Covenantal Marriage Vows

Exodus 20:1-11- Marriage Vows

The first table of the Law of the Ten Commandments, the section we refer to as the Love God commands, are essentially marriage vows. God has vowed to take on His bride and He asks her to commit to Him by taking these vows.

 

Marriage Vows

Ex. 20:1   And God spake all these words, saying,  2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

Me only. No others. Our relationship is now exclusive. Do you understand what I am saying to you? No other lovers. Got it? Do you take only me?

I do.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:  5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

Do not make any images of me. I am that I am and that should be enough for you. Do not construct an image of me in your mind or one that is fashioned after wood, gold or brass. If you do this, then you are not loving me but some image that will always be less than me. And do not worship me through some image. Then you will also always be limiting me to some image in your mind.

I am a jealous husband. I will not allow you to go around with other husbands and I will not allow you to imagine that I am something other than what I really am. Do you understand this?

I do.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

This day you are taking my name on you. You are becoming my one and only wife. I am giving you my name. This changes who you are. You used to be an unfaithful woman. Those days are now over. I am a faithful husband and I expect a faithful wife. Therefore, you may not take my name and then act as if you are not married to me. You know me. You know that I am a faithful and perfect husband. You know that I am holy and righteous. So, you must do all that I say and obey all my commands. If you do not do this, then you are taking my name on you without the intent on following up with the expectations of your new family. Do you understand what I am saying to you?

I do.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Okay, great now that you have become my wife, I want to issue my first command. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

On Sabbath, we worship in Spirit and Truth. I will speak to you and you will hear my voice and obey. If you have sinned, you will confess it and I will forgive you. You will gather with my people and I will give you rest.  Do you understand what I am saying to you? Will you follow my commands and remember the Sabbath?
           I will.
 

Comfort in Jesus

In today’s sermon, we will be reminded to Love God and do what He says. We agree with the first part, the love of God in Christ has been bestowed upon us. But we find in ourselves sin lurking at the door. We desire to do right but find that we do wrong. What are we to make of this? Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And the Apostle John says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not."

         If we are honest, these words cut us deep, especially as we think about our weak practical devotion to God, our Father, as we think about our fickle fidelity to our wives in thought and word and sight, as we think about the honor and respect that you ladies owe your husbands, and you children owe your parents. Our sins, our lack of love to God, cry out against us.

         But the rest of the verse from the Apostle says, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He is our paraklete, our comforter. This is the same word that describes the Holy Spirit, who is our paraklete, our Comforter. So, we do sin, and therefore we apply to Jesus, our Advocate, to forgive us our sins and to comfort us by the renewing work of His Holy Spirit.

Abba, Father Love

We have seen that the Lord calls us to love Him with our whole hearts and that this love is to manifest itself in obedience to His revealed will. No doubt, we have felt the weight of that command as we realize that we miss the mark and fall short, that is, we sin. But we are not without hope because we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We apply to Him for grace and we see that because Jesus was faithful to go to the cross, our sins are nailed to the cross and forgiven in the courtroom of God’s justice. We cry, Abba, Father and we trust Him to grant us His Spirit so that the love that He has poured into us through Jesus will also flow out of us back to Him and out to His people. This is what He promises us as we remember the efficacious death of Jesus to save us from our sins and to transform us into the image of God.

Sweet Smelling Savor

It is our desire to grow up into Christ. We desire to be strong so that we can love God and resist sin. In order for this to happen we have to be In Christ. His Spirit must dwell in us so that we are enabled to do that which pleases the Lord. From this perspective, when we please the Lord, we are upright and blameless. If we have become the perfect sacrifice, along with Christ, we know that God, the Father, receives us as a sweet smelling savor.

         This meal points to that great truth. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and He was broken and presented to the Father and ascended up into Heaven. We have ascended with Him. This meal is Christ giving Himself for and to us. We are in Him and He is in us.  And thus, we become that perfect sacrifice that also pleasingly ascends to the Father. This all happens by God’s grace through faith. We trust in God’s promises and He fulfills them in our lives. Thus, we become the blessed children of God and He grants us His Spirit to carry out His acts in the world. So, let us eat and drink, giving thanks to God for making us one with Him and with one another in Jesus.

