Genesis 1:24-25, 2 Samuel 22:6

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Hi, guys. It’s Pastor Pittenger again. And today we’re going to read about the sixth day of creation. So this is from Genesis Chapter 1 verses 24 and 25.

And God said, let the Earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so and God made the beasts of the earth according to their kynes and livestock, according to their kinds and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

So, one of the things that God made on that sixth day is spiders. Lots of people don’t like spiders, and lots of people, even kind of me, are afraid of spiders. Even though God made people on the same day that he made spiders. That’s kind of funny, isn’t it? But spiders really are amazing creatures.

One of the most amazing things about spiders are its web. I mean, how does that tiny little insect know that if it makes, you know, six or maybe eight straight lines, all from one center point, that it’s going to work out as a web? How does it know to make that little circular pattern around and around and that will be a perfect trap for a fly or for a mosquito? And how come flies and mosquitoes get stuck in spider webs, but spiders don’t get stuck in their own webs? Well, these are just how God made them. And some of the things that that at least I don’t know.

But when that fly or that mosquito does get stuck in the web, that’s the end of it, isn’t it? The spider comes down and wraps it up and wraps it up in more web and then saves it to eat for food later on. So if you were a mosquito or a fly, you might be more afraid of spider webs than people are afraid of spiders.

There’s a place in the Bible where it sounds kind of like King David is talking about being caught, maybe like a bug in a spider web. He says this

The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. (2 Samuel 22:6)

That’s second Samuel, 22, verse 6. Sheol is a word for grave. Cords and snares are kind of like a web or like rope. But these things aren’t from a spider. These things that David is talking about were the plans and the tricks of a man who wanted to kill David. David called on God in prayer and he called for help and God did just that. A little bit later, David writes about how God rescued him from those traps or those sticky webs of that other man.

And this is good news, because one day we’re going to going to be trapped in the snares of Sheol, the cords of Sheol. We’re going to die and we’re going to be stuck in the grave. And we would be trapped there forever. More like that fly that’s trapped in the spider web all wound up. The fly can’t get out. There’s no way we could ever get out of being dead and being in the grave. But Jesus did. And Jesus will. Jesus did escape from his own snares and cords of the grave from his own death. And Jesus will rescue you from your death and from your grave.

It doesn’t matter how young or small you are, you might think you’re no bigger or more important than a mosquito. Because you know what? Even if you weren’t. But you are. But even if you weren’t any more important, we know what that song, that favorite song of mine, those little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. So we’ll see you guys later.

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Japan will host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. There will be about 11,000 athletes or so that compete in those games but out of that big number, only about 1000 or so are going to win any sort of prize. So the reality is that if an athlete that even goes the Olympic Games if they want to win a medal they really have to be focused. They have to be self-controlled.

Self-controlled when it comes to their diet and exercise and training. The apostle Paul uses the illustration of a runner preparing for a race and compares it to a Christian and his need for self-control when it comes to his life especially as he looks forward to the prize of heaven.

1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24 and following it says this:

Do you not know that when runners compete in the stadium, they all run, but only one receives the prize? Run like that–to win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable victor’s wreath, but we do it for an imperishable one. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)

Sin is certainly tempting, isn’t it? It’s tempting to lose self-control and to fall into sin. The apostle Peter also warns us

Be self-controlled and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

This is no shallow warning for stronger Christians than you have fallen from the faith. Think of King David. Man after God’s own heart and yet he lost self-control as he fell into lust and then adultery then into murder. God didn’t give up on him even with that lack of self-control God sent his messenger, his prophet Nathan, to David to confront him concerning his sin. And David repented. Nathan declared to him that

The Lord has taken away your sin. You will not die. (2 Samuel 12:13)

God does the same for us even at moments when we have lost our self-control. God comes to us that we might repent of our sins and be forgiven, but he invites us to live a life of self-control. A life focused on a prize, not a prize that we win, but a prize that’s already been won for us in Christ. To stay focused on his word, to come regularly to receive his holy supper, that our sins might be forgiven. We might be assured that we are God’s own dear children, that the prize of heaven is ours. May God the Holy Spirit increase in us this fruit of the spirit of self-control. Amen.

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There were two men in a certain town. One of them was rich and the other poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle, the poor man had one little ewe lamb that he bought. It was part of his family, he fed it, and it was like a child to him. A guest came to the rich man’s house and the rich man didn’t take one of his sheep or cattle to provide for the guests, he took the poor man’s little ewe lamb, killed it, and fed it to the guest.

That story is what Nathan the prophet used to confront King David in his sin. When David heard the story the Bible tells us that he burned with anger and said “that man deserves to die!” Nathan then looked at David. He told him “you are the man.”

David was confronted in his sin, he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered Bathsheba’s husband. In response to this confrontation over his sin David said in 2 Samuel chapter 12, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

David was led to recognize that he had violated God’s holy law and done what he was not supposed to. When we look at our lives we can see just like David and how we have violated God’s law.

We sinned against the Lord, we’ve done even what we know is wrong. God should surely condemn us. We deserve to die. Nathan said to David “you will not die, the Lord has taken away your sin.”

God says the same to you. “You will not die.” He has taken away your sin. He took it away when he died on the cross in your place. Jesus came so that you can live even though it cost him his life. So don’t despair.

Yes, you deserve to die, but you will live because the Lord has taken away your sin. Amen.