His redeemed gathered around Him.

Think of it, you are to dwell with Christ forever. You are to be with Him in His glory and perfection, in His presence and fellowship. Where He is, and as He is, you shall be. 

The last words of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland (1274-1329), were ‘Now, God be with you, my dear children. I have breakfasted with you and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ.’

3.  Heaven’s Entrance

It is immediate – “Today…” This is where the stress of Jesus words lay, on the speed of this change. “Today.” You shall not lie in purgatory for ages, nor sleep in limbo for so many years; but you shall be ready for bliss at once, and at once you shall enjoy it. As Paul put it: “absent from the body… present with the Lord” (Phil 1:23). It is that simple … and yet that amazing!

The years leading up to World War II were very dangerous for missionaries to China. One of the missionaries, Jack Vinson, was seized by bandits and carried off in the night. He was eventually killed. A witness later described how earlier she had seen Vinson threatened by a bandit with a revolver who said, ‘I’m going to kill you! Aren’t you afraid?’ ‘No, I am not afraid,’ Vinson had replied. ‘If you kill me, I will go right to God.’

Such a portion will faith bring to each of us, not today it may be, but one day. If we believe in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, we shall be with Him in the delights and happiness of the paradise of everlasting glory.

It is secured – “Truly I say unto you…”  This is a promise he could draw on at Heaven’s bank!  It is a cheque or promissory note signed by Christ as King.  Jesus speaks as the One who has the right and authority to make this promise – “I say”. The Lord’s word is power. What He says none can dispute. Though he must die, yet he would live and find himself in paradise with his Lord.

The lesson then is not merely that Christ can save in the last moment of our life if we turn to Christ in repentance and faith as did this man, though that is true, but that when Jesus saves us His salvation is an immediate and complete act, so that, come life or come death, we are perfectly saved. If you were to die in that moment or any other following you will be brought to glory. Nothing else needs to be done – by you, by others, or even by Christ. That is not to say that he was perfect in thought or deed, but it does mean that nothing he could do would alter or add to the fact that he was most certainly saved. There is no period of probation to go through, there are no attainments to be sought after, and no protracted efforts to be made in order to be saved.

Yet it is limited – notice this word was only given to this man. They were not given to the other. From this we learn that though this word was not intended for this man alone, it is not intended indiscriminately for all people.

We know it was not meant for this man alone for it was given publicly, and recorded in public Scripture. That it was public was meant to encourage all who come to Jesus as this man did. Jesus didn’t whisper quietly to him, “You are the only one I am going to treat in this way, but don’t tell others lest I get harassed”.  No, our Lord spoke openly for all to hear – and we are meant to hear it also. 

But that it was also personal to this man and not to the other warns us not to presume by thinking that all will automatically enter heaven once they leave this earthly life, no matter what that life was like or what you thought of Jesus Christ or God the Father. That is a presumptuous foolishness. What we need to do is to look at where Jesus was looking when He said it, and ask whether by God’s grace that is the position we are in, where this man came to. He wasn’t there initially but by grace he was brought there, and it was only when he was here that Jesus spoke to him this way. He spoke to a man who had repudiated sin and confessed guilt and cried out for mercy saying “remember me”. It was not death that transformed him, but grace that transformed death to him – as it does to all who come in repentance and faith to Christ before death. And though we cry for but a scrap of mercy knowing we deserve none we will find that the Lord in grace always responds to such a cry with a full and free salvation. If you would know Christ’s promise as personal to you then you must cry out for mercy as this man did. It is limited only to these.

A final caution: Satan may be tempting some today saying, ‘You see you can be saved at the very last. Put off repentance and faith; you may be forgiven on your death-bed.’ That is to turn the mercy of God into an argument for continuing in sin. Do not be ungrateful because God is kind! Do not provoke the Lord because He is patient! Yes the Lord will accept all who repent; but how do you know that you will repent? The other thief was lost – as someone said, ‘One is saved, and we may not despair; the other is lost, and we may not presume’.

A final encouragement: Let us also learn that it is not for all to enter heaven soon after coming to faith in Jesus. The reality is that when the Lord pardons most of His people He does not give us a place in Paradise that same day. That He didn’t surely indicate that there is something for us to do on earth. Are you doing it? Are you living for Jesus?  Let us justify our Lord in keeping us waiting here by serving him to the utmost of our power!

Free from the pollution of sin (“Father, forgive them”); and now freedom from the presence of sin (“with Me in Paradise”). What glorious words are these from the cross!

How often relational friction is grounded in the imagination, in imaginary grievances! We don’t know everything, yet we act as if we are omniscient, as if we understand exactly what is happening, all the motives. We draw conclusions but more often than not they are drawing us away from reality into a paranoia that is always destructive. We need to throw down such imaginings! It is far better to “bear with one another”.

There may be times when we are called upon to forgive one another, there will certainly be times when we will have to forebear!

The failure to take account of human differences, frailties, preferences and imagination leads to many of the difficulties between Christians. We dismiss other believers, become impatient, critical and contemptuous of them. We are put off by them, and may even leave the church over them. What a tragedy when such a failure is known among God’s people. We are called to “bear with” not to become critical, condemning or dismissive ourselves. We are called by God to note our own frailties, for then we will bear with one another’s.

But equally we need to ask ourselves as to whether we are the cause of concerns and hurts in others because of our manner, assumptions, or even zeal that may not be legitimately grounded in Scripture. Though you have a tender heart and want to encourage and help no one sees it because of your abrupt or direct manner, or because the ‘humour’ you used was not funny to them. 

