Psalm 44

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44:1 We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us, what work you did in their days, in the days of old.

44:2 You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad.

44:3 For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them.

44:4 You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob!

44:5 Through you, will we push down our adversaries. Through your name, will we tread them under who rise up against us.

44:6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

44:7 But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us.

44:8 In God we have made our boast all day long, we will give thanks to your name forever.

Selah.

44:9 But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies.

44:10 You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take spoil for themselves.

44:11 You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations.

44:12 You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale.

44:13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.

44:14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

44:15 All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face,

44:16 At the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger.

44:17 All this has come on us, yet have we not forgotten you, Neither have we been false to your covenant.

44:18 Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path,

44:19 Though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.

44:20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread forth our hands to a strange god;

44:21 won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

44:22 Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.

44:23 Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.

44:24 Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?

44:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth.

44:26 Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

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Understanding the Kingdom

John 3:1-18

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I wonder what you think the Kingdom of God is.  In the Old Testament we learn of all kinds of different earthly kingdoms. Each one of these kingdoms were doomed to fail from the start, because of the promised commencement of a new and everlasting kingdom. Perhaps by having a brief overview of what Jesus in the Gospels said about the Kingdom will help us understand more about it before we focus on just a couple of aspects. From what Jesus said, we learn that:

• The kingdom had small beginnings.
• It advances slowly and unspectacularly.
• It works in an unseen way, like yeast in dough.
• It grows side by side with evil and error.
• The members are drawn from every part, for it is a universal part.
• When discovered, it is the source of true joy and fulfilment.
• It requires sacrifice, submission and surrender.
• It ends in an eternal separation of the good from the evil, of the true from the false.
• It centres only on Jesus Christ (Luke 9:28-36).

So having seen these descriptions, mainly from Matthew 13, we can now go on to a main definition of the kingdom. We find this ultimate definition in Romans 14:17 ‘For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’ This is the experience of salvation. Every believer, all those who trust in Jesus Christ, has entered it and been accepted by Jesus when He died on the cross. So, having described it and then defined it, the next question we ask is how do we enter the Kingdom of God. Well, after such a long introduction, we are going to look at this aspect of the God’s Kingdom based on our reading of John 3:1-18.  So, if you haven’t done so already please do have your bibles open at that passage - John 3:1-18.

In the passage tonight, Jesus gives three different aspects of the one entrance into the kingdom. To enter the kingdom, a person simply has to follow Jesus. For some people in Jesus’ time, such as a lot of the Pharisees and other religious Jewish groups, this was much too simple.  Then Jesus has an encounter with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee.

Nicodemus was initially attracted to Jesus because of the miracles He did. Nicodemus wanted to know more about Jesus and His teachings. Nicodemus himself was the teacher of the Jews, and he had great respect for Jesus the Teacher from Galilee. Now, Nicodemus was a Pharisee, who by definition had to live by the strictest religious rules and regulations. Nicodemus was deeply sincere in his search for truth and God. Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night, not presumably because he was afraid to be seen talking to Jesus, but more likely because he wanted to have a quiet word with Jesus away from the crowds. He wanted to have an uninterrupted word with him, where Jesus could not be distracted. He was a man of high moral standard, had a deep religious hunger and yet blind to basic spiritual truths. Do you not think that Nicodemus is or was just like we are and were today? So Jesus proceeds to give Nicodemus three different pictures of salvation.

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Psalm 42

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42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.

42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”

42:4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.

42:5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.

42:6 My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.

42:7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

42:8 Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.

42:9 I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

42:10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”

42:11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

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Psalm 36

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36:1 An oracle is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”

36:2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin.

36:3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.

36:4 He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

36:5 Your loving kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

36:6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.

36:7 How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

36:9 For with you is the spring of life. In your light shall we see light.

36:10 Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.

36:11 Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.

36:12 There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.

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Psalm 32

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32:1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

32:2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

32:3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

Selah.

32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

32:6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

32:7 You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

Selah.

32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.

32:9 Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

32:10 Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall su

32:11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

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