Chardon church of Christ

Was It Worth It?

Hebrews 11:32 – 12:3

There is a bumper sticker that sums up life on earth like this:
“Many who seek God at the 11th hour of their life… Die at 10:30!”

We often hear the question… “Was It Worth It?”
We can ask Adam & Eve as we read Genesis 2: 8 – 9
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then verses 15-17: 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
And finally Genesis 3: 2 – 6 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

We can ask Noah in Genesis 6: 5 – 7
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

How devastating it would be to have our own earthly father say to us that he regrets that we were even born.

And then in Genesis 7:19 – 22 we read
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit[a] of life, all that was on the dry land, died.

Or, what about Job?
Or what does Jesus tells us in Matthew 5: 3 - 12?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

"It WILL ALL BE WORTH it all when we see Jesus,

Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ."

Some of the Jewish Christians… to whom the letter of Hebrews was written… were not sure that it was really worth it all to continue following Jesus.

As Jews… they had endured cruel persecutions at the hands of both the Syrians & the Romans.
But after they had become Christians, the persecutions were even worse than before. Not only were they being persecuted by the Romans,
but now as Christians, they were also being persecuted by the Jews themselves.

So, all through the letter of Hebrews, the author seeks to encourage them - to help them understand that being a Christian is really worth it all.
He reminds them that those who have been faithful to God have always faced persecution, but that the end result will be a glorious victory even beyond their imagination.

In Hebrews 11:32 – 34… WHICH IS WHAT WE ARE CURRENTLY DISCUSSING IN OUR SUNDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY … the writer tells us these words,
"What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised;

"who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength;
and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

and then He continues with these inspired words in vs's 36-38, "Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.
"They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them."

Then in the next few verses he tells them to do 3 simple things.

#1, Remember your heritage;
#2, Throw off everything that hinders;
& #3, Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Listen as we go on to chapter 12, vs's 1, 2, & 3.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
"Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

What a heritage is ours - not only all the heroes of our faith –
but the Angels and Jesus himself!

I. REMEMBER YOUR HERITAGE
Paul tells them that it is important for them to remain faithful because of the example,
the witness of all who have gone before.
And he portrays it like they are in a race,
& the stands are filled with those who have not only have already run the race but who have also won the victory.
For some of us today that is a very good motivation,
because, like it or not, we realize that we are being watched.

ILL. I remember a time when many of my family members rented several cabins in Gatlinburg Tennessee for a vacation. And, of course, we took lots of pictures.
On the last day together we decided they wanted a picture with all of us in it.
But who would take the picture?
Well, one of us had a camera with a delay system where one person could push the button & still have time to run back & get in the picture before the camera shutter clicked.

So that is what we used. And here we are, all 23 of us standing with ours arms around each other, with smiles frozen on our faces - waiting for the camera to click.
A few moments passed & then someone muttered, "I didn't hear it click.
Did you hear it click?"

So, there we stood, not daring to move, but becoming acutely aware that people walking by,
who couldn't see the camera,
were staring at us, evidently wondering what in the world we were doing.
All they saw was 23 people with their arms around each other, standing absolutely still & grinning.

Well, why do we care what people think about us, & the way we look? What is it about us that wants people to be concerned about who we are & what we do?

I realize there are some who proclaim, "I don't care what anybody thinks or says about me!" But deep down, most of us do care, & we want to be respected & appreciated.

when the author speaks about a great "cloud of witnesses",
I believe he is saying that there is a great host of people who have already experienced even worse trials & temptations than we will ever face, & they overcame them.
They remained faithful in spite of it all.

And that if we are faithful
we can win the victory, too!

However, we must recognize that people around us - our family, our friends, neighbors & co-workers are watching us, how we live, what we say & what we do –
maybe even more than we realize. And what are they seeing?

ILL. Do you remember the murder trial of Sherri Wolfe?
Her ex husband had complained repeatedly to his lawyer about the way she was treating him when he tried to exercise his visitation rights with their children.

Finally, the lawyer suggested that he hide a recording device under his shirt & just before going into his ex wife's home that he start the recorder so that they would have proof that he was being berated & abused when he went to pick up his children.

Little did he know that was the day they planned to murder him.
Before entering the house he switched on the recorder, & went in & sat down on the couch.
When he did, Mrs. Wolfe's new husband & another relative attacked him from behind & repeatedly beat him over the head with an iron bar.

On the recording you can hear the sounds of the blows striking his head, & his groans as he died.
The District Attorney, when he addressed the jury, said,
"Ladies & gentlemen of the jury.
Sherri Wolfe is convicted by her own silence on this recording.
The whole time her ex-husband was being beaten she said nothing."
Now he was dead. But even though he was dead,
through the recording he was a witness at his ex-wife's murder trial.
And all throughout our lives we are being a witness, too!

II. THROW OFF EVERYTHING THAT HINDERS
If we were to read all of the 11th chapter of Hebrews telling about some of the great heroes of the faith,
most of us would be inspired - challenged to get in there & run the race with them. But that doesn't guarantee that we will actually do it.
Most of us in our hearts, really want to run our race well, don't we? Those who have gone before us have passed the torch & given us a heritage & a faith to carry on.
Hymn #222
1. Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword;
Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious Word!
o Refrain:
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.
4. Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife;
And preach thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.

But sometimes there are things in our life that hinder us from doing it.
And in this passage the Apostle Paul pinpoints 2 of them.
A. He says, 1st of all, that we need to "throw off everything that hinders." Or as another Bible translation puts it to "lay aside every weight."

B. And, there is a 2nd thing that he tells us to get rid of "the sin that so easily entangles…"
ILL. There is a troubling passage of scripture about Judas.
John 12:6 says that while Judas was one of the 12
he served as their treasurer & was stealing from them.

Evidently it was something that he did more than once.
Finally, the time came when Judas found himself with a perfect opportunity to betray Jesus for money. And at that point the Bible says that Satan "entered Judas."

I wonder how many people today find themselves entangled & are thinking, "Well, that's just the way I am. I can't change. And after all, a lot of other people are just like me."
Don't go down that path! Throw off everything that hinders, & fix your eyes on Jesus!

III. FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS
ILL. Do you remember being young & having your mother say to you, "Look at me when I'm talking to you." But you didn't want to because you knew you were in the wrong.

I wonder if sometimes Jesus is speaking to us & saying, "Would you look at me for a change? You would get in a lot less trouble, & be able to run the race successfully, if you would just fix your eyes on me."

ILL. There is a story told of a student who was stopped by a highway patrolman for speeding. The officer told him, "I'll give you a choice. You can either take this ticket & appear in court,
or you can look at a picture album that I have in my patrol car."

The student happily replied, "I'll look at the picture album."
So they went back to the patrol car, & the officer got out an album full of pictures of automobile accidents, & showed those pictures to him one by one.

The student later said, "I wish I had taken the ticket."
Do you know why? Because when we look at the results of our mistakes, we generally don't like what we see.
And that young man was shaken by what he saw.

That is why we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, & remember the price He paid for our sin & the love of God that sent Jesus to save us from our sins.
And one day - "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ."

Invitation

What is Faith?

What is Faith?
Hebrews 10:38

INTRO: There is something we need, it is talked about many times in scripture, we have probably all heard short definitions about it and yet it continues to be misunderstood by many who consider themselves Christians. That something is Faith. Let’s start this morning by looking at this very necessary aspect in our salvation. I do not expect we will exhaust this topic in one lesson or perhaps in several.

In Matthew 7:21-23 we see familiar verses, “21. "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22. "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23. "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”

Many people profess to be a Christian and have done so for a large part of their lives. As a child I learned the story of creation, I had a childlike understanding of God and Jesus and desired to belong. As I grew older the passage we just read always unsettled me. Jesus made it clear that professing to be saved and being saved are two different things. It seems here that Jesus is discounting grace and emphasis is being placed on works… Only those who do the will of my Father in heaven will enter… and… We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.

We recognize of course, that the works mentioned were not accepted and that includes exorcism and miracles, which of course we cannot do. I use to think, “These people did miracles and could not get in so how will I be saved?”

What is Jesus communicating? Do we earn our way to heaven by being perfectly obedient to the Father? If that is true, who other than Jesus can be saved? Then I thought of Luke 17:5 where the apostles asked the Lord to “increase their faith”. For me that was a key, faith is what God provides but not mysteriously or miraculously. The Bible tells us “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17.

Certainly, I want to increase my faith and I hope you do as well. Scripture provides an abundant resource for the study of faith. In Hebrews 10:38 the writer says, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
This is the answer to all problems, difficulties, and disappointments. It is a strong and candid declaration that Christians must "live by faith"! When we do that, then such things as "when" Christ will come again, and countless other questions can be safely left with the Lord. It is enough for us to know that what God has promised is not about to fail. We note that the soul that draws back shall confront the displeasure of God.

I. What is Faith? The basic NT words for faith are the noun pistos and the verb pisteuo. According to Vine’s pistos means, “firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing”. He goes on to say that it is used to denote: a. trust; b. trustworthiness, c. what is believed, the contents of belief; d. assurance, a ground for belief. e. a pledge of fidelity.

A. The aspect of faith has to do with persuasion, affirmation, and conviction of something that is true. That is the aspect of believing. There's also the content of what is believed.
B. As the Bible talks about faith, it incorporates the aspect of trust which motivates and creates true obedience. It is that obedience that comes as the result of a trust in God that is defined as faith.
C. When faith is used to represent a condition for salvation, there are two main points to look at, each of which is a necessary aspect of the total concept of our saving faith.

II. The first one is the aspect of assent or belief. Assent, is an act of the mind, a judgment of the intellect, about a particular idea. A coming to recognize that what's been said to you is true and therefore you accept it. You assent to its truthfulness.

A. Accepting a statement by faith does not mean that I accept it blindly. It does define the fact that I have come to a conviction on it. It is not all that is left when there is no rational evidence. People make the assertion; “Faith takes over where reason leaves off.”

1. Now there is that “view” about faith. If you talk to people in the world, particularly on religious topics about faith and whether or not they have faith in the fact that God created the world, or their faith in Jesus, or their faith in the resurrection, their perspective is; “well, there's no real evidence for that”. They say there's no rational reason, you just have to accept that by faith. You either accept it by faith, or you don't accept it by faith. That then becomes a very relative aspect.
2. Sometimes people say faith is an illogical belief in the improbable. Have you ever heard that one is to take a leap of faith, or one must have blind faith to have true faith? In the Bible, none of those assertions are true, none of those are concepts about faith or what the Bible presents.

B. Our faith is based upon the sufficiency of the evidence. It's based upon the confidence we have and the trustworthiness of the one who says something to us. If I’m talking to you and I ask; “do you believe me?”, you have to weigh the evidence as to whether or not what I'm saying is corroborated by other things.

1. Of course you might want to consider whether or not I am a habitual liar or I usually tell you the truth. That aspect of belief and faith rests in the trustworthiness of the one who is giving the testimony and other testimony that might very well corroborate what is said.
2. In John 10:37 Jesus says, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;” Jesus says if I don't do the works of my Father, you have every right to not believe in me. There is testimony for your very eyes that I am who I say that I am. If Jesus did the miracles, if He performed the works of His Father, then that demanded the aspect of faith and belief.

C. We can know something. When I say know I mean in the aspect of having an absolute assurance of something by experience, we can see it. I know you're here because I can see you. Those particular things that we see, that we experience in life, are not things that we recognize as being accepted by faith.

1. The ideas that we accept by faith, that we assent to, are those that enter into our consciousness through the testimony of others. We believe because someone has given us testimony or told us that these things are so. We either accept them or we don't accept them.
2. That is a frequent element of everyday life, isn’t it? You read something in the newspaper and you don't know if it's true or not, but there it is in the newspaper. Do you recall Virginia’s letter to the editor of The Sun? She wrote; “Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’” Someone testified to it and you either agree with it or you don't agree with it. You either believe that it happened or it did not happen.
3. Let’s say I greet you and I say, “how was your day?” You tell me, it was fine. Do I believe that? That's just your testimony. I don't necessarily have any empirical evidence that you had a good day or not. I believe what you tell me based on the testimony that you give me.

D. The atheist has faith. He won't readily admit that, but his actions are based on faith. He believes that Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. He believes that George Washington lived. He believes these things from history. Based on what? Based upon testimony. He wasn't there. He didn't see them. He didn't experience them. If he did, he would know them, but he believes them because of the testimony of history. Every day we participate in the activity of faith.
E. Faith IS a condition of salvation. It involves the aspect of the acceptance of what God has said and the testimony of the apostles and prophets given to us in Scripture. We have faith in what God has said, meaning that we agree that what God has said in the Scriptures is true.

1. In the chapter of Hebrews called the faith chapter, we read Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is supported by testimony, which is the evidence of things that you don't necessarily see or experience yourself, but you believe them, you assent to them. We believe, even in the absence of first-hand experience, that these things are true.
2. The writer of Hebrews also says that faith is the substance of things hoped for. The word “substance” here is in Greek “hypostasis”, a compound word Strong defines it as a structure, foundation, that which has actual existence, a substantial quality, steadiness, firmness, confidence, firm trust, assurance. It means that it is a “certainty” of things that are yet to come.
3. How can we be certain about what's going to come, through faith? It is an element of faith that you come to be certain of things that have not yet happened. These are things that you don't experience but because of the testimony you've accepted, and the evidence that supports that testimony, you believe them. In biblical terminology, the assent aspect of faith is represented by the phrase believe that. It is something that's to be believed in.

a. An example is in Hebrews 11:6 – “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” This verse illustrates the assent, or agreement, or belief aspect of faith in that there are certain facts that we must believe, things that we must accept based on the testimony that's given in the Scriptures.
b. John 8:24 – “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Faith certainly is a condition of something here. It is a condition of not perishing and dying in our sins. It's ascribed to the aspect that I must believe something about Jesus, that there is a fact that must be accepted.
c. Some folks don't believe that Jesus came and lived on the earth. Some don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and yet still claim to have faith. Jesus specifically defined faith in the aspect that there are facts that must be accepted and cannot be rejected or a person cannot please God.
d. John 14:10 – “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” Here Jesus is exhorting Philip to believe that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him.
e. In John 20:30-31 he wrote, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” John was writing his testimony so that you and I would come to believe certain things about Jesus that are solid, and certain. Jesus is the Christ and He is the Son of the living God.
f. I would say that scripture is clear that a person who does not believe this, cannot please God and will not be saved. I don't think there's any other conclusion that I could come to.

4. By understanding the nature of faith, AND understanding the conditionality of faith as it is presented in scriptures, there are certain things that I must believe in and believe that these things are true. Since faith includes this aspect of what is to be agreed with, it has come to refer to the body of doctrine that is accepted as truth.
5. In Ephesians 4:4-6 we read, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” One faith means there is one objective body of truth that must be accepted.