Truly Spiritual

The bible tells us that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Sometimes, though, we make spirituality to be some vague other worldliness, somehow maybe even becoming less human-like and more angelic. But being spiritual is not really all that complicated and it definitely is not developing a mind-set that makes you impervious to the every day mess of living. Being spiritual is about loving God and men, having patience, not giving in to outbursts of anger, being kind, and such things. These are all very earthy sorts of manifestations of the Spirit in our lives.

         God is patient with us. We do not grow into maturity all at once. We learn and grow slowly and we often learn by our own failures and sins. We struggle against sin, longing to be more spiritual but still find ourselves irritated, lustful, prone to envy, discontent and needing self-control. 

        What is the answer to these things? Walking in the Holy Spirit. And the only way to get there is to confess our failures and sins, receive Christ’s forgiveness and then get up and walk forward in renewal with new found faith and hope.

Boldly into the Fog

We do not know what the future holds. We look into it with some inclination of the direction that we are traveling but the future is foggy and difficult to see. We can look back at the past with much greater clarity. We look back not so that we can see forward clearly but so that we can walk forward into the fog without fear. God has directed our paths and we have come safely through the fog of future that we now call past. If we were fearful then, it was only because we could not see forward and know that God would be at every foggy place leading us through the shadows of death. But He was and we know that now.

         So, how do we go forward into more fog? Well, we still do not know the future but I hope we have come to believe that God is there and that He is beckoning us to come forward in peace, hope and joy. And to prove this to us, He calls us to sit down at His table to eat and drink and grow strong and develop keen eyes of faith so that we can go forward in hope without fear. 

        This meal is His promise to never leave or forsake us and to guide us in the way of peace. So, eat and take courage.

Perspective is Heavenly

Perspective is defined as a way of regarding situations and facts and judging their relative importance. Many of our problems, especially our reactions, come from having bad perspective. Something happens and we are unable to accurately judge the relative importance of the event. Since it is happening to us and it happening now, we make it out to be relatively important. I ask, relative to what? And the answer often is, relative to anything and everything. The thing of the moment is the thing. And when we think this way, we often act way out of proportion to the true relative importance. 

         This is true of the man cutting in front of you in line, the person taking too long to cross the intersection, the clown with his head down, texting at the green light who had the relatively important distinction of delaying your day by three whole seconds!

         Saints, get some perspective! Step back and see the situation, maybe even as God sees it. The clown texting might be oblivious but at least he is not a saint given to rash emotions and overreactions. How is God looking at that situation?

         This proper perspective in the little things will help you learn a principled perspective in the big things. Such a true perspective will create a place for you of peace and hope in Jesus Christ.

         So, let us confess our inability to see things properly and ask God to give us a more heavenly-minded perspective.

Appetite for Jesus

The Lord’s Service is discipline. That may surprise you if you think of discipline as punishment. But working out is discipline. Wrestling practice is discipline. Eating well is discipline. These disciplines train us for the fight. This service disciplines the mind and body to conform us to the image of God. The Lord, in His graciousness, runs us through this training towards godliness. Just as working out creates a healthy appetite, so the Lord’s Service ought to create a healthy appetite in us for the things of the Lord.

         We become like Jesus and so we desire to do what He does, say what He says, eat what He eats; every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Having tasted of Christ, we know that He is good and we desire more and more of Him.

         So, we can see that the Lord’s Table is another place of discipline. We eat and drink of the Lord Jesus and we grow bigger and stronger in Jesus and we need more and more of Christ to sustain us. We do not need more bread and more wine. A little is enough because in them we see that we really already have all of Christ As we grow in Christ, His grace and power are all that we need to sustain us for growth and for the fight of life.

