Day's 71-80

Day 71


Pray (AC-ts)


Read - Leviticus 19v1-4


Message - Scott Woodburn
What if I told you that without holiness you will never see God? Sounds rough doesn't it? You know what you're like and how far short you often fall. Holiness? For you? That's a tall order. Yet the call still stands. We are told in Hebrews 12v14 "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Why is this so important? Simply because our God is holy. He is perfect and pure and set apart from that which is common. I suspect none of us really understand just how holy He is. We assume that He is just a better version of us. He is holy but perhaps not completely holy, after all your Granny was a very holy Brethren woman but in anger would throw her slipper at Granda. Let's dispel these myths. God isn't a certain percentage of holy, He is holy, in all His ways, utterly, completely, uncompromisingly holy. In Isaiah 6 we are told that God is "holy, holy holy" and when confronted by God's holiness Isaiah cries out "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" That's how holy the Lord is. If you were confronted by His holiness today you would be undone. It troubles us then when God calls us to holiness. "Be holy, for I am holy." (v2). But how we cry? Do we believe in vain and will we fall short because we will never be holy? Thankfully no. The Lord calls us to holiness and by His grace equips us to pursue our goal. The process by which we are made holy is called sanctification with the shorter catechism defining it like this "Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness." Because we are in Christ we are already definitively sanctified (Hebrews 10v10) but we are also being sanctified everyday. The Holy Spirit is instrumental in this work as He dwells within us. Peter speaks of the sanctification of the Spirit (1 Peter 1v2) with Paul echoing this thought (2 Thessalonians 2v13). What a comfort to know that our sanctification doesn't depend on our own efforts! If left to our own devices none would see the Lord. The Spirit works and produces fruit in us (Galatians 5v22-23) and He will not fail. However it would be wrong to adopt a laissez-faire attitude to sanctification. Sanctification is not helped with bottoms planted firmly to sofas. In Leviticus 19 the Lord speaks to this issue. His people are to active in their sanctification. They are to love their parents (v3a), to keep the Sabbaths (v3b) and to flee from idols (v4). In this sense the moral law of God helps us in our sanctification. The ten commandments show us what is pleasing to God and as we love Him, we obey Him. We've also got what we call the ordinary means of grace. You may not always think it, but the Word preached is a means of grace. The gift of prayer is a means of grace. The sacraments are a means of grace. It is by these means that God has promised to fortify the faith of His children. It is by these means that He makes us more and more holy. I bumped into one of the holiest men I know the other day. He was missing church greatly but had been active in listening to at least four preachers per week! I thank God for examples like this in my life. As we walk together we encourage and call one another to the pursuit of holiness. This is why the local fellowship is so important. It is the place where we grow in holiness, iron sharpening iron (Proverbs 27v17). So my brothers and sisters, be holy for the Lord is holy, confident of this, "that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1v6).


Pray (ac-TS)


Sing


Westminster Shorter Catechism


Q71 What is required in the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behaviour.


Day 72


Pray (AC-ts)


Read - Ecclesiastes 9v1-6


Message - Scott Woodburn
I marvel at some of the preachers I see on Christian TV. God speaks to them directly before breakfast. They meet angels before lunch. They are able to discern exactly what God's sovereign purpose is in every event. I don't believe that any of this actually happens to them. There are many so called prophets in the world today and I didn't hear one of them predict Covid-19. Yet the Word is clear as we try to navigate this life. Ecclesiastes 9 speaks of God's common grace. Christians alone experience God's special or saving grace as He opens our eyes to our need of Christ and supernaturally brings us from darkness into light. But everyone experiences His common grace. The lives of everyone are in the hands of our God (v1) and sometimes the same event happens to the righteous and to the wicked (v2). Let me give you a fictitious example. It is a beautiful sunny day and a man sits in his garden thanking God for the warmth on his face. Just over the hedge another man sits in his garden. He has just beaten his wife because she dared suggest he was drinking too much. He too feels the warmth on his face and wonders when his wife will come and apologise. Jesus said "The Father makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5v45) This seems like a great evil to us (v3). I meet many people (even Christians) who trust in the false concept of karma. In simple terms, if you put good out into the universe then you will get good back. Yet this, as we know from bitter experience, isn't how things work. My friends we need to become more comfortable with mystery. The secret things belong to the Lord (Deuteronomy 29v29) and you and I were never supposed to understand all of life's turns. The wicked seem to prosper. The righteous seem to get nothing but bad news. Why is it so? Why do bad things happen to people? Their sin? Sometimes (1 Corinthians 11.30-31). Sometimes not (John 9v1-3; Luke 13v1-5). We should therefore tread carefully before trying to solve every conundrum we face. We are limited in our understanding and must accept, that from our perspective, sometimes life makes no sense and bitter is the taste. There do exist some certainties though. Humanity is blighted by sin (v3) the consequence of which is death (v3b). I cannot guarantee anything that you will face today but I am certain that each one of us will someday die. There is great wisdom here. A great many rage against any notion of growing older. Watch the ageing celebrities, now well into their sixties or seventies, but with plastic looking faces locked permanently in a smile. As we grow accustomed to uncertainty may we also grow accustomed to death. Death comes and memories fade (v5b). Death comes and we no longer play any part in life under the sun (v6). I can almost hear the cry of thanks from around Ballynahinch at such an encouraging devotion! Well let me finish with a bit of sugar. You are blessed today because you have received this devotion. You've read it with eyes that work in a body that still draws breath. The one who is living has hope (v4a) for you know the realities of life and death (v5a). You may not understand the difficulties you face but God has been gracious in giving you another day. You may feel like a dog but better to be a living dog than a dead lion (v4b). So I'm not going to try any answer the mysteries of the universe today and I'd counsel you to do the same. Instead in a world of sin, uncertainty and death we take the path of wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." (Proverbs 9v10) Not knowing everything is human. Not knowing Christ is foolishness. Therefore today we will rejoice because we have come to know Him or rather be known by Him (Galatians 4v8) and with that we have come to know the richest truth in the universe.


Pray (ac-TS)


Sing


Westminster Shorter Catechism


Q72 What is forbidden in the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.




Day 73
Pray (AC-ts)
Read — Habakkuk 2:2-5
Message Alan Burke 
You look around at the world, and you think to yourself what is going on, Covid-19 has left us reeling. As the days pass by, it seems that life will never go back to normal! Covid-19 though is only a symptom of a much greater problem and that is, that this world is a fallen world and there is not one part of it that is unaffected. Before there was Covid-19 the world was still fallen, we were still sinners and many a time we wondered what was going on, because of people who living as they saw fit without fear of the consequences, sin was and is celebrated and its consequences prevail throughout this land and this world. For those who believe we have been left wondering what is going on, how has a Holy God who hates sin seem to allow evil to continue unchecked. 


Well today we look to the book of Habakkuk, as the prophet Habakkuk cried out to the Lord wanting to know what was going on, he was left wandering how a Holy God who hates sin seemed to allow evil to go unchecked. His exasperated cry of ‘O Lord, how long shall I call for help but you do not listen?’ (1:2) says it all. Habakkuk persisted in prayer because he believed in God and couldn’t understand why the Lord had remind silent to his cries. The crux of the problem was that God’s people were living as they saw fit, without fear of the consequences, sin was celebrated and the righteous believers suffered because of it, sin and its consequences prevailed throughout the country. 


In the response of the Lord (1:5-11) what is striking is that in no way does the Lord dispute the analysis of Habakkuk, but the Lord’s prognosis is grave, for what they need is not the salvation that Habakkuk so longed for (1:2), rather it was His judgement for their sin (1:5-6). If God’s people would not fear him, then they would indeed fear the Babylonians (1:7-11). The verdict was in and as Habakkuk responds, it is clear that he had confident trust in the character of God (1:12-13), but he wants to know how could the Holy God use such a people as the Babylonians (1:14-17), yet he waits on the Lord (2:1). As the Lord responds once more, he wants his people to know that he is at work, so Habakkuk is write down the revelation, to make it clear so that it could not be forgotten or ignored (2:2). The judgment of God was coming, and his people needed to have confident trust in their Lord, for he was very much at work in the midst of it all (2:3), and for the righteous who were his in faith, they needed to look to God for ‘the righteous will live by his faith’. (2:4). The righteous will live by his faith and not loose trust in the LORD God. 


The ‘righteous living by faith’ is a motif that is repeated throughout the scriptures, In the letter of Hebrews these words, that the righteous would live by faith are applied to all of those who steadfastly looked to the Lord. For God’s people throughout every age the righteous will live by his faith. The believing community in Habakkuk’s day as well as for us, it is is by grace we have been saved though faith… not by works so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8-9). There is nothing that we can do to earn it, there is nothing that we can do to deserve it but God in his grace freely gives it. 


We may look around and wonder what is going on, wonder what God is doing in the midst of Covid-19 or how he seems to tolerate the sin of our society, but for the people of God we are to live by faith. We just like Habakkuk are living between times, waiting the Lord’s judgement to come because of sin and when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1), then we will either be judged righteous by faith or we will be judged with the wicked and face the wrath of God on the unrighteous (Rom 1:18). My hope and prayer is that if you don’t know the Saviour then today you would turn to him and flee the judgement that comes. And if you do, then take confidence that the Lord is at work in the midst of that we face, he is at work in us and through us and at work in Covid-19.


Pray (ac-TS)
Sing 
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 73
Which is the eighth commandment?


The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal. (Exod. 20:15)






Day 74
Pray (AC-ts)
Read — Luke 9:10-17
Message Alan Burke 
The view from what was our family home was breathtaking, especially on a clear day. You looked out over the rolling country side towards the sea and you could see Portstewart promenade with Portrush behind it. Then further round to the right you would see the giants causeway and if the weather was just right as you looked out across the sea you could see one of my favourite places, Islay with the paps of Jura visible behind it and I’d remember the holidays I had there and had dreams of fishing of the pier at the Jura Hotel once more. Visitors to our home would stand and stair, with fresh eyes they were filled with the wonder that I once had but with familiarity the view to me had lost much of that wonder. How easily we forget, how often do things that once filled us with awe and wonder, now don’t even give a second thought. Today we look together at what one could call ‘histories most famous picnic’. Most of us learnt about it in Sunday school, we are so familiar with it dare I say that it has lost its wonder to many of us, we have just taken its truth for granted, we have lost the amazement that we should have when we read of it. This miracle, the feeding of the five thousand is one of only two miracles mentioned in all four gospels (the other is the resurrection). 


Here the disciples have just returned from preaching about the Kingdom of God (9:1-2). While they were preaching they had experienced the power of God and his provision in all that they did and now they with Jesus going to take stock of what happened (9:10). The disciples may have hoped for a few quiet hours with their Lord but crowds followed and Jesus took time to teach them the  same message that he had sent the twelve out to preach (9:11). With time marching on the disciples start to scratch their heads, telling Jesus to send the crowds away (12a). Honestly I get their concern, from a human perspective there were loads of people there, five thousand men (15) not including women and children so likely closer to fifteen thousand people and they were in the back end of beyond (12b). Their concern was genuine but how quickly had they forgotten the greatness of the one that they were with, his power to do miracles, after all he was the one whom the wind and waves obey and they had witnessed firsthand Jesus power over the storm (8:22-25). Not only that, in his name as they went out preaching about the Kingdom of God they had the power to heal in Jesus name (9:6). The disciples unable to do anything, looked to their Master and obeyed him (13-15). Then Jesus looked up to heaven dependant on his heavenly Father and just as God provided his people manna in the Desert (Deut 8:3,16) so here Jesus provides food in a deserted place (16-17). 


Truly amazing, it should fill us with wonder, but our focus should not on the miracle, rather our focus should be on the one who preformed the miracle. Jesus showed his super abundant provision towards all those who were there, his provision was more than they needed, more in abundance (17). In the gospel of John, Jesus accused the crowds of only are seeking him because they ate their fill of the loaves (Jn. 6:26), they had missed the point. He had met their temporal needs but Jesus came for a greater purpose than to simply hand out free lunches. For Jesus is the living bread, who came down from heaven, and for all who eat of this bread they will live forever, the bread that he gave for the life of many was his flesh (Jn 6:51). In his atoning death on the cross and resurrection he provides for our greatest need, let us not forget the significance of this truth, let us not simply take it for granted, instead rejoice in it daily, delight in him the one who has provided for us. 


Pray (ac-TS) 
Sing 
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 74
What is required in the eighth commandment?


The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others. (Gen. 30:30, 1 Tim. 5:8, Lev. 25:35, Deut. 22:1–5, Exod. 23:4–5, Gen. 47:14,20)






Day 75


Pray (AC-ts)


Read — 2 Peter 3:8-10


Message Alan Burke 


I want to tell you a riddle, you may be familiar with it if you are a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s the Hobbit , here it is;


This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.


Do you know the answer? Tick tock, tick tock, goes the clock, the answer is of course time. The seconds turn into hours, days, weeks, months, years, our whole life is governed by time, maybe seventy, eighty or ninety years but not so many more. Peter here in this letter had been addressing false teaching that had made its way into the church and how scoffers (3:3) were challenging the truth of scripture of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ  (2 Thes 2:2, 1 Cor. 1:8, 5:5, Phil. 1:6, 10, 2:16), how Jesus will come again to act as Judge on His Father’s behalf (Matt. 13:40-43; 25:41-46; John 5:22-30; Acts 10:42; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 9:27; 10:25-31; 12:23; 2 Pet. 3:7; Jude 6, 7; Rev. 20:11-15).


The expectation was that the Jesus would return in the apostles lifetime and this was now past, so Peter teaches them and us how there is a fundamental distinction between God and us. We measure our lives according to the passing of time, we are measuring lockdown by counting the days we are reminded how to God the passing of time is not the same as with us. The passing of a thousand years from God’s perspective is like a single day to us (3:8), His relationship to time transcends our finite minds, for he has always existed (Job 36:26). He knows from beginning to end (Isa. 46:10), reminding us of this great truth that God’s perception and experience of time is not like ours, should encourage us.


Why is this important for us as believers to understand? Well Christ will return, we are so use to having short term expectations, we evaluate everything by what is tangible for us, but as Calvin rightly says, ”when the coming of Christ is talked about, believers are to raise their eyes upwards, for by dong so they will not subject the time appointed by God to their own ridiculous wishes”. Christ will come again in judgement his coming will be neither late or early, rather it will be at the predetermined timing of God. Why has he not come already, its been two thousand years after all, our society doesn’t seem to care about their sin and its consequences, well he has waited because “The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, who is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, (Ex 34:6). He holds back his wrath, he refrains from intervening in judgement even though sinners deserve it. His patience provides a period of respite for all, this is a last opportunity for repentance, this is why the Lord has not intervened in judgement (3:9). 


Although the Lord is patient, it will not last forever, like a thief it will come (3:10). We do not know when but we are told to be ready, we are to expect his arrival, the end is certain, Jesus himself warned us of this (Matt. 24:42-44) when speaking of his return that we are to keep watch because we do not know when the Lord will come, or at what hour to expect him, but we are to be ready. For all those who remain unrepentant when the day of the Lord comes it will be a fearful prospect, for they will know the wrath of God.


Let us be ready, be ready for his return, and not to be caught off guard. For each day that passes the Day of the Lord is coming closer, and when comes He is going to bring about the glorious day of redemption, giving all believers the wonderful privilege of living with Him forever and ever. That should ever be in our minds as believers. If you haven’t already repented of your sin, if you don’t know the Saviour Jesus Christ then know that there is time for you to repent and believe and escape the wrath of God, do not leave it, the Lord’s patience will not last for ever, it will end, for when he returns again it will be to serve his justice and wrath against sinners (Acts 17:30-31).


Pray (ac-TS)


Sing 


Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 75
What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?


The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour’ s wealth or outward estate. (Prov. 21:17, Prov. 23:20–21, Prov. 28:19, Eph. 4:28)






Day 76


Pray (AC-ts)


Read - Revelation 17


Message - Scott Woodburn
Once upon a time Dorothy clicked her heels and whispered "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." In her case she was on her way back to Kansas. I'm sure Kansas is lovely but it doesn't compare to the home that waits for Christians. Until then we are aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 2v11). May we never forget this as Revelation 17 shows us the nature of the world in which we live and it isn't all sparkles and unicorns. The world is like the glossiest apple in the bowl that when sliced is full of rot. We've already seen in Revelation that Satan mimics the Lord at every turn. He is part of an unholy trinity with the beast and the false prophet and just as the Lord has His people, so Satan has his. If Christians look forward to the City of God, here we see the City of Man, called Babylon (v5). Babylon is a picture of our fallen world, always in rebellious opposition to Christ. The City of Man looks appealing (v4). The City of Man despises the Church of Christ (v6). The City of Man is all about idolatry symbolised here as sexual infidelity (v2). What is it we are seeing here? Babylon represents the Godless, pleasure centric, luxurious, vice filled, glamorous, self aggrandising and ultimately Satan worshipping world around us. While John looked to Rome and her famous seven hills (v9) as the obvious manifestation of Babylon in his day, we don't need to look too far. We live in a world that demands you believe certain things or else. We live in a world that calls sin good and good sin. We live in a world that requires you to conform or risk being "cancelled". We don't need to look too far today, Babylon is all around us. It has always been this way. No soon as one manifestation of Babylon seems to fall another rises to take her place. We are moving to the moment in history when the Antichrist will rise (v8). John lived under the sixth king symbolising Rome and you and I in this present age live under the rule of king seven (v10) before the coming of Antichrist (v11). We have met the ten kings before (v12). They are ones who believe Satan's lies and join in a last vain attempt to destroy the church. It is a bleak picture and we can understand John's wonder (v7). And yet this mystery is revealed to him and us. Biblically a mystery is something that once was hidden but now is revealed. So today we know what the enemy looks like and we know the seductive power of the world we live. We will be tempted to compromise. We will know the seductive pull of Babylon. We will hear the temptation of going along to get along but we must resist. This world is not our home. Indeed this world hates the things of God. If the enemy seems great, do not fear. Satan throws everything at Christ and Christ remains victorious (v14). Indeed Babylon cannot last. She collapses in on herself. Ironically the beast hates Babylon and ultimately turns on her (v16). In Revelation 18 those who were made rich by Babylon mourn her loss. But there is no mourning in heaven for in Babylon was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth (18v24). Satan promises everything and delivers nothing. The unholy trinity isn't united and for Babylon all that glitters isn't gold. As I read these verses I think of the necessity of watchfulness (1 Corinthians 16v13). We are at the same time justified yet sinful, or if you fancy a wee bit of Saturday morning latin, simul justus et peccator. Our hearts are idol factories that are so easily seduced and nothing seduces like this world. Money. Career. Prestige. Sex. These are all offered in abundance by Bablyon. Yet the Christian understands that this world is passing away and instead we look to the city with foundations whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11v10). As Babylon in our age seems so strong, so powerful and so hostile we remind ourselves of Christ. He has and will overcome all His enemies and ours. Babylon, the City of Man, will fall. The City of God will last forever. Dorothy longed for Kansas, we long for glory because "our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3v20)


Pray (ac-TS)


Sing


Westminster Shorter Catechism


Q76 Which is the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.




Day 77 The Lord's Day 


Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 77
What is required in the ninth commandment?


The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, (Zech. 8:16) and of our own and our neighbour’ s good name, (3 John 12) especially in witness-bearing. (Prov. 14:5,25)


Day 78


Pray (AC-ts)