Are you thinking about whether people may be misconstruing what you are doing?  Experience tells me that people whom others frequently have to “bear with” don’t even think before they speak, let alone think of how people may respond to it. They just assume they have a right and that at least they’ve done the right thing in so speaking or acting. They don’t notice their own frailties and inconsistencies. Indeed they often don’t even think others have to “bear with” them. Or if they do, they don’t give sufficient attention to minimise their need to.

The great need is to “bear with” others, but the flip side of that is the equally great need to minimise how much others may need to bear with us. This requires prayerful and honest reflection and heart-searching before a God who bears with us. 

It would do us all good to do a bit of self-auditing, and to be courageous enough to ask others what they honestly think of how we act, and by God’s grace to seek their help in bringing and maintaining change where change needs to be made. 

Evening Service – 01 Mar 2009

But it secondly it declares God’s estimate of sin and the absolute need of forgiveness. As Jesus carefully examined the character and actions of those before Him the only thing that He could urge in their favour was that “they do not know what they do’. Yet even so He needed to pray for their forgiveness. There is none who do not need Christ and His intercession on their behalf for the application of the merits of His death for their sin.

Sin is always sin in God’s sight, whether or not we are conscious of it. God is holy and will not lower His standard of righteousness to the level of our ignorance. In the Old Testament God gave instruction on sacrifices for sins of ignorance (Lev 5:15,16; Num 15:22-25). That’s why the Gospel needs to be taken even to those who have no knowledge of the Bible. They are still under judgement despite their ignorance. Jesus did not limit evangelism only to those who had some light: “Go to all nations”.

c. what it demonstrates. In a word: GRACE. When Jesus prays for us it is not because there is anything in us that should cause Him to. It is not because we have turned to Him. It is not because we long for mercy. He died for us even before we knew anything about our sin let alone His payment for it. He prayed for us long before we uttered a prayer for forgiveness. The source of grace is in the giver not in the receiver; it is in God not us. The ground of our acceptance is not our faith but Christ the Author and Perfector of that faith. It is grace that this prayer was heard. It is grace that it is still being heard. Understand that if you have come to a genuine repentance of sin and come through faith in Christ to know God’s forgiveness, then it is a response to Christ’s prayer not yours!

But it also demonstrates the effectiveness of grace for this is an effective prayer. It was realised in part in Jerusalem. In Acts 2:17 Peter alludes to their “ignorance” in crucifying the Messiah which corresponds to Christ’s “they do not know what they do”. This is the reason for the conversion of the 3,000. It was not Peter’s eloquence but Christ’s prayer. It was being realised as God withheld till AD70 the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman army, during which time many Jews came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is still being heard today – for Jesus “is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25).

It is clear that the word “them” had special reference to those immediately before Him, but from Isa 53:12 it is not limited to them but covers a multitude of sinners. There is an indistinctness to them that encourages sinners to hope it might include them too. Spurgeon said, ‘Now into that pronoun “them” I feel I can crawl.’ Can you? Have you? Have you come to God in repentance, trusting in Christ’s death as the ground of your forgiveness and acceptance before God? Then know the certainty and completeness of that forgiveness. “You … He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col 2:13). Soul, your prayer is heard; “go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). “Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you” (Luke 7:47). What a prayer!

A young convert not quite catching the word revival said: ‘We are having a great re-Bible here.’ The Bible is so central to God’s work in a soul that, while we smile at the mistake, it is certainly true that where there has been a reviving of the soul, there will be a new place given for the Bible in the life. Bibles which had been long set aside in favour of the TV Guide are now eagerly read and studied, and the understanding gained becomes central to our conversations, shaping and directing our thoughts and also our actions.

Do you know something of this spirit? Having heard of God’s saving grace in Jesus through the reading of this book, has the Bible becomes precious to you – but not only because in it you found the gospel, but because they recognize that here is the voice of the Saviour speaking to you. No we don’t turn the Bible into an idol and worship it, but we handle it with the greatest reverence and affection, with confidence and trust, knowing it to be the Word of God. This reality is seen in an increasing hunger for the Bible – in reading, in study and under the preaching of the Word. It is to the Bible that we turn for wisdom, guidance, comfort and hope.

4. Love-generating (v.7-21)

Is this not an obvious mark? Yet it is one that John particularly takes time to open up to us. John is stressing that both a profession of faith and a love for truth are not inconsistent with practical love for God and His people. In essence where the love of Christ has broken into a heart, love for God and man is fostered, a love that is not an acquiring but self-denying.

Martin Lloyd-Jones talked of this reality and this passage in particular with wonderful relief. He said that when he was greatly afflicted by doubts about his salvation, and found a lifelessness to his spiritual activity, it was the reality that he was drawn to be with and loved to be with the people of God that was used by God to revive assurance and peace. His argument went – how could I be still a slave of sin, a child of the devil, if I have such love for the people of God? It is inconsistent with sin, but not with a work of grace!

Brethren, do you know something of this spirit of love? Those who have experienced such love from Christ cannot but love Him! Is the atoning death of Jesus the centre piece and stimulus of your love? Do you also recognize Christ’s hand on others and find yourself drawn to them in love?

Church Membership in its fullest sense is a conditional privilege – open only to those who are able to give a credible profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Such a person is by very definition Christ-exalting, sin-hating, Bible-revering and love-generating. This is the evidence of a true work of grace in a person’s life. We cannot see the heart, but we can see if these things are evident in the life. It is this that we celebrate in our membership, bear witness to by our membership, and seek to live out through that membership.

As afflictions in Christ abound and are prolonged, consolations abound and perseverance is given by Jesus as long as christians go to him as teacher for He invites them to be His Students.

Matthew Henry, Commentary