The Silence of the Lamb of God

Transcript

October 18, 2016
LaVon Sperling
The Silence of the Lamb of God
1 Peter 2: 21 Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow
Question: “How can I not be joyful when Christ died on the cross for my sins?”
Specific suffering: unreasonable suffering related to our behavior when we have done what is right.
What happened when Christ died on the cross for our sin?
He never did anything wrong – He was sinless.
He did nothing to deserve what happened to him.

Betrayal - the one who betrays me is at hand
Deceit – Whomever I kiss, He is the one.
Desertion – They all left and fled.
Reviling – and they hit Him and said, “Who hit you?”
Abandonment – “I do not know the man!”
Mocking – They knelt down and mocked Him and said, “King of the Jews”.
Humiliation – They spat on Him.
Demeaning – Took off the scarlet robe and led Him away to crucify Him.
Abuse – “Save yourself and come down from the cross!”
Insults – and the robbers insulted Him and said the same.

John 15: 18 A slave is not above His master. Who is the slave? Who is the master?

My “to do” list for today!
Suffer for Christ
Follow Christ’s example
Commit NO sin
Don’t be deceitful
Don’t revile in return
Don’t threaten
Entrust myself to God who judges righteously.

Christ committed No sin.
Is. 53:7 did not open His mouth
Matt. 26: 59-63 these men are testifying against you. But Jesus kept silent.
Matt. 27: 13 – the governor was amazed that Jesus kept silent
Luke 23: 9- Jesus had perfect dignity and humble composure.

There was no deceit in His mouth.
Matt. 15:11 - What defiles the man is what proceeds out of the mouth.
Matt. 15: 18 – What proceeds out of the mouth comes from the ____________

He did not revile in return – reviling means repeatedly tearing down.
He uttered no threats.
A crowd came to seize Him – He could have called on legions of angels to deliver Him.
The criminals on the cross reviled Him – yet one was welcomed to Paradise.
The crowd, religious leaders, disciples who abandoned Him and soldiers who crucified Him were brought before the Father when Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

How did Jesus keep on? He kept entrusting Himself to the Father who judges righteously. He kept handing Himself and His circumstances of every unjust suffering to God.
How do we keep our behavior excellent when we are suffering?
Without a word
With chaste and respectful behavior
Keep our hope in God (Sarah is an example for us)
Do what is right without being frightened by fear.
Entrust ourselves to the one who judges righteously.
Resist trying to become the arbitrator of justice.

Keep your behavior excellent so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers they may because of your proper actions over extended time, as they scrutinize you over time, they may glorify God.
Scriptures that help me when that “arbitrator of justice” fights with my “gentle and quiet spirit”.
1 Thess. 4: 11 - Lead a quiet life, attend to my own business, work with my hands
Ps. 62: 1 - He is my rock. I will not be shaken
Psalm 131 – Be like a weaned child.
1 Peter 2: 22, 23 - Return to the shepherd of my soul
Psalm 90: 14 Be satisfied with God’s lovingkindness, so we can sing for joy!




Discussion Group:
Looking at Sarah’s life: Some of the things listed in 1 Peter 3: 5, 6 are not what God says about her in Genesis.
Gen.12: 5 Sarai left home with husband, Abram. Already had a promise that God would greatly bless them. At this point scripture says that Sarai was barren. Gen. 11: 30. Did Sarah understand that is would include them having children? Abraham was 75 and Sarai was 65.
Gen. 12: 10-20 Went to Egypt. Sarah was beautiful. Abram was afraid so he asked Sarah to lie. Scripture doesn’t tell us that she lied but we do know that God protected Sarah in verse 17.
Gen. 15: 4 At this point God communicates clearly that Abraham will have a son that will come from his body. I would guess that Sarah believed that she would be the mother to this son.
But 12 years had passed and she did not conceive.
Gen. 16: 1-6 Sarah makes her own plan, later despises Hagar, blames Abraham and treats Hagar harshly.
Gen. 17: 15, 16 I will give you a son by her (Sarah) Sarah was 90.
Gen. 18: 13-15 Sarah laughs about becoming a mother at the age of 90. God says, “Is anything too difficult for me?”
Gen. 20: 1-13 Abraham goes to a new land again and even though Sarah was 90 he tells a lie about her again. Wow……..what can I say??? This time, according to King Abimelech Sarah had also joined in the lie about Abraham being her brother.
Gen. 20: 6 says that God kept Abimelech from sinning and had closed the wombs of all of his household.
Gen. 21: 1. The Lord did as he had promised (25 years earlier)
Gen. 21: 2 Isaac was born at the appointed time!
Gen. 21: 6,7 Sarah bears Isaac and laughs again.
Gen. 21: 10-12 Difficult situation…………Sarah seems to be unkind again to Hagar. From our perspective 3000 years later do we see God’s hand in this as He separates the two nations that He will work through. An example of what Gil has been talking about as he mentioned that God uses the sin of man to accomplish His purpose.
Gen. 22: Abraham goes out to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. I wonder how much of this situation Abraham communicated to Sarah. Was she praying the whole three days while they were gone that God would spare her son?
Gen. 23: Sarah lived one hundred and twenty seven years.
Much of the narrative about Sarah doesn’t cast her in a glowing light. She began her walk of obedience at the age of 65 according to scripture. There were some bumps along the way.
So scripture covers some incidents of Sarah’s life from 75-103. God saw her life moment by moment, each quiet thought, and He saw her heart and then He gave testimony to what He saw. He saw the times she didn’t speak, her chaste and respectful behavior, her gentle and quiet spirit and then put into scripture what He saw about her.
Look at the two N. T. scriptures.
Hebrews 11: 11 she considered Him faithful who had promised.
I Peter 3: 5,6
If you want to do another great short study look at the responses of Hagar in Gen. 16: 8-13 and
Gen. 21 9-21. Look for Hagar’s responses of obedience to God. Look for her awareness that God sees and knows!! I think that we will meet Hagar in heaven someday.
Then I am reminded that in our lives there are going to be moments that like Sarah, we would wish those were not the moments that God would record about our lives. But He tells us to keep our behavior excellent so that our proper actions over extended time, closely scrutinized over time will bring glory to God.