Fatherly Discipline

The Bible teaches us that discipline is something that a loving father does. As parents, we recognize this. When we discipline our children, whether with corrective teaching or the sin squashing swats of the spanking spoon, we know that we are showing them love and teaching them a path that will lead them to peace and joy.

         As adults, we often fail to see this. When loving friends confront us, we resist and justify. If we persist in this resistance, our hearts grow hard to correction and a hard stubborn heart is not a receptive place for God’s Spirit.

Thus, the Lord, Himself, will bring direct correction into our lives. Sometimes, it is just enough to get our attention so that we straighten up. If we continue to resist Him then we run the risk of having Him let us run headlong into our sin. The rebellious heart loves this, thinking it is freedom but the righteous man fears the withdrawing of God’s Spirit of conviction and correction, knowing that this leads to slavery to sin.

         So, we need to come to the Lord humbly, heeding His voice in friends, the elders, the pastor, and His Spirit, so that we are easily corrected and do not justify ourselves in our sins.

Going to Heaven

Christian, what is your plan in this life? What is your daily aim? Are you seeking to grow in grace, advancing in the fruit of the Spirit? How are you doing? How is your Love growing? How about your Joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness? Gentleness? Faithfulness? Meekness? How are you doing with Self-control?

            To grow in these areas is to be like God, to bear His image here on Earth, to be like Jesus and reveal the work of the Holy Spirit in your lives. It is being heavenly. So, how is it that you become heavenly minded? And where are you going to spend eternity? In heaven? Yes, in heaven. And to be fit to spend eternity in heaven, you practice heavenly mindedness here on Earth.

           In Ephesians 2:4-6, we are told, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:   This Scripture reveals something glorious to us. God has brought us to heaven in Jesus. When we gather as God’s people, we are getting a glimpse of this glory full blown. We see the gathered people of God, forgiven in Jesus, engaged in worship, sitting at the feet of Jesus, rising up in song, eating at His Table. We are in heaven!

          This worship service is nothing less than a heavenly feast. When you come to worship, you are coming into heaven. Now, who would does not want to go to heaven? Seriously, who in their right mind, would refuse heaven?

            Would you refuse heaven because you had a late night on Saturday? Would you refuse heaven because your child had a sporting event? Would you miss heaven because your family was visiting from out of town? Would you miss heaven for nearly any old excuse? 

           Dear Saints, I am not kidding about this or being glib. I mean it with all my heart. If you do not understand that we are going to heaven together when we gather as God’s people, you really do run the risk of missing heaven altogether. If you cannot see the glory in the gathered people of God, then you are missing the glory of God. It really is that simple. So, come to heaven every week so that you are consistently drawn to God and will spend eternity with Him and His people in Heaven.

Covenant Renewal Communion

The high point of our liturgy moves to the Lord’s Table. In our service, as in our lives, we are aiming at close communion with God. At His Table, we see this all come together. The Father has called us, Jesus has cleansed us, the Spirit has filled us and we have become friends of God.

         Because there is still sin and death in the world, we need the promises and the closeness of this Table. It is very important that you embrace the entire service and that you especially get what is going on here. 

         You are a sinner but God has forgiven you through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He identifies you with His own beloved Son. Because of that truth, He and the Son invite you to eat with them. They send you the Holy Spirit that the love of God fully dwells in you as you sit down with Him and His people to eat. This is the place of peace and assurance.

Covenant Renewal Exhortation

In our Covenant Renewal Worship Service, we have an Exhortation early in the service, right after the Call To Worship. This part of the service is to remind us not only that we are sinners, fallen from grace in Adam, but that we continue to sin in thought, word and deed. Thus, we need to continually return to that fountain of grace, for where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. It is vital that we continue to confess and repent of our sins so that we continually receive this abundant fountain of grace.

         We are reminded of our sins, confess them and receive the Lord’s forgiveness early in our service, so that the rest of the service draws us near to God as we stand before Him fully forgiven with a holy boldness given to us by Jesus, Himself.

