Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January 26, 2003
:1-12 The Invitation
I want to talk about invitations this morning. Sometimes the process of inviting someone to
something special doesn’t always go the way we expect it to.
Illustration
The first Jewish President
The first Jewish President of the United States calls his mother in Brooklyn, NY. and invites her to come
down for Thanksgiving. She says, “I’d like to, but it’s so much trouble...I
mean, I have to get a cab to the airport, and I hate waiting on Ocean Blvd...” He replies, “Mother! I’m the President! You
won’t need a cab - I’ll send a limousine for you!” His mother replies, “I know,
but then I’ll have to stand on line to get my ticket at the airport, and try to
get a seat on the plane, and I hate to sit in the middle... it’s just too much
trouble.” He replies, “Mom! I’m the President of the United States! I’ll send Air Force One for you - it’s my private
jet!” To which she replies, “Certainly, darling, I know you would but then when
we land, I’ll have to schlep my luggage through the airport, and try to get a
cab... at my age, it’s really too much trouble.” He
replies, “Mama, listen to me!! I’m the President! I’ll send my helicopter for
you! You won’t have to lift a finger, the Secret
Service will handle everything.” She answers, “Yes, that’s nice... but, you
know, I still need a hotel room, and the rooms are so expensive, and I really
don’t like hotels...” Exasperated, he answers, “Ma! I’m the President! You’ll
stay at the White House in the Lincoln Bedroom!” She responds, “Well... all
right... I guess I’ll come.” The next day, she’s on the phone with her friend
Esther: Esther: “Hello, Sylvia... so what’s new?” Sylvia: “I’m visiting my son
for Thanksgiving.” Esther: “Really? That’s wonderful. Which
son?” Sylvia: “You know my son Marvin, the DOCTOR?” Esther: “Yes.”
Sylvia: “The other one.”
Introduction
The
Time Setting: The Assyrian Empire is on the rise. They have been invading
the Syrians and the northern kingdom of Israel, but have not yet completely conquered the northern
kingdom. It is a dangerous time for the nations of Judah and Israel.
The southern kingdom of Judah
had been ruled for sixteen years by a man named Ahaz. Ahaz had led the nation
far from God. He even had bordered up the Temple and kept people from worshipping God. Ahaz is
followed by his son Hezekiah, a very good king.
Hezekiah – Y@chizqiyah – “Jehovah has made strong”
(2 Ki 18:5-6 KJV) He trusted in the LORD
God of Israel;
so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah,
nor any that were before him. {6} For he clave to the LORD, and departed not
from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.
One of the first things Hezekiah does is to reopen the Temple,
clean it up, and start the worship of God.
:1 And Hezekiah … wrote letters …to keep the passover
This Passover will take place sometime near the first year of Hezekiah’s reign, after he has had the Temple
cleansed and restored (2Chr. 29:3). This
is the invitation.
Passover –
This was to be at the heart of Judaism.
It was a time of remembering – how God had delivered them from the slavery
of Egypt. He
delivered them by sending an angel to kill all the firstborn children in Egypt.
The only children that survived were Israeli children whose parents had covered
their doorposts with the blood of a Lamb.
It was to be celebrated every year, though that hadn’t been done in a
while.
It centered around a Lamb and His blood.
Jesus is our Passover.
It was at the Passover that He celebrated the Last Supper, the next day
going to the cross. I can’t help but think that there’s a picture here of how
we ought to invite people to Jesus.
:2 to keep the passover
in the second month.
In the second year after having led the people out of Egypt,
the Israelites celebrated their first ceremonial Passover. But when they got to
the 14th day of the first month, there were some guys who had been
handling a dead body and were unclean. They were not going to be able to
celebrate the Passover. What should they do? God told them they could wait
until the 14th of the second month. (Num. 9:10-11)
Hezekiah and the people are in the same type of situation. When Hezekiah
became king and began to have the Temple
cleansed, the Temple wasn’t ready
for use until the 16th of the first month. They had already missed
the date for the regular Passover. That’s when they decided they’d celebrate on
the alternate date. And while they were at it, they’d invite some neighbors. It’s late, but not too late.
:5 … for they had not done it of a long time in
such sort
It’s been a long time since there’s been a complete Passover with Jews
coming from all over Israel
to celebrate in Jerusalem. Because
of the division of the kingdom, this hasn’t happened since Solomon was king.
:6 So the posts …turn again ..and he will return
posts – ruwts – to run; runners
Lesson
He’s waiting for you to turn
If you turn to God and He will turn to you.
(James 4:8 NKJV) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
We can sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that we’ve strayed too far
from God. In reality, all you have to do is turn around and you’ll see that
He’s right there.
:8 yield …and serve …that the fierceness of his
wrath may turn
These people were in the process of receiving God’s judgment because they
had stopped worshipping God and had been worshipping idols. Their nation was
barely hanging by a thread before the Assyrians would completely wipe them out.
We too are deserving of God’s wrath.
(Eph 2:3 KJV) …were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.
(Eph 2:1-5 ICB) In the past your spiritual lives were dead because
of your sins and the things you did wrong against God. {2} Yes, in the past you
lived the way the world lives. You followed the ruler of the evil powers that
are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to
obey God. {3} In the past all of us lived like them. We lived trying to please
our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should
have suffered God's anger because of the way we were. We were the same as all
other people. {4} But God's mercy is great, and he loved us very much. {5} We
were spiritually dead because of the things we did wrong against God. But God
gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God's grace.
We too can escape God’s wrath as we “yield” to Jesus and learn to “serve”
Him.
:9 if ye
turn again …your children shall find compassion
Lesson
Your following the Lord affects the
lives of others.
Hezekiah’s message to these people was that if they would return to the
Lord, then it would have an effect on their families and friends who had
already been taken captive by the enemy.
We may get to thinking that it’s not that big of a deal that we stay close
to the Lord.
Yet other people are influenced and affected by our lives.
Where would people be walking if they were walking in your footsteps?
Lesson
Give people a chance before it’s too
late.
The Passover takes place in Hezekiah’s first year. It will not be until the
fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign that the Assyrians begin their siege of the
city of Samaria, the capital of the
northern kingdom. It will be three years later that the northern kingdom will
be completely taken away by the Assyrians (2Ki. 18:9-10).
In a sense, this is a “last chance” warning to the people of the northern
kingdom of Israel
before they are destroyed. They may have been suspicious that things were going
downhill, but they had survived before. Yet this time they wouldn’t survive.
Jesus could come and take us home any day.
There is no guarantee that there will be a tomorrow.
Illustration
The story is told of a family that moved into a new community. They were
promptly visited by two elders and the pastor of a nearby church who cordially
invited them to attend the services on the Lord’s Day. The man assured them
that he would come just as soon as he got straightened out. Several months
passed, and he still hadn’t put in an appearance, so the minister called again
and repeated his invitation. But he received the same reply. The fellow hadn’t
yet gotten everything straightened out, but he’d be there just as soon as he
did. A few weeks later he died, and his widow asked to have the funeral
services in the church. The preacher graciously agreed. It was indeed a sad
affair. Later when a member of the congregation asked the pastor if the man was
a Christian, he answered, “He never attended services here, and no one can
recall ever hearing him give a testimony of his faith in Christ, so I can’t
say. I only know he was a man of his word. He promised to come to church just
as soon as he got straightened out—and he did!”
:10 but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked
them.
Lesson
Some will mock
Lt. John Gomez is the brother of Kim Beller. He is currently on a guided
missile cruiser in the Persian Gulf. I was sent a copy
of a letter he wrote to his family and friends back home. In the letter he
shares his discouragement as being what seems the “lone
Christian” among a crew of 350. He writes,
…What happens, though, if this freedom of choice which we have grown so
accustomed to having suddenly is taken away? What if you weren’t able to go to
the church to fellowship with other Christians? Or for that matter what if
there weren’t any churches period? What happens if your Christian radio station
during your drive to/from work was suddenly taken away? No more Christian
friends, no more Bible studies during mid-week. Nothing.
What would you do then? How long could you hold off Satan without your friends
around to use as a crutch? Or your pastor to answer
questions? How long could you last before compromising? Now you can
begin to understand my world. Welcome to a day in the life of a Born Again
Christian stationed on any ship currently in the Arabian Gulf.
“Do not be conformed to this world” is not an easy task out here. Christians
are greatly outnumbered and make easy targets for the supernatural beings
involved in this spiritual battle called the Arabian Gulf.
…Satan is very much involved in re-establishing his kingdom. He is doing
everything he can to protect his interests. His battle plan?
Demoralize and render all Christians useless. Attack all Christians and make
them conform to be like everyone else. Attack, attack, attack
until they compromise. It is different being on a ship over here in the
Gulf. We wake up and are at work. We don’t have the liberty of going home to
Christian safeguards. There aren’t any church services, Bible studies, Men’s or
Women’s groups. You have your Bible and that is it. At home, you can surround
yourself with Christian friends. Out here things are different. For mere
companionship you have to become friends with non-Christians here, because that
is all you have. Satan knows this very well. He does everything he can to
hinder any topics concerning Christianity. It is like clockwork. Begin to talk
about Jesus or about your beliefs, and within seconds someone else will come
in, or the phone will ring, or an alarm will go off. It never fails. Pulling
into ports is a bitter-sweet thing in itself. You want to go and see the
sights, and everyone else wants to go to bars and drink all night long. Tell
someone you don’t drink and you are setting yourself up for indirect ridicule. At
first they think you are kidding, but when you stand firm they are completely
shocked. Then they try to get you to drink anyway. No one likes hanging out
with someone who doesn’t use profanity or thinks he/she is too Holy to drink. That
is how it begins. Once you are identified, you are marked as an outsider. They
think you are too good for everyone else. Everyone feels awkward with you or
feels intimidated being around you. Keep in mind these people are the only
friends you can have out here and now they just rejected you. Satan does
everything he can to smash your name into the ground. Loneliness, rejection,
ridicule are all the emotional states a Christian experiences when he/she takes
a stand out here. So my question to you is how long could you last? Still think
the Christian military life is easy?
A few months back there were some young kids riding skateboards on the
church property. I was concerned about the damage they were doing, so I
confronted them. Their first response was something like mockery and ridicule. They
wanted to know who I was that I should be telling them what to do. It kind of
caught me off guard and I found myself instinctively drawing back.
We need to be careful about our reaction to mockery. The truth is the one
who is mocking you is in a far worse place before God than you are. We need to
somehow look past our feeling of humiliation and have compassion on people.
Jesus faced mocking while He was on the cross.
The crowd mocked Him.
(Mat 27:39-43 ICB) People walked by and insulted
Jesus. They shook their heads, {40} saying, "You said you could destroy
the Temple
and build it again in three days. So save yourself! Come down from that cross,
if you are really the Son of God!" {41} The leading priests, the teachers
of the law, and the older Jewish leaders were also there. These men made fun of
Jesus {42} and said, "He saved other people, but he can't save himself!
People say he is the King of Israel! If he is the King, then let him come down
now from the cross. Then we will believe in him. {43} He trusts in God. So let
God save him now, if God really wants him. He himself said, 'I am the Son of
God.'"
Jesus responded by saying,
(Luke 23:34 KJV) …Father, forgive them; for they know
not what they do.
Even the thieves who were being crucified with Him mocked Him.
(Mat 27:44 ICB) And in the same way, the robbers
who were being killed on crosses beside Jesus also insulted him.
Yet one of them realized that Jesus was different.
(Luke 23:42-43 KJV) And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. {43}
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me
in paradise.
:11 …humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
Josephus records:
…Now all these came running to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah, that they might worship God
[there].[1]
Lesson
Some will come
That’s the reason we need to keep talking about Jesus. Some will respond.
Lt. John Gomez wrote a second e-mail immediately after the first one:
Everyone,
Want to hear something interesting?? God has his own agenda. I hadn’t even
sent you all the email yet and God decided to use the opportunity.
As I was proof reading the paper over and over this one enlisted guy whom I
usually talk to at nights came in. He works the night shift for our DET. 7pm-7am. He is night shift supervisor so he is
in charge at night. His name is AE1 Yang. Usually, it is kind of understood to
give people respect when they are emailing by not reading their email, but he
saw that I was writing a novel. Him and I usually talk
anyways so he said what’s up and asked what I was working on. I told him I was
working on a project. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but that is
when it happened. “can I read it” came out of his mouth. I wasn’t anticipating
that. It caught me totally off guard. Um um was my
response. I said it is kind of personal. I just assumed it was Satan sending
someone in to distract me. Anyways, he persisted and said, “come on, I know I
joke around a lot, but I can be serious when I need to.” So again he asked, and
I said okay so long as he wouldn’t say something negative. He said okay. And
then he read it. I didn’t know what to think. Well, evidently I was incorrect. Cuz instead of Satan sending Yang, it was definitely God. When
he finished reading the paper, he was quiet for a second. I was quiet cuz i didn’t know what to say. He
opened up by saying, I feel really convicted right now. I sat there confused. He
said he feels convicted, cuz of my resistance to him
reading the paper. If I wasn’t openly willing to allow him to read it, then
that means his outward appearance must not be Christlike.
He then goes on to tell me about his life and how he became saved. He told me
how he was one of those Christians who has been
compromising this whole cruise, which is why no one could tell of his belief
system. We talked for about a two hours, with distractions walking in and out. He
then opened up and told me, now that he knows I am a Christian, it all makes
sense. It is like the light turned on about how I am getting treated out here. He
said in his 18 year navy career there have been 4 people that he can remember who were classic cases of how a Christian is treated in the
military. He said I was a classic case. It felt so good for one second
knowing that someone actually understood. Since I have been talking to him over
the months, we have talked about family and he has come to me for advice. He
said it all makes sense now where I was coming up with my advice. I told him
now he knows where I was getting my information (the Bible). Anyways, so that
is my story thus far. I hadn’t even sent off the paper to you nor my family and God was already working. Now I wake up a
couple minutes ago and I have an email from this guy and he is asking me to be
is accountability partner. He said it will be good now that we are on the same
page as to where we stand in beliefs. I wasn’t expecting this at all. I am
somewhat caught off guard. Here I wrote something for people at home and a
curve ball is thrown.
We need to keep sharing the message of Jesus.
Some will mock. Some will come. Even running.
:12 in Judah
the hand of God was to give them one heart
While only some of the northern kingdom participated in the Passover, there
was a beautiful work of God in the southern kingdom. It was a work of unity. The
people were united in following the Lord through the leadership of king
Hezekiah.