Chardon church of Christ

Getting Grace

Ephesians 2: 1 – 9

A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII.
A tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread to feed her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. He told the mayor that "It's a real bad neighborhood, AND She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson."
LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."
So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner.
Please turn with me to verses 1 – 3 of Ephesians Chapter 2
2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
After pointing out how dark our past had been, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2: 4 – 5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by GRACE you have been saved.”
Paul was telling the Ephesians: you WERE in a bad place, but while you were in that bad place God saved you by His grace. He offered you his forgiveness even though you didn’t deserve it. And that’s the beauty of God’s Amazing Grace - you didn’t deserve it... but you got it anyway.
Jesus said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call NOT those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners" (Mark 2:17, NLT).
The first verse of the song Amazing Grace describes that Grace. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. I was blind but now I see.”
I was wretched, I was lost and I was blind - and it was then that God gave His amazing grace.
Someone once noted that the song “Amazing Grace” has been recorded more often by more musicians than any other song. When sung at even the most secular event or pagan concert, a hush seems to fall over the audience. And eyes tear up. And not just the eyes of Christians. Grace is what people long for, even those who don’t know Jesus. Especially those who don’t know Jesus.
Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.
ILLUS: A clinical psychologist and a professor named Dr. Jordan Peterson noted that most people don’t often think of themselves as valuable. “They certainly don’t think they are valuable - when they’re depressed.
They certainly don’t think that - when they’re suicidal. They really don’t think that - when they’re ashamed, or guilty, or frustrated, or disappointed or angry.
Peterson’s observation was – that many people are often disappointed and uncomfortable with who they are. They are people in need of grace.
So, some feel the need for grace, but (PAUSE) there are others who don’t ...
unless there’s a heavy weight of shame in their lives
OR a fear of facing judgment
lots of folks just ignore God.
That’s why the 2nd verse of Amazing Grace says what it says. “T’was grace that taught my heart TO FEAR, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”
Grace taught his heart to fear. Grace STARTS with fear – the fear of judgment or shame. And there are many people who reject God’s grace for that very reason. They don’t like the idea that the are wrong and that they might be condemned for their choices in life.
ILLUS: For example, several years ago Ted Turner (the man who founded TBS and CNN) spoke at the National Press Club. “Heaven is going to be a mighty slender place. And most of the people I know in life aren't going to be there. Remember, heaven is going to be perfect. And I don't really want to be there... Those of us that go to hell, which will be most of us in this room when we get there we'll have a chance to make things... better, because hell is supposed to be a mess. And heaven is perfect. Who wants to go to a place that is perfect? Boring, boring.”
Ephesians describes men like Turner as “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” (Ephesians 4:18) So you’d expect folks like Turner to reject God’s grace.
But what’s really surprising is when regular church folks don’t see the need. You see, what happens for too many church goers, is that they tend to believe that they’re OK just as they are. They don’t NEED God’s forgiveness/ they don’t NEED God’s grace, because they’re nice people – just ask them!
They believe they deserve heaven just as they are because they’re nice people, they’ve done nice things. In fact, they believe they’ve done more GOOD than BAD in life, and so they’ve bought their ticket to heaven. They’ve banked so many “righteous deeds” that God has to let them into heaven because they’ve earned it. In fact, He couldn’t keep them out if He wanted to. They deserve Heaven.
None of us deserves to go to heaven. The only way we’re getting into heaven is by the GRACE of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us “by GRACE you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Without God’s Grace... none of us getting into heaven!
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.
The beauty of computers is that I can use the search function to find any word. All I have to do is type in a word like “grace” and every Word document that has that word pops: grace... grace... grace... grace. As I was searching through my files for grace, I saw many quotes, stories, etc. involving “grace” (pause) but then I came across “dis...grace”.
Disgrace! I saw that word “disgrace” and it got me to thinking. Disgrace is when a person is made to feel ashamed. They’ve lost their reputation... and their position of trust. They got caught doing something they ought not to do.
And so – they’re disgraced. And the worst part of disgrace is losing your OWN self-respect. If you TRULY feel disgrace you can’t bear to look at yourself in the mirror. Your sin, my sin - is our disgrace.
Then I realized: When Jesus died on the cross, He died to take away our disgrace. And in the place of our disgrace He gave us His grace. Do you know why He did that? He did it because He LOVED us.
Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the GREAT LOVE with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by GRACE you have been saved.”
Someone observed that Genesis never talks about God loving Adam & Eve. I looked it up... and he was right. God did plenty of things that showed love to Adam and Eve, but it never says He “loved” them. And that got me to thinking, and I did a search... and you know what I found? In the Old Testament, God never told anyone He loved them (except Jacob before he was born and Solomon when he was born)
BUT, the Old Testament speaks of God loving the nation of Israel, and of God loving someone who has obeyed Him. God loved the people who belonged to him, and he loved those who obeyed him. And that’s pretty much it!
But here in Ephesians we’re told that God loved SINNERS. The first few verses of Ephesians 2 tells us – before we became Christians we were objects of wrath, but “because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses” and He saved us by His grace.
Did you catch that? We were sinners - we were bound for hell - but He loved us! He loved you, and HE loved me even though we didn’t Belong to Him, and we didn’t Obey Him.
Why is that important? Well, many people won’t bother to become Christians because they’ve ... sinned. They believe they need to clean themselves up before they come to God. They believe God will ONLY love them if they get their act together. But Ephesians 2 says... that’s not true. God loved you when you were an object of wrath. He loved you BEFORE you cleaned up your act.
Someone once described God’s grace this way: GRACE is God loving us just as we are, but loving us too much to let us stay that way.
Watching a trapeze show is breathtaking. We wonder at the dexterity and timing. We gasp at near-misses. In most cases, there is a net underneath. When they fall, they jump up and bounce back to the trapeze. In Christ, we live on the trapeze. The whole world should be able to watch and say, "Look how they live, how they love one another. Look how well the husbands treat their wives. And aren't they the best workers in the factories and offices, the best neighbors, the best students?" That is to live on the trapeze, being a show to the world. What happens when we slip? The net is surely there. The blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, has provided forgiveness for ALL our trespasses. Both the net and the ability to stay on the trapeze are works of God's grace. Of course, we cannot be continually sleeping on the net., If that is the case, I doubt whether that person is a trapezist.

2 Corinthians 8:7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.
CLOSE: The man who wrote Amazing Grace is an example of someone who understood that kind of grace. His name was John Newton... and he was not a nice man. Newton was such a nasty/immoral man, even other pagans weren’t comfortable with him. One time, in a terrible storm, the captain of the ship he was in said they needed to throw John overboard to save the ship... just as Jonah had been thrown overboard in the Bible.
He got drunk, got in fights, went to the red-light districts. And he cursed like a sailor... in fact, he was a sailor. And he was a slaver - he kidnapped and sold human flesh for price.
Years before, he’d turned his back on God... but a vicious storm at sea changed his mind.
Someone described the fearfulness of that storm: Waves crashed over the boat, ripping away whole timbers. Clothes and bedding were stuffed into holes and boards nailed over them. Newton joined those who worked at pumping water out of the ship, and eventually (when he was too weary to pump any longer) he was lashed to the wheel to try and steer it thru the storm.
One writer noted that “In his heart Newton believed Christianity to be true. But this brought him no consolation because (as John Newton later wrote) “I concluded my sins were too great to be forgiven. I waited with fear and impatience to receive my doom.” But as soon he heard the glad news that the ship was freed of water, "I began to pray... to think of that Jesus that I had so often derided; I recollected his death: a death for sins not his own, but, as I remembered, for the sake of those who should put their trust in him."
Did you catch that? He stayed away from Christ because he concluded his sins were too great to be forgiven. He didn’t think God could love him as he was. But that storm brought him face to face with judgment/ death, and it forced him to turn his eyes upon Jesus. AND THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE FOREVER
INVITATION... so how do you lay hold of the grace of God?
1. BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Acts 16:31)
2. REPENT of your sins. Admit your sin is too great for you to pay off (Acts 3:19)
3. CONFESS Jesus as your Lord and Master (Romans 10:9)
4. Be BURIED in the waters of Baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38)
5. And LIVE for Christ (Revelation 2:10-11)

Sermon Contributor Jeff Strite

The Value of Meditation

I Kings 12:4-14

INTRO: It’s good to see each of you out this morning. I would encourage you mark down the scriptures we will be reading and look at them later. I hope those at home can hear.