III. The second aspect of faith is that a person must trust. The first was belief and the second is trust. That trust is an integral and necessary element of having faith. Assent, agreement, is a judgment of the mind regarding the truth of a statement. Trust is the decision of the will to act upon what is accepted as true.

A. I accept something to be true, but faith takes me further than that. True faith calls me to trust in that statement, so much so, that I would act upon it and my will would respond. There is in faith the response of the mind intellectually, and also the response of the will in doing what God has given me to do, to act upon what's been revealed.

1. I believe that this element of faith, as it's described in the Bible, could also be recognized as a personal surrender. It is the act of giving myself to God because He is the one who has told me what is true, and I believe Him, but more than that, I believe in Him.
2. I would describe it this way, I trust in, and believe in a person, not just in a doctrine. If I ask you, “do you have faith in your doctor?” what does that mean? That you believe they exist? That you believe they are a doctor? It might include seeing the diploma on their wall and you read it and you think, well, yeah, it says they graduated, so I believe they did graduate from Harvard.
3. When I ask you if you believe in your doctor, it probably means more than that to you though, doesn't it? You know what I’m asking; do you trust them? Will you let them tell you what's wrong with you and then act upon what they say? Will you fill their prescriptions and follow their directions? Will you trust them to work on you?
4. Theologian and philosopher Jack Cottrell put it this way. “Faith is the decision of the will to surrender everything about ourselves, our time, our possessions, our abilities, our life itself and our eternal destiny into the hands of Jesus Christ.” Trust is the decision to rest our hope of eternal life upon the saving power of the cross and His resurrection.

B. In the second part of First Timothy 1:12, Paul writes, “… I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” What do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus…not just about Jesus, but do you believe in Jesus?

1. That may seem to be, in terms of a preposition, somewhat of an insignificant distinction, but I want us to recognize that it's one way we're able to see the different elements of faith as they are presented to us in the Scriptures. Faith as trust is a believing in, or on someone who has made the statement or has acted on our behalf.
2. To believe in Jesus, and to believe on Jesus, is to trust in the person and the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Let’s look at some examples.

a. John 3:16 – “… whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”
b. Acts 10:43 – “… whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
c. Acts 16:31 – in answer to the jailer, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…”
d. 1 Timothy 1:16 – “… as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life”

C. Assent alone does not meet the condition of faith for salvation. Even demons believe that the God of the Bible is the true God (James 2:19). Demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and they believe that God is true and real, but they don't believe in him. We know that because demons don't follow Him, they do not obey him. Demons do not in any way put their trust in Him, and therefore their faith, i.e. their belief or understanding, the intellectual recognition of who God is not enough. It simply brings about a trembling. It does not bring about salvation.

1. Saving faith cannot be defined as simply agreeing with what God has said. It must also include the willingness to trust in Him and surrender my will to His will. Thus faith without obedience is dead (useless) in itself as James said. Yet faith and obedience are not the same thing. Faith must, by its very definition, lead an individual to the activity of trusting in Him, showing or exhibiting that the faith is full, that it is alive and not dead.
2. Faith and obedience are so intertwined that the writer of Hebrews was even willing to imply that unbelief was the same as disobedience. Hebrews 3:18-19 – “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” The faith that saves is a faith that obeys.

IV. Why is faith a condition for salvation? It is not the only condition of salvation of course – repentance, confession, and baptism are also conditions. But in a consideration of what faith is, this question is pertinent. Given the nature of salvation and our understanding of what faith is, it is a necessary condition.

A. The source of our salvation is not our work or activity, but a work that has been done by someone else—Jesus. To be saved we must accept and rely upon what has been done for us. This act of relying on Jesus and His work is the very essence of faith.

1. Salvation comes to us not through God’s law but through His promises. Romans 4:13-21 – “13. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15. because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression…”
2. Galatians 3:18 says, “For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” then in verses 21-22 – “ Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” and at verses 26-29 – “26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
3. God offers salvation through His promise; the only way to respond to a promise is by believing it and trusting in it (and in the one who gave it).

B. Salvation is by grace, and faith is the natural and proper response to grace. “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).

 

CONCLUSION: The power of salvation is not in my faith itself. It is rather in the object of my faith – Jesus Christ. It is all Him. Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” – The gift here is not my faith, but my salvation. Faith is my response to the grace offered.

Paul wrote in Romans 5:1-2 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Later he notes the point of their faith in which they received the grace: Romans 6:3-4 – “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Have you expressed your faith in obedience to the command to be baptized into Christ?
Mark 16:16 – “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

If anybody needs to respond, either to dedicate themselves to Christ, be buried with Him in baptism, and become a part of the work He has for us; or if you need to ask for prayers on your behalf, won’t you come forward as we stand and sing our Invitational song.

 

# 603—Jesus I Come

Reference Sermon by: David Schmidt

An Attitude of Gratitude

An Attitude of Gratitude
Luke 15: 25 – 32

A friend of mine tells a story of when he was about 6 or 7 yrs old and wanted to go exploring in his neighborhood one summer afternoon.
He walked to the school playground which was about 4 blocks from his house.
While playing on the school playground he noticed woods beyond the school and decided to go on a hike to discover what was in and beyond those woods.
He says that he must have been gone a long time that day because his mom became frantic.

She asked all the neighbors and some of my friends to go looking for me.
When it began to get late in the day, I started walking home and was confronted by some of the people who had been looking for me all afternoon.
When my mom saw me about a block away, she ran to me, hugged me, and then whipped my behind all the way home.

That story ended on a good note. But every year, about 2 million children are lost to their parents.
Some run away.
Some are kidnapped.
Some are kidnapped and put in to sex trafficking.

I can’t imagine the panic, despair, and grief that a parent experiences when they have lost their child.
Can you imagine?
What would you do if one of your children got lost, not for just a few minutes in the mall, not for an hour, but what could be forever?
What would YOU do?

Please turn with me to Luke 15:11-32.
Luke 15 starts out with the scribes and Pharisees being upset with Jesus because He was eating with and socializing with tax collectors and sinners.
Tax collectors were universally hated by their fellow Jews because they collected taxes for the hated Roman invaders and even worse, extorted extra money to line their pockets.

Sinners included a broad category of thieves, prostitutes, and generally non-religious folks.
The religious folk didn’t have anything to do with the non-religious folk.
So, when Jesus spent time with these individuals… the so-called “religious folk” began to grumble.

Knowing the hardness of their hearts, Jesus launched into 3 of the most well-known parables He ever taught.
From what I understand… a parable comes from two Greek word: para meaning alongside and ballo, meaning to throw or throw down.
So, a parable is a story thrown down alongside a truth to illustrate it.

• The 1st parable was about a shepherd who lost one of his sheep. He risked the 99 to go after The One.

• The 2nd parable was about a woman who had lost a coin. She turned her house upside down searching for The One.

• Now this 3rd parable takes on a more personal dimension: it is about a father whose son had chosen a path that separated himself from his father, and a father whose heart ached because of the separation and celebrated when the son finally did come home.

And, there are 3 separate stories found in this third parable.
Story #1 is about the prodigal who went into the far country, squandered all his money in wild living, & then finally went back home.
Story #2 is about the father who watched & waited anxiously for his son to return. And when he did, welcomed him with love, & even threw a party for him.

And Story #3, is about the older brother who usually goes almost unnoticed when we read this parable.
He is a perfect example of stubbornness & its results.

Listen to Luke 15: 25 – 27 .
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

Now how does this older brother respond to that?
He has just heard some good news.
His brother who had been gone so long is back home safe & sound.
And if we weren’t already very familiar with the story we would expect the older brother to rejoice.
We'd expect him to say, "I'm going to the party! I can hardly wait to see him. I'm glad he's home!"

If you’re hear this morning and you feel like you’re lost and separated from the Father; if you feel like you’ve been squandering your life in foolish living, there’s a message here for you straight from your heavenly Father:
It’s time to come home.
He longs for your return.

You have nothing to offer Him--except yourself.
Jesus is telling this parable because that’s why He came:
to pay the penalty for your rebellion so that if you’ll come to your senses, and seek the mercy of God, you can be redeemed.

 

Note that:
1: you can bring nothing to God that will make you acceptable to Him.

2: It’s only by your repentance, baptism and faithful living that redemption can come to you.

But wait a minute. Jesus isn’t done with the parable. Somebody is not happy about this reunion and celebration.
Who is it?
First and foremost is the fattened calf!
Oh yeah, AND the older brother is not happy, at all.

Let’s look at the ultimate purpose of why Jesus told this parable.

Vs. 28 says, "The older brother became angry & refused to go in."
We see an individual who planted his feet on the ground. He clenched his fists. He stubbornly refused to go in.

Now look at vs’s 29-32, "So his father went out & pleaded with him." Some translations say, "He begged him to come in."
"But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I have been slaving for you & never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
"But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"

"'My son,' the father said, 'You are always with me, & everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate & be glad, because this brother of yours was dead & is alive again; he was lost & is found.'"

Now can you see that older brother standing there while everybody else has gone to the party?
There is music & laughter & celebration!
Everybody is having a great time, except this older brother who refuses to go to the party.
And because of his stubbornness, he imprisons himself behind a wall of bitterness.

If it hadn't been for his stubbornness we might never have known what kind of person this older brother really was.
So let's look at him, & then look at ourselves.

Pull back the curtain & ask ourselves honestly, "What kind of person am I?"

The first thing his stubbornness reveals is that this older brother was a selfish & ungrateful son.
He looked at his father, & instead of being grateful for all the things he had received, he complained about what he didn't receive.

What a terrible attitude!
He was the older brother.
In Jewish culture that meant he would receive a double inheritance, & all the family lands would be his.

To him belonged the Birthright & his father's Blessing.
His father even reminded him, "Everything I have is yours."

But right now that wasn't enough for him.
The only thing he was focusing on was that "You never gave me a fattened calf."
Now fattened calves were saved for special occasions.
You kept that calf separate from the others, & gave it the best feed you had.

So here is this calf that was being saved for a special occasion. And the special occasion came when the prodigal son returned home.

But the older brother is not thinking about all the good things he has received in life.
He is not counting his blessings.
Instead, he is angry & ungrateful because of the one thing he hasn't received.

I like the story about the 4th graders who were asked to write down the 7 wonders of the world.
So, they started writing down what they thought were the 7 wonders of the world.

After a while, the teacher began collecting the papers & looking at their answers,
answers like the Grand Canyon,
the Taj Mahal in India,
the pyramids in Egypt,
wonders from all over the world.

But one little girl was still writing.
The teacher asked, "Aren't you through yet?
I just asked you to write down the 7 wonders of the world.
What are you writing?"

The little girl paused for a moment and then quietly answered, "Well, I don't know if these are the right ones or not, but I have a whole lot more than 7."

The teacher said, "Let me see what you have written."
Then he started reading the little girl's list of the wonders of the world.
"To be able to see, hear, think, breathe, touch, run, love, laugh." And the list went on.

You see, our problem is that we think the great things of life are material things - things like fattened calves.
And, in doing that we overlook the blessings that our Father is giving to us every day.

What a list the older brother could have written.
But no, he's standing outside, selfish & ungrateful, refusing to heed his father's invitation.
And many people are doing exactly that same thing today.

Not only was the older brother selfish & ungrateful, but his stubbornness reveals that he was also a very unhappy & unfeeling man.

In vs. 29 he says to his father, "Look!" He doesn't even address his father with respect.
"Look!" he says. "All these years I have been slaving for you. . ."

A slave? Now that's a deliberate slap in the face of the father, isn't it?
I don't know what the son could have said that would have hurt his father more.

His oldest son. His heir.
For years they have worked side by side.
All his life has been poured into that boy.

I'm sure his father was proud of him.
He didn't go into the far country.
He stayed home. "That's my boy!"

But it took only a few bitter words to destroy that feeling, maybe forever.
He thinks of his father as a slave driver.
And he sees himself as a slave.
What went wrong?

There may be times that instead of considering how good God is, & how much God has given;
instead of rejoicing in His mercy & grace & salvation;

instead of rejoicing at the fact that you can see, & hear, & walk, & think, & work;

instead of doing that, we often complain about the things we don't have.

"You have a new car, & I have an old clunker.

You have all these things, & I don't have anything.

Why is it that everything always works out for you, & it doesn't work out for me?"

That attitude leads to all kinds of unhappiness in life.

And, the 3rd thing his stubbornness revealed was that he was unloving & unforgiving towards his brother.

"This son of yours," he said. He didn't even call him a "brother."

There is something interesting to consider here.
Do you know why the prodigal came home?
Because he woke up & realized that his father was probably the most generous man he knew.
Did you notice that?

Turn back to vs. 17
. Here is the prodigal son sitting in the midst of the hog lot, & he says, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, & I am starving to death?"

It is interesting how our circumstances effect our attitude.
On one hand, the older brother has always been there, eating at his father's table.
He's always had enough food.
He has always had clothing to wear.
Yet he thinks his father is stingy.

But the prodigal, away in the far country in the midst of the hog lot, begins to remember how generous his father has always been.
As he sits there smelling the slop, he suddenly remembers, "Even my father's servants have more than enough food to eat."
So, he goes home, because he realizes that his father is generous.

The older brother who thinks his father is stingy, is unloving & unforgiving towards his brother.
He won't even recognize him as a brother.

Someone once wrote, "If Jesus had been the older brother, think how different this story would have been.

Instead of the older brother staying home while the prodigal was away in the far country, Jesus, as the elder brother, would have gone into the far country to search for him."

"He would have gone to the bars & brothels.
He would have gone to the hog lots until finally he found his brother & brought him home.
Because of his love he would not leave his brother in the far country."

Folks, isn't it amazing that we can see how stubborn other people are, & yet never realize that the Bible is talking about us?

Listen to what Paul says in Romans 2:5.
"But because of your stubbornness & your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed."

Did you hear that?
He said, "Because you are stubborn you don't repent.
And because you don't repent, you are storing up wrath against yourself."

Then he says, "Because of that, God's wrath will be revealed on the Day of Judgment," all because of stubbornness.

Do you remember King Agrippa?
The Apostle Paul was a prisoner of Gov. Festus & was being questioned by King Agrippa.

Paul spoke with such power & conviction about Jesus & why he had become a Christian.
Acts 26:28 says, "Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian."
"Almost." But no, he was a King & he turned his back & walked away.

I hope that is not your case this Morning.
I hope you see yourself as having an attitude of gratitude.

I hope you will respond to the invitation,
And, Realize what God and His Son Jesus have to offer:

And because of that you are willing to:
Repent of your sins;
Confess that Jesus is the Living Son of the Father;
And be buried with Him through Baptism
To work in Newness of Life.

The Lord patiently waits for you as we stand & sing.

Christ Gives a New Commandment

Christ Gives a New Commandment
John 13:24-25

INTRO: I will start this morning with a scripture from Matthew, though our text will be elsewhere. Matthew 7:28-29 tells us, “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” The people hearing Jesus speak recognized He did so as one having authority.

Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 told His disciples the extent of His authority. “Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” In John 17:1-2 Jesus in His prayer to God, “…spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”

Not only did Jesus claim to have all authority, but during His ministry, He demonstrated it in many ways. He demonstrated His power over the forces of nature, over demons, over ill health and He forgave a man’s sins which only God can do. There were many ways that He demonstrated His divine authority.

Jesus truly does have all authority and the practical point we find is that we are to submit to the Lord's authority. Colossians 3:17 refers to everything that we do and everything that we say, teaching us that everything is to be done or said in the name of the Lord Jesus. In other words, we are to do what the Lord tells us to do.

How do we know what the Lord wants us to do? Colossians 3:16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom. His word is the New Testament. Hebrews 9:15 says that Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, and if we will search His Word diligently, we will know what He wants us to do. When we comply with His wishes we'll have the Lord's approval, and we'll be setting a good example for others to follow.

Today we are going to look at something the Lord commands us to do. Read with me now our very short text in John 13: 34-35 – “34. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35. "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.''” From these verses, we learn that the Lord commands His followers to love one another. This is a direct command and is one of the ways scripture tells us how to please God, direct command.

To appreciate more fully what Jesus commands us to do, we need to look at the setting in which Jesus gave this particular command. This is called studying passages in their context. If we look at the setting in which various things occurred, it will help us to have a more full understanding of exactly what was taking place.

I. Let’s look then at the setting, what was taking place, when Jesus gave the command we find in John 13: 34-35. We need to know what was going on.

A. This was a short time before Jesus was arrested, and He and His apostles met in the upper room to eat the Passover meal. Passover was a very important feast for the children of Israel and was to be observed on the evening of the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar.

1. That meal consisted of roast lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and of course, they would drink the fruit of the vine. The Law of Moses gave detailed instructions for eating that meal.
2. This meal was in remembrance of how God had delivered them from bondage years earlier when their ancestors were in Egypt. Each year, God wanted His people to remember that event.

B. Jesus ate the Passover meal with His apostles in the upper room and on this occasion, Jesus gave instructions for something else.

1. Jesus took two elements—the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine—and gave instructions for eating His supper. I’m reading now from Luke 22:14-20 – “He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; "for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; "for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.'' And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'' Likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
2. Jesus gave instructions for His followers to eat the Lord's supper and He said “do this in remembrance of me”. Each Lord's day, we're able to remember what Jesus did on our behalf. John doesn't show us this, but Luke does. That's why we always study all the verses that deal with a particular matter to help us see the full picture.
3. I believe we would all agree that that would be a very serious occasion. Jesus knew what was about to happen to Him and He conveyed that information to His apostles. He said that He was going to be betrayed. Jesus knew He would be killed, He knew all that was going to happen.
4. Now Jesus has told the apostles of His coming betrayal and He has given instructions for His supper. What did the apostles do?

C. Well, the first thing we see is in verse 23 where we are told they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would betray Him. Then we see verse 24. Luke 22:24 – “But there was also rivalry among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.”

1. This issue had come up before among the apostles during the Lord's ministry. Can you imagine when Jesus was assembled with His followers, gave instructions for eating His supper in remembrance of Him, and told them He would be betrayed, that what they are concerned about is which one was the greatest? There was rivalry among them.
2. Here Jesus was very patient, much more patient than I am. If I had been in that situation, I would have been tempted to say, fellas, I’ve dealt with this several times already. This is a pretty bad time to be discussing which one of you is the greatest.
3. I imagine many of us would have wanted to throw up our hands and been tempted to walk away saying, I've had it with this lot. Jesus is very patient because He knows people are sometimes slow to grasp the whole import of a situation.
4. He had already dealt with it at least twice, in Luke 9:46 and Matthew 18:1-4 for example. Jesus dealt with the situation in a little different way this time. Let's go back to John, chapter 13, and see how Jesus dealt with that situation on this occasion. What did he do?

D. He responded to that strife by washing the apostle's feet. John 13:4-5 – “So He rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”

1. Jesus arose from the meal, took His garment off, put a towel around Him, took a basin with some water in it, and began to wash the apostles’ feet. Can you imagine what was going through their minds? They're arguing about which one is the greatest, and Jesus is doing something that only a servant would do. Now go down to verse 12, John 13:12-17 – “12. So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13. "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14. "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15. "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16. "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17. "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.”
2. Jesus is saying, I have just taught you a valuable lesson by my example. I'm your master and Lord. You call Me that, and you call Me that correctly. He said, if I would humble Myself to the point that I would wash your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. Instead of being concerned about who's the greatest, show some humility, and be a servant. Jesus said you'll be blessed if you will follow My example.
3. What a wonderful approach, to use this strong example for teaching. After Jesus dealt with the situation the way that He did, you do not find in the Bible the apostles arguing about which one is the greatest anymore. I think they finally got it. Sometimes we need a stiff nudge to reach a point of understanding too.

E. At this point, Judas leaves. After he had left, Jesus had many things to say to the other eleven apostles. What Jesus had to say to them is recorded in chapters 14 and 15. Now though let’s consider our text, John 13:34-35 – “34. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35. "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.''”

1. So looking at the context, as long as they were arguing about which one was the greatest, were they showing love to each other? No.
2. Not long from now, Jesus was about to trust His apostles with a great commission. How could they be successful in carrying out the great commission if they kept arguing about which one was the greatest? If they loved one another, they would be successful.
3. That's the setting, the context, for the Lord's command. Once we understand all of that information, it will help us to more fully appreciate what Jesus commanded of His apostles.

II. We need to look at this commandment in more detail because this commandment applies to us today. Jesus referred to this as a “new commandment”.

A. Is this the first time that God's people had been instructed to love each other? No. Back in the Law of Moses, in Leviticus 19:18, Moses wrote to the children of Israel – “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” The command for God's people to love others has been around for a long, long time. When Jesus said that this commandment is new, we understand that it was not new in the sense that it is the first time that God's people were commanded to love others. So what is new about the Lord's command?
B. If we look, it does indeed say something new. The Lord's command was new in the sense that His followers, today His followers are Christians, are to love each other, notice, “as I have loved you”. You don't find that in Moses’ Law.

1. Moses Law said that God's people were to love their neighbors as themselves. There wasn't anything in there about following the Lord's example of love.
2. The newness of it is implicit in the words, "even as I have loved you."
3. There is a deeper intensity in this love than can be found in Moses' "Love thy neighbor as thyself." In that commandment, that embraces the whole law, self-love is assumed and made the standard for the love of neighbor.
4. The new commandment, on the other hand, is based on a new principle, measured by a higher standard than a love of self. This is based on Christ's love, which was self-abandoning and self-sacrificing love.
5. I fear that lack of love among Christians is a glaring weakness of faith today.

C. Jesus has many things to say to His disciples in chapters 14, 15, and 16. As we study these scriptures the import of this new command becomes more apparent. Let’s look at some of this now in John 15:12-13 – “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.”

1. That's the greatest act of love that a person can show, to give their life on someone else's behalf. Sometimes we read about people doing heroic things to save someone else. We say that was great love.
2. The greatest act of love is to give your life for somebody else. Isn't that what Jesus was about to do? He said, love each other as I have loved you. Shortly after Jesus spoke those words, He gave Himself for our sins and He died on the cross.

D. Paul talks about this when he wrote to the Christians in Ephesus. He says in Ephesians 5:1-2 – “Therefore be followers of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” The apostle Paul is referring to the love that Christ demonstrated on our behalf. He says we're to walk in that love. In other words, we're to do what Jesus taught us to do in John 13:34-35. God's people have been commanded to love others for years, but we are to follow the Lord's example of holy, sacrificial love.

III. There is something else about the Lord's command and I’d like us to go back to John 13:35. Jesus said that the way that we respond to His command will tell others something about us.

A. How did Jesus say that His followers are to be identified? He said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if…” there is a condition, “ if you have love for one another.” People will recognize us as the Lord's true followers based on our love for one another. Let's look at two congregations that we read about in the Bible—one positive example and one negative.
B. First is the positive example. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 and look at the congregation that met in the city of Thessalonica. “9. But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10. and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;”

1. That is a high commendation. Paul said, concerning brotherly love, I don't have to write to you about it, you already understand it. He commended them for showing their love to others.
2. Then Paul went on to say, increase more and more. Do you ever get to the point where you say, I've got enough love? I don't think so. The Bible says increase more and more.
3. Even to this congregation, that was highly commended, notice what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 – “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,”
4. To this congregation, noted because of its members’ love for one another… there was an admonition to grow in love. Not to become satisfied, but to continually increase and grow in their love for each other and toward others.

C. Now a negative example. Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are addressed to the seven churches in Asia. Let’s read a few things that the Lord had John write to the church in Ephesus. Revelation 2:1 - “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, `These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:” We know that imagery is explained in chapter 1.

1. When we examine these seven messages that are found in chapters two and three, they all have two statements in common.

a. In the first the Lord says, I know your works. In other words, the Lord knows what's going on in His congregations.
b. The second statement the Lord makes is, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. From that, we understand that we do not receive spiritual information regarding our salvation from any inner impulses, dreams, impressions, or inner strivings of the soul, but by listening to the words given by the Holy Spirit. We need to study this very carefully, make the proper application, and then comply with the Lord's will.

2. Now Revelation 2:2-3 – “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.” If we stop right there—it
3. sounds to me like the church in Ephesus was an ideal congregation.

a. They were true to the Lord. They were devoted to serving him.
b. They would not put up with false teaching.
c. They tested people who came into their midst and claimed to be apostles and if they were determined not to be true apostles, they were rejected.
d. These people had not given up, had not fainted. They were serving the Lord faithfully. It sounds like an ideal church, doesn't it? Christ himself commended the diligence and faithfulness of the Ephesian church.

4. Then in Revelation 2:4 – “Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The charge is not that they were in danger of leaving their first love, but that they had already done so! The first love of every true congregation is our Lord himself, and what is indicated here is the departure (in heart) of the Ephesian church from their Lord who had redeemed them.
5. This congregation did not have the love it did earlier. If they lost their love of the Lord, how then could they follow His New Commandment?
6. This congregation had grown somewhat cold and the Lord knew it. He said, there's something wrong with your love. Did the Lord give up on this church? No. Revelation 2:5-7 – “5. "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. 6. "But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.'' '”
7. This was not a hopeless situation and the Lord called upon the members of this congregation to restore the love that they had at the beginning.

D. As we examine various congregations in the New Testament, we see that some are highly commended because of their reaction to the Lord's command for the members to love each other. Some had some problems in those areas, and of course, we need to be sure that we're doing the Lord's will.
E. Let's contrast those two churches for just a moment. Which one would have been more attractive to outsiders? A congregation consisting of members who love each other, or a congregation consisting of members whose love has gone cold? You know which church would have been more attractive to those outside. Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

IV. We can see that the love of God and the love of the brethren are inexorably intertwined. This is a very serious matter and we ought to have a desire to know all that the Bible has to say about Christians loving one another. Today let’s look at what John tells us in 1 John. We will find some responsibilities given to us, but also some blessings.

A. Let's look at 1 John 2:9-10 – “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.” How important is it for us to abide in the light?

1. In 1 John 1:7 we read, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin.” John says if we walk (abide) in the light, we have the promise that the Lord's blood will continually cleanse us.
2. What is one way that we can determine if we're abiding in the light? John said, it is on the basis of our love for one another.
3. He was proclaiming the tremendous truths already revealed by Jesus nearly a whole generation previously. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said: "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" (Matthew 6:23).

B. Let’s look at 1 John 3:11-14 – “11. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12. not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. 13. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” In verse 14 John says if a Christian loves his brother, he shows that he's gone from death unto life.
C. Chapter 3, starting at verse 16 – “16. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” John begins by talking about the love of God, and that we know God loves us because of what He did for us at the cross. John went on to say that others can see our love at work. If we see a brother who is in need and we supply that need, that's a demonstration of love. It's one thing to talk about love, it is something else to show it.
D. 1 John 3:23 – “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” This verse teaches us that loving one another is as important as believing in Christ. Again we see how these are joined together, you can not separate them and be a Christian.
E. 1 John 4:7-8 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Knowing God involves loving our brethren.
F. 1 John 4:11-12 – “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” God dwells in those who love their brethren. We certainly want God to dwell in us, don't we? God wants us to meet certain requirements and one of those requirements is that we're to love one another.
G. 1 John 4:20-21 – “If someone says, "I love God,'' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” These verses show us that true love for God includes loving his children.
H. Then 1 John 5:2 – “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.” Loving our brethren is associated with loving God and obeying His will.

CONCLUSION: In John 13:34-35 we saw that John was present when Jesus gave this New Commandment. When John taught and wrote he had a lot to say about that very special subject. That's why John has often been called the apostle of love.

As far as we know, John was the only apostle to die of natural causes after living a very long life, that's why sometimes he's referred to as John the Elder. Can you imagine the things that that man saw in his life? I can appreciate that when I read his letters because he often wrote this, “Little children, love one another”.

Why did John say that? It was because he heard Jesus say those words and he understood how important they are. We are so very blessed to have all of these writings recorded by the apostle John for our benefit. He heard what Jesus said, and he recorded it. In his letter we call 1 John, he wrote all these extra details to help us understand exactly what the Lord requires and shows us how we are blessed when we carry out the Lord's will.

In this brief look, we have seen several verses about Christ telling His followers to love each other. He commands it, and He requires it.
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

If anybody needs to respond, either to dedicate themselves to Christ, be buried with Him in baptism, and become a part of the work He has for us; or if you need to ask for prayers on your behalf, won’t you come forward as we stand and sing our Invitational song.

 

# 644—Trust and Obey

Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg

God Has Not Forgotten You

God Has Not Forgotten You
Psalm 13:1-6

INTRO: There was a time when I was young that patiently waiting was part of life. When you are raising crops or animals you learn that everything comes in its own time. I also learned, sometimes the hard way, that trying to rush a task or someone else’s response could lead to less than ideal results or at least unproductive frustration.
Things have changed over the years for me though. I now do a lot of shopping online and have become used to two-day shipping or in some instances same-day shipping. Now I, and I’m not alone, expect fast service from some companies and find it disappointing when the delivery date is further away. We also get irritated when a response to an inquiry takes too long to arrive. Email is a good example and so are text messages. Why haven’t they answered? Where is that email? Have you ever felt that? Felt irritated when something seems to be taking forever?

We just don't like waiting anymore, do we? And as Christians, sometimes we get frustrated when God doesn't answer our prayers according to our timeline. We pray, and then we seem to have this mental, built-in timeline saying we need the answer now. We think God has forgotten us when we go to Him with our sincere requests, we have sincere prayers and we don't hear anything. It seems to us we receive no answer, no response whatsoever, at least not right away. What do we do? If we could only see a light at the end of the tunnel—a tangible stopping point—it would make our situation much more bearable.

What does scripture tell us about this? The best answer I've ever found is in a very short Psalm, Psalm 13, and it has only six verses. You might think this means it's going to be a very short sermon. You might be wrong. Psalm 13 is a marvelous scripture. Most often it is attributed to David though any attempt to link it to a specific incident is conjecture. When you feel a little frustrated and maybe think God has forgotten about your prayer, your request, read Psalm 13.

I. When God Delays – Look with me at the first two verses. Psalm 13:1-2 – “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”

A. The first thing that David asked, is “how long?” These first two verses tell us of his frustration.

How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted – over me?

This text describes how David feels when God delays. Remember, David was anointed the future king of Israel, but then spent years in the wilderness trying to outmaneuver Saul and his armies. Maybe that was the time period in which this Psalm was written. We are not told.

B. Four times the cry, "How long?" rises from these plaintive lines. Here is the evident distress of the psalmist coming from his impression that God has forsaken him, hiding His face from him and that somehow God's favor, at the moment, does not rest upon him. This consciousness of separation from God has brought an agony of near-despair to the psalmist. His sufferings have been going on, at least in his mind for a long time. He wants to know, how much longer is this going to go on. How long? I think in a sense he feels abandoned, he feels that God isn't there for him… and he has a profound sense of loss.

1. If we turn back to the 10th Psalm we find something very similar. In Psalm 10:1 the writer says, “Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?” In this Psalm, the psalmist is sorely grieved and distressed at the widespread wickedness that was bringing so much misery and sorrow to the poor and oppressed of the land. And his purpose is to bring the attention of God to focus upon the shameful conduct of lawless men whose behavior cried out to God for vengeance against them. That writer was saying something similar to what is said in Psalm 13, Why are you so far away?
2. That is the way the writer felt and maybe you’ve felt that way too. Maybe to you it seems like you've been waiting and waiting and waiting for God to answer that prayer. Maybe you've prayed it countless times and He still hasn't answered in the way you think He should.
3. Maybe you're ready to give up on God… Well know that God never gives up on you. He never forgets you. The prophet Isaiah says this in Isaiah 49. I'm sure you've heard these verses before, but they're great verses to remember or read when you think that God has forgotten you, that He's given up on you or your request. Let’s look at verse 15 “15. "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”

a. In verse 15 God says “Surely they may forget” and we know this all too well these days. The saddest things on earth today must surely include the failure of mothers to love and preserve their children. Despite such occurrences, however, I believe that the nearest thing to God's unfailing love is the love of a mother for her child.
b. God here declares that His devotion to His children was and shall forever be, invariably dependable and constant. God's parental love surpasses that of any human mother.
c. Then in verse 16, God says, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands”. Isn't that a wonderful way to picture God? He is so aware of your prayers and so aware of what's going on in your life, that it's like He has your name inscribed on the palm of His hands, so that your request and your concerns, your worries are ever before Him.

C. That is a wonderful verse. Back in Psalm 13 though, David says God just seems so far away. It feels like God’s blessings have been removed. How long will you hide your face from me? And how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? In his heart, God just seems so far away.

1. David feels like he's been forsaken by God and that God's protection and safety have been removed. He kind of feels like he's been rejected, even though he hasn't.
2. In Psalms 88, we have another example of this same thing. Psalm 88: 14-18 - “14. Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? 15. I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth up; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught. 16. Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off. 17. They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether. 18. Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.” See how forsaken the writer feels here? He feels like everybody has forsaken him, including God. He's been forgotten.
3. In Psalm 22:1 it says, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” We should note that Psalm 22 was given by the Holy Spirit to King David and in this Psalm, we have an extremely detailed prophecy about the crucifixion of the Christ given a thousand years before it happens.
4. It's a messianic psalm and Jesus says on the cross “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus died on that cross and felt forsaken so that you and I would never have to feel forsaken. As a child of God, you should never feel forgotten because of what Jesus did on that cross.

D. Yet in our psalm David does feel abandoned. He feels that God is not listening. He's wrestling with his emotions—sorrow, and despair.

1. He's fighting negative thoughts. Most people at some point in their lives must fight negative thoughts. David feels like perhaps he's done something. He doesn't know what happened or why he's fallen out of favor with God.
2. He felt forsaken. David is feeling the burden of his sorrows, and he says that the sorrows are “in my heart daily”. It's not just something he feels occasionally, but he says he feels like it is a constant, an everyday feeling of sorrow and despair.

E. Immersed in this feeling of being forsaken David feels like his enemies are winning. We can understand that.

1. Even today enemies seem to crop up against us when we are at a disadvantage. When someone's down, there are always people around to kick them, aren’t there? Some people just seem to enjoy an easy target. When you're down or someone else is down, that seems to be their job. “Let's go ahead and kick them, take advantage of them, while they’re down.”
2. Many of our enemies are from the spiritual world. The Bible talks in Ephesians 6:10-20 about putting on the whole armor of God “to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (6:11) Because “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Satan is the prince of this world, and he has helpers in the spirit realm.

II. David has given us a picture of how he feels when it seems God has left him. Then in the next verses, we see him turning from his complaints. Yes, he might feel distant from God, but instead of giving up on his relationship with the Lord, he pushes further into it. He depends on it.

A. Verses three and four: “3. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4. Lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed against him''; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.” What does he do? He turns to God in prayer—more prayer.

1. The first thing we should always do in times of trouble is pray. Never say, well, the least I can do is pray. No, the most you can do is pray. That's the most important thing, it is the most powerful thing you can do. Always do it first.
2. In these verses, David asks God to consider him. He says, look upon me. He wants God to see what's happening. I have no doubt David knew that God knew, what was happening. He prays, God, look at what's going on. Look at my life. The psalmist's prayer for the avoidance of death is based upon the premise that "If he dies, his enemies will interpret his death in such a way as to mock his trust in God." My life's in danger every day. Consider me.
3. We never should throw in the towel. Call out to God. What we need to do is exactly what John says in 1 John 5:14 - “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Ask God to answer your prayer according to His will.

B. David says, enlighten my eyes. That's a great expression, put the light back in my eyes. Throughout the Old Testament when someone has an experience with God they are overwhelmed by the light of His glory. In verses 1-2 we got the sense that the psalmist felt God had withdrawn, turned away, and left him in the dark. So here he is asking for God to once again shine brightly on his life.

1. Make me alive again. He feels like he's at the point of death. Make me alive again he pleads. He wants that close fellowship with the Lord. He does not want his enemies to think they can overcome a servant of God.
2. David says. “Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.”[ESV] In Old Testament times when two nations or armies would go against one another, whichever was victorious, they would say, it was because of our gods. Ours is more powerful than your God. He is saying, don't let my enemies say they prevail against me.
3. Don't let them rejoice when I am shaken. Don't let that happen. David is asking, let the righteous be victorious over the wicked. In Psalm 27, which is another of David's psalms, the first three verses are encouraging. He says, “1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2. When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. 3. Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident.” David knows prayer is power and he calls out to God.

III. We've seen how a person feels when God delays in verses one and two, we've seen when a person prays for help in verses three and four, and then in verses five and six we see when a heart rejoices, “5. But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. 6. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

A. Notice the progression. He's gone from tears to triumph. David says I trust in your mercy. God's mercy was rooted in the covenant God had made with Israel. David knew that he could trust in what God had said, and of course, we can too. David expresses hope now, why? Because of God's unfailing love. Even in his ongoing struggle, David doesn’t give up. He knows that there is something that will last longer than his enemies: the steadfast love of the Lord.

1. Some marvelous verses are written in Lamentations. Remember Lamentations, probably by Jeremiah, was written after the fall of Jerusalem when the Babylonian armies under Nebuchadnezzar came in.
2. We're going to read beginning in Lamentation 3:22-24 – “22. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 24. "The Lord is my portion,'' says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!''” God is not going to let you down when you fully trust Him.

B. David says in verse 5, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. The Lord has not forgotten David, because even though his life seemed bleak, he knows his salvation is secure. He knows God is going to look over Him, look after Him, be with Him, and shine His face upon him.

1. His salvation is secured. Psalm 18:46 says, “46. The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.”
2. The Bible says nobody can take away my salvation. I can give it up. I can turn away from God, but nobody can take it away from me.
3. In Romans 8:38-39, Paul talks about, how nothing in this world can take away my salvation except me. “38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39. nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4. We are the only ones that can give up our salvation. That should be very encouraging to us. The Devil cannot take away my salvation. He doesn't have the power. All the powers in this world, all the rulers in this world can't take away my salvation.

C. In verse 6 David sings of God's goodness. “I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me.” David remembers what God had done for him in the past and we should do likewise.

1. Remember all those prayers that we've taken to God that he answered. Remember how well God has dealt with us in life. This should boost our confidence that He will still take care of our needs. Psalm 28:7 – “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song, I will praise Him.”
2. Looking back we have to admit that God has treated us far better than we deserve. He has. The Book of Romans tells us that He sent His son to die for us while we were still sinners. Oh yes, God has treated us far better than we could ever deserve.

CONCLUSION: Psalm 13 doesn’t say “I’m hurting, God, and you’re nowhere to be found, so forget you.” That is the sort of response the world would understand, the kind of thing Satan wants us to do. No, instead, in verses 3-4 we see the psalmist say “I’m hurting, God, and you’re nowhere to be found, so I’m going to sit right here and ask… plead, for You show up in some way...because I have nowhere else to go and nobody else to turn to.”

It may seem counterintuitive to keep praying for God’s attention and care after so clearly expressing our frustration with His absence, but that’s exactly what we see here. David was worried that God had forgotten him and left him to his dark, sorrowful thoughts, so he asks God to “hear him and enlighten him” to give him insights on what is going on, to speak in such a way that would satisfy his soul and put to rest his anguish.

David tells us that he experienced great sadness when he felt abandoned by God. Even though it may feel at times that God has forgotten you, He hasn't. If you pray to Him concerning some matter, know for a certainty, that He's going to answer in the very best way possible for you. It may be different from something that you're expecting, but whatever He answers is the very best answer, whatever is best for you. Why? Because He loves you very much.

The overwhelming sorrow captured in the lament of verses 1-2 is met with the trust in the unrelenting faithfulness and love of God in verses 5-6. The bridge between this is David’s prayer for help. Despite all that is going wrong, despite the pain, despite feeling helpless, despite not being sure where God is or why He won’t ...despite all this, the psalmist prays to God for enlightenment and he works his way back to declaring: “I trust in your unfailing love”...and I know you, God, have been good to me.

How this happens will look a little different for everyone, because the circumstances that surround your suffering will influence the way and even have an impact on the time you’ll need to work your way back and remember God’s goodness.

We tend to read scripture as quick-fix devotions. That approach may be too much, too fast for true lament and suffering. When we’re hurting -- from a chronic illness, a job loss, a family conflict, after losing someone dear to us, or from unconquerable depression -- we do ourselves a disservice by trying to make it all right, all at once. Most of the pain we experience in life cannot be reconciled or healed in the time it takes to read six verses alone.
If we try to force our emotions to comply and transform to what we have read it sometimes might make us feel guilty. We think, “The truth of God’s goodness is right here, in black and white...why can’t I feel it?! Why do I have such a hard time believing it is true?

When you don't feel God is near, when you feel God maybe has forgotten you, what should you do? Those times when you feel God is far away, when He's not answering prayers as you expect and you feel like He's forgotten you, what should you do? I think this last point is very critical. Do any activities that bring you in contact with His Word and His people. Those are going to be the most important things to do and the most beneficial. Sadly, a lot of times we do just the opposite. We turn away from those things.

During those times when we feel far from God, what do we need? We need His Word and His people. That's what we need. We don't need to turn away, we need to turn toward. That's what God did for us. He turned toward us by sending His Son to die for us while we were still sinners. That's how much He loved us.

Remember John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is how much God loved us, He was willing to send His son to die for us on the cross. We didn't deserve it, but God did it anyway because He loved us that much, and we should love Him in return.

This morning, we have a time to consider our relationship with God while we're singing this invitation song.
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you need to respond to that gospel message or need the prayers of faithful Christians on your behalf, don't wait, but come as we stand and sing.

# 603
Taken from a sermon by Bobby Stafford

The Danger of A Lie

Text: Genesis 3:1-9

 The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each had been smitten with a bad case of spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper." Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions.
Then she said, "First question--which tire was flat?"
When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful. - Augustine.
A lie has no legs. It requires other lies to support it. Tell one lie and you are forced to tell others to back it up. Those that think it permissible to tell white lies soon grow colorblind. - Austin O'Malley.
The Bible tells us that God gave Adam and Eve every tree to eat from except one, and Genesis tell us there were plenty of other GOOD trees to eat from.
Genesis 2:9 says, 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So if that was true (that they’d had all these other trees to eat from), then why did they do it?
It would be easy to say “The Devil made them do it”... but it’s more than that.
Eve CHOSE to disobey God.
Now Satan may have “talked her into it...” but SHE KNEW what God had said.
She knew God didn’t want her to eat of the tree.
She knew God had said that those who ate of the tree faced death.
But she CHOSE to eat of the tree anyway.
She made bad choices.
Genesis 3 verses 1-3 tells us Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Once you get used to the idea that you think you can improve on God’s Word... when you believe you can change it when you want to... when you accept that you can tinker with God’s will for your life... then it gets easier to improve on other things God commanded.
There once was a preacher who was something of a cut-up on stage. He mentioned once that in English Class they taught him that using 2 negatives in a sentence made a positive statement.
Example: They ain’t got nothing! Well, if they ain’t got nothing …. Then they actually have something.
So the preacher would say that, since that was true
“The way he figured it, if he knew he was lying, and God knew he was lying – then he gotta be telling the truth!”

There is a LIST of 10 Famous American Lies we call “Fibs”
- The check is in the mail.
- I'll start my diet tomorrow.
- Give me your number and the doctor will call you right back.
- One size fits all.
- Your luggage isn't lost, it's only misplaced.
- This hurts me more than it hurts you.
- I just need five minutes of your time.
- Open wide, it won't hurt a bit.
- Let's have lunch sometime.
- It's not the money, it's the principle.
Lying seems to be a way of life for many people. We lie at the drop of a hat. The book The Day American Told the Truth says that 91 percent of those surveyed lie routinely about matters they consider trivial, and 36 percent lie about important matters; 86 percent lie regularly to parents, 75 percent to friends, 73 percent to siblings, and 69 percent to spouses.

A store manager heard his clerk tell a customer, “No, ma’am, we haven’t had any for a while, and it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any soon.” Horrified, the manager came running over to the customer and said, “Of course we’ll have some soon. We placed an order last week.” Then the manager drew the clerk aside. “Never,” he snarled, “Never, never, never say we’re out of anything- say we’ve got it on order and it’s coming. Now, what was it she wanted anyway?” The clerk said, “Rain!”
Spouses lie to one another in the name of keeping the peace, parents lie to their own children and vice versa, employers and employees just the same. Advertisers lie to sell products. Politicians lie in order to spin things their way.
But the Lord included the subject of lying in one of the 10 commandments of the Old Testament, and I believe He takes this sin very seriously. THEN in the NEW Testament …
We can read in Revelation 21:8, But the cowardly, [a]unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
And, in Revelation 22:15, ]But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Mark Twain said a lie can travel halfway around the world while truth is still lacing up her boots. It’s natural to lie, and there’s something about our nature that enjoys it. We like reading tabloids, or hearing gossip.
Lying is easy, but the truth is oftentimes hard.

Are you known to be a truly honest person, or do people have to question you and wonder about your genuineness? Do you have a reputation as a liar, or do people know what you say is true? Is your word as good as your signature? Do you do what you say you will do? Do you tell the truth even when it will cost you something?
The Bible has a lot to say about lying:
We can read in Proverbs 6:16-22 a list of 7 things the Lord hates. “These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
20 My son, keep your father’s command,
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
21 Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
22 When you roam, they will lead you;
When you sleep, they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.

Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying the following: You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time … but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time!

A poet said, “You can fool the public and be a secret fraud, you can try to hide your lying, but you can’t fool God!”
What upsets me is NOT that you lied to me, BUT that from now on I can no longer believe you. - Friedrich Nietzsche.

1. The Origin of lying.
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees in John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
So we’re a lot like Satan when we lie. Almost every time we see the devil in Scripture he’s lying...

The first time we see Satan in the Bible he lies about God to man.

• Satan lies About the truthfulness of God—“Hath God said?” Questioning God’s Word is skating on thin ice.

• Satan lies About the righteousness of God—“Ye shall not surely die”. In other words, God won’t judge you if you sin.

• Satan lies About the goodness of God—“God is trying to keep back from you good things!”
The next time Satan appears in the Bible is in the book of Job. This time he’s in the courts of heaven and he’s lying about man to God.

Satan Lying about man to God:
“The only reason Job obeys you is because you’re so good to him.” What a liar.
To Adam and Eve he says that God isn’t good enough, and now he’s saying that God is too good!
We see Satan again at the crucifixion. This time he lies to man, knowing that man will then lie about Jesus.
He put it in the hearts of many to bear false witness against Jesus in the kangaroo court they put together.
In Genesis he uses a lie to corrupt a godly man.
In Job he uses a lie to criticize a good man.
In the New Testament he uses a lie to crucify the Son of God.
In Revelation he embodies the antichrist, who tells a lie so big and believable that it brings about the end of the world.

So, from beginning to end, Satan is a liar! And when we lie we align ourselves with everything that brings death, destruction, doom and damnation to this world. Sin is what leads to death, but that sin was brought about by a lie!
Don’t take lying lightly. There’s no such thing as a little white lie. God is truth, and anything less than truth is wrong...IT IS SIN!

2. The Operation of lying.
Lying has many faces. Lying has many children in its family.
Here’s 5 ways people often lie without even thinking about it:

1) Slander
Psalms 101:5, “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.

This is lying with the intention of doing harm to another’s reputation.
Some sins are worse than others in terms of damage done. If I steal from you I can return the item. But if I spread lies about you I may not be able to ever undo the far-reaching effects.

There was a man who spread lies about his neighbor. Then one day he repented, and asked the minister how he could make it right. The minister told him to get some feather pillows and rip them open, and place one feather on every porch in their community. It seemed strange, but the man did what he was told. He went back to the preacher and said he was done. The preacher said, no, you’re not. Now go back and pick up all the feathers.
“But I can’t” said the man. The wind has taken them who knows where!”
To which the minister said, “So it is with the words you have spoken about your neighbor.”
When we slander someone’s reputation we do irreparable damage. And we’ll answer to God for it!

2)Talebearing—this person loves to tell things. They share ‘news’. But they don’t care if their facts are correct or not. This is gossip. Rumors. Don’t spread it. Try to stop others from doing it. Don’t repeat gossip
1Timothy 5:13, “And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
Leviticus 19:16, “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
Next time you’re enjoying listening to someone gossip, remember this fact: Anyone who will gossip TO you, will gossip ABOUT you!

3) Flattery—insincere praise...saying something to someone’s face that you would never say behind their back. Salesmen are often bad about this. Kids are too. Most of our children have learned how to compliment us first when they want something.

Psalms 55:21, “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But war was in his heart;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.

When someone starts buttering you up, remember that they are probably about to have you for lunch!

4) Half truths—not telling the whole story. A parent asks their teen where they are going. “To Andy’s house.” That’s true, but they leave out where they’re going from there. You break the spirit of the law when you do this.  This is why in court you swear to not just tell the truth, but ‘the whole truth.’ Half the truth equals a whole lie.

5) Excuses—they are just dressed up lies.
The origin is Satan, the operation of lying...it comes in many forms...
Now, how do we overcome Lying?
Every negative command could be reworded positively. For instance. Thou shalt not commit adultery could be rephrased, Thou shalt be sexually pure. We could say today, Thou shalt tell the truth. And truth is the very character and nature of our God. Jesus said I am the truth. He called the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth. The truth sets us free!

How to overcome lying:
1) Love the truth. This is a heart change. David spoke of ‘truth in the inward parts.’ You see, a person is not a liar because they tell lies...they tell lies because they are a liar. We need an inward change.  2Thessalonians 2:10, “and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2) Learn the truth.
Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Saturate your mind w/ good things, like the Word of God. The truth sets you free. It’s how Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness, with the truth of Scripture!

3) Live the truth.
Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,”  Be accountable to others. Be open to others stopping you when you gossip or slander. Immediately confess, immediately correct, and immediately commit yourself to the truth.

Right now Satan wants to sell you a lie...don’t fall for it like Adam and Eve.
He’ll tell you: there is no God,
There is no heaven,
There is no hell,
OR that there is no hurry.
But today we can read from Hebrews 3:12-15,
” Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

And, Acts 2:36-38, tells us: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the [a]remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So, we must NOT lie to God...
WE need to admit our sins and be baptized!

Teach No Other Doctrine

Teach No Other Doctrine
First Timothy 1:1-7

INTRO: Good morning. I recently read a statement that I found intriguing, the author said conservation is as important as creation. I think what the author was saying, in using that terminology, was that what good is it if something is created and then not maintained?

If something, marvelous as it might be, only lasts for a little while and then it's not around anymore, it has had limited usefulness. My work life consisted in a large part of maintenance. On the farm, in the military and at various companies. I saw, and I’m sure you have too, that unless something is properly maintained, conserved, it’s usefulness will change.

I then thought about this aspect in connection with congregations of God's people—churches. Have you ever known a congregation that was at one time really vibrant and thriving for God, but maybe it’s not around anymore? Others that might be around in terms of being there, but are not faithful to the Lord?

It's a joyful message that's preached and it's a joyful occasion when the gospel is believed and individuals become Christians. A church begins in a particular locality, but it's appropriate to ask whether or not things are in place to make sure that congregation is still there down the road, and will it still be faithful to the Lord? Was it maintained? I think we can all recall Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to see that maintenance is indeed needed and the Lord calls for it.

What are the provisions that God has given us to make sure that that takes place or at least to work towards that end? Can what has been created be sustained? With that in mind let’s explore a bit this morning.

I. We found in Acts chapter 18 that when the Apostle Paul first visited the city of Ephesus, around AD 52 as scholars tell us, he had Priscilla and Aquila with him. There Paul reasoned with the Jews and they asked him to stay a longer time but he could not. It says in the text that he was only able to stay there for a very short time because he was on his way back to Jerusalem. He left Priscilla and Aquila there to preach and to teach the Gospel. Acts 18:21 - “but took leave of them, saying, "I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.'' And he sailed from Ephesus.”

A. In Acts 19:1 we find Paul had returned to Ephesus and as we read we find he remained with that church for several years. It says he was teaching publicly and from house to house in Acts 20:20. If we look at all the places Paul established churches and all the places where the apostle spent time preaching the Gospel, we might conclude that he invested more time with the congregation at Ephesus than any other church recorded in the New Testament.
B. Then, after traveling through Macedonia and Achaia on his way back to Jerusalem, at the end of his third journey, Paul makes special arrangements to meet with the elders of the Ephesian church at the city of Malitas. He knew that this was the last opportunity he would have to encourage this church that he'd spent so much time with.

1. In Acts 20:22-31 it records what he said to the elders there. “22. "And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23. "except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24. "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25. "And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. 26. "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27. "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 28. "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29. "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30. "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31. "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Paul was concerned, and he had a lot to be concerned about.
2. We see in this text that the Holy Spirit has revealed to Paul that there would be tough days ahead going to Jerusalem. But Paul was going to Jerusalem to do the Lord's will. He says not only here, but in other places that danger doesn't bother him. His concern was not for his physical suffering, his concern was for the church, and as recorded in these words in Acts chapter 20, particularly this church.
3. Notice what he's concerned about. Paul may not have expressed all he was concerned about here, but it behooves us to look at what he does mention to these elders. He's concerned for this church, and he told the elders that wolves were coming that would not spare the flock and that some would come from their own number.

C. Possibly ten years after his first visit to Ephesus, the apostle writes the first of two personal letters to a young man named Timothy, who at this point has grown to be Paul's own protégé in the faith.
D. When Paul writes to Timothy in these letters, Timothy is at Ephesus. He's the one who was there teaching and preaching at this church. Paul instructed Timothy to remain there, stay at Ephesus. Why was it so important to Paul for Timothy to remain there?

II. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:1-4 – “1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, 2. To Timothy, my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. 3. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4. nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.”

A. The apostle Paul was still concerned about the church of Ephesus. In Acts 20:27 Paul declared, “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”

1. Yet, even after the church had received the whole counsel of God, the apostle writes to Timothy and says, stay there, because I'm still concerned about this church. Was he concerned about persecution? Was he concerned about the suffering of the Christians?
2. No. The danger that threatened the church was doctrinal. It had to do with what was being taught in the church itself. Some of the teaching that was being done, what people were hearing, wasn’t truly what God wanted them to hear.
3. Paul understood that the danger still remained that men would come in, even those who were the leaders of the church, and present perverse things, and draw disciples away. Timothy is to charge (the word charge here means command) those who teach, to teach no other doctrine..

B. Teach no other doctrine. The word doctrine is didachē and in the original language means a teaching, or that which is taught. Let’s look at this aspect of teaching no other doctrine. From the context of this passage, what are the implications of this command, this charge, and how do we relate it to our relationship with God today in the Church?

1. The phrase, “teach no other doctrine” is a single compound word in the original language. It is a combination of (heteros) other and (didaskaleo) teach modified by the negative no, or do not. (mē Heterodidaskaleō). This implies that there is an initial, or original doctrine that can be differentiated from others.
2. When Paul says teach no other doctrine, he is implying that there is a first, original doctrine that's different than the ones people might teach. I’ll repeat that; There is an initial, original, doctrine that is able to be differentiated from the others, and that has to be kept in view.
3. For example if Nina gives me a list and says go to the grocery store and get only what's on that list, what would that imply? Would that imply the possibility that I could add something to it? Can I have a list of my own? How should I interpret that command? The command would make no sense if there wasn't an original document or in my example, an original list.
4. When Paul tells Timothy not to allow the teaching of any other doctrine, it implies the presence of an initial and objective doctrine. The original doctrine is objective, not subjective. He doesn't say, make up your own list or that the list will change.
5. He's saying you should teach no other doctrine because there is an original doctrine that's objective and that is intended to be continually retained. Paul is telling Timothy, the one who's going to continue on with that work, saying make sure nobody teaches anything other than what I originally gave. No other doctrine then, implies the aspect of the original doctrine.

C. Would it not also be implied that Timothy was not to allow other doctrines to come in alongside the original? What this command would indicate to Timothy is that God did not want him to abandon the original message, but he also didn't want him to bring something in alongside, and say we'll take both of these Gospels. The idea of no other gospel or no other teaching, involved the aspect here of a singular initial message, that was to be retained, unmodified, and retained by itself, taught alone, with no other doctrine alongside it. That is an important perspective that is denied on many levels today.
D. Paul goes on to partially identify some false doctrine Timothy is to reject in verse 4. “nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.” In this verse we see there were those who were placing emphasis on stories (myths) and ancestral lineage (genealogies) as though these had a place in the gospel message.

1. It is difficult to know the specifics of their doctrines or how they were using it in Ephesus, but the message was clear… these additions had no place with the doctrine of Christ. That doctrine was to be received by faith – faith comes by hearing the words of God. (Romans 10:17)
2. However we interpret the genealogies and the myths that would characterize the other doctrine, what Paul makes clear here is that it is not the same thing, it is differentiated from, and it works against the Gospel that came by faith.
3. Any of these other things that could be brought in alongside, the stories and the myths and the fables, the emphasis on genealogies, all of these other things work against the gospel message that's been presented.
4. I believe that there are many things flowing from pulpits today which have no place alongside the doctrine of Christ. There are those who preach the prosperity gospel, and what it means to enjoy physical success in this world. There are political agendas, and human traditions which come from the teachings of men. These things come right from the same mouths that attempt to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and right alongside the message of Jesus on the cross.
5. We dare not be deceived. Those stories, myths, and traditions reflect agendas that have no place alongside the gospel of Jesus Christ. They may even have benefit to those presenting them. Those who put in other things and make them sound as though they're a part of the revelation, the original revelation of God… are teaching another doctrine.

E. The implication of Paul's command is that an objective, continually authoritative truth exists, that is to be retained from generation to generation. It also implies that Timothy understood what this initial doctrine was, and how to distinguish it from “another” doctrine. Paul tells Timothy to have the courage, and to make this distinction apparent to others (those who teach it, and those who might be influenced by it). What is this initial, objective, authoritative doctrine?

III. Later on in this letter Paul writes, 1 Timothy 6:3-5 – “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” Paul goes on here to describe in greater detail, the character of this false teaching and this other doctrine and even some of the motivations that are involved in it.

A. It's not hard to recognize that what Paul is saying is that you must hold on to the words of Jesus Christ our Lord and to the teaching which is according to godliness. This is the doctrine to hold on to.

1. That doctrine, as contrasted to ones which should not be taught, is the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. That's the difference. There are the sound words of Jesus Christ and then, everything else, is a different doctrine. The word wholesome as used in the NKJ version, is a word that means sound or healthy.
3. That helps me understand what Paul means here when he says that Timothy was to hold on to the sound words of Jesus Christ. These words of Jesus would make the church healthy spiritually, and maintain it through the years. Jesus words are pure and uncorrupted from the things around and from the world itself.

B. When we think about the word doctrine and how many times it's used in the religious world today, and we look at what Paul says to Timothy about doctrine, how could we ever conclude, like some do, that doctrine is inconsequential to unity or salvation?

IV. Does doctrine make any difference? There are different doctrines. Different churches have different doctrines, and people believe different doctrines. What difference does it make as long as we all believe in Jesus?

A. The Apostle Paul put a very high priority on the aspect of the doctrine, the words of Jesus Christ, for Timothy and for all those who would teach and lead even beyond the apostolic age.

1. He tells Timothy take what I delivered unto you and you commit it to other men who will be able to teach others also.
2. What has been presented originally continues to be presented, and that everything that what it teaches is sound, it is pure, it is healthy. More specifically, it is the words of Jesus Christ that are in view.

B. We understand how important it is for us to preserve ourselves and maintain our health. People can be very dedicated about a healthy diet. They avoid things they know are bad for them in the most part. They do not let their children eat things that are detrimental.

1. You think about what's going to happen on down the road if you put this or that in your food.
2. Today we are even more aware of clean hands aren’t we? In a restaurant I see people take out little bottles of hand sanitizer when they sit down.
3. We are aware of germs and we try to avoid them. Why? Because we want to be healthy so we keep our hands clean. We realize that we help to maintain our health through paying attention to what we eat, what we do and keeping ourselves clean.

C. That's exactly what Paul is telling Timothy. On the spiritual level, the health of the church, the ability of the church to sustain itself, is based upon the soundness of the word that is taught. That's what Paul's concerned about.

1. We might ask ourselves, how could Timothy know the sound words of Jesus? There is no evidence in the Scripture that Timothy was with Jesus, that he personally heard Jesus teach, or that he walked with Him as the disciples did.
2. Did Timothy know the words of Jesus intuitively? Was there a mystical thing that Jesus would reveal Himself to Timothy or speak the words to him personally?
3. No, we can’t assume any of that. In fact, what we see in the text is that the apostle Paul knew where Timothy's knowledge came from.

D. In the beginning of his second letter, Paul again commands Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:13 “ Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” There's that word again, sound.

1. Paul is saying, you know what's right, you know what's pure, because I told it to you. Timothy had heard the words of Jesus from Paul the apostle. Paul tells Timothy these original words constitute a pattern to be followed. They are the guide book for what you will believe and what you are to teach.
2. This principle points out to us the authority of apostolic doctrine. The source of the true doctrine that God wants us to teach, one that's healthy for God's people, has to do with this aspect of the teachings of the apostles.

E. It's clear from Jesus own words that He intended to exercise His authority through the apostles. Jesus told His apostles that He had other things to reveal to them that He was not going to reveal at that time, because they were not ready for those things.

1. Though Jesus always taught the truth, He didn't always tell the apostles everything. Look at John 16:12-13 – Jesus says, “12. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13. "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come”.
2. Then in John 14:16-17 – “… I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
3. Think about the powerful implications in the words that Jesus spoke to the apostles. He told them, I'm not telling you everything, but the Holy Spirit is going to teach you all truth. You, on your own, will not be able to remember everything, but the Holy Spirit is going to give you the ability to remember everything that I've ever said.
4. If Jesus gave the apostles all truth, if He fulfilled His promise, and He put them in the remembrance of everything that Jesus had taught, then if I'm going to find out what Jesus said, the apostles become the premier witness of that, and certainly that's what takes place.
5. If Christ gives authority to the apostles, then the apostles must be the avenue through which the authority of Jesus is exercised in the first century.
6. In Acts 1:8 just before His ascension, Jesus told His apostles “you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” The apostles recognize and express this delegated authority..
7. Paul, speaking as an apostle, said, 2 Corinthians 5:20 – “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God”. The word ambassador means the one who represents or speaks for another.

F. Jesus said earlier in Luke 10:16 – “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 2:3 – Paul writes, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”
2. The apostles were speaking audibly, personally with individuals, but they're also writing it down in what the Bible refers to as Scripture. The apostles, under the authority of Christ, in their teaching and their writing, always recognized the absolute position of Christ as the head of the Church. It was His authority they were expressing and not their own.
3. In 2 Corinthians 4:5 – “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.”
4. What we recognize in terms of the history of the Book of Acts is that apostolic teaching emerged as the authority of the New Testament Church.
5. In Acts 2:42, a passage we're familiar with, the very beginning of the Church at Jerusalem. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” When the Church was going to determine what are they were going to do, how are they were going to worship God, and what does God want from them, they continued in the teachings of the apostles.

V. In the Book of Acts as well as the Epistles we find that disputed matters in the Church of the New Testament were settled by apostolic teaching. There were some big problems like circumcision, eating meats sacrificed to idols and how Christians were to live in a pagan society. What we see is that all of those things were settled by apostolic teaching.

A. That's illustrated certainly in the letters of the Apostle Paul. Paul taught in Thessalonica, yet he found it necessary to write two letters to the Church there to correct a misunderstanding about the second coming. He was correcting things that had already been taught but not fully understood. He says, no, this is what God revealed to me. The apostolic doctrine by the Apostle Paul became what settled the matter.
B. Paul spent 18 months at Corinth, and the Church at Corinth had prophets among them, and yet they still had problems. Paul wrote two letters to them, and this apostolic doctrine was to settle these disputes and to bring people's mind to unity.

1. Paul tells them, I'm writing to you, so that you can do what God wants you to do. He tells them not to keep company with those that do evil.
2. This is how you deal with it and this is how it is resolved.

C. Apostolic doctrine, is the true message of the Holy Spirit and will be taught as the continuing standard of the Church. The truth of God was not a dynamic, ever evolving, subjective standard. We do not figure out for ourselves what we're going to do. People were not to meet and put their minds together and come to a consensus or some ecumenical council.

1. It wasn't the idea of a single man and what he thinks being right, but rather it was by the writings of the apostles in the first century that the Church was to be guided.
2. It is that objective standard for every generation of God's people. In the earliest writings of the Apostle Paul, the apostle warned against accepting another standard.
3. In Galatians 1:8-9 - “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Paul says, the validity of a teaching is not just whether or not I say it, or whether even an angel of God would say it, but whether or not it has already been said.
4. Even if I come to you and teach you something different than what was originally taught to you by me, I'm accursed for that. It's what was originally given. It was this original, initial, objective message, that was to be the standard for God's people for all time, and neither men nor angels could change that. What was taught in one Church by the apostles was to be taught in all the churches.

D. In 1 Corinthians 4:16 – “Therefore I urge you, imitate me.” Paul says, for this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful Son in the Lord, who reminds you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere, in every church.

1. When Paul sent Timothy to Corinth, he told the brethren in Corinth, this is why I'm sending him, so he can tell you what I've taught you before, and he can bring you to remembrance of my ways in Christ. Paul taught that same message everywhere. There weren't different doctrines for different churches. There weren't different doctrines for different geographical locations or different age groups or different cultures. There was one truth.
2. Nothing has changed. There is the scripture. That's what there is. The reason it's that way is because God designed it to be that way. He designed that there be no other teaching, that there be no other doctrine than that which was originally given.

CONCLUSION: In one of the last books of the New Testament, there is a call for unity of practice and faith based on a single source of authority. In 2 John 8-11 – “8. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11. for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” From Galatians one to Second John nine, the message is consistent—teach no other doctrine.

There is one message. Doctrine really does matter. The doctrinal pattern for Christians was drawn for all time in the writings of the first century, and we strive to follow that pattern today. That's why we can, if we in all good conscience are able to do it, call ourselves a people that belong to Christ. We are the church of Christ, not because we belong to some ecclesiastical society, or because we find our validity in a propagation of a particular sect or denomination. We are a church that belongs to Christ because we teach the doctrine of Christ alone.

It is the words of Christ which we strive forever to follow, committed to no other doctrine than the doctrine of Christ contained in Scripture. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. That's where we must stand. That's where Paul told Timothy he must stand… If the church at Ephesus was to survive, Timothy was charged to make sure they taught no other doctrine. Now I speak of the health of the body, the Church, the body of Christ, but as Ephesians 5:30 says, “… we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” Therefore we are encouraged to commit ourselves to the doctrine of Christ for our own spiritual health as well.

Are you willing to submit to the doctrine of Christ alone? The teachings of Christ alone?
Shy away everything that you've heard or anything that you've been taught before, that might very well be based upon the traditions of men. Read what God has for you to do in the Scriptures themselves. That's my urging for you. Not that you believe what I say, because I say it. Not that you believe what's taught by this church, because it's taught by this church and it has the right name, but that you find what you do and what you practice in the pages of the Bible. If you're going to belong to Christ, listen to Jesus. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that does not believe will be condemned. That's doctrine, folks. That's the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Those are the sound, healthy words of Jesus, our Lord.
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Taken from a sermon by Rick Sparks

Are You Loyal?

Are You Loyal?
Matthew 26:21-35

John Kenneth Galbraith was a noted economist in the early 1900s who was called upon by many dignitaries to help sort the economic markets.
He wrote the following story in his autobiography about his housekeeper:

“It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls while I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang. Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House.
‘Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson.’
‘He is sleeping, Mr. President. He said not to disturb him.’
‘Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him.’
‘No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you.’
When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his pleasure.
‘Tell that woman I want her here in the White House.’”

Emily the housekeeper understood an important truth—she was a servant to one man and obeyed his wishes explicitly.
Her loyalties were to Mr. Galbraith alone.
What a great example of a true servant.

Much of what we do in life is influenced by our loyalties. Oftentimes our loyalties shape our decisions, guide our activities, & give purpose to our lives.
ILL. Shortly before the collapse of the old Soviet Union, Jerry Whitworth, who had sold secret military codes to the Russians, was convicted of treason.
In sentencing him, the judge stated that in a time of war, his betrayal could have caused the death of thousands of soldiers & sailors, & have made the difference between victory or defeat for our nation.
ILL. It was Sir Walter Scott who wrote,
"Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said, 'This is my own, my native land!'
It's hard for us to understand how anyone could actually betray our country the way Whitworth & some others have done since then.
But there are many ways to betray our country. And one way is simply to forget or ignore the ideals & principles that made it great in the first place. And I’m afraid that is the desire of some in leadership roles throughout our country.
I am sure that we consider ourselves very patriotic, & the idea of loyalty to our nation is important to us.
Most of us have what might be called "family loyalty." Loyalty to our husband or wife, to our children, & to our parents, is vital for a happy home.
And most young people feel a strong school loyalty, too. Win or lose, they cheer their school teams on.
We have all kinds of loyalties. But there is one loyalty that should stand in a class by itself. It is a loyalty that can permeate & add even more meaning to all other loyalties. This is loyalty to Jesus.
This morning we find ourselves with Jesus & his apostles in Jerusalem, in the upper room, celebrating the Passover, & eating the Passover meal together.
Matthew 26:21 tells us, "And while they were eating, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me." Well, as you can imagine, this created quite a commotion among the apostles. And in the midst of the commotion, Judas leaves the upper room.
The meal is over - they sing a Passover hymn, & leave for the Mt. of Olives.

I. PETER EXPRESSES HIS LOYALTY
As they are walking along, Peter tells Jesus, 'Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.'
"But Peter declared in verses 33 – 35, 33 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are [a]made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”
34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”
And all the other disciples said the same."

A. Did you hear the loyalty expressed in the words of Peter? "Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You." Those are thrilling words! And his loyalty was contagious. Did you notice? Matthew says, "All the other disciples said the same."
Now compare that scene to the times when we come together to worship Jesus & to partake of the Lord's Supper. Here, with other Christians we draw close to Jesus, & we, too, feel like saying, "Lord, I'd die before I would deny You."
B. But Peter failed the loyalty test, because just a few hours later he says, "I don't know what you are talking about. I don't know the man."
Twice he says this about Jesus, & the third time he emphasizes it with oaths & curses.
It’s the same Peter, but his words are so different. What happened?
Well, his environment has changed. Peter is now in the midst of the enemies of Jesus.
Here, among people who want to destroy Jesus, Peter denies Him again & again. You see, the environment he was in made all the difference!

II. WHAT ABOUT OUR LOYALTY TO JESUS?
Now, how about us? What effect does environment have upon us? What about our loyalty to Jesus? How would we react if our environment changed?

A. If I were to ask young people, "What causes you to say that you will be loyal to Jesus?" Perhaps some would answer, "My parents expect me to be loyal. If I weren't a Christian it would break their hearts."
But what if your parents didn't care?
What if they didn't care when you came in at night, where you had been, or what you had done? Would you still be loyal to Jesus? What if it didn't matter to them where you spent eternity? Would you still be loyal?
B. If I were to ask parents, "What causes you to say that you will be loyal to Jesus?" Some might answer, "My children need the right example." That is certainly true! It is wonderful that God has blessed you with children before whom you can set the right example. And great is your responsibility!
But what if there were no children in your home to follow your example? Would you still be loyal to Jesus?
C. We ask others, "What causes you to say that you will be loyal?" They answer, "I appreciate the congregation & its members & I don't want them to be disappointed in me."
But what if the congregation isn't really what you would expect it to be? Would you still be loyal to Jesus?
What if some of the members disappoint you? What if you didn't like the preacher? Would you still be loyal to Jesus? Would you still meet around the Lord's table? Would you still be faithful in your tithes & offerings? Would you still be loyal to Him?
SUM. Unfaithfulness to Christ brings heartache & disappointment, but loyalty to Christ brings rejoicing.

III. WHY SHOULD WE BE LOYAL TO JESUS?

A. Why should we be loyal to Jesus? One reason is because He was loyal to us! Jesus bore your sins & mine upon Calvary.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
And He is just as faithful today. Hebrews 7:25 says, 25 Therefore He is also able to save [a]to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
1 John 1:9 tells us, "He is faithful & just, & will forgive us our sins."
And the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 that Christ's loyalty stretches into eternity. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
SUM. You see, Christ's love for us is constant. Everything else may be swept away, but never His love!
B. Now how about our love & our loyalty?
You see, the real test doesn't come during the church services while we're worshiping with others who love the Lord. The real test comes when we find ourselves with those who care nothing about Christ or His church.
ILL. A young man from a good Christian family went off to a large college half way across the country. Four months later, when he came home for Christmas break, among the questions his mother asked him was, "Did anyone make fun of you because you're a Christian?"
The young man hung his head as he answered, "I’m not sure that anyone knows that I'm a Christian." Think about that. Four months with his classmates & no one knows that he is a Christian.
As you know, there is a little lizard that changes color to match its environment. He turns brown on the bark of a tree. In grass he takes on a greenish hue, & at the edge of blue water he blends to that color.
God gives the chameleon the ability to turn the color of his environment. But God never intended for His people to be like the chameleon.
C. Yes, Peter failed the test in the enemies' courtyard, but as you already know, that's not the end of the story. Fifty-three days later in Jerusalem, on Pentecost, PETER is PROCLAIMIMG in Acts 2:36, 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
It is Peter, but the words are so different! Peter is standing fearlessly before those who killed Jesus, & he has no guarantee that they will not kill him, too. But it doesn't matter to him.
Jesus is King of Kings & Lord of Lords, & Peter is determined to be true to Him to the very end. And history tells us that Peter was!
What has happened? After he denied Jesus the Bible tells us that Peter "went out & wept bitterly." He realized his weakness & what he had done, & bitterly repented. Then he saw the risen Lord on the resurrection day & many times more before Jesus ascended into heaven.
He also heard the command to go & preach the gospel to all the world. Knowing now that Jesus is the living Lord, Peter stands courageously on the day of Pentecost & proclaims for the first time God's message of salvation.

WE are asked to believe that Jesus is the son of God
Repent of our sins as Peter did after denying Jesus
Be buried with him through baptism to wash away our sin
and to walk in newness of life…
Being found faithful until death
To also pass the loyalty test to God and Jesus!

Please allow me, in closing, to use an illustration from the battle fields of WW 1. It's an old story, but I think it will get my point across.

Two brothers volunteered & went through training together. They crossed the Atlantic on the same transport ship, & went through several battles together.
One day, after a particularly hard-fought battle in the Argonne Forest…
Jack came back to a hastily set up camp. He looked for Bill, his brother, but Bill was nowhere to be found.
He sought permission from his commanding officer to go back into the forest, but the officer refused to grant that permission. He pointed out that Jack might just be risking his life in vain.
But Jack continued to plead. Finally, the officer gave him permission to go.
Hours later, with the lifeless body of his brother in his arms, he made his way back into camp. Seeing him, the officer said, "Young man, it was just like I said, wasn't it? You risked your life in vain."
With tears streaming down his cheek, Jack replied, "No sir, I didn't risk my life in vain. When I found Bill he was still alive, & when I bent over to pick him up he knew me & said, `Jack, I knew you'd come.'"
Those brothers, loyal to one another, were so close… that only death could separate them.
APPL. But friends, the Bible says in Proverbs 18:24 that we have A man who has friends [a]must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
One from whom even death cannot separate us. And if we are loyal to Him, then some day we shall walk into eternity with Him.
He is coming for us. Whether alive or dead, we shall look up some day, & with the same assurance as the brother on the battlefield, we shall joyously cry out, "Lord, I knew you would come. I knew you would come!"

Christina Rossetti wrote the following poem…
• What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would give Him a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
Yet what can I give Him? I’ll give Him my heart
INVITATION

 

Sermon Contributor: Melvin Newland

Christian Influence

Christian Influence
Matthew 5:1-16

INTRO: Good morning. In Matthew 5 verses 1 through 12 we find the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:1-16 – “1. And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
2. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
11. "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12. "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Following the beatitudes, Jesus tells His followers that people who receive these blessings matter:

13. "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
14. "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15. "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

I know this passage is familiar to us, and I’m glad it is. I think repeatedly reading the Bible is probably one of the best things we can do for ourselves. Reading the Bible often, gets us familiar and comfortable with the contents. Then, as we get into deeper study on the text, we will find the studying easier and more productive.

This morning we will be looking at the last few verses of this passage, 13 through 16, about the salt and the light.

I. First of all, salt. Salt is absolutely fascinating. In ancient times, salt was considered very valuable. In our time we don't really have a feel for that. Salt was accepted and collected as taxes by the Romans. One of the main sources of salt for Palestinians of course, was the Dead Sea, or Salt Sea. Salt was also an important article of trade, and was transported by boat across the Mediterranean, along specially built salt roads, and even across the Sahara on camel caravans.

A. In the days before refrigeration, the only way to preserve meat was to salt it. They would rub the salt into the meat or soak it in brine. They either kept it soaked in brine or they just left the salt on and let it harden. Salt is a preservative.

1. The word salary comes from an ancient word meaning “salt-money,” referring to a Roman soldier’s allowance for the purchase of salt. Someone who earns his pay is still said to be “worth his salt.”.
2. Salt was a sign of friendship. Today in some cultures, if two men partake of salt together they are sworn to protect one another—even if they had previously been enemies. People in other cultures throw salt over their shoulders when they make a promise.
3. Aristotle wrote about a Greek proverb; “As the proverb says, men cannot know each other until they have eaten salt together.”

B. There were salt covenants and one is mentioned in II Chronicles 13:5 - “Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?” Here, Abijah refers to the strong, binding promise of God to give Israel to David and his sons forever.
C. Salt was a very important commodity in ancient times. When Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth, and they heard just that phrase… they could have thought about a lot of different things. They could have thought Jesus was saying, for instance, that they were valuable, since salt was valuable.
D. Salt was also used to season food. Food without salt just seems to have something missing. Many people have a difficult time when they are asked to go on a salt free diet.

1. The Bible illustrates that concept. In Job 6:6 “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” What a difference there is between an egg with salt and an egg without salt. Those listening may have thought of this seasoning idea.
2. They could have thought of… …Well in Ezekiel, chapter 16, there's an interesting use of salt at the birth of a baby in verse four. “As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor swathed in swaddling cloths”

a. It was a practice in ancient times that when a baby was born it is first washed with water and then salt is rubbed all over the baby's body. The practice is not well understood now. It may have been that in the process of birth, some nicks or scratches may have occurred and the salt would have acted as a healing agent that would be good for the skin.
b. It may have had something to do with the idea that salt would help toughen the newborns skin. However, a baby that was not salted at birth, was considered neglected in very ancient times.

E. Salt, though, could also serve a destructive purpose. In Judges 9:45 – “So Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.” Land that has been salted will not grow most plants that are used for food. Asparagus has a higher tolerance for salt in the soil than many weeds do, so an old practice was to pour the salty water from the ice cream maker over the asparagus bed to kill weeds. However, this is no longer done, because too much salt in the soil will eventually kill the asparagus, too!.

1. It was such a horrible thing to do, to salt the fields of an enemy that it was almost unheard of. In fact, Judges 9 is the only time in the Bible that I can think of where it was done.
2. In history the Romans did the same thing to the city of Carthage.

F. We can see how the statement you are the salt of the earth could take people's minds in several directions and that several understandings of it were possible.

II. Commentators. I'll mention to you in passing, a few of the things that commentators on this passage suggest. And I'll tell you the one that I think is best.

A. Some of the commentators think that Jesus had purity in mind here. Salt is white, and white is the symbol of purity.
B. Some state that Jesus was connecting the salt with verse eight—blessed are the pure in heart. Certainly it's true that we are to be examples of purity and hold up God's standard in thought and speech and action.

1. Though… when Jesus talked, for instance, about whited sepulchers, He certainly wasn't talking about purity there! He was speaking of “looking” pure. The whiteness there did not have a good connotation at all.
2. If Jesus is connecting purity with the whiteness of salt here, I don't think that's His main point.

C. Another thought is that He's talking about flavor. You are the flavor. You're the flavor of the world. Without you, the world is just tasteless. Now there is a sense in which we flavor the world.

1. First Corinthians 7:14 says “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”
2. Does the world thinks of us as salt though? … I suspect not. I suspect the world, in general, thinks that we make the world tasteless.

a. They have connected Christianity with that which takes the flavor out of life. Oh, I don't want to be a Christian. You can't do anything.
b. The English poet Swinburne, considered a poet of the decadent school, wrote; “Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean, the world hath grown gray from thy breath.” That's quite a statement, you have lulled the world into gray.

3. Although there is a sense in which we are symbols of purity in the world and we do flavor the world, I don't think that's quite dead center on what was meant when our Lord said, you are the salt of the earth.

D. A third opinion is that salt stings and many commentators point this out. Salt does indeed have medical applications. Today we still use it for easing pain of canker sores, ingrown toenails, bug bites, sore throat, and heat cramps. We also use it in neti pots for sinus problems, as a soak for tired feet and to relieve the scaly patches and inflammation of psoriasis or eczema.

1. Some would say Christians are not to be honey to soothe the sinful world but salt to the world to help to heal it.
2. Second Corinthians 2:15-16 says; “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to life…” As McGarvey put it, “To the unbelieving, the news of the gospel is from one who was crucified and is dead; so, for them, it is an odor from death unto death, even eternal death; but to Christians, the news of the gospel is "from life," that is, from One who is alive forever more. Hence, the news of the gospel is "from life unto life" in them that are saved.
3. There are times when we get into the wounds of the world, whether we really intended to or not. And there are times when we have to say things to people in the world that they don't like very well. I suspect though that's not all there is to the salt the Lord is talking about here.

E. Another function of salt is to create thirst. The body does need some salt to maintain a proper balance. The human body regulates how much sodium it contains. If levels are too high, we get thirsty and drink, and the kidneys speed up the process of getting rid of it. We are told too much can lead to kidney stones, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Too little sodium can lead to nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, fatigue, and muscle cramps.

1. Sometimes we have that effect in the world and create a kind of an interest or a thirst. What is it that you've got? How can you be so peaceful in this or that situation? Where does your contentment come from?
2. We are the salt. They may not like our theology. They may not want our Christ, but they do see a lifestyle in us that makes them thirst for what Jesus brings. Is that what Jesus is talking about? He may have meant elements of all of these possibilities.

F. I can see what those commenting on this passage are picturing, because we ought to be pure in the world. We ought to flavor it. We ought to sting it at appropriate times like salt in a wound. We should make the world thirsty for God because our lives are so rich and full.

III. Corruption. There is another key thought that a person hearing this may have had, and that is salt as a preservative. In that age and even today salt is used to preserve food. Salt retards spoilage. It does so by dehydrating the food and being toxic to many microbes. We are in a sense an antiseptic preservative in the world to retard the spread of its corruption. If it weren't for the Christians in the world, the world would be far more corrupt than it is now. We, essentially, preserve it.

A. As we live a holy, Christ-like character in the world, we are adding flavor to the world, a bit of sting where needed, making those in need thirsty for the word, and preserving the world from going completely corrupt. Christians are a check on the rottenness and decay of the world.

1. Jesus also says “but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men”.
2. What a truly worthless state is that of the apostate Christian! The Savior says of them, that they are "good for nothing".

B. Our presence in the world should influence, deter evil behavior, change certain kinds of conversations. It ought to affect, barb, or shock. Our presence should condemn apostasy, affect the way people think, even affect the way the people talk around us.

1. It's amazing how many people alter their conversations in the workplace when they know you are a Christian.
2. If we're going to do that, we cannot live the way the world lives. We're in the world, yet different and separate. We are the only restraint in the rotting carcass of humanity. It's absolutely astounding how God uses something as humble and basic as us.

C. God gives a noble purposes to ignoble people. When He made man in the beginning, He didn't use silver or gold, didn't even use iron, He used common dirt.

1. When David was used to deliver the children of Israel from the Philistines, he did not use Saul's Kingly armor. He used a slingshot and a little rock.
2. When Jesus came, He didn't enter a family of wealth and nobility. He came to a peasant girl and was born in a stable.
3. When He chose the Twelve, He didn't choose elite, affluent, educated men. He picked unlearned Galileans.
4. 1 Corinthians 1:26 – “26. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28. and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,” It's always been that way.

D. God declares that we, meager as we are, are the salt of the earth. He wants to use us to retard the corruption. God gets the greater glory, listen to me now, God then gets the greater glory because of the humbleness of the ones that He uses. Notice Jesus says, “You are…”. Whether we act like it or not does not change the fact that as Christians, we are.

IV. The light. In a way salt and light balance each other. You might say that salt is more hidden. It just melts away into whatever it flavors or preserves, but light shines on the outside. Light is open and light is working visibly.

A. We affect society's thinking and living by the power of our lives. We turn on the light so that everybody can see the message that we want to give. It isn't just in our words, but in our overt, open, Godly conduct. We are both a subtle influence like salt and a blatant influence like light. Salt cannot change corruption into incorruption. Salt only retards the corruption. We have to shine the light of the Gospel to transform corruption into incorruption.
B. Verse 16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” It implies that they have heard something about the Father which is in heaven. If they're going to glorify Him by seeing us, they have heard something about Him somewhere along the line.

1. This implies both a life and a message, lived and spoken. Often people ask which is more important, the Christian walk or the Christian talk? To me, they're just like the two wings on an airplane. You're not going to get off the ground without both of them. They're both important.
2. Here's an interesting thing. In the first chapter of the Book of Acts, very first verse Acts 1:1, Luke writes “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.” There's both of them right there—to both do and teach. Those two things go together—the living and the speaking, living the righteous life and speaking the truth in love.

a. 1 John 1:5 – “… God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
b. Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” God is light. The Word is light.
c. John 8:12 – “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.''” Christ is the light that lights every man.
d. Second Corinthians 4:6 – “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We can enlighten people only because God has enlightened us. God passes that light down through us.
e. Philippians 2:14-15 – “Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” If they're going to criticize us, let them have to make something up, because there's nothing true they can use.

3. If we have to be hated, let's be hated like Christ was—hated without a cause, blameless, harmless, children of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom we shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of light. That should always be our motto - holding forth the Word of light.

C. The light has to shine openly. A city that is set up on a hill cannot be hid. Often villages in Jesus day were built on the tops of the hills. That way they could be more easily cooled by the breezes, and they could also be more easily defended. When night came and everybody lit a lamp in their house, it just made the village sparkle.

1. A city could not be hidden. Light was for the purpose of shining forth openly.
2. In World War II during the time of the Blitz, they tried to get everybody to keep their lights off and it was almost impossible. A city is a very, very hard thing to hide.

D. We are not just subtle salt. We are very conspicuous light. We're not a secret society. We're not pagans with mysteries only for the initiated. We don't have a cult that is known only to a few. We're a city, set on a hill, and the whole world ought to see us. There's nothing hidden here.

V. What's the problem with all of this? The problem is that, if sin enters our lives and we no longer walk in the spirit, then we stop being effective as salt and we will become useless as a light.

A. In verse 13, He says, if the salt has lost its saltiness, what good is it? Non salty salt has no use. It's good for nothing but to be cast out and trod under the foot of men. Neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all that are in the house. There's no place for a secret Christian.
B. Can salt lose its saltiness? Indeed it can, and I’ll mention one way it did in Biblical times. The harvested salt from the Dead Sea contained both the desired salt, sodium chloride, as well as other salts and impurities. It was the custom to store vast amounts of this salt in buildings that had earthen floors. In time, the salt next to the ground spoiled, became bitter, because of the dampness. Since it would be harmful to land because of its salt content, no man would allow it to be thrown on his field. The only place left was the street, where it was trodden under foot. The Greek word here means flat and tasteless.

