PERSONAL EVANGELISM (The first sermon God allowed me to preach)

PERSONAL EVANGELISM

W. T. Hill

Matthew 10:5-7 These 12 Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

     By way of introduction in our text we see Jesus sending out His disciples to the house of Israel.  Why just the house of Israel?  Jesus was ensuring that Israel had sufficient opportunity to either accept or reject the Messiah.  Change was in the works the old covenant with Israel was a relatively nationalistic one but after Christ’s death new covenant would be an unrestricted universal one.  Like the 12 in our text we have been issued a mandate from Christ.  Our mandate is to go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation (Mark 16:15).  Also, Matthew 28 18-20 should be a familiar text to every Christian; And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore (having gone) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  So Jesus commanded His disciples to go and proclaim and to make disciples (These are not mutually exclusive commands).  And if we look in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 Jesus tells us how this is possible and geographically how it will occur.  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Remember in Matthew Jesus tells us all authority has been given to Him so He sends us out in His authority.  It is by Jesus’ authority we can do anything and it is also in His power not our own that we go out.  Going in the authority and power of Christ should make us so bold we would be willing to shout the gospel in downtown Tehran.  Also note geographically where Jesus says spreading the goodnews will start, in Jerusalem, their home.  Now for the disciples this was tantamount to shouting the gospel in downtown Tehran.  They were greatly persecuted for the gospel.  Yet they did not cease to share and live it.  These commands to go and proclaim and to make disciples still apply to us today, but I fear we are ignoring them.  Has our sovereignty of God in salvation theology become more important to us than the commands of Christ?  Do we warp truth to allow ourselves an excuse to sin without remorse?  Have we so hardened our hearts to the lost souls all around us that we care not about their eternal fate?  Every Christian is commanded to evangelize.  We deceive ourselfs if we think otherwise.  Does this mean that every Christian is called to foreign missions?  The New Testament example does not teach us this.  The church sent Paul and his companions out to the mission field. But many stayed behind doing the required duties of service in their homes and supporting Paul through prayer and finance.  

     Are you burdened to evangelize the lost people in your life?  Do you make it a point to pray for them?  Do you share the gospel with them as often as God affords the opportunity?  This is personal evangelism or witnessing.  Do you share the gospel with the lost people you know or encounter daily?  For me, sadly, I must say no.  The sermon today is as much for me as it is for anyone who is failing to share the gospel.  My intent is to address very specific excuses why we fail to share the good news of Jesus Christ and then, give a biblical response to each.  I cannot cover them all this morning but I will cover a few I feel are used by the majority of professing Christians today.  This topic is far too large to cover it all in one sermon. 

     Excuse number one – I don’t know enough scripture to answer every question I might be asked.  Who does?  Instead of dwelling on what you don’t know consider what you do know.  Do you know the gospel?  According to Paul in Romans 1:16 the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  So if you are saved you have heard and responded to the gospel.  What is the gospel?  Here is what Mark Dever says is his one minute or less explanation of the gospel:  “The good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him.  But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him.  In his great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust him.  He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted.  He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness.  If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God.”  This is by no means an exhaustive definition of the gospel.  I would say that no man knows the gospel in its entirety.  But this is a good base to work from.  Learn the gospel and meditate on it every day and I promise you that you will desire to know more.  This gospel aids in your sanctification and part of your sanctification is learning God’s word.  You will grow hungry for more.  God’s word is not like food.  The more you eat of God’s word the more you crave it.  You will never satisfy this hunger, the more you digest the more you want.  God’s word and presence always leaves the Christian wanting more.

     A good question now would be; Who do I share this good news with and where do I start?  Like the apostles why not start at home?  Moms and dads, are you sharing this gospel with your children?  We are called to evangelize our children.  I would dare say the greatest act of love a parent shows a child is to love Christ.  If you love Christ your desire for your children will be that they love Him and that they are known by Him.  Proverbs 2: 1-5  “My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentative to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”  Finding the knowledge of God, this should be what we most desire for our children.  What do you desire for your children?  Is it that they find the knowledge of God?  Or do you want them to be popular in a sick and warped culture?  Do you want them to be successful in a temporal way in business and finance?  Do you want them to be the best soccer player, best scholar of worldly subjects, best singer, best dressed or strongest kid in school?  Do you make them practice an instrument or sport every day?  All these in themselves are not bad things.  But compared to knowing Christ they are rubbish.  How often do you insist that your children study the scriptures?  How often do you speak to them of the gospel of Christ?  Deut. 6:4-7 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”   When you sit down for a meal what do you discuss with your children?  Should not Christ be the topic of conversation?  When driving to and from any given location turn off the radio and I-pod and talk of Christ.  Tell them of God’s love for His people and how Christ took upon Himself the sins of those who would be His.   Share the gospel with your kids.  What about those times when all you can do is talk?  Like when God  has ordained that there be a power failure.  Make the most of every opportunity to share Christ with your kids.  For He is eternally important and only the things done in and for Him will be of eternal worth.  Speak this good news to your children at every opportunity and they will get the idea that this good news is important to you.  What most of us speak about with our children is proof we have it all wrong.  Our priorities are out of sorts, we talk about sports or movies, television or work, or dating.  How many times a day do we speak of things that have absolutely no eternal significance? Yet the words of life are far from our lips even when it comes to our very own precious children.  Dear ones, until we are able to make sharing the gospel with our children and family a priority we will be of little eternal significance in our towns and beyond.  Our family can be the most difficult people to share the good news with because they know us better than anyone except God.  Yet we have it far easier than the disciples who were greatly persecuted for sharing the gospel.  If we start in our homes we will find it much more natural to move outside the walls of our homes and into our communities with the good news of Christ. 

     You may need an example of how the gospel has been shared.  Thanks to Pastor Adrian Dieleman of Trinity URC in CA. who wrote a sermon with the following information concerning the early church allowing us a look at the apostles and the early church which was blessed with many converts.  The early church had a fourfold message about Christ.  First, the Gospel events.  At the center of the church’s witness was the death and resurrection of our Lord – namely that He was put to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.  Second, the Gospel witnesses.  The early church appealed to two witnesses: the Old Testament Scriptures fulfilled by Christ and the eyewitness of the apostles.  Third, the Gospel promises.  The early church proclaimed the promise of forgiveness (to wipe out the past) and the gift of the Spirit (to make us new people).  Fourth, the Gospel demand.  The church proclaimed that the Gospel of Jesus demands a response of repentance and faith.  Here, then, is the fourfold Gospel message of the apostles and the early church: two events (Christ’s death and resurrection Rom 4:25), affirmed by two witnesses (the prophets and the apostles 1 Cor 15:1-8), containing two promises (forgiveness and the Spirit 2 Cor 5:17), and two demands (repentance and faith Acts 2:38 / 16:30-31).  Proclaimed for the glory of God this word cannot fail.  It will produce what God wills of it.  So share the gospel with your family, coworkers, friends, and relatives for it is the power of God unto salvation.  It is all the scripture you need to know right now to be a faithful and effective witness.

     Excuse number two – I’m embarrassed to witness.  I tell you that you have every reason to be embarrassed.  The gospel is ludicrous to the flesh of man.  It makes no sense at all.  Think about it, Jesus chose to set aside His glory (Phil 2:5-8 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross).  This told to Americans is foolishness because Americans are all about me.  I want to look good.  I’ll do it if it benefits me.  What’s in it for me?  Americans are the most self glorifying people on earth.  So to tell them that anyone would set aside true glory to humble themselves is foolishness in their ears.  His father is God and His mom was a virgin.  We all know it’s impossible for a virgin to have a child.  No one really believes that a virgin girl 2,000 years ago gave birth to a child whose father was God.  If you do believe that, you’re just foolish.  Oh, and He was nailed to a cross and chose to be on that cross even though He had the power not to go to the cross at all (Mat 26:53-54)  No one would hang on a cross if given a choice.  He went to the cross because he did not have the ability to stop it.  It’s crazy to think someone would endure so much pain for someone else and you’re crazy if you think its true.  Sure, He came back to life after being dead for 3 days (Mat 28:7, Luk 24:46, John 21:14, Acts 3:15).  Have you ever seen a corpse, one dead for 3 days, come back to life?  That is as impossible as my believing it is true.  I am not trying to mock the message here just making a point.  You see, brothers and sisters, the cross is foolishness to the natural mind, the gospel is nonsensical to a lost man (1 Cor. 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned).  Apart from a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit the gospel will always be foolishness to a man.  Where then is the power unto salvation?  Not in you or how you say the words but in God and how He works in the heart of those hearing (1 Cor. 3:5-7 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth).  You have no ability to save anyone.  If you depend upon your ability you will fail.  This makes sharing the gospel so much easier because success does not depend on you but on God.  So do not attempt to change the gospel, you will strip it of it’s power if you attempt to clean it up.  It must be offensive, in this we know God and God alone is moving men unto salvation.  By changing anything you no longer have the gospel message and you risk making a false convert.  So why attempt to make the gospel more appealing?  As if you can improve upon the message God has prepared.  You are called to be obedient and proclaim the good news.  God alone brings souls to Christ and God alone makes the dead soul to live again.  He has chosen to allow you and I a blessing so great that we should desire to spread this gospel even if we must forsake all else in our lives.  Furthermore, we should count suffering for the gospel, when it comes, a glorious priviledge.  So proclaim the gospel of Jesus and you will see God work.  Your results will be according to God’s will.  There will be repentance or rejection.  In either case God’s will is done because you have been obedient and evangelized and they have responded according to His will.  By the way, not every rejection is an eternal rejection.  Mark Dever tells the story of Mr. Short in his book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.  Mr. Short was a New England farmer who lived to be one hundred years old.  Sometime in the mid 1700’s he was sitting in a field and reflecting on his long life.  As he did, he recalled a sermon he had heard in Dartmouth as a boy before sailing to America.  The horror of dying under the curse of God was so impressed on him from the words he had heard so many years before that he was converted to Christ eighty-five years after hearing John Flavel preach.  The call to evangelism is not a call to persuade men, God does not need salesmen.  The call to evangelism is a call to proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ.  This good news will echo in their ears for as long as God desires.

     Excuse number three has been applied to those of the reformed faith by those outside of it and with some justification I’m afraid – God is sovereign in salvation.  God is sovereign, He called the first century church to witness, as we see in Acts 8:1-4; “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they (the Christians) were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.  Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.  But Saul was ravaging the church, entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”  Did you catch that?  It was the ones scattered that went about preaching the word.  It was the carpenters, fishermen, potters and shepherds who spread the good news not just the apostles.  So God is sovereign and He commanded the early church to evangelize and He has called us as well, not just the pastor and elders, it is our responsibility to be sharing Christ with those around us.  Jesus plainly commands the disciples in Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”  We are indirectly, but clearly, commanded to proclaim the gospel as well because the disciples, in the great commission, were told by our Lord to teach the new disciples to obey everything He commanded them to do.  So since Christ clearly commanded the disciples to go and proclaim the good news this command then applies to us as well.  There is another reason to witness that cannot be refuted.  For God’s glory, God’s glory is everything.  1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  Being glory of God focused requires work.  We will not do anything let alone everything for God’s glory unless we are making a purposeful effort to do so.  God is most glorified on earth through His church.  And when His church is being obedient to share Christ with the lost His glory shines bright upon her.  Isaiah 43:6-7 “I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not with-hold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”  Why does God have a people? For His glory.  How do His people glorify Him?  By being obedient to His commands.  We are commanded to evangelize as we have already seen.  For God’s glory we must proclaim the good news to the people in our lives.  You may still think; God can get it done without me.  This is true but I must then tell you to do some serious looking at your soul the ones who keep His commands are His children.  Obedience is a sign of salvation.  Ive heard it said that; in America there is no need.  The gospel is everywhere.  On TV and radio so if someone wants to get saved they can get saved.  First my response would be according to Romans 3:11 there are none who seek after God, so to say in America  if someone wants to get saved they can is in fact a statement not well thought out in light of the truth of scripture.  Also this does not make the call to go and proclaim invalid for you and I.  The fact remains that God has commanded us to go and proclaim the good news.  There is no better way of sharing the gospel than in person.  I’ve never met a Christian yet who was saved by watching a TV show or listening to a radio program proclaim the gospel.  This does not mean that they don’t exist, but I personally have never met anyone saved this way.  The majority of converts are made by person to person contact with a saint of God who is burdened for the lost people around him or her.  Romans 10:14 and 15 “But how are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.’”   You may ask; who sends you?  Well first and foremost it is Christ who has sent you.  But you are also being sent out by the local church.  We should be encouraging each other to share this good news.  We should be sent out of these doors burdened for the lost and longing to share Jesus with them and with a desire to see God glorified.  Do not worry about your inability.  You are not the saving element.  We see in 1 Corinthians 1:21 “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”  The power is in God and the message He has ordained, not the messenger.  If you had the power you could get the glory, but it is not possible for you to take any glory in anyone’s salvation, including your own.  God is the only one who deserves glory.  It is His plan and His message and His Son and it was His wrath and His mercy and His love all that combined in perfection to make a way for totally wretched people like myself to be gloriously transformed into a child of God.  So if you are God’s child you are most certainly concerned about God’s glory because God is jealous for His glory.  You glorify God by being obedient to His commands.  This command to evangelize, however, will cost you more than your money, it will cost you your life.  For this command requires time and personal relationships and prayer all of which I have failed to touch on this morning.  Never share the good news without first spending time in prayer for yourself and the ones you are going to witness to.  When you are being obedient to God’s call to spread the truth of Christ you must be ready to tell those you share the good news with to run to the cross.  To turn to Christ.  For God’s word tells us men must turn to Christ.  This is not in opposition to our theology but very much in step with it.  For the Father draws the elect according to John 6:44 and when He draws them they will go to Christ.  It is the Father that draws but the sinner who comes.  Do you not pray daily for God to forgive you of your sins.  How much more the one who has never prayed for forgiveness needs to do so in honest faith.  Don’t fear telling them to pray for forgiveness.  It is not the greatness of ones faith that saves him but the greatness of the one in whom that faith is placed.  Do not wait to see signs of wether or not they are elect.  Point them to Christ.  Do not harden your hearts my brothers and sisters to the lost and perishing souls all around you.  Take the time to see in your minds eye our Lord upon that cross.  A beloved Son beaten and bruised for you.  And hear those words; (Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?) “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) Remember the lengths our Lord and Savior went to save you.  Remember the depth of your depravity and the greatness of His mercy towards you.  Remember how God had so great a compassion towards you that He sent His Son, His Spirit, and He  sent a messanger with the message.  That messanger may have been your mom or dad, a pastor, an elder or the garbage man but in any case it was someone who was being obedient to God’s command to spread the good news and who was also moved with compassion towards you a lost soul.  Now, beloved, go and do likewise.

Hebrews 13:20-21A

I HAVE SO MUCH TO LEARN

I will not be posting another sermon for a while.  I am learning how very much I don’t know and need to know before I walk on such a fearful path as declaring God’s word to others.  I may very well rewrite the sermons I’ve posted thus far sometime in the future.  Please pray for me.  I pray God opens my mind to understand more of His truths.

My Third Sermon

We’re No Good

 

Luk 18:19  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except

God alone.

 

     My wife is the most loving person I have ever known.  It is so true that love covers a multitude of sins (or wrongs).  For she has forgiven me more than anyone on this planet and yet she often times will tell me “You’re a good man”.  My response to her is not what you may consider a normal response but I respond this way every time, “There is no such thing as a good man”.  Trust me when I say I am not fishing for a greater compliment from her.  Because I know that in her eyes I am perceived as a good man.  My response is not for her as much as it is for me.  It would be easy for me to accept her statement but I know it is not true. 

     We all like to think of ourselves as good, moral people.  But are we?  Are we good? Are we moral?  What standard have we set to determine goodness and morality?  Can we honestly say that there are good men and women in the world?  I am here today to tell you that there is no such thing as a few good men or even one good man on earth today.  From your birth you have been told you’re a good boy or you’re a good girl.  Quite simply this is not true.  Humanism has convinced the church that sin is not the core of our nature but the rim of our existence. R.C. Sproul states that it is often said that everyone sins because society has such a negative influence on us.  This places the problem on the environment and not the sinner or his nature.  But this explanation for the universality of sin begs the question, how did society become corrupt in the first place?  Edwards argued that if people are born good and innocent, we would expect at least a percentage to remain good and sinless.  There should be pockets of societies that are not corrupt, where the society has been molded by sinlessness and not sinfulness.  As Sproul points out still today in the most isolated and dedicated to righteousness communes in existence there are rules to deal with sinful behavior. But what do the scriptures teach us concerning goodness and sin?  We must examine the truth so that we are not deceived. 

     In Luke 6:43 Jesus says; “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit.” Since the fruit is universally corrupt we must find the root of the problem, because it is from the root that the tree springs forth.  The Bible expressly teaches that our original parents fell in sin.  Here is our root, Adam and Eve.  Since they fell in sin every human being from their loins (all of mankind) has been born with a sinful and corrupt nature.  Edwards said that even if the Bible did not teach this we would be forced to deduce it by reason of logic based upon the universality of sin.  But is there anything else the fall tells us?  It informs us of something we call original sin.  Original sin does not refer primarily to the first or “original” sin committed by our ancient ancestors.  Original sin refers to the result of the first sin; the corruption of the human race.  Original sin refers to the fallen state in which we are born.  The Westminster Confession, in my opinion, correctly and exquisitely expresses the results of the fall as it relates to the human race:

 

            By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God,

            and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul

            and body. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed,

            and the same death in sin, and corrupt nature, conveyed to all their posterity

            descending from them by ordinary generation.  From this original corruption,

            whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good,

            and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

 

     R.C. Sproul says the simplest biblical definition of sin is “to miss the mark.”  The Bible clearly expresses the universality of sin or missing the mark in many places.  Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Romans 3:12 “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  Romans 3:10 “As it is written, ‘None is righteous, no not one.’”  These are just 3 verses from one chapter of one book.  The theme flows throughout all of scripture.  We are all sinners and we are all no good left to ourselves and our sinful nature. 

     What the Bible teaches is that we are totally depraved.  John Piper explains it this way: “When we speak of man’s depravity we mean man’s natural condition apart from any grace exerted by God to restrain him” and I would say not just restrain but transform him.   God’s grace is upon everyone to some degree.  If it were not so then this world would be impossible to live in.  Evil would literally make this planet uninhabitable.  What some say is that they see unsaved men or women doing good deeds or performing acts of kindness.  They may also say that they know unsaved people who certainly do not commit murder or rape or other horrible acts of evil upon others.  Piper said, “There is no doubt that man could perform more evil acts toward his fellow man than he does. But if he is restrained from performing more evil acts by motives that are not owing to his glad submission to God, then even his “virtue” is evil in the sight of God.”  What this tells us is that any good, as perceived by the human eye and mind, done by an unregenerate person is seen by God as evil because that good would not and indeed could not have been done with intent from that person’s heart for the glory of God.  Piper points out that Romans 14:23 says, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” This is an extreme indictment of all natural “virtue” that does not flow from a heart changed by grace and intent on glorifying God.

     How vital is this view of depravity?  Is it really important or are we just being legalists straining at a speck too small to truly see?  I will say this with total conviction that if you view this point wrongly you will view all of scripture wrongly.  If you do not truly believe man is depraved and so depraved as to be totally unable and unwilling to do anything to reconcile himself to God you cannot fully understand grace and you cannot fully glorify God for His magnificent mercy and grace.  For you believe there is some good left in man.  Yet the scriptures are clear; Romans 7:18A “For I know that nothing good dwells in me” emphasis added.  Psalm 16:2 “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You.’” If you think there is some good in man apart from God then you think him able to come to God of his own accord.  What did Jesus teach about that?  John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day.”  Please understand this that the word draw in the quoted text does not mean to request or to woo.  It means to drag in literally against the person’s own desire.  Jesus also said in John 6:63-65 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe. (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were that did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.) And He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” Note here that Jesus states that no one CAN come to Him not that no one will come to Him.  There is a big difference.  To state that no one can means no one is capable of.  To state that no one will is to imply that if they so desired they could.  So Jesus expressly taught that man cannot come to Him.  Not only that, He stated that even in saving man it is done against what man wants in his natural state.  Man could never reconcile himself to God because left to himself he would never want to.  What then do we say about people who come to church looking for God?  I say they are not truly seeking God because the Bible states that none seek God, no not one.  What they are seeking after are the benefits of a relationship with God.  They want peace, they want joy, they want purpose all of which can only be found in God.  But they are without good if they are not saved.

     But so many people who are not saved do so many good things.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”  The act itself does not determine if it is good or not.  It is the motive behind the act that determines if the act is good or evil.  Even the most altruistic appearing act can be done with sinful intent and therefore be sin and therefore evil.  For example, what about the man or woman who offers to care for children who are in need?  He or she buys the child or children clothes and food and wins the trust of the families.  Then when the time is right and the opportunity presents itself the hidden pedophile steals the innocence of a child.  Every seeming act of kindness to open the door for an evil act is now revealed for what it was from the start, evil.  The overtly sinful act is without question evil.  But it does not stop there.  Every act that appeared kind, every hug, every gift, every apparent sacrifice made by the perpetrator now is seen at face value, evil.  No kindness, no goodness just evil and evil from the start not just now that the climactic evil act has occurred.  Consider 1 Corinthians 4:5 again, Jesus will make plain to all the motives of our hearts for the acts we have done.  When this happens to you and I what will be seen?  This, my dear brothers and sisters, should be carefully considered by us all.  This causes me to tremble because I know how sinful I am and I have trouble thinking of anything I have done that did not, in some way, have selfish motives behind it.  Yet I still will think of myself as good and or righteous. 

     How is it possible that we have come to think so highly of our own morality?  We must understand the lie in order to expose it for what it is, a tool of deception fashioned to send as many souls to hell as possible.

     Pelagius, a first century British monk of the Celtic order, did not hold to the doctrine of original sin. Pelagius did not believe that man’s nature was tainted by the sin of Adam; Pelagius did not believe that man, by his own nature and efforts could only inherit hell or damnation. He dismissed the church’s declaration that man could only gain salvation through Christ.  He declared the doctrine of original sin abdominal, detesting it completely. This doctrine which declares that all men are conceived in sin and can only be saved by the unmerited grace of God which is only received through Jesus Christ.  The view of Pelagius and his followers firmly held to the Storic doctrine of the free will of man and the innate goodness of nature, which they claimed, was not corrupted but only modified by sin.  

     Today there are very few if any full blown believers in Pelagianism that I know of.  Today we have semi-Pelagianism often called Arminianism.  Those who claim man is born totally depraved but in fact do not think he is.  Those who think there is within every man, at his birth, some good.  Those who think man is capable, of his own will, to decide to be holy.  They are following the heresy of Pelagius and they are so blind that when confronted with this truth they do not see it.  They have wrapped this lie up in a nice little package called free will or choice.  They tell us God can only be a loving God if He allows His creatures (you and I) to have the choice to be saved.  True love never forces anyone into a loving relationship.  This all sounds nice and respectful if in fact you believe man is capable of deciding to be holy.  The only way a man could make that decision is if he has some amount of good (or holiness) inside him already.  We have already demonstrated that this is not so.  This makes it sound as though men are just falling over themselves to be in a relationship with God.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Men, all men, are staying as far as possible away from God and Christ.  Detesting any thought of a relationship with Him while embracing their relationship with Satan and loving every minute they spend embraced by the flames of hell.  God in His love sees past our hate of Him and wraps His all powerful arms around us pulling us kicking and screaming from the flames of eternal damnation.  Not kicking and screaming in pain but in rebellion against His saving grace.  Until then we are without good in us at all.

     Now, is it possible in this life for even a saved person to do an act that is entirely selfless?  I will not say it is impossible for I know not the entire counsel of God’s word or all of His ways.  I can say this for a fact.  I have never done such an act myself.  To my shame I can honestly say I’ve never done anything without a shred of myself in it.  Even if at the time I thought the act was entirely selfless after the fact I’ve thought to myself that was a great thing for me to do.  I stole from God what was His, credit for the act.  I sang my own praise and not God’s.  I placed myself on the throne of my actions, as I do daily, and told God He didn’t do anything, it was all me.  Oh what a wretch I am!  But praise be to God He has redeemed me from the pit!  Oh that I could love Him just a fraction as much as He loves me, I would never dare to take the glory that is His and His alone.

     What is the hope for our depravity?  The fact needs to be realized from the start that as far as natural understanding is concerned the condition of fallen man is beyond repair, that as far as self-help or human skill is concerned his case is hopeless.  Matthew 19: 25 and 26 “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” 

     A. W. Pink said, The deadly disease which has infected man is not a simple but a complex one, consisting of not just one element but a combination, each of them by them self is fatal.  Look at some of them. Man’s very nature is thoroughly corrupt, yet he is in no way horrified because of it. Not only is sin part and parcel of his being, but he is deeply in love with it. He is filled with enmity against God, and his heart is as hard as a stone. He is wholly unable to move Godward, and completely under the dominion and sway of Satan. He is without righteousness, a guilty sinner without a speck of holiness, a moral leper. He is utterly incapable of helping himself, for he is “without strength” (Rom. 5:6). The wrath of God abides on him, and he is dead in trespasses and sins. Fallen man is not merely in danger of ruin and destruction, but is already sunk in them. He is like a brand on the very edge of a raging fire, which will swiftly be consumed unless the divine hand plucks him out (Zech. 3:2). His condition is not only wretched but desperate, inasmuch as he is altogether incapable of devising any means for his cure. 

     Many think that God must pardon all those who cast aside their rebellion against Him and ask for mercy.  I can find no logical reason for God to forgive anyone because they merely repent.  This would not be consistent with His moral rule.  The contrition of a criminal will not exonerate him in our human courts of law.  Mere repentance offers no reparation for the crimes he has committed.  Any sinner who embraces the idea that his repentance gives him a claim to divine clemency demonstrates that he is a total stranger to true repentance. (A.W. Pink rephrased)

     What then is the cure for man’s complex and fatal malady?  How can he take it?  He cannot.  It is administered to him by God.  It must be of His devising, His providing, His applying, His making effectual. It must be wholly of Him from start to finish.  If any part is left to the sinner, at any stage, it is certain to fail. Pink also said, It must be pointed out that God was under no obligation whatsoever to make such provision, for when man deliberately fell away from Him he gave up all favorable consideration from his Maker. Not only might God righteously apply the full penalty for His broken law on the entire human race; consistent with His holy nature He could have left all mankind to perish eternally in the condemnation into which they had cast themselves. If He had utterly forsaken the whole of Adam’s fallen posterity and left them as redemptionless as the fallen angels, it would have been no reflection whatsoever on His goodness, but rather a display of His unalterable justice. (rephrased again)

     But God to make His glory known and who is rich in mercy did apply the healing salve to those whom He loves.  He has looked past our rebellion and hatred of Him and seeing our miserable estate provided the cure that He alone could provide.  Jesus sent by the Father and loved of the Father was the cure for our sin nature and the reparation for our crimes.  When we would not and could not love Him, He loved us.  While we fought His saving grace He made it effectual.  He knowing the depth of our depravity looks upon us through the shed blood of His Son and calls us clean and pure and holy!  Run to that mercy today.  Cling to the provision made available through Christ.  Seek out the cure daily for you are not yet made perfect and your sickness is terminal apart from the provision made by Christ. 

    

Showered With Grace

Here is a hymn I recently finished.
I will post my newest sermon on the 10th.
I have no music for this yet.

Showered With Grace W. T. Hill

Worthy of all praise
and devotion without end
A million voices raised
still could not begin
Nor acts of sacrifice
though pure and true they be
Compare to the price
you freely paid for me

You looked upon a rebel
and turned Your wrath aside
You could of made him grovel
for his foolish pride
Instead You chose to love
though he spat upon your face
Mercy raining from above
You showered him with grace

Worthy of all praise
and devotion without end
A million voices raised
still could not begin
Nor acts of sacrifice
though pure and true they be
Compare to the price
you freely paid for me

May Your ears attend
this offering of praise
Change the hearts that send
for Your glory raise
Sinful man from the mire
he gladly wallows in
Make You his one desire
and free him from his sin

Worthy of all praise
and devotion without end
A million voices raised
still could not begin
Nor acts of sacrifice
though pure and true they be
Compare to the price
you freely paid for me

Think about this till I post another sermon soon

Inflation and deflation are purely monetary phenomena. Inflation is not just a rise in prices, lots of things can drive prices higher. Inflation is the very specific case of a rise in general price levels driven by an increasing money supply. If the money in an economy grows at a faster rate than the pool of goods and services on which to spend it, general prices are bid higher as a result. Only money creates inflation.  From Adam Hamilton Zeal essays
Our government has, in effect, more than doubled the amount of money in circulation with these bail outs. With companies cutting back (producing less goods) and more money in circulation inflation, I mean severe inflation is coming.

My third Sermon will be posted soon

I am about done with my third sermon.
I hope to have it posted by the 10th of April

What is Recession For by John Piper

2 Corinthians 2:1-11

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

This is a message about God’s purposes in the recession. By recession I don’t have any sophisticated definition in mind. I just mean various financial setbacks like business slowdown, decreasing profits, massive layoffs and joblessness, the bursting of the housing bubble, thousands of foreclosures, personal and business bankruptcies, bank failures, investment company collapses, the loss of retirement funds, and the social ills and unrest that go with the downturn.

God is sovereign over these things, he foresees them all, he causes or permits them all, and when he causes or permits something, he does so with purpose and design.

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33)
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21)
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.” (Psalms 33:10)
[The Lord] declares the end from the beginning . . . saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:10)
So none of the recessionary events has surprised the Lord. His purposes and designs are being fulfilled according to plan. And what I want to do is draw your attention to some of those purposes.

Why This Message?
Three things have inclined me to preach a message on God’s purposes in the recession at on this particular weekend.

1. Writing Leave Beginning

One is that I will be away for the next eight Sundays on a writing leave. That fact inclined me not to start the third chapter of John’s Gospel (where we are in our series), only to pick it up in eight weeks, but to start chapter three when I return. It also inclined me to want to say something to you about being faithful to the church in my absence. The recession has a great deal to do with what it means to be the church—and to be faithful to each other in the church. More on that in a moment.

2. Economic Turmoil

The second thing that inclines me to preach on this just now is that few things have had a more pervasive effect on our lives nationally and globally in recent years than the financial turmoil around the world. We need to hear at least some of God’s perspective on this.

And that is all we ever have—some of his perspective. He is God and we are not. He has told of some of what he is doing in this recession. But most of what he is doing—billions and billions of God-designed effects—he does not tell us. But what he does tell us is crucial for living amid the providence of what he does not tell us.

3. “Finishing the Million”

Third, I want to put the present financial sprint to finish the North Campus—the sprint we are calling Finish the Million by March—in a larger biblical and contemporary context, to guard us from a kind of ecclesiastical myopia.

So those are the reasons for this message.

(Some of) God’s Purposes in This Recession
Now what are some of God’s purposes in this recession? I will mention five:

He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.
1. To Expose Sin and Bring Repentance
The book of Job in the Old Testament begins, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). But in the last chapter of the book, Job says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). He was “blameless,” but later he repented. What does that mean?

It means that the most godly people in the world are like a clear glass of water with a sediment of sin hidden at the bottom of the glass. And when the glass is struck—with Job’s suffering, or with our recession—the sediment of sin is stirred up and exposed, and the water becomes cloudy. That’s one of the things that recessions are for.

And it works both individually and socially.

Individually Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

God brought his own faithful servant Paul to the brink of death so that he might learn more deeply to rely not on himself but on God. If that happened to Paul, we may be sure that God is doing that for us as well in this recession. That we may rely on him and not ourselves.

At the bottom of every Christian heart—no matter how advanced in faith and godliness—there is the sediment of self-reliance. Then God shakes our lives, sometimes to the foundations, to show us our self-reliance and clean it out with a new, deeper reliance on him.

Socially, the recession reveals a host of sins that hurt people. The recent Ponzi schemes are one of the clearest examples. Promise people huge returns on their investment when there is nothing to invest in, then pay those returns with some of the next investments in nothing. And keep doing it for years, while you skim millions for yourself. Until a recession makes people want their investments back—and they don’t exist. Recessions have a wonderful power to expose that kind of deceit. What will it expose about you?

And, of course, the recession is especially good at exposing the sin of wasting other people’s money (or our own), and the sin of selfishness and greed in the mortgage business, and the sin of fear when everything starts coming down, and the sin of grumbling and impatience. And on and on. What a gift the recession is in the exposure of sin. May the Lord give us all the grace to repent and receive the forgiveness that God offers in Jesus Christ.

2. To Awaken Us to World Poverty
It’s astonishing how blind prosperity makes us to the miseries of the world. God has some remedies for that kind of indifference. For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated—who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated.

Recession hurts us. It imprisons us. What is God’s aim? That we would wake up. Does this recession bother us? If it bothers us, we should be bothered by the fact that millions always live in recession. Only live in recession.

One billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our family prays through the Global Prayer Digest each morning. For January 29, 2009, we prayed for the Afar people of Ethiopia:

It’s 3:00 a.m., and the Afar father is still awake. The desert night is cold. He snuggles up to his wife and newborn baby to keep them warm. Their stomachs rumble with hunger. Should he slaughter his scrawny goat to feed his wife, hoping she will produce enough milk for their baby? Or should he beseech the clan elders to move again, in search of weeds for the goat, or maybe even some fresh water?

They are fortunate; both his wife and their baby survived the birth. The Afar people have the highest maternal fatality rate in the world. Women give birth without benefit of sterile conditions, or even clean water. Of the babies born alive one-third die before age five. Afar people roam throughout one of the most desolate places on earth: the Ethiopian desert.

Drought and malnutrition make them vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, conjunctivitis, and other water-borne illnesses. Of 13 million Afar people, three million are infected with HIV/AIDS.

It is good to know these things. And to pray about these things. And to cultivate a radical culture at Bethlehem in which hundreds of people dream of ways that their lives can count creatively and long-term for the relief of suffering. Recession has a way of making us wake up to the endless recession of millions. It has a way of changing our priorities and releasing effort and money for others.

Part of our overall vision at Bethlehem called Treasuring Christ Together (TCT) is the Global Diaconate. The giving to TCT is over and above the $9.2 million budget for church and missions this year. Ten percent of everything you give to the vision of TCT goes to our efforts to help the poorest of the poor. Since 2005 when TCT started, you have given over $700,000 to this fund, and $593,000 of it has been disbursed. God’s purpose for this recession is to say: That’s good work; and now more than ever, don’t let up.

3. To Relocate the Roots of Our Joy in His Grace, Rather Than in Our Goods
God sends recessions to his people to pull up the roots of our joy from the pleasures of the world and sink those roots into the pleasures of the glory of his grace. Here’s he clearest recessionary text about this in the Bible—2 Corinthians 8:1-2. It describes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their “recession.”

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

This is my dream for Bethlehem. Verse 2 ends with a “wealth of generosity.” We want to be a generous people. Generous in every way. Where does it come from? From prosperity? No. Extreme poverty. “Their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of liberality.” This is why I call this a recessionary text. Here are people overflowing in generosity when the economic times are very bad.

Where then did the generosity come from if not from prosperity? From a supportive and sympathetic culture surrounding them? No. Verse 2 says they were in a “severe test of affliction.” That means they were being harassed. You can see what that looks like in Acts 17:5-9.

Where then did this wealth of generosity come form? Paul says it came from joy, abundance of joy. Verse 2: “Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”

Their joy was not rooted in prosperity or popularity. But it was very great. Paul calls it “abundance of joy” in the middle of verse 2. Where did that joy come from?

It came from the grace of God. Verse 1: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.” What makes people grumble and be stingy is a sense of entitlement. But if we have tasted the measure of our sin and the magnitude of God’s grace, we will have abundance of joy in recessionary hardships. God’s grace overflowing in Jesus for sinners like us is the most glorious thing in the universe.

This is where our joy is rooted. This is why the Fighter Verse for this past week says that Christians can be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Our joy is not rooted in circumstances. God has relocated our joy in his grace, not our goods—in his mercy, not our money, in his worth, not our wealth.

If the recession can assist that relocation, it will have done the most important thing possible. Because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

4. To Guard His Glory by Advancing His Saving Mission in the World Precisely When Human Resources Are Low
We see this all over the Bible. God does his great advancing work again and again when it looks least possible for us.

He promises the heir when Abraham and Sarah are too old to have children.
He splits the Red Sea when Israel is hopelessly trapped by Pharaoh’s army.
He gives manna when there is no food in the wilderness.
He stops the Jordan River when it’s time to take the land.
When a city stands in the way, he makes the walls fall down.
When the Midianites were as many as the sand of the sea, God whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 so God would get the glory for the victory.
When Goliath defies the armies of the Lord, God sends a boy with a sling and five stones.
When the Son of God is to come into the world, God calls a virgin to conceive.
And when the mighty devil himself is to be defeated, a Lamb goes to the slaughter.
And here in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2, when God wants to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem, he uses afflicted, poverty-stricken Macedonians and fills them with joy because of his grace.

So that’s the context for Finish the Million by March. In only four weeks, in the hardest financial times in decades, on top of a 9.2 million-dollar church budget, with thousands of givers who never attend the North Campus, all of Bethlehem (on every campus) will give $235,000 to meet the million-dollar goal to pull the trigger on finishing the North Campus.

But vastly more important than that is where your treasure is—where your heart is. Are you like the Macedonians whose joy—in times of “recession”—was invincible because it was rooted in the grace of God? May God open our eyes to glory of his grace. When he does, the last purpose for the recession that I will mention will come true.

5. To Bring His Church to Care for Her Hurting Members and Grow in Love
Buildings exist for people, not the other way around. May no effort to build ever keep us from caring for Christ’s followers. Acts 4:34 describes the early church: “There was not a needy person among them.” This is what the church does. Every member will have his needs met. God will test us to see if we are a church or a club.

May the Lord grant us “Macedonian grace” to “finish the million” and care for each other.

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The Second Sermon I have written.

James 4:4

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 

Definitions:

Enmity – The spirit of an enemy. The state of being an enemy.

 

Enemy – One who cherishes resentment or malicious purpose toward another, an adversary. 

 

Friendship – Mutual regard cherished by kindred (one of the same family; related by blood) minds. 

 

     To whom is James writing this admonition?  Seven verses later he says; “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.”  So we can safely say that James is writing this statement to fellow Christians.  He also begins the book by addressing it to the twelve tribes in dispersion and telling the brothers to count it all joy when trials come.  There is little doubt that James is in fact addressing those he believed to be fellow followers and joint heirs in Christ.  This admonition forces me to think to whom do I have a kindred spirit?  Whose friendship do I seek and whose friendship do I desire?  Today I want this congregation to consider who you seek after to be your friend.  Is it God or is it the world?

 

     Now the quick and easy answer is; “I seek God as my friend, of course I sometimes fail just as every man fails but I repent and go on seeking after God”.  How hard are you seeking after God?  How much time do you spend reading His word?  Be honest.  If you lie then you lie to yourself alone for God knows the truth nothing is hidden from Him.  You may ask; “Does reading the Bible make you a Christian?” No but it does demonstrate a desire to know God more intimately and is therefore something a person who has not been regenerated would naturally do.  The natural man finds the word of God foolish or repugnant.  He sees no profit in it and if he reads it he can’t understand the truths therein because the Spirit does not reside in him. (Luke 24:45 Then He opened their minds that they might understand the scriptures.) (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this not taught in words by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.  The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.) No, reading the Bible does not make you a Christian, the frequent and fervent study of the scriptures, however, does reveal a trait that most assuredly is not natural to the unregenerate man and is therefore natural only to a child of God.  So how often do you seek God in His word? Do you read it daily, like the paper or your e-mails?  Heaven forbid you miss checking your e-mail for a day but the word of God most certainly that can wait another day or two.  I can promise you every day God grants you life and vision you read something.  What you read most frequently will most assuredly tell you something about yourself.  So what do you read most often?  I pray it is God’s word and I pray it is not just reading but deeply seeking after the truths it contains.

 

    How hard are you seeking after God?  Do you talk to God?  How often do you talk to Him?  What is the nature of your conversation?  1 Thes 5:17-18 tells us to “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  You might say it is impossible to pray continually, non stop, 24/7.  I tell you that every word that comes out of the mouth of a Christian is in fact a prayer.  Every word you utter is in the presence of the living and holy God.  What kind of prayers are you sending Godward as you drive to and from work during rush hour?  You do know that you are called by God to keep even your thoughts under control?  2 Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”  If you are a Christian then you are called to glorify God with all that you are including your thought and speech.  So each and every word we utter we must utter in the understanding that God is to be glorified by our speech.  Now specifically concerning the conventional understanding about prayer time, how often do you speak to God with the intention of speaking to God?  You say you love your wife, your children, your parents, your friends so how often do you speak to them?  If I spoke to my wife like this; “Honey, please give me fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner tonight, thank you.”  on Monday then on Wednesday I said; “Honey, I hope you don’t mind but I took $100 out of our savings account and blew it on something just for me and have nothing to show for it, but I know you love me and will forgive me. Thank you”  and then on Sunday I feel extra close to her and say; “Honey, you are so pretty, thank you for marrying me, lets watch the Titans beat the Jets, oh by the way, please make some finger food I’ve invited the entire adult Sunday school over to watch too. Thank you very much.”  If I only spoke to her three or four times a week just like this I promise you she would not feel very loved and our marriage would more than likely be over.  I have heard people say they don’t know how to pray or are uncomfortable praying (I understand being uncomfortable praying before a group of people out loud).  Learning to pray comes through experience, study of God’s word and sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Intimacy can only grow when familiarity is desired and made a priority.  Don’t tell me you don’t know how to be intimate with God.  The Spirit intercedes for you when you lack ability or words, Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”  If you just make the effort God’s Spirit will do the work and intercede to God on your behalf with sounds too deep for words.  Just make an honest effort and see God work in your prayer life.  What a gracious God we serve.  He literally helps us talk with Him.  Oh that He places in us a desire to speak with Him.

 

     Now we are also told to give thanks in all circumstances for it is God’s will for us in Christ.  You know I don’t know any professing Christians who say they doubt the Bible is true.  They all say they believe it is God’s perfect word.  Yet I see so many Christians, myself among them, who when in circumstances that are difficult question God’s fairness and love for them.  We say His word is true then doubt his sovereignty over our life, which is declared in the very word we proclaim as truth.  Oh how great a sinner I am!  Just the other night I received a call that my younger brother Roger was being admitted to the hospital with a possible aneurism of the carotid artery.  You don’t know this but Roger is, outside of my wife and children, my dearest and closest friend on this earth.  My love for him is profound.  He is my most trusted spiritual advisor this side of heaven.  I immediately went before the throne of God in tears and with great earnest.  Asking for God’s intervention and immediate healing.  I even became as bold as to demand it.  Who am I?  I know Roger is a child of God.  I know what the word of God says about our situations, Romans 8:28 “For we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”  If we truly believe this verse then there is no ultimate calamity for the Christian.  If I truly believe this verse than I must place my brother in God’s hands and trust that God truly will work it all out for His glory and our good.  So I repented and did just that.  Roger is going to be fine by the way, despite my arrogance.  If there was ever a verse of scripture for the Christian to live his or her life by it is Romans 8:28.  Think about it, if we truly believe this it would virtually eliminate fear.  It would eliminate doubt and embolden us to be mighty warriors for our God.  We claim to believe God’s word and live as though we have never heard of it.  I am telling you I know because I do this very thing each and every day myself.  I fear and I doubt.  I lean on my own strength and understanding not trusting in God’s.  I confess I am a great transgressor in this and pray God forgive me and strengthen me.

 

     How hard are you seeking after God?  Do you do His will?  Do you put feet and hands to your faith?  Do you see a need and fulfill it or just say I will pray for you?  James 2:15-17 says; “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace be warm and filled.’  Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”  James is telling us that the true Christian can not allow another brother or sister in the Lord to be in want and be OK sitting on the sidelines waiting for God to do something for those in need.  The true Christian will act when a need is noticed.  The true Christian will seek out a means or source of help for those in need or will become that source themselves.  Another thing to consider is that the true Christian will not seek glory for this action but allow God to be glorified by the actions.  The fewer people aware of your faithful work the better for you.  Remember what Jesus said about giving to the needy in Matthew 6 verses 3 and 4: “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  There are many reasons why your giving should be done as secretly as possible.  One is because we are so sinful and full of pride that we will be quick to take credit for the good deed done.  Is this so bad?  Yes, for we will carry it too far and take pleasure in the praise of others and not in being used by God.  Every one of us enjoys flattering words.  But from where did the good come that enabled us to do this deed?  Any good in us comes from God.  From where did the means come that allowed us to meet the need?  What do we have that has not been given to us by God?  Everything we are and have is His.  So what reason do we have to take pleasure in doing good?  For this reason, that Him who reigns on high determined to use you and I to accomplish a blessing on another brother or sister this is our pleasure, to be used by God.  We should Praise God for meeting the need of one in want and knowing that apart from God we would have done nothing to assist someone in need, by doing this we acknowledge our dependence upon Him and His grace.  Another reason to do your good work in secret is so that the one being blessed can direct the praise towards God for meeting the need in their life.  If they see you meeting their need they will, without thought, first thank you for meeting that need when the thanks and glory belong to God.  They may also feel indebted to you when the only one they need feel a debt to is God.  Do not rob those in need of their blessing and duty to thank God for meeting their needs.  Do not dare to accept the praise that rightfully belongs to God.  No good deed has ever been done apart from the sovereign hand of God moving those involved to meet the need.  This includes deeds done by reprobates headed for hell.  God is sovereign over them as well.

     How hard are you seeking after God?  Anyone involved in any real relationship will tell you that they have made sacrifices to be in that relationship.  Let us consider Jesus’ own description of one who is His friend; Luke 14:26 Jesus says “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Of course in this verse Jesus is telling the crowds the cost of true friendship to Him.  If you truly love Christ, as you are scripturally required to, the end result will be that everything else will pale in comparison and others who once were considered friends and family may now be at enmity with you.  The lost can’t understand the manifestation of holy love.  Love that seeks to rid you of yourself and replaces you with the image of Christ.  So my beloved do you love Christ like this?  To my great shame I do not.  My time is devoted to working, family, education, relaxation and a sundry of other things the world would call good and moral things.  But God’s word calls them the enemy of God because I have given them priority over God.  They are in fact my idols.  Are they yours as well?  Remember what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10: 41 and 42 “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” What Martha was doing was it wrong in and of itself?  No, but Jesus said only one thing was necessary and Mary had chosen it.  What did Mary choose?  It was not salvation it was, rather, to be close to Jesus and to learn from Him.  It was sanctification that Mary was after.  It was a deeper more intimate friendship with Christ.  This alienated her own sister and made her indignant.  Martha at that moment was at enmity with Mary.  Yes there is a cost if you are to be a friend of Jesus. 

     Jesus says in John 15:14-15 “You are my friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” 

What is the greatest command according to Christ?  Matthew 22:37-40 And He said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”  My next statement you may disagree with but I believe what I am about to say is 100% accurate.  There is not a person here today who has ever loved the Lord our God with all their heart, soul, and mind for even 15 seconds let alone on a regular basis.  And if we take the good Samaritan parable to mean that everyone we come in contact with is our neighbor and we are to love them as we love ourselves, we only fall a far greater distance away from obeying His command.  How can we be friends of Christ then?  How can we who will never love God as we are commanded to and thus always falling short of obeying His commands, the requirement to be His friend, ever be His friend?  Consider John 15: 14-15 one more time, Jesus says “You are my friends if” and again He says “I have called you friends.”  Who was Jesus saying this to?  His disciples including Peter, John, and even Judas.  Did these men love God as commanded?  No they did not.  Peter only a short time later would deny Jesus three times and Judas would betray Him outright.  What did Jesus call Judas after the kiss of betrayal? Matthew 26:50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.”  While Judas was not acting as a friend Jesus still called him a friend.  Judas most certainly was not loving Jesus at this moment.  Jesus was still extending His grace to His betrayer.  Each of us has thought how horrible Judas was yet behave just like him.  Yet there is God’s grace screaming to us friend!  There is God’s offer of eternal love and friendship reaching through our sins of selfish desire to rescue the unwilling from eternal alienation from God.  God calls us friend not because we can keep His commandment to love Him but because His son kept the commandments for us.  His son, even while experiencing the wrath of God His Father, never stopped loving His Father supremely.  While He took upon Himself the punishment we deserve for not loving God, He loved God through and in the punishment.  God has chosen to see the perfect love of Christ when looking on those He calls friend.  You and I will always fall short in ourselves to be friends with God.  We could never reach God.  Praise be to God that He has reached down to us.  To manifest His glory He has called us friend who have no right to be thus called.  You can not earn His friendship, it is bestowed upon you.  Pray to God that you may be granted grace and that you are counted among the chosen He calls friend.  Earnestly search His word and spend much time in prayer.  Trust in the Lord who alone can call and make you His friend.  It is for His glory that he saves us and calls us friend.  It is His grace he extends to those who will eternally be called His friend.  It is His work alone that takes you from being the enemy of God to being his friend.  How dear a friend indeed is He who snatched us from the wrath of God to the love of God!

1 Kings 18:17-18 (with help from Roger)

This is the first sermon I’ve written.  My brother Roger was a great help.  Any comments are welcomed.

God Bless

Tim

1 Kings 18:17-18

 

“When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you troubler of Israel?”  and he answered, “I have not troubled Israel but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.”

 

     In every generation and in most churches any person who declares the entire truth of God’s word will be considered a trouble maker.  But we should not fool ourselves into thinking that this attitude against God’s messenger is somehow different, or separate, from the attitude toward the message itself. One cannot say that the message is fine while the messenger is a trouble maker. In such circumstances, any trouble that one feels is trouble inflicted by the message which, if the messenger is truly God’s messenger, is the Word of God.  So to reject the messenger is, in fact, a rejection of God in such a case.  Elijah was telling the truth. And the word of God has a way of exposing the truth… a way of bringing to the surface those things we would prefer to keep buried.  If God’s messenger, Elijah, had been more like one of our seeker sensitive pastors, one of those prolific TV stars who grow mega churches by watering rocky soil with deceptive honey, rather than plowing it with God’s word,  Ahab might have found Elijah quite an agreeable fellow.  Brothers and Sisters, we must not think that we are, in any sense, not in danger of the same foolishness as Ahab whether we are a false messenger, or we are a hardhearted hearer.  To assume this is not possible of us is to place ourselves in direct danger of becoming what we say we will never become.

 

Elijah was a trouble maker because he declared the truth of God to a people who did not want to hear the truth of God.  This same story is played out again and again in scriptures.  In the New Testament we can start with John the Baptist.  He was beheaded for speaking truth.  Then there’s the story of the first martyr of the Church, Stephen.  Acts 7:54 we discover that Stephen spoke the truth and the people ground their teeth at him.  Then, to deal with this trouble maker, they stoned him to death.  What about Paul?  Listen to how he was rewarded by the people for speaking the truth of God’s word; “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea.  On frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and in thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-27. (Not all this was persecution at the hands of people.) Paul was eventually killed for speaking the truth.  Every where Paul went people wanted to harm and or kill him.  Why?  He spoke the truth of God’s word.  What about Jesus?  He most certainly told the full truth.   We know what they did to Jesus for speaking the truth.  He was crucified and it was the people who called themselves God’s people that made sure He was crucified.  It was the ones who considered themselves God’s people who did not want to hear God’s word.  Even from God’s own Son.

Are we such a people today?  Are the people of this local body no different from the people who stoned Stephen and Paul or crucified Christ?  Is it possible that we still have people claiming to be God’s people who do not want to hear God’s word?  It is time for some serious & honest self examination.  Remember what David said in Psalm 139:23 and 24 “Search me, Oh God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked (idol) way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” The word for wicked there is o’tseb and literally means idol fashioned.  In other words if I have made for myself an idol and placed it above You make this known to me so that I may repent and walk in Your light.  Have you made idols and placed them above God?  Is your comfort an idol to you?  I am not speaking of physical comfort but of spiritual comfort.  Would you rather hear how good you are and how much God loves you than to have the light of God’s word shown upon your evil deeds by God’s messenger so that you may repent?  If a man came to this pulpit and declared the truth contained in God’s word would we accept that word, repent, and thank God for sending us a man bold enough to proclaim the truth?  Or, would we have secret/private meetings among the leaders and discuss how we could best be done with such a man, such a trouble maker?

Of course we would say, ‘We accept the truth of God’s word.  God is our God and we have no other gods before Him.’  This is exactly what the people of Israel proclaimed before God when Joshua told them the choice they had.  Either to serve the one true God who brought them out of Egypt or serve other gods as their fathers did before them.  To the person they said: “far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD and serve other gods.” Joshua 24:16.  It was not that far from them at all.  Indeed this was their persistent sin.  They repeatedly turned to idol worship and false gods.  Every prophet God sent His people would be treated horribly and eventually, for the most part, killed by them.  Remember this is not some pagan people who had never heard God’s word.  This was Israel, the keeper of the sacred text. 

 

Is it so hard to understand why they refused to hear?  I can tell you why.  Because God gave them over to their foolish and sinful desires.  All the prophets (save Jonah) reveal this to us.  Let us consider Isaiah.  When Isaiah was commissioned in chapter six God says: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”  Isaiah responds with: “Here am I! Send me.”  God tells him to go but then he says something we might consider unusual.  God says: “Go and say to this people: Keep on hearing but do not understand, keep on seeing but do not perceive.  Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.”  That sounds like God does not intend to allow the people of Israel to repent.  Is this possible?  Does God stop people from understanding?  O man what do you have that has not been given to you?  Even your understanding is a gift from God.  Do not think more highly of yourselves than you should,  for this is our great error today.  We think ourselves educated and discerning when we are poor, ignorant and blind.  We are in greater need of God to open our eyes then the tribesman who has never heard the gospel of Christ.  Why?  Because we have heard and have neglected so great a call, all for the sake of our idols. 

What kind of message do we want?  Because that is the message we will find for ourselves. Itching ears will always find a way to be scratched.  If you want someone who will scratch your itchy ears, that is exactly what you will get. Our ears will be satisfied at the cost of our souls. We will have someone who will never declare the truth of God’s word but will simply placate our desires to feel good about ourselves.  God is going to give us exactly the kind of preacher we desire.  Is it possible God sends men to some congregations for the soul purpose of giving them over to their corporate sinful desire to never hear the full truth of His word?  Thus leaving them in their sin and doomed to eternal damnation for the most part.  This is not to say that every person of that congregation is doomed.  No, there may very well be a remnant, a handful of true believers who will yet see the glory of God.  I, for the life of me, do not understand why God keeps them there or why they stay.  Except that perhaps on that day when the others say, Lord, Lord did we not do all these miracles in your name… then Jesus will say, depart from me you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you.  It is possible that the few saints who remained in that congregation will be one method by which God will prove how very much the others deserve hell and are without excuse.

 

Don’t make me feel guilty! Tell me I’m an alright guy and God loves me just the way I am.’  But friends, if God’s love is satisfied with sinners, sinners like us, just as we are, why on earth would He take such great pains, the pains of the cross, to make us new creatures?  If God loves all sinners equally, how is it that some will spend eternity in hell?  Is it possible to eternally punish someone you love?  It is time to turn from our idol made to resemble God and worship the true God.  If you worship God you must worship Him in His totality. Wrath, Justice, Righteousness, Holiness, and Love are just a token of who God is.  Worshiping a God who’s only attribute is love is to worship a false god.  Yes our God
is love as we are told in 1 John chapter 4.  But He is so much more than that.  Yes His love is perfect.  So is His anger, so is His punishment, so is His hatred.  My dear people it is impossible to love and not hate.  If one loves justice one must hate injustice. If one loves humanity, one hates inhumanity. So yes if our God does love He indeed hates.  As it is written Jacob I loved but Esau I hated (Romans 9:13).  Is it possible that you or I could one day have that written or said about us?  I fear it is possible for many more of us than we realize.

 

You will argue; ‘But I accepted Jesus and made my profession of faith on such and such date at such and such time at such and such place. I am saved!’  Don’t be fooled.  A profession of faith NEVER saved anyone.  One is not saved by a profession of faith but by possession of faith.  Saving faith can only be given by God.  I have no doubt that there are those among us this morning that are of the family of God.  Adopted in and joint heirs with Christ.  I am just as sure that there are tares among the wheat this morning.  That there are some here, and perhaps the greater part, that are lost and headed straight for hell.  The sad part is they are deluding themselves into thinking they are OK and headed for heaven.  They have never seriously contemplated their eternal fate.  They have never seriously looked at the condition of their heart and soul.  I am convinced that if you do not think you deserve to go to hell you are most probably headed there.  Do not over inflate your own righteousness and do not lower God’s righteousness to meet your expectations, which fall far short of God’s requirements.  The consequences are eternal. 

 

 

Have you not read Matthew chapter 7 where Jesus says; “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘LORD, LORD,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to Me, ‘LORD, LORD, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23.  These are people who even at the judgment still think they are saved.  And why not?  After all they did great things for God while on this earth.  They prophesied and did mighty works.  In the original language the term mighty works refers to miracles.  How many of you have performed miracles lately?  Me either.  But you know who did?  Judas Iscariot who was sent out with the 12 by Jesus.  Jesus called him a devil.  Matthew chapter 10 tells us that Jesus called the twelve together and “gave them power and authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out,  and to heal every disease and every affliction.”  Then Matthew gives us the names of the 12 people Jesus gave this power to and sent out and Judas is listed in verse 4 and called the one who would betray Him.  What great and mighty things have you done for God?  If you are like me you must answer with an honest and convicting nothing.  Do not think yourself a righteous person because by God’s standard you are not.  You can only enter heaven based on another’s righteousness.  Someone else had to live the perfect and holy life required by God but impossible for you to achieve.  How do you obtain the righteousness required for entry into heaven?

You can’t obtain it for yourself.  It is given freely to those God has called.  Jesus loved His bride so much He left the praise of angels for the profanity of man.  He who created food and never knew hunger went hungry for His bride.  He who created water and never knew thirst went thirsty for His bride.  He who never experienced physical pain was beaten and hung on a cross in place of His bride.  He who never knew separation from the Father was forsaken by His Father for the sake of His bride.  He who never sinned took upon Himself the sins of His bride in order to love her eternally and be with her eternally in heaven.  Christ spoke scorching hot words against sin. And sin every single sin is the act of ignoring God’s word. Christ, the Son of God, paid the penalty for hard hearts and closed ears. And it is Christ who opens ears and softens hearts. The law of God is our school master….it is a teacher. This teacher does not seek to reform sinners. This teacher kills sinners. The Law drives sinners to the place of their
death. It drives them to the place of the cross. The law empties us of all our pretenses. It strips us naked before God, just as Christ was naked upon His cross. The law has never justified a single sinner, though it has condemned all sinners. But at the cross, the condemned are put to death in the person of God’s Son. At the cross, God’s justice has been served. There upon that Jerusalem hill, wrath and mercy met, side by side, like the lion and the lamb. He is calling you to this Gospel….to this Good News. His law asks you how you can escape the wrath to come. And if the heart of the sinner is not softened by God’s law, it will be condemned by God’s wrath. But the law of God breaks the hardened heart. And the cross, God’s provision for sinners, makes that heart to live again through Christ.  Now to him who is able to save to the uttermost, those who trust in Him, be all glory, honor and praise now, and forevermore.

Amen