THE LORD'S STANDARD
SERMON STARTER
There are few standards in Western World culture. Our U.S. culture hates absolutes. We strongly dislike any limits that keep us from doing our thing. The current world's mantra is "Nobody tells me what to do!" Yet, even life itself limits our choices and our conduct.
God's Standard, His Word limits those who both hear it and live by it. Once in a heated church meeting where finances were discussed a church trustee took out a dollar bill and walked up and down the aisles waving it over his head as he walked. "This is all there is! You live under it. You die under it! This is all there is!"
I grabbed my Bible and stood up waving it over my head. "This is all there is! You live under it. You die under it! This is all there is!" What is your standard? Is it a green flag with dollar signs? Or is it written in 66 books as a standard of the final value of human life itself.
Your standard reveals who you are.
Pastor Phil <><<
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”
July 2, 2017 - Sheepfold Ministries
Pastor Phil Roland
THE LORD'S STANDARD
ISAIAH 59:19
“Proclaiming God's Word is how God's people proclaim real freedom and liberty to captives. His Word dispels darkness and brings God's truth to the darkened hearts all around us. His Word is our Standard." Pastor Phil
“So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” Isa 59:19 KJV
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Standard - A conspicuous object (such as a banner) formerly carried at the top of a pole and used to mark a rallying point especially in battle or to serve as an emblem
A Standard can also be something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality
The Lord's Standard
I. GIVES IDENTIFICATION - Numbers 2:2
“Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.”
A. Ancient Israel pitched their tents around their tribe's standard
1. The Tabernacle was in the center
2. The Cloud of God's Presence was with them by day
3. The Fire of God's Presence was with them by night
4. Each Tribe had their own Standard / Insignia
B. We are Identified by the Living Standard of God's Word
1. BLUE - Loyalty - John 15:12-14
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have
loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down
one's life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I
command you.
2. RED - Blood of Sacrifice - Hebrews 9:22
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with
blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
3. WHITE - Purity - 1 Timothy 4:12
12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers
in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
C. We pitch our tents around God's Red, White and Blue
1. Love, sacrifice and purity
2. We lift that standard before the Lord
THE LORD'S STANDARD, cont. p.2
The Lord's Standard
II. BECOMES A WARNING - Numbers 21:6-9
6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
A. The Snake is a symbol of Pain and Death
1. Remember the serpents were sent as a warning?
2. Disobedience to God's Commands results in death
3. Remember the curse to the snake in Genesis 3:15?
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between
your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall
bruise His heel."
4. Snakes crawl on their belly and are terrified of people
B. Judah's King Hoshea removed the nation's Idols - 2 Kings 18:4
4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the
wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had
made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and
called it Nehushtan.
1. One of the Idols was Nehushtan
2. Only once did it protect the people from death
C. Look and Live - John 4:14-15
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
1. Look at the fiery Cross of Jesus and Live
2. Look and Believe He died for your sins
3. Receive Him into your heart
The Lord's Standard
III. IS A PLUMBLINE - Amos 7:7,8
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said: "Behold, I am setting a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.
A. Plumb Line - A cord weighted with lead used by builders
1. Plumb Line then / now checks if vertical structures are true
2. God's Plumb Line tests and judges his people
3. If they are not Plumb, but corrupt, they are punished
THE LORD'S STANDARD, cont. p.3
B. God's judgment against corruption is a Standard
1. Are we exempt from God's Judgment?
2. We are held to the same Standard of Judgment
3. He will separate the wheat from chaff - Matthew 3:12
12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out
His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
4. He will separate Sheep from Goats - Matthew 25:32
32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
a. Sheep were shorn for their valuable wool
b. Goats were eaten
The Lord's Standard
IV. HAS GOOD NEWS - Isaiah 52:7
7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
A. Isaiah 52:7 - We preach Good News
1. The Gospel of the Kingdom is Good News to the repentant
2. The Gospel of the Kingdom is Bad News to the rebellious
B. A New Kind of Kingdom w/a Different Kind of King
1. Accept Jesus into your heart
2. Believe God raised Him from death
3. Commit your whole life to Him
THE BIBLE IS . . .
A Companion To The Lonely.
A Staff To The Weak.
A Light In The Darkness.
A Lifter of Burdens.
A Banquet To The Hungry.
A Well To The Thirsty.
A Cleanser Of Hearts.
A Compass On The Ocean.
A Breaker Of Idols.
A Revealer Of Hypocrisy.
A Unveiler of Deceit.
A Voice Against Sin.
A Enemy Of The Devil.
A Sinner's Greatest Terror.
A Penitent Sinner's Greatest Friend.
A Revealer Of Christ.
A Revealer of Man.
God's Masterpiece.
God's Greatest Gift To Mankind.
Can Any Other Standard Compare With The Bible?
James 4:7-8 (NKJV)
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Approaching Enemy
1. Causes the enemy to flee
B. Described Enemy
1. Fierceness - Assyrians = Spear w/Sickle
2. Nobility - Romans = Eagle