1. That's what the Lord is talking about in Luke 14:34 – “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
2. Yes, salt can lose it’s usefulness to flavor or preserve and we can lose ours too. If sin begins to dominate our lives, then we lose our saltiness, and with it, we lose our influence for good. We can't retard the corruption of the world any longer, because we are of the world and there's nothing to distinguish us from the world anymore. We forfeit our influence, we lose our impact, and we can become a castaway.

C. It is true that perfectly pure salt does not lose its flavor. Trouble is, none of us are perfectly pure salt. Just like the sea salt has impurities, while we're in the world, we're going to have some impurities. The potential for losing our saltiness is always going to be there.

1. What about the light? What they used most commonly in that time were little terracotta lamps with a spout on one end and a handle on the other, and a wick in the oil. If the lamp was left lit at night to provide light to the house, they would have to keep enough oil on hand and be conscientious enough to keep the wick trimmed so it would burn brightest and not smoke.
2. You and I have this treasure in our earthen vessels. Unfortunately some Christians are not willing to shine that light because of what they perceive it will attract. It may mean they will need to “give an answer to every man who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you” (First Peter 3:15).
3. The fear of persecution, whether it's subtle or overt, makes us hesitant at times.
4. In verse 16 He personalizes this. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

D. There is a beauty, an attractiveness, in those good works. When you do something good for somebody that affects their attitude towards you. He says, let the world see My beauty in you. This light is in you. You don't have to crank up the light or worry about getting the light started. All you have to do is let it go and let it be seen. Christ lives in you already and He is the light just let that light shine. Don't let Satan blow it out. Like the song says, “This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine”.

1. If you've got a basket of fear over it, all you got to do is take that basket off.
2. If you've got a basket of wanting to be acceptable over the light, all you got to do is take that basket off.
3. Perhaps a basket of not wanting to offend somebody or a basket of not wanting to make waves, just take that basket off.
4. Just simply let it shine by the things you do and say.

CONCLUSION: The purpose of all of this is the glorification of God, that they may glorify your Father, which is in heaven—the last phrase of verse 16.

If that is not your priority, then you're more concerned with yourself than you are with God's glory. If your top priority is the glory of God, then you will be salty. Salt and your light will be made manifest.

Those people 2000 years ago needed to hear the basics and we who know the Bible still need to hear and remind ourselves. What is this about then? It is about your personal influence. As Christians we have been given the greatest gift of all, freely, simply for accepting it, eternal life with our Creator. We are also given the ability to share that gift with the world and honor the Giver. How? Through our life, our personal influence.

What about your personal influence? What's it like? What happens when you walk by?
We need to live and talk so that the world can see who God is, and that we belong to Him. This very day some have passed into the next world. Tomorrow more will pass into the next world. We never know who it's going to be. Often it's surprising.

If you were to die tomorrow, would it be said, could it be said, that you made a difference in the world? Sweep through this life as salt and light and make a difference.

We know it is not always going to be easy. It seems that it is probably going to get harder in this world where we live today, not easier. But just because the world makes it hard on us, we shouldn't hide or keep our mouths shut.

We work God's plan that is for us. The way we change the world is not to go out and try to change the world politically. It isn't to rewrite the laws or to march in a protest. It isn't to use technology for altering society. The way we change the world is to infiltrate it with Godliness and righteousness and holiness and affect it from the inside out.

Those other things I mentioned aren't wrong. It's just that they are powerless to change the world. The way to do it is through the influence of Godly people.

In Matthew 23 Christ told His disciples that the scribes and Pharisees were successors to some of the dignity and authority of Moses, not in the sense of really possessing such authority, but in the sense of being responsible for teaching Moses' Law and faithfully interpreting it to the people. Yet, they did not practice what they taught and their lives were amiss. In verse 37 Christ says, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

God is willing ,yet we may cause Him tears because we too have been unfaithful. May we live to fill this marvelous commandment. May God make us different, that the world may be different because we are.

God may call on us in the days ahead to stand up and be counted for His cause. We don't know what the future holds. Hebrews 12:4 says, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.” In this country we haven't been murdered yet, but that time could easily come.

Things have accelerated recently to where we can see possibilities that could really occur even during the lifetime of those who don't have much earth-life left. We don't know what the future holds, but we need, each of us, to come to grips with our intentions.

Right now you've just got one life, just one shot at life, while you're here. You've chosen Christ. You love Christ. His word has penetrated your heart. We have been redeemed at a price and He paid that supreme price for us. He bore the blows that should have been borne by us.

We're the only salt and light. Let's be different and let's make a difference.
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Taken from a sermon by Rick Sparks

What Do We Trust In?

1 Kings 16 & 17

OPEN: Years ago I read the story of a man by the name of Wally who owned a farm in Connecticut. He had a remarkable talent he had with birds. Chickadees specifically.
It seems that every morning these little birds would flutter down and land on his hands. And it wasn’t just for food; He’d talk to them and they seemed to enjoy his companionship.

One woman who visited was so enthralled by what she asked for permission to try and get the birds to do that for her. She practiced for weeks, but never got one bird to land on her hand.
Then one day, she tried something different. She put Wally’s cap on her head and wrapped herself in his mackinaw coat.
Seconds later, she was covered with birds.
They came to her, because they trusted Wally so much that they even trusted his scent on his clothes.

Trust.
It’s a valuable commodity.
Independence Day, also called Fourth of July , in the United States, commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.The belief at that time by these individuals was to establish a nation who TRUSTED GOD!
Printed on coins, etc. …. IN GOD WE TRUST!

People rarely GIVE trust... usually it’s something that’s earned.
But without having trust in someone - or something – it’s hard to do anything in this life
• We trust that our cars will start. Have you ever gotten in your car, put the key in the ignition... and then have it NOT start?
How did it make you feel? It should have started!
It had started hundreds of times before... but now it didn’t.
You TRUSTED it to be able to start when you needed it.

• We trust that our grocery stores will have food.
Most of us would have never have thought that there would be times that we couldn’t find Toilet Paper, or Baby Formula, or PEANUT BUTTER!

• When we have trouble around the house, we trust that the police and firemen will be available to protect us.

• And we trust that our friends will BE THERE for us. That our church family will lift us up in prayer and be there in our moments of joy and sadness.

Trust is woven into the very fabric of our lives.
Without trust, we can hardly function.
So, the question is: what do you trust... and why?

The story we’re looking at today is a story about trust... and the lack of it.

1 Kings 16:29-33 tells us:
“In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years.
Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.
He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.
Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.”
Ahab was a wicked king.
But he NOT JUST a wicked king... he was a wicked man
1Kings 21:25 tells us
“There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.”
So Ahab was a wicked King and a wicked man.
But what made him so wicked?

Well, he TRUSTED in the wrong things.
We’re told that he built a temple to the pagan god Baal in Samaria. And that he erected Asherah poles for the worship of that goddess.
God repeatedly stressed how foolish the worship of these (and other gods) was.
In Isaiah 46: 5 - 7 God declared:
"To whom will you compare me or count me equal?
To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?
Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.”

But these were not just false gods... they were evil gods in whom Ahab put his trust.
Part of the worship of Baal was the sacrifice of your children to please him. And the religious activity of male and female prostitution were part of both their worships.

So Ahab trusted these false and evil gods.
But the reason he trusted these gods was because he trusted the wrong person
He married Jezebel
Have you ever heard the name of Jezebel?

How many of you would name your daughter “Jezebel?”
This woman was so despised in Scripture that to this day her name is still a symbol of treachery and wickedness.
Ahab trusted the wrong things... and he trusted the wrong people
And most tragically of all - he didn’t trust God.

So God decided it was time to teach Ahab a lesson in trust.
ILLUS: Trust is based upon a track record.
If I tell you I’m going to something and then I don’t do it - and I do that again and again and again – are you going to trust me? Of course not.

But if I tell you that I’m going to do something and then that’s exactly what you do - and I do that often enough – you’ll be likely to trust that I’ll do what I say... even if you don’t like what I tell you I’m going to do.
God wants Ahab to trust him.
So He sends Elijah with this basic message:
“Trust me on this I’m going to make life VERY uncomfortable for you.
Until Elijah comes to you again, there will be no rain nor dew on the land.”

ILLUS: Every year, our farmers watch anxiously to see how much rain will fall on crops.
If there’s too much, the crops drown.
If there’s too little, some of those crops dry up and die.
BUT if there’s no rain at all... ALL the crops will die.
Some of us may currently have some brown grass due to the lack of rain we currently experienced.

The book of James in chapter 5 verse 17 tells us that “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.”

Three and a half years without rain is a long time.
Three ½ years of drought is enough to turn a paradise into a wasteland.
And three ½ years of dryness can make men and kings desperate enough to do anything to change the weather... even kill a prophet.
So, God sent Elijah on an extended vacation.
And that (of course) is where we meet the ravens of this story.
God has Elijah hide near the brook Kerith down by the Jordan River and that’s where he lives for the next couple of years.

And while he was hiding there: 1Kings 17:6 tells us
“The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.”

Now this is odd for several reasons:
1st Ravens don’t generally like being around humans... they avoid us if at all possible.

2ndly Ravens were unclean birds. God’s people were not allowed to eat them, nor offer them in sacrifice.

3rd The food of ravens has usually been dead for a while. They eat road kill. They were scavengers. They’re kind of like vultures. Who would want to share with them the food they are eating?

4th Even if we wanted to share their food, Ravens would never share. They don’t even share their food with their babies.

ILLUS: Once a young raven is able to fly – it’s kicked out of the nest and left to fend for itself. No matter how much the young raven cries its parents will not bring it food, it is on its own. Apparently that’s an uncommonly cruel trait not shared by many other birds.

So here God has Elijah being fed by unclean, disgusting,
anti-social, and notoriously cruel birds.
WHY?
Why would God use Ravens to supply Elijah with food when there are so many other simple and satisfying ways of getting the job done?

There are several reasons why people end up not trusting God or His word.
1. Sometimes, people refuse to trust God’s Word, because they want a God they can understand. If they can’t understand something about Him it can’t be true. They want their God to be able to fit into their small box. They put walls around Him and tell Him – you can’t exist outside of this.

ILLUS: A minister was once confronted by an atheist who was one of his students.
The young man told the minister: “For me to believe in God, I have to have a God that I can understand."
And the minister replied "God refuses to be that small!"
So, sometimes people refuse to trust God (and His Word) because doesn’t fit inside their small box.

2. Other times people refuse to trust God and His Word because (like King Ahab) they’ve listened to the wrong people. They’ve spent time with skeptics and scoffers who have made them ashamed of their faith and doubt their God.

3. Other times people refuse to trust God’s Word because they’ve been hurt. God didn’t help them like they wanted Him to when they needed it, and because of that incident(s) they turn their back on God.

4. Still other people refuse to trust God’s Word because they’re into sin. They’ve done things they shouldn’t do and because God’s Word condemns their particular behavior or lifestyle they try to disarm God. They try to dull his right to judge them, because IF God’s Word is wrong on something they can ignore it as being unreliable in all things.

The problem with these approaches to God’s Word is that it puts us in danger.
If you can’t trust God... you gotta trust something.
SOMETHING has to step in where God has been thrown out.

That’s what happened to King Ahab.
He didn’t trust the God of Israel.
So he turned in trust to other gods... and suffered for it.

ILLUS: It has been said that:
“It is often supposed that when people stop believing in God, they believe in nothing.
Alas, it is worse than that.
When they stop believing in God, they believe in anything.”

Without God… the only standard of TRUST - of right and wrong - is what appeals to you. And that’s a shifting standard. It all depends on what I want, what I like, what I accept, what pleases me.

But scripture says: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

My standards are all warped.
My morality is riddled with impurity.
And if I base what I TRUST on that warpedness/ that impurity, then I’m going to embrace whatever allows me to do what I want to do.

It’s insanity
When I stop trusting in the God of Scripture... I’ll believe in anything
And eventually that will lead me to destruction.

But now, by contrast, if I trust in the God of Scripture I’m no longer led by MY righteousness and holiness.
Instead I’m trusting a God who is so holy and so righteous that my tendency will be to build my life around Him
(rather than Him around me).

I’ll use His standards of right and wrong – not mine.
I’ll build on His morality in my life – not mine.
I’ll build on His expectations for me... not mine.
AND I know if I trust in Him in these matters... I will be blest.
But first I have to decide whether I trust Him or not.
And that leads me to my final point
That point has to do with a question that plagued me most of the week.
Why would God use ravens to minister to Elijah?
He could have done it more pleasantly and much easier some other way.
Why use the ravens?

Well, when the brook dried up – God had Elijah move on.
God asked him to go approach a poor widow in Zarephath to house and feed him. But the widow had no food to share. What little food she had – she was preparing for a final meal for her son and herself... and then they were going to die.
And Elijah had to ask her to share the final meal with him.
Why didn’t God send Elijah to somebody who at least had some food???

Why?
For the same reason God sent the ravens to feed him in the desert: To show Elijah His power.
1Kings 17: 13-15
Elijah said to her, "Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’"
She went away and did as Elijah had told her.
So, there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.” Now, you can’t convince me that God’s sole purpose in having the widow feed Elijah was simply so that he could have something to eat!

So, what other reason could God have?
TRUST
God wanted to strengthen Elijah’s trust in Him.
2Chronicles 16:9 says “... the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him..."
God got Elijah into situations where he had no choice but to trust Him.
Because when this drought was over, God was sending Elijah back to confront Ahab.
And when Elijah went back, he had to be able to know that he could trust God.
This whole time in exile was designed by God so He could train Elijah in trust.

He showed Elijah that He could order the very ravens to feed him
He showed Elijah that He was able to enable a destitute widow to meet his needs.
Over and over again, God trained Elijah in trust.
God knows that trust is something that’s earned.

And He knows the power of trust in our lives.
That’s why He lays such an emphasis on our counting our blessings. Repeatedly throughout Scripture God tells us be thankful, to rejoice to focus on what He has done in our lives. This is more than just a “religious activity” – it’s a training ground in trust.

If Elijah had not been trained in trust, he probably wouldn’t have been ready when the time of testing came. In the same way – if we don’t train ourselves in trusting God, we will not have the strength to stand in the time of testing.

CLOSE: The question for you this morning is this:
Who do you trust?

One man made this observation:
“Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment
Trust in money and you may have it taken from you;
But trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.”

Hebrews tells us
“Without faith it is impossible to please God...”
That kind of faith is more than just “believing God exists?”
It’s a faith that has learned to trust God because of what He’s done for us.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists AND that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

INVITATION

 

Contibuting Sermon
Given by Jeff Strite