Read - Numbers 9:15-23


Message - Scott Woodburn
The lockdown has been long and it is getting longer but thankfully it has come in the midst of a period of beautiful weather. The sun and the heat have been a blessing and have helped make a frustrating time a little bit more bearable. However, as I was up sitting in Alan Burke's garden the other night socially distancing around his fire pit, it felt more like September than June. This past weekend has been wet and cold and the beautiful blue sky has been lost behind grey clouds. Whilst we don't delight in dark clouds rolling over the horizon, the cloud we meet in Numbers 9 is altogether more welcome. The cloud (v15) that covered the tabernacle was a visible reminder that God was with His people. Cloud by day (v16a) taking on the appearance of fire by night (v16b). What grace! Regardless of how the day was going a visible and tangible cloud covered the tabernacle. God's people with their own eyes could see that God was with them. But what about night? Surrounded by darkness with unknown enemies hiding in the shadows, was God still there? Of course. The cloud took the appearance of fire and shone in the darkness as a testimony to God's nearness. But there would be times on their travels that the cloud would lift and when it did the people would know it was time to continue their journey, stopping only when the cloud descended once more (v17). Their captain and navigator was the Lord (v18). Sometimes the delay was for a short time (v21), sometimes longer (v19-20) and sometimes longer still (v22), but regardless of the waiting the people knew God's presence, protection and leading. Numbers isn't high on the favourites list for many Christians but regardless these verses are a delight. We are unfamiliar today with a cloud symbolising God's presence descending upon our meeting house but we still enjoy the presence, protection and leading of the Lord. It is flesh and blood at the right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ is our prophet, priest and king and today He subdues us, rules and defends us and He restrains and conquers our enemies. Yet wouldn't it be lovely to have a reminder of this truth with a cloud by day and fire by night? I know what you mean, but be confident because Christ is not cloudless. We are told in Acts 1v9 that Christ ascended to heaven and a cloud took him out of the disciples sight. Then in verse 11 an angel told the disciples that Jesus would return in the same way. The angel echoed Christ's own teaching when challenged by the high priest "tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." (Matthew 26v63). Jesus replied "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." This response was enough for the high priest to tear his clothes and accuse Jesus of blasphemy. Only the Lord can say that the clouds are His garment (Psalm 97v2). By speaking in this manner, by declaring His coming on the clouds, Jesus was announcing His divinity, He was God. My brothers and sisters your life will often be surrounded by dark and foreboding clouds, the Christian is not promised an untroubled and stress free life. Indeed there will be moments when the trouble you face will be so hard and so heartbreaking that perhaps you may wonder if you have believed in vain. You haven't. You have trusted Jesus, the Son of God and one day He is coming again on the clouds. Until then rest in Him and trust His daily and nightly presence, protection and leading. Today and until He comes "we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5v7).


Pray (ac-TS)


Sing


Westminster Shorter Catechism


Q78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour's good name.




Day 79


Pray (AC-ts)


Read - Job 40:1-5


Message - Scott Woodburn
I have never preached through the book of Job but by God's grace one day I will. If I ever begin to plan a sermon series on Job I suspect I'll not come close to John Calvin who preached 159 sermons on the book. This ancient text is a treasure and one that deals with one of the most fundamental questions we will ever experience. Why do Christians suffer? You've probably had moments in your life that you've asked that exact question. The heartbreak you've experienced, mixed with the depression, underlined by the divorce and topped off by your father's alcoholism. What's the purpose in it all? 


Job had lost everything and yet still refused to curse God, but he did believe he was entitled to some answers. In Job 38, the Lord answers Job from the whirlwind and what follows is an extraordinary few chapters. I'd urge you to take time today and read 38 & 39. If I ever doubt the majesty and sovereignty of God I take a journey to this very place. Famously the Lord asks his servant "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Of course Job cannot answer any of the questions the Lord puts to Him. Nor could you or I. Yet the Lord asks in 40v2 "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it." 


What would you say? The Lord has spoken to you directly in answer to your complaints. What would you say? The Lord has spoken and reminded you of His incomprehensibility. What would you say? The Lord has spoken and shown you the scale of His power. What would you say? The Lord has spoken. What would you say? 


Job's response is full of humility. All of us like to believe that the universe centres around us. "I'm the most important person in the world." we say "My needs and my comfort must come first". It is by the grace of God that we remember this isn't true. Job is humbled, he says "I am of small account; what shall I answer you?" (v4a). As we mature and grow in Christlikeness we see the truth of John the Baptist's words in John 3v30. "Christ must increase and I must decrease." I have various reminders written in my pulpit and this is one of them. It is one of the last things I read before going to that terrifying place of the front door. It is at the door that a minister can be filled with the arrogance of pride or fall to the other extreme of despair. At the door you are told how wonderful your preaching is, that you are a breath of fresh air and that this church is fortunate to have someone like you. It is at the same door that someone refuses to shake you by the hand, they take another exit from the building to avoid you or with well rehearsed harsh words they cut you with their tongue. How does one respond? Sometimes, sinfully, with anger, pride, ego or harsh words of my own. In my better days I remind myself "Christ must increase and I must decrease." 


Job realised the majesty of God and therefore his own small account. He then lays his hand upon his mouth and promises silence (v4b-5). I don't want to give you the wrong impression today, this isn't a devotion describing you as a worm in the sight of a disinterested God. No. Child of God, you are loved and cherished by the Lord. How could it be any other way? Christ laid down His life for such as you. Would He have died for you if He was barely interested? We are united to Christ by faith and therefore we are precious in God's sight. I suspect none of us truly understand the depth of the Saviour's love, just as how we don't often understand the twists and turns of life. I have one of the biggest mouths in Ballynahinch but sometimes my mouth has had to remain closed as I lack any adequate response to the days that have come upon us. 


So in light of this passage I gently remind you, as I remind myself, that we won't always have neatly packaged answers to all of life's questions. It is absolutely true "that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8v28) but it won't always be possible to counsel someone with a bible verse that makes everything okay. Instead, sometimes, we are forced to remember that the secret things belong to the Lord (Deuteronomy 29v29). Then with humility and stuttering words we pray "I believe, help my unbelief." (Mark 9v24) before placing our hands over our lips and falling silent before the Lord.         


Pray (ac-TS)


Sing


Westminster Shorter Catechism


Q80 What is required in the tenth commandment? The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his.


Day 80


Pray (AC-ts)
Read — Isaiah 12


Message Alan Burke 
The weather has been great, it’s been the sunniest and the driest spring on record and we’ve had the BBQ out more than in the entire 2019, and its only the middle of June. It’s just a shame that we haven’t been able to go anywhere, out for wee trips out that normally wouldn’t have caused us a second thought. But it seems that the sun only needs to think of shining for there to be talk of a water shortage and were warned of a hosepipe ban, the Republic has one already. We take water a bit for granted, we normally have it in abundance even when there is a hosepipe ban but it's not the same everywhere. For the people of God in the near east, water was so valuable, it was used to represent the blessing of salvation and here it is used to speak of the Salvation of the Lord. 


So far in book of Isaiah, the Lord had warned his people of the coming judgement, how a day was coming that would be a feared a dreaded day because of the sin of the people (2:20, 3:18, 4:1, 7:18,20,21,23). They had abandoned the truth of God for a lie, yet in the midst of the warning, there is a wonderful promise of God, that by his grace (6:1-13) their guilt will be taken away and sin atoned for (6:7), through a child that will rule forever on the throne of David (9:6-7). Now in Isaiah 12 it turns to a song of praise for the day that comes, but for those who have faith it is not a feared and dreaded day, rather it is the day of salvation, as the anger of the Lord has turned away (1-2). This song looks forward God's anger turns from a sinful people to his Son. That day we will draw water from the wells of salvation, that will overflow meeting the deepest need of the people of God (3). 


To understand fully this we need to look to the words of the promised Child of chapter 9, Jesus Christ who in John’s gospel says…“if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, whoever believes in me as the scripture has said ‘out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (Jn. 7:37-38). To know the salvation of the Lord is to come to Jesus, it is to drink of this life-giving water, it is to believe in him, to trust in him. This is how we are to know salvation, through Jesus Christ. For he is none other than God himself in the flesh providing salvation for us, the well spring of salvation who will make our hearts flow with rivers of living water. 


Through his salvation we will give thanks call on his name (4), make him known what he has done (5), sing his praises to him and be filled and with joy (6). This is a what it is to drink from the well of salvation, to know that in Jesus we find salvation (Ats 2:21). We look as the people in Isaiah’s day, to a future day, not to the salvation of the Lord through the promised Child but to the great and final day when he returns. Then he will be exalted over all the earth, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. For some of you this should be, if it is not already a feared and dreaded day, but there is still time for you to trust in him and his salvation, repent of your sins so that his anger will turn from you. And for those of us who know the salvation through Jesus Christ know that that day will be a day filled with even greater joy, it will be a day that will be filled with the praise of the Lord that will last eternally. This song of Isaiah is a song that is a picture of the triumph of God’s amazing grace, how his anger turns away and how salvation is received. For all of us who know the Lords Messiah, Jesus Christ it should encourage us, for the certain confidence that we can have in the midst of all we face, no matter what struggles we have in the here and now, God is God and he is at work in the midst of it all.


Pray (ac-TS)
Sing 
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 80
What is required in the tenth commandment?


The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, (Heb. 13:5, 1 Tim. 6:6) with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his. (Job 31:29, Rom. 12:15, 1 Tim. 1:5, 1 Cor. 13:4–7)