This morning I would like to bring a message to you that I’ve entitled The Value of Meditation.

We all have probably heard the phrase “What were you thinking?” Perhaps you have asked yourself that question. Perhaps the problem is, as some may say, “I just didn’t think.”

What about us today? Have we taken the time to think lately? Have we taken the time to think about our lives? Have we taken time to think about our physical health? Do we take good care of ourselves? In our country we have a tendency not to take care of ourselves. Have we stopped practicing bad habits we have? I think all of us here today probably have some bad habits that we could stop doing.

More importantly have we thought about our spiritual health? Have we taken the time to think about what is really important in life? I believe if we would take the time to reflect or to contemplate or to ponder our life that we could better deal with many of our daily struggles or problems that we face in our lives. Sometimes we don’t take the time to think about or to take heed to God’s Word concerning these matters and we may find ourselves stressed out in a way that we do not need to be.

There’s a saying: The man who can’t think is a moron, the man who won’t think is a fool, and the man who dares not think is a slave. I don’t think I know of any members of the Lord’s church who is a moron because I believe we all can think. I do believe that some members of the church can become fools because they refuse to think. I also believe that some members of the church can become slaves because they dare not think concerning God’s Word.

Let’s consider this morning the value of meditation, the value of thinking, the value of meditation on God’s Word to be more precise. Meditation on God’s Word can prevent us from making bad decisions.

We read in the book of Psalms 1:1-2 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Why do people walk in the counsel of the ungodly? Why do people stand in the way of sinners? Why do people choose to sit in the seat of the scornful? Many times, it is because they didn’t think much about their conduct. They probably never thought about the consequences of their actions or their conduct. More importantly, they probably never took the time to consider the Law of the Lord.

When a man doesn’t consider God’s Law, spiritual failure will be the result. I also think that such a person will be a selfish person by nature. This may be a person with anxieties and worries—worried about this and worried about that. They worry about a lot of things that need not be worried about. Sooner or later they will regret the foolish counsel they chose and the wise counsel from God’s Word they rejected.

Note with me in the book of I Kings 12. There we read of the counsel of Rehoboam. He became king after his father Solomon. I Kings 12:4-8 Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:

Now I Kings 12:13-14 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

Rehoboam rejected the counsel of the old men. These were seasoned men, men with life experience. They had experience dealing with people. He embraced the counsel of those he grew up with. He embraced the counsel of his childhood friends, young men. The lacked the experience of the old men. Because of it the kingdom was divided because of the decision he made.

Likewise, those that stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of the scornful sooner or later they will regret their decision much like Rehoboam regretted taking the counsel of the young men. Men who knew no more than he about dealing with people.

The man who delights and medicates on the Law of the Lord will avoid the life of unnecessary regret. This man pondered on the manual for life, that is God’s Word. He doesn’t sit and ponder the wisdom of men and ignore the wisdom of God.

Jeremiah 10:23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

If I’m listening to my feeling, my intuition, my personal wisdom, I’m ignoring God’s manual for my life. My ways are useless. If the counsel of man is not founded on God’s Word, that counsel is useless. It is of no use for us today. The blessed man is one who considers God’s Word. He is a man that meditates on God’s Law day and night and he is blessed.

If Rehoboam had taken the time to mediate on God’s Law, it is likely that he would have taken the advice of those older men and would have saved himself the possibility of later regrets.

Meditation is a time for evaluation. Proverbs 4:23-27 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

We need to keep guard of our hearts with all diligence. Why is this important? Because from our hearts we determine the course of our lives. If we don’t guard of heart, evil can creep into our hearts. If evil enters into our hearts then evil will influence our lives by our conduct or by the way we talk.

Notice what the scriptures in Matthew 15:19 says: For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

Obviously, such a person did not guard his or her heart. They didn’t keep evil from entering in. We must guard ourselves or we will be just like them. Evil conduct will come out in our lives. By mediating on God’s Word we can properly evaluate our ways.

We must consider the course of our lives. Am I going in the right direction? Am I doing the right thing? Am I allowing myself to be distracted from God’s ways? God would have us to keep our eyes on Jesus. That’s who our eyes should be on. That is our true leader. He is the template. He is the one we should look to. Some would have us to look to the left. We have people telling how we should think. Some would have us look to the right. We must guard our hearts and keep our eyes on Jesus. That is the way we should evaluate our lives. That is the way we should view the word—through the eyes of Christ. We need to take the time to think carefully about the things that can help us achieve this goal. This will help us avoid obstacles, temptations, and all the things life can bring before us.

We have a lot of media in our world, more than they had in Jesus’ time. They had a lot of voices back then, but we have more today because we can carry it around in our pockets. We can take our phones and listen to all kinds of people. If we respond to everything we hear and see, we would not be established in all our ways. It is likely that our feet would be on the way to evil.

Meditation on God’s Word can help us consider what’s important in life. I would like us to look at Acts 4:32-37 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

What made these people so united, having one heart? They were not caught in or concerned about their own way. What liberated these people from their things? Their things did not possess them. Rather they possessed their things, and they sold their land. They sold their houses. They sold things not for their own personal gain or profit. They sold these things for the cause of Christ. Obviously, these people took time to consider the ways of the Lord. Considering God’s way they realized what was really important in life.

What was important? Having land and houses was ok. God blesses us with those things. Possessing these things is not what is really important. We could say it is the American dream. That’s not what the scriptures tell us. These things are not the end-all of life. Life can be complete without those things.

Think about the Godly man who lives perhaps in Africa, South America, or maybe Asia who lives in the bush, the jungle. They don’t have those things. What is important? It is doing God’s will.

The important thing is living for Christ. That is the end-all of life. Life cannot be complete without living for Jesus Christ. The man or woman who considers God’s Word will realize that. The things of this life are fleeting. They’re here today and tomorrow they’re gone. The body gives out. Eventually the body will die. We know that. Things get old. They wear out. Things rust. Things decay. Nothing in this world was meant to last forever in this world.

The Bible says: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:15-17.

I Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

Many people are miserable and have problems in their lives because they haven’t considered their ways. These people love the world. They think that worldliness may bring them peace, edification, and fulfillment in their life. Think about the Hollywood mentality, or the rich and famous mentality. People are often looked up to as idols. They are often looked up to as our examples. People we want to be like. If they lust for something, they seek to fulfill that desire. If their eyes see anything they like they may do anything to get it. It’s like they have to get it.

The problem is these people never take the time to consider God’s Word seriously. They probably never took the time to consider the consequences of their actions. In other words, it’s likely they never gave themselves time to consider what’s really important in life. When they consider these things they are probably on their death bed or close to dying.

When a man meditates on God’s Word can understand that this life is like grass. It will wither away. I’m sure we all have seen luscious grass that’s dried up, turned brown. It withered away. That’s humbling. We all have seen flowers of the grass and their glory fades away. We are like the flowers of the grass. Our glory will also fade away. That should be humbling.

The world that he or she loves will also pass away. Everything that we see, that we hear, touch, feel will pass away. Look around you. In time it shall pass away. Our precious possessions whether it be a car, land or house it shall pass away. This man who possesses God’s Word understands what is really important, and will make wise decisions in life.

Meditating on God’s Word will help us to stand strong in a world of compromise and temptations. Look at Joshua 1:7-9. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Then we have Joshua 24:14-15 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Israel could not have it both ways. They could not serve Jehovah and also serve the other gods. They could not do both. Israel had to make a choice. It’s obvious that Joshua had already made his choice because he said that he and his house were going to serve the Lord.

How could Joshua be so strong? How could he be so faithful to Jehovah when it would have been easier for him to compromise and go along with the other Israelites? Joshua knew Jehovah. Joshua also obeyed Jehovah. We have no reason to believe that Joshua did not meditate on God’s Word day and night. As a matter of fact we have a good reason to believe that he did just that. He said concerning God’s Law to meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

As far a I can tell, Joshua personally had his success. He entered into the Promise Land and he reached the goals that God gave him. The same thing can happen to us today. The question is: Are we willing to spend time in God’s Word?

In Matthew 4:4 we have these words when Jesus was being tempted by the Devil. Jesus was hungry. He had the power to turn stone into bread, but He chose not to because He was committed to doing the Father’s will. In response to being tempted He said, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

I raise a question to you this morning. What are you chewing on? What are you feeding on? That is, of course, I refer to what you are chewing on mentally. What are you chewing on mentally? What are you thinking about?

I’m not a farmer, but I understand that cows chew cuds. The way I understand it is that the cