Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
  • Info
  • Articles
  • Sermons
  • Location

"Of thine own have we given thee" (1 Chr. 29:14)

3/14/2020

0 Comments

 
“...All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee...” (1 Chr. 29:14).

Hannah was unable to bear children; she was barren (1 Sam. 1:2, 5-6). She asked the LORD for a son. She promised to lend him back to the LORD as long as he lived (1 Samuel 1:28; Exodus 13:2; Nehemiah 10:36). The LORD granted her request. Hannah called his name, “Samuel,” for she said, “I have asked him of the LORD” (1 Sam. 1:20). Hence, “Samuel” means “asked of the LORD.”

There was another man whose name meant “asked.” It was king “Saul.” The difference between Samuel and king Saul is that Hannah asked the LORD for Samuel, that she might give her firstborn to the LORD all the days of his life. But things were much different with king Saul. The people asked for Saul because they rejected God. They rejected His word and rejected His rule (1 Samuel 10). The people rejected the LORD and Samuel His prophet. Their request arose from their sinful hearts. They wanted a king like all the nations around them. They wanted a man, not the LORD, to rule over them! (Let us not make the same mistake when we go to the polling booth!)

The LORD told Samuel: “
Hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them” (1 Sam. 8:9). The LORD told Samuel to give the people what they wanted. But He told Samuel to solemnly protest against the people for their sinful request. Samuel protested. The people insisted. And true to His word and purpose, the LORD granted the people the king they wanted.


There is a big lesson here. The LORD granted two different kinds of requests: one arising from God's operations of grace in the heart of His afflicted daughter, \according to His revealed will; the other arising from the ungodly, sinful desire of unbelieving sinners. Hannah's request was good. She asked the LORD to remember her, to look on her affliction, and to give to her that she might have to give back to the LORD from what was His own, what He gives out of His goodness. The people's request was sinful. The people did not trust the LORD. They trusted men (Jer. 17:5). They wanted a king -- not after God's heart -- but like themselves. God granted both requests. God’s prophet protested against the people in warning them what their sinful request would bring. But they rejected the words of the prophet. And God — as He told Samuel He would — gave them what they wanted!

God will give us what we truly want. We will not want what God wants unless He makes His desire our desire. Unless and until the LORD puts His desire — what He wants — in our hearts, we will ask out of our flesh, for ourselves, to promote ourselves, to consume our requests upon our own lusts, to trust anything other than the LORD the Giver, who gives us all things in Christ and for Christ’s sake alone.  The difference in these two requests and God's answer to each case makes me cry out to the LORD. I want Him to do His will. I do not trust my own desires. I want Him to give me His desires, His will, what pleases Him. And what is that? It is that He would save me to the uttermost, that He would not leave me to my sin and my sinful desires under the condemnation I deserve!

Hannah’s request was the result of God’s operations in her heart. We can only ask the LORD’s will if He prepares our heart to do so. When He does, it will be to bring about His good will, according to His eternal purpose, for our eternal good, to conform us to His Son, and all for His glory (Rom. 8:28-29).

“
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear” (Psalm 10:7).

Thus, every account recorded in scripture of a sinner pleading with a God-given eye to Christ crucified, pleading that the LORD would save them and give them mercy in Christ; every time such an account is given, it shows the LORD’s work to prepare the heart of His people to cry to Him out of their affliction, out of their desperate need, out of their helplessness, when they are stranded by God's mercy on the Rock Christ to trust Christ only. The LORD works in His people to draw them to ask Him to remember them for Christ’s sake alone, and deliver them from their sins with an eternal salvation.

Think of Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Think of the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43). Think of king David (Psalm 51). Think of the Publican (Luke 18:13). Think of all those who were afflicted by God's grace to turn them from their sin to Himself in Christ (Psalm 107:17-21; Psalm 90:3; Psalm 80; Jer. 31:18-19; Acts 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:25; Matt. 9:11-13; Psalm 50:15; Rom. 10:9-13). When the LORD works in us to accomplish His will, He will make His desire our desire and make His word our heart's prayer to ask according to His will.

“
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4).

“
Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips” (Hosea 14:1-2).

Jesus said, “
And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).

Thus, our desire to see and believe Christ is a desire God must plant, maintain and increase. 
May we therefore have grace to ask our sovereign God to give us Christ and glorify Himself in our eternal salvation! May the LORD put it in our heart to come to Him, trusting the blood and righteousness of Jesus at all times, asking Him to give us the desire of His will, promised in His word, that will which we need most, to see and believe Christ, to be given by grace what will glorify Him, that we might have to return to Him out of His goodness to us with thanksgiving, in faithfulness, as Hannah did (1 Sam. 1:27-28)! The Lord teaches us that we must go to Him to ask of Him all that He asks of us. Jesus taught this lesson in His words to the woman at the well of Samaria, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10)!

Jesus Christ is God’s gift to His elect (2 Cor. 9:15; John 4:10). The LORD grants us faith in Christ that we might worship Him and return to Him His goodness to us. Do you want the LORD to save you? Do you want to be delivered from your wretched man? Do you want a heart that beats with His? Do you want Him to give you to desire His will? Do you want Him to give His word to you that you may have warrant and words to ask? Oh, dearly beloved, let us ask Him!

“
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good [thing]” (Psalm 34:10).

“
Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”( James 1:17).
Rick Warta
0 Comments

Comfort in my Master's Word

3/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Dogs are endearing pets. One reason they are so endearing is that their faces express our own emotions. No doubt you have seen a faithful dog looking earnestly in the direction of a sound, perhaps looking towards an object that his eyes cannot yet clearly make out, but that he senses by a distant sound. He does not know whether it is friend or foe. His ears hear far better than his eyes can see. He trusts his nose to discern what his vision cannot clearly make out. While the dog thus looks towards that distant object, and when he finally is able to make out that it is his master, the dog's uplifted ears and furrowed brow relax in calm delight. His tail wags with joy.

So it is with the anxious believer. Uncertainty looms in everything our fleshly senses detect. We sense danger all around. But we have learned to rely on objects known only by what God-given ears of faith can make out, which physical eyes have never seen (Heb. 11:1; 2 Cor. 5:7). God-given discernment of the truth that is in Jesus is more reliable to our mind than all of our physical senses received from our mother at birth. In uncertain times, when our understanding of present circumstances raises our ears and furrows our brow in anxious anticipation; when in those times we hear the familiar sound and clear voice of our Master from His word, our entire body relaxes. Our eyes smile. We immediately know that all is well because we hear our Master’s voice. He speaks. We know it is Him. He is at hand. We are glad that it is Him. He is come to us by His word and Spirit (John 6:63). Nothing else matters! Thus, we find our response to His words in Psalm 90.

“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalm 90:1-2)

It is our Master’s voice! It soothes our inner man (2 Cor. 4:16; Col. 3:11). His voice soothes our mind and calms our body (Mark 5:15).

“In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations [out of all nations, Jews and Gentiles] whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell” (Psalms 86:7-13).

Thus our Master speaks: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalms 46:10).

I want to be a one Master dog. I want to be only my Master's dog (Matt. 15:21-28). I want to be a faithful little dog, like Caleb. I want to look for and listen at all times to hear the voice of Christ my Master. Our sense of trouble in this life raises our anxiety. Uncertainty looms all around. But the voice of Christ from His word in our hearts concerning His eternal will, concerning His finished work, concerning His certain salvation of His people to the uttermost by His reigning power and intercession on the throne of heaven, even salvation of sinners infinitely more dependent upon Him for all mercy and life and light than little dogs are dependent on their master — who wait under their master's table for food, who constantly look to see their master’s face and look for a glance from his eye — His presence known by His voice from His word is what we long for and live upon!

Our Savior and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to our heart from His word. This is His soul-comforting glance to us from His eye: “Thou art God alone” (Psalm 86:10). “From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Psalm 90:1-2). “Who works all things according to the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11). He has spoken of our certain and eternal salvation (1 Pet. 1:2-5). He shall also do it and without fail, shall bring it to pass in perfect completion and fulfillment (Isaiah 46:10-11; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 13:20-21).

Our entire body, like the face of an anxious, faithful dog waiting for the return of his master, relaxes in comfort and delight at the sound of our Master's voice. May we find our life and all in our Master, Christ. May we know His presence as we hear His word. May we trust only His voice and find all of our salvation and all of our comfort only in Him (Psalm 62:1-2, 5-8).

The world is preoccupied with a virus that may infect our bodies. Let us know that the one virus we should be concerned with is the plague of our heart. It is that plague that should drive us to call upon the LORD, trusting the great Physician to heal our souls (1 Kings 8:38)! The LORD hears all who call upon Him. None that call on Him shall be ashamed of their hope. They shall not be put to shame on the Day of Judgment. Their disease of sin has passed upon Christ. He has borne it all away. By His stripes we are healed (Romans 10:9-13; Isaiah 53; 1 Pet. 2:24)!
Rick Warta
0 Comments

    Author

    Pastor Rick Warta

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly