GOD’S CONSIDERATION FOR MAN
Charlie Brien
1 Samuel 15: 22, 23; 13: 13, 14; Matthew 21: 28-31; 45, 46; John 10: 9-11;
I cannot say much about these scriptures but they support a few thoughts that I hope we might consider today in the preaching of the glad tidings. As was said in the reading today, it is wonderful how God has considered for man and how God’s desire is to have man know Him, His feelings, His desires and to come into a relationship with Him. It has been His desire from the beginning.
The gospel is being preached today and God’s desire is still this same. As mentioned in prayer it is His power to salvation, it is God’s glad tidings. It is good news, a good message and it is meant for each one of us, each one here. As we were coming up today to the preaching there were a number of cars and we wondered whether there was going to be a problem with parking. The thought crosses your mind, would it not be nice if they were all in this room coming under the sound of the glad tidings? But it is not so, there might be only a few of us here in this room, and maybe we have heard the sound of the gospel many times, but it does not change the fact that God is interested in each one of you and that each one is here, including myself, for a reason and that is that we might listen to His word, that we might hearken to it, just to listen to it and to respond to it; to understand what He is saying and to answer to it. That is what we will be left with at the end of the day and even through the week, yet there is a time when there will no longer be an opportunity (and I hope that each person in this room will not be left behind), to hear this good news about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we are left to ourselves as personally answering to God as to whether we have answered to His glad tidings; whether we have responded to it, whether we have hearkened and whether we have obeyed His word.
His gracious call obey (Hymn 332)
God is calling you and me to come into wonderful blessings and wonderful things in order to have life, a new life. What a busy life we have these days, there is a lot of hustle and bustle especially in this city; everything is busy, there is a lot to think about, life does not seem to be relaxed, there is always a lot going on, even many trials and tests as we know with ones that we love, but He desires us to have a different life and we can have that life, it is available now. God’s desire is that we might believe with our hearts and have faith that that new life is available and come into it.
I read in Samuel having been affected recently when reading these verses. They are really strong verses, but it is amazing how God puts things so simply. Sometimes we get caught up with how complicated things seem and there is so much to understand about God’s ways and the scriptures themselves, but we can see that it is quite plain, that it is a simple thing that He desires. He says here, “Has Jehovah delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, As in hearkening to the voice of Jehovah?”. I understand these verses to mean simply that outwardly things do not mean anything to God unless there is something inward, unless there is something that is real in your heart. If you were living in these days it was the common thing to sacrifice, that is what brought you into a relationship with God and made you acceptable to Him. When you sinned, you gave a sacrifice and went to the temple and when you were feeling pleased about things in life and things were going well, you would go and give a sacrifice, an offering. But what God is looking for is still the same today, even though these things are not necessary any more because of the Lord Jesus Christ (He was the perfect and final sacrifice). You can see, as in all the scriptures, God’s feelings and what His desires are. They are still the same. What He desires is that you hearken to the voice of Jehovah, that you listen to what He is saying in the scriptures, in the gospel message that goes out today, what is said in the meetings, things you might read, what His voice is saying to you. He has an interest in you, He is calling you today, He wants to say something specifically to you, but He would desire to have a response in your heart for Him.
Therefore He says, “Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice” – obedience I was thinking simply – as a fairly new father myself – a child might obey their father or their mother because the parents have given some sort of condition or consequence for not obeying, that may be why they obey, but I do believe it is not just that, (that they are going to come under some sort of punishment or discipline if they do not obey), but also because of the person who is telling them – their father or their mother. They have authority over them, the child knows that and so they obey. I wonder whether that is how God feels about obedience. It is not just that you come to meetings, or go to church or read the scriptures; those things are good, but are you really obeying Him with all your heart? That is what He delights in. Our brother and sister have a scripture in the house that says, “for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart”, 1 Sam. 16:7. That is what He is looking at today, He is interested in you obeying His word with your heart.
He says, “rebellion is as the sin of divination, And selfwill is as iniquity and idolatry”. As you read in the Old Testament you understand how strong that is when you see how God feels about idolatry and about iniquity, He cannot tolerate it. Here it is associated with self-will, not sin, as you would think it might be. It might be that iniquity and idolatry is sin but here it is self-will. What a thing that is. I would put before each one of us, including myself, what can you think of in your life that you are doing in self-will, very simply what you want to do and what is pleasing to you? Whether it is in accord with God or not determines whether it is self-will or the will of God. He then goes on, “Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, He hath also rejected thee from being king” – it is interesting to read about Saul because he was a king that God chose for the people even though He was not really happy about the fact that the people wanted to have a king; nevertheless He set Saul up and his desire was, “Jehovah have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever”. What grace, what a patient God He is! He is the same God today, just the same God who was speaking here about Saul, He would speak to you today. He goes on to say, “Jehovah has sought him a man after his own heart, and Jehovah has appointed him ruler over his people; for thou hast not kept what Jehovah commanded thee” – you might say, as I would say, if I can identify far too many instances of my going on in self-will and that I know that I do a lot of things wrong and I do a lot of things that I want to do, and then you read of Saul here, a person who was appointed by God, and he failed, you might say it is hopeless for me. Who could be a man after His own heart? We will speak about that, the One who is the subject of the glad tidings, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read on about David and see all these different characters in the Bible that would have certain characteristics about them that would be like God and would be after His own heart, but you find that they all fail in different ways. That is the same as each one of us here, that there is no hope if we are to continue on in that pathway of self-will. There is nothing that we can do, even though it is done with good intentions, like Saul. He thought he was doing good, but actually he was not, he was disobeying God by going on in self-will.
You can see by these persons and ourselves, that the only one who could answer that scripture, “a man after his own heart” would be the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself would have to be here as a Man and He would have to come to this earth after all this time. I am always struck by the first chapter of the Bible where God looked upon all that He had created and saw that it was very good (see Gen. 1:31). How wonderful that must have been to God to see everything that He had created and it was very good. We can read on and find out what happens after that, it is no longer very good, but you see at the beginning what God’s desires are. They are still the same.
We see the answer in the Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to Matthew 21 we have that Man, the Lord Jesus speaking. No matter how good your intentions are, no matter what you feel is doing right, being kind, or whatever it might be, you do not have to be a murderer, a thief or anything like that, but are you just simply going on in self-will? I am sure that you will find, as I have, that that is the case. What can you do? You realise that you cannot do anything because you have something in you that you are born with: think of a child, how innocent they are, yet they are born into sin. That is the state that we are in and therefore we are lost and have no hope except to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and to repent.
That is why I read these scriptures. I was helped last week when someone commented after the preaching that repentance is coming in your heart and in your soul to feel in regard to what is in you as God feels about it. To come to it for yourself what He has done about it and that He has given up His only begotten Son for you and me, you individually and me individually so that we can have a relationship with Him. That is the answer to what you read in Samuel and the answer to what you read in the Old Testament scriptures, that is who you find speaking here in this parable. I was struck by this scripture, “A man had two children, and coming to the first he said, Child, go to-day, work in my vineyard. And he answering said, I will not”. How often do you and I come under the sound of the gospel? I could probably easily count how many times I have come under the sound of the gospel and come to a preaching like this because I have been coming to the preaching since I was the smallest little boy! But the question is whether I responded to those preachings? May be I was a young boy and did not understand it fully but there came a time when I was fully able to respond to the glad tidings, but how many times do we say when something comes before us as to having a choice to do what is God’s mind and what would be pleasing to Him or to do what we just enjoy ourselves, do we say ’I will not’ or our actions, feelings and thoughts. This is what this child says, but there is repentance. He knows the desire of the father and what would be pleasing to him, the child said “I will not”, but then he repents and he goes. He has fully accepted that he has been disobedient and that he is a sinner, he is then free to go and do the father’s will. What a contrast to the second son who says, “I go, sir, and went not”. What an example this is for each one of us to see in our own experiences and our own circumstances how we have been just as this second child saying, ’I will accept the Lord Jesus is my Saviour and I believe in Him, but I will not follow Him, I will follow my own footsteps’. I am simply speaking from experience, but may we be able to see for ourselves the truth that is coming out in this scripture in what the Lord Jesus is saying about this first child.
We also see a different side with the chief priests and the Pharisees. This is who He was directing it to and I am using this as an example to apply to ourselves, but it says at the end of the chapter that, “having heard his parables, knew that he spoke about them”. Do you know that the Lord Jesus died for you and that He wants you to come to know His Father, the One who created the heavens and the earth that the Lord Jesus Christ is seated in heaven and He died on the cross for you so that you can come into a relationship with Him that you could have a new life with Him? These ones knew that He was speaking about them: they start to lay hold of Him! How awful man is. You can read these scriptures and feel these things, and you can recognise them right away, you could say I do not understand how they could be this way, but what can you see in yourself of these chief priests and Pharisees; what can you see in yourself that is similar to these ones? I can tell you that there is something in each one of you today that will not listen to the glad tidings and yet there is One who has made everything available to overcome that today. Only by answering to that One, the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit will you be able to overcome that. That is how you will be free to be one that is pleasing to God.
I read in John 10, thinking of the Lord Jesus speaking about Himself as the Shepherd, it is not just that each one of us as being a sheep, being lost would simply come to Him but you see here, “and shall find pasture” and “I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”. What is on my heart is that you will not just come to accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, but that you will come into the full enjoyment of all the blessings that He has for you; that I may come in to all these blessings that He has for me because of what He has done for me and what He has done for you. He has all of this available for you and all you have to do is come in to it by following Him. It is only through Him and by Him that you can come into the enjoyment of these things. Think of a pasture – you have wonderful scenery, fields and a lot of sheep grazing in this country, so it is easy to see a literal working out of these things – but a pasture is an area where things are enjoyed, the sheep are able to graze and eat the new grass of the pasture and to enjoy an area of peace, rest, enjoyment, food and nourishment. This is what is available now and that is perhaps why He says, “I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”. God in His love and grace has not just given you a way to be saved from perishing eternally, but He has come that you might have life and have it abundantly! He has come so that you might be able to experience something that is of that new life now. You might wonder what does that mean? I go through my daily routine every week, I have my responsibilities and I do not know what that means. Very simply it means coming to Him and feeding on Him and following Him, listening to Him and hearkening to Him. That is all that I know that it is but then perhaps He can come in by the Spirit.
That is why I referred to the scripture in Acts, it says, “the Holy Spirit also, which God has given to those who obey him”. Dear friends, may you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, may you understand what God’s feelings are in regards to man and how He has dealt with that in the giving up of His beloved Son. Always think of the words of the Lord Jesus, the obedience of Himself. Think of what it means to obey, and about the Lord Jesus, the One who came and who was a Man after God’s own heart and He obeyed His Father, “not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. The Father would say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight: hear him“, Matt 17: 5. Now God has a Man before Him and is pleased because men have been found acceptable to Him because of that Man, the Lord Jesus Christ who was the perfect Man, and that Man gave Himself up for you. He said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”, Luke 23:46. Jesus gave His life for you and He gave it for you so that you can have life and that you can have it abundantly. Who would want anything different? I can tell you that even though we would desire to come into these things there is something in us that has to be overcome and the only way that can be overcome is by the power of the Holy Spirit and by asking for Him in the Name of the Lord Jesus; through that One who was perfect in every way, who conquered death. We had a lot of that this morning about Him being victorious and defeating death. He has done that, He is risen and come out of the grave and seated in heaven looking down on each one of us and desiring that each one of us will come to know Him in a personal and in a real way. God has given us the Holy Spirit in addition to all of these things, who we can have with us here, One that we cannot see but we know in us because was are able to move beyond the things that before we had no power to control. Now there is all this available to us. May we just come into it. Perhaps the words have been spoken feebly, but I just desire that we each might come to know Him in a personal way that we might desire truly to have this life, not the life of the one which He speaks of, “the thief comes not but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy”. You do not have to look very far to see these things happening literally now, but what about what he is stealing, killing and destroying in relation to God? Is he being successful in your life in taking you away from God or are you overcoming him by depending on that One who has overcome him Himself by shedding His blood for you?
May we come to Him and may we obey His word; may we hear the word, may we read the scriptures, perhaps read about Saul, Samuel, all these scriptures, learn from them, listen to them and take them into our hearts so that we might live by them and live by the Spirit. May it be so for His Name’s sake.
WEST NORWOOD, LONDON
8 January 2006