         So, we take a moment, recalling the ways we have sinned and especially confessing the sins of our nation and the sins of God’s people, including ourselves in those sins, so that we can rightly seek God’s grace for our nation and for our people.

Age of Gold

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

It is finally Christmas and along with the angels, we rejoice at the birth of Jesus. Our Savior has come into the world and we have been saved from our sins and our enemies. We seem to get the first part, salvation from sin, assuming we understand that we are sinners. But we have a harder time believing that God is going to chase down every enemy. We have a hard time believing this even in the direct and clear revelation of Scripture. Jesus will reign until all of His enemies are subdued. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

         This great passage from Isaiah was immortalized and forever stamped in our minds by that illustrious composer Frederick Handel. It is difficult to even say these words without hearing the tune run through our minds.

         But like so much of Scripture, if we are not careful, the words run through our mind but not the meaning. We hear the words but we do not really believe them or heed them. 

         Many of our Christmas songs create this same contradiction.  We sing the words but we do not understand or perhaps do not believe what we sing.

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, original verse 5

For lo!, the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world give back the song

Which now the angels sing.

This reference to the age of gold harkens back to Virgil’s fourth eclogue, written around 40 B.C. It is likely that Virgil was anticipating the age of gold arising in those emperors to follow the rule of Julius Caesar. Although we are not certain of Virgil’s intent in this passage (some have claimed he actually prophesied the birth of Jesus) the hymn writer quotes it as a deliberate poke at the aspirations of a usurped authority to rule the world. No one but Jesus Christ can truly bring this ‘age of gold’ but the reality is that Jesus truly does bring the age of gold.

Think about these great lyrics.

Joy to the World, Isaac Watts, 1719

Verse 3

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Verse 3 says that Jesus comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. The curse brought sorrow, sin and thorns. But the blessing of Christ will reverse that curse and restore the world to and Edenic state.

Verse 4

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

         Verse 4 says that Jesus rules the world. Many Christians do not believe that but it is true and the

         All of this is said as a prelude to how we view the historic, current and future Kingdom of God.  By far and away the historic view of Christ’s Kingdom clashes with the modern American view.  We see this even in Christmas hymns, until the mid to late 19^th Century.  Prior to that time, the prevailing view of Christ’s Kingdom is that it would continue to grow and fill all the Earth.

In the modern era, a particular pessimism has set into the church, largely as a result of dispensational thinking. Instead of the kingdom of God growing and filling the Earth, the kingdom of Satan grows, many think, filling the Earth, and threatens the saints until Jesus comes back to save them at the last possible moment.

We need to remember what Jesus has already done. We need to remember our Christmas songs. Satan has no kingdom. At best, he is a banished usurper, wandering the dry places of the Earth, hoping for a sympathetic ear.  He is a pathetic outcast.  How different that view than those who make Satan the archrival of the Lord Christ. Nothing of it! 

Jesus has already come to save us from our sins and to free us from our and His enemies. He made a show of them on the cross triumphing over them in it. We are not waiting for this to happen in the future, it happened over 2000 years ago!

Gladly, that dispensational view, along with its gospel hopelessness seems to be running out of steam. You can only predict the end of the world and the tribulation for so many decades and generations before people start to grow skeptical, although it is amazing what a tenaciously long life this view has had.

So, we arrive to this great anthem of the Christian faith.  Can you say these words without singing the song?

Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

We sing these songs every year and there was a time when we actually believed them. It is true that the advent of Christ makes a tremendous impact in our personal lives. He saves each one of us from our sins. This gives us peace and assurance, knowing that our God is for us and not against us. But that is not main message of the Glad Tidings. The main message of the glad tidings is the universal rule of Jesus Christ over all things.

         I hope we can get excited about this. This is something we get to declare. It is the gospel message proclaimed. Although we do try to persuade others to see this great truth and submit themselves to Jesus, our declaration remains true whether they accept it or not. Jesus is ruling the world and will continue to rule the world until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is indeed the Messiah.  

Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this!

Peace on Earth

Peace starts here at the Lord's Table among God's people but it does not end here. We are the first fruits of the Resurrection of the Lord but the knowledge of the Lord Jesus will be as the waters that cover the sea, and the peace that passes our understanding will be the peace that fills the whole Earth.

         It is very important that we hear these truths declared and then see, feel, smell and taste that the Lord is good. God’s peace is granted to you and from here expands to fill the whole Earth. 

         This is not a peace without cost. Peace never is. It required death, even the death of the only perfect man that ever entered the world. And it requires our death as well. We are crucified with Christ: nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ living in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us.

         And this life, that is Christ, is the life that will fill the whole Earth, for all that call upon the Lord in faith, believing what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Christmas Rest

It is finally Christmas and we get to revel in the celebration for a little longer before we hustle back into our New Year. For some, this is a time of great joy. For others, it is a time of recovery from the frenzy of food, piles of presents, ostentatious decorations, extra church services, entertaining family, shopping and re-shopping.

Recovery is okay. It is hard to celebrate all the time and the truth of the matter is that we could never really celebrate enough to fit the occasion. We could never give enough, eat enough, shop enough or worship enough to fill up the glory that is Christmas. We are still human, after all, and we will not have the kind of endurance needed to adequately celebrate the glory of Christ until we get our resurrected bodies.

         In all the bustle and celebration, I hope we have not lost the simple yet enormous truth of the Incarnation. God has come to Earth to increase His government and peace ad infinitum. Really? Yes, truly and really.

         Since this is true, we must rest in Him so that His government and peace is increasing in our lives, families, church and city. That is the truth of the gospel message and the saints of God get to declare this glorious truth every time they gather in His name. To the extent that His government and peace are not increasing in your life, you have the need to stop resisting and start resting.

Glory To God in the Highest

Today, we have looked at the angels’ declaration, Glory to God in the Highest. This was said at the Advent of our Lord, who was even then Emmanuel, God with us. Man could not accomplish this great victorious work, even though God did use men to accomplish His holy deeds. At every turn, we see that God is doing His work, being faithful to His promises, to save that which is lost.

         There is no greater glory for us than to be saved from our sins and united to God in righteousness and holiness. That is the reason that God sent His Son into the world. We celebrate that glory at Christmas but it was not fully realized until Calvary and Pentecost. But at Calvary, we again see that God receives glory in the highest, for no man could have died for all men but that One perfect man, the Lord Jesus. And so we find ourselves again simply gazing at the Lord’s work in wonder and declaring with the angels, Glory to God in the Highest.

What God Has Done

We often focus on what we can do in our walk with the Lord. How do we grow in the faith? How much we do know of the Scriptures? How are we raising our children? While these are all fine examples of things we should do to grow in grace, we need to make sure we have the order right.

         Our faith is primarily about what God has done. That is why we have preachers. Our job is to declare God’s mighty works. Without an understanding of who God is and what God has done, then all calls to application are mere moralism. And moralism never saved anybody.

But Jesus Christ has come, God in the flesh. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless life, died on the cross for sinners, rose from the dead for our justification, ascended to the right hand of the Father and is ruling Heaven and Earth until all of His enemies are subdued beneath His feet. That declaration is the saving gospel message. Do you believe what God has done?

Rejoice, O Dark Planet

This poem was part of my homily for our 

Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols. 

Rejoice, O Dark Planet

By  Virgil Hurt

12/23/2012

His Spirit, His life, His glory, His light.

The Lord has come in power and might

To save the world from sin.

All the world now is shining

From the river to the sea,

With the glory of the angels chiming,

Christ the Lord has come to thee.

Rejoice, O dark planet,

The light begins to dawn.

The glory of the Lord has risen,

The shadows of death are gone.

Downcast eyes are now uplifted,

Weakened knees made strong.

Feeble hands in prayer have risen,

Famished lips filled up with song.

For the Son of God is born

In Bethlehem this night,

And every blessed child’s morn

Rejoices at the sight.

 Jesus, by name, O Savior mine

Has saved me from my sin,

And all the world from love divine

To Eden saves again.

Rejoice then with the angels,

Glory to God in highest stead.

The Father sent the Son

And death is nearly dead.

When the Son on cross is risen

Dreadful death to know,

Death will finally be given

The final deathly blow.

And when the Son to Father rises,

The Son in us will rise with Him.

The Spirit then Himself surprises,

To give us all Himself within.

And when the day for glory comes,

Our bodies raised in victory,

To Jesus all shall surely come

And praises to our king decree.

Then finally all the world will know

That Father, Son and Spirit show

The love of God to man

And man to God from Earth below.

And man will join the heavenly throng

To sing that ancient vict’ry song

Of peace on Earth good will to men

As all, in peace with God, things end.

Zacharias (Yahweh Remembers) and John (Yahweh is Gracious)

 From Last Week's Sermon

This is the third Sunday in Advent and we continue to look forward to Christmas, remembering the birth of our Savior Jesus. It is at the birth of Jesus that we realize the great grace of God has come to us. He remembered His promises of old and came to man as man to redeem us from our sins.

         We have looked at two great women, Elizabeth and Mary, as examples of the sort of faith we need to have in God. They did not doubt or waver in unbelief and God was faithful to them.

         Today, we look at the birth of John Baptist. His father, Zacharias, was a righteous man but he wavered at the word of the angel and the angel struck him dumb as a punishment. But God remembered Zacharias and Elizabeth and grants them the desire of their heart, a son who took away not only the reproach of Elizabeth but also the forerunner of the one who would take away the reproach of all Israel. John Baptist comes as the herald of the grace of God that would do more than restore Israel to a former state of glory.

         Zacharias speaks of the one from whom all blessings flow, the Highest One, God in the flesh, who will bring the light, not only to Israel, but will, in fact, be the light of the whole Earth. These are even greater glories than Israel anticipated and reveal the grace of God in an incomprehensible way.

         Zacharias speaks of the prophets of old, even from the beginning, and connects what is going on with John Baptist and his cousin Jesus with the old, old story. That story is completely dependent upon God calling himself to remembrance and repeatedly showering His people with grace out of His tender mercy.

         For all of our teaching and preaching on the Fatherhood of God, we still need continual reminders that God is tender and merciful. It is true that God is holy and righteous and that His holiness requires justice. That is not at all inconsistent with His revealed character as patient, long-suffering, tender, merciful and quick to forgive. For those in high rebellion, it makes their rebellion that much worse, for they refuse the hand of such a kind and gentle Father. But for those of us who come to Him for grace, knowing that He is tender and merciful, it should give us confidence that He always remembers His promises to us.

         We can know these things in our minds, in our brains, but the only way to feel them in our hearts, such that our soul magnifies the Lord, is for the Holy Spirit to make these things alive and real for us. So, we call upon God to pour out His Spirit upon us and when we do this, we remember that God remembers and is gracious to those who call upon Him and we believe that He will do what He said He would and fill us with His Spirit.

Exalted at the Lord's Table

Dear Saints, How does it feel to be highly exalted? People poor in spirit, servants of low degree, how is your joy made full at this place? Little children, in whom the Father is well pleased, how do you feel about your Heavenly Father’s swelling pride in you?

         You may respond that you do not feel highly exalted, that your joy is not made full, that you do not feel the pleasure and pride of your Heavenly Father.

         Listen to me! Hear the Word of the Lord! Nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Hear that? You cannot be separated from God’s love in Christ. The Father is pleased. You are exalted. Your inheritance in Christ is realized, today! Rejoice, therefore, take courage, comfort and peace as we partake in Jesus, our Savior.

Godly Honor

As we have looked at the stories of Zacharias, Elizabeth, John Baptist, Joseph, Mary and Jesus, I hope we have seen that God looks upon men far differently than men look on men, for God sees the heart. God has called a barren woman blessed, a poor virgin highly favored, a man living in the desert in wild clothing and eating insects, great in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord Jesus, Himself, was despised by men but the One in whom His Father was well pleased.

         We must learn to eschew the world’s favor and seek to please the Lord. Furthermore, we must favor those who belong to the Lord and refuse to favor those who are enemies of Christ. James 2:5-6 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

         So, brothers let us honor those whom the Lord honors and refuse to honor those that our worldly culture highly esteems.

Confessions of a Book Thief

Dear Pastor Cooper,

Our church recently moved and all my books were packed up. I have been unpacking and going through them to restock my library. I have come across a book that has been on my conscience, sort of in a good way, for over 35 years. I attended church there with my fifth grade buddy, Chris, when I was about 10 or 11 years old. Somehow, when I left the church, I took the hymnal with me. It is Hymns for the Living Church with First Baptist Church stamped on the front.

Anyway, that church service got my attention and I knew that I must serve the Lord at some point. A year or so later my older sister became a Christian. I followed her into faith in Christ as a youngster, as did my two older brothers and my younger sister. All five of us are married and serving the Lord these many years. God is good!

I always intended to return this Hymnal. After my initial years of coming to Christ, then wavering through junior high and then coming back to faith, the book was always reminding me of an unfinished business. But it languished on a shelf somewhere and was forgotten. I think I finally came across it again when I went off to college at Idaho State in Pocatello. I have a brief recollection of even stopping by the church one time to return it but the doors were locked. I suppose I could have mailed it but never did. I was thinking that by the time I was in college the church was probably not using the same hymnal. Anyway, it got packed and unpacked through the years, always with fond memories, and a little nudge that it really didn't belong to me.

I had not seen it for many years until today. I have been a pastor in Lynchburg, Virginia these past 12 years. What a surprise today as I was unpacking my boxes to come across this book.

I have lost touch with my friend, Chris, but was also reminded of the Eden family, from First Baptist, that had an immense impact on me as a child. Perhaps some of them are still in your church? I used to eat at their home often as a child and occasionally visit the church.  Their home, which was just down the street from the church, and First Baptist were a haven for me back then.

I confess my sin of 'stealing' your book so long ago. Please forgive me. I am sure you will and will probably just want me to keep the book. May I, and with a now cleared conscience? I will send a donation to the church for the book.

May the Lord bless you and keep you in Christ this Advent and Christmas Season.

Cordially in Christ,

Virgil Hurt

Love and Respect

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Many of my thoughts here were helped along by the great book, Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I highly recommend it to you.

 Love and respect are two sides of the coin of marriage. Unfortunately, we often call heads when we mean tails. A wife needs love and so she emotionally and conversationally loves her husband the way she needs and wants to be loved. The husband needs respect and so he values his wife for her hard work and determination, just the sort of thing he needs and wants. And then he feels disrespected and she feels unloved.

What shall we do?

First, it is not an appropriate response towards your spouse to give to them what you want from them. And this should not surprise us Christians because Jesus has always called us to give ourselves away in order to get a return.

If a wife gives emotional love in many ways, even the words, "I love you" because she desperately needs that kind of love, she is actually not investing in her man's account in a way that gets the right kind of return.

Men like to hear their wives say, "I love you," but that is not their greatest need, which may be surprising to a woman. A man needs respect and honor. His psyche is pretty fragile in this area, actually. He needs to know that his wife is proud of him. He needs to know that she respects his work, his authority in the home, his growth in grace, his ideas and dreams. If he does not get this from her, the heartfelt, "I am so proud of you," then he wonders if she really believes in him or respects him as a husband, as a man.

When a husband honors his wife for the work she does in the home, her accomplishments, he may assume that this fills a deep abiding need for his wife. Of course, she loves to be appreciated but her need is to know that she is securely loved whether she performs well or not. She wants to know that her husband is committed to her, loves her, desires to be with her, wants to listen to her and is close in an intimate, conversational, spiritual and emotional way. And while he likes many of those things, as well, it is very different from his own set of needs. So, he needs to learn what her love needs are and then meet her needs, not give her what he wants.

So, men, love your wife, even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. Love her. Hug her. Listen to her. Seek to understand her. Let her know that she is completely secure in your commitment to her, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for the rest of your lives. And tell her and show her, often.

Wives, honor and respect your husband, appreciating the work he does. Be proud of him! And tell him that, from the heart, often. Are you proud of him? If not, find something to respect and be proud of in your husband and tell him. When he has ideas, listen. When he fixes something, commend him. When he does something that is recognized at work, tell him you knew they would finally notice because now they see him like you do. When he does the right thing as a father, tell him you are proud of the way he leads the children. You have to cultivate this right kind of pride, looking for concrete specific reasons to praise your husband directly and in public.

I think both of you will begin to see the wonder in this way of giving yourself away. Give your wife what she needs and guess what? She will be enabled to give you what you need. But do not keep track or you will stop giving just before the returns set in. Just give and give and give. And once your wife is filled up enough, she will start to give back to you, which will enable you to give her more than you ever thought you had to give her before.

And then you will feel respected and she will feel loved.

Free MacArthur Book

Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of John MacArthur's new book, Twelve Unlikely Heroes, to review and make a blog post. I have done that. They also sent me six copies to give away on my blog.

Three are gone, to Rick and Jonathan and Gene. I need your addresses Gene and Jonathan! I have three more to give away.

You can make comments here: http://vhurt.blogspot.com/

In a one paragraph comment, tell us who you think the most unlikely hero of the Bible is and why.

It cannot be a hero that MacArthur has already listed, see my previous post. I'll pick the top six based upon the unlikeliness of their hero status compared to the ultimate level of that status. Murky? Got it?

I'll need your name and address in order to mail you the book.You can send your name and address to virgilhurt@gmail.com

Good luck.

What to Pray

As I do my Bible reading, I am starting to compile the prayers that I come across. I will also post them here. When it comes to prayer, we often find ourselves repeating the exact same prayers day after day.

We offer prayers of thanks for food at meals, sometimes including housing, clothing and good health.

Then we make petitions.
If we get really lazy, it comes out something like this:

Lord, please help Billy have a good day.
Lord, please watch over us we travel.
Lord, please grant grace for my encounters today.

None of these are bad prayers. We do need to be thankful and we do need the Lord's help and grace today. But we should also be growing in our prayers and learning to pray expansively in the Lord's will. After all, He tells us that when we pray in His will, we have the request. Wouldn't you like that?

When we learn to pray in the Lord's will, we are becoming Christ minded. This gives us even more boldness to be importunate in our prayers, seeking those things that we know are the revealed will of God and seeking them diligently until He grants them.

The best way to grow in the Lord's will in prayer is to mimic Spirit inspired prayers in Scripture. Some of them we should pray directly but we can use them all as templates to teach us how to pray.

Of course, there is the Lord's Prayer and we could argue that we should use that prayer as the base template. And then, inside that template, we should be learning what else to pray.

So, here is one from Philippians to pray for fellow Christians.
       Phil. 1:9   And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;  10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;  11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Great Advent Prayers

Have you ever noticed the similarity in Hannah’s great prayer and Mary’s famous Magnificat prayer? The Lord raised up a prophet and savior in Samuel, through Hannah, and The Prophet and Savior in Jesus, through Mary.

It seems obvious that Mary was very familiar with Hannah’s prayer and probably had it memorized. Her prayer seems to be a summarized version of Hannah’s prayer. The Spirit used her own knowledge and experience to cause her to pray in a very similar fashion which ought to be a reminder to us to be steeped in God’s Word so that He can use us to carry out His will on Earth.

Hannah’s name means ‘favored’. Mary is the new Hannah, the highly favored and produces the greater Savior.

Blue Letters are Mary’s Prayer, the Magnificat, From Luke 1:46-55

Black Letters are Hannah’s Prayer from 1Sam. 2:1-10

46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,  47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

2 Sam:1:18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight.

1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.  2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 

50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 

3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.  4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 

53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 

5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.  7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.  8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them. 

54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;  55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.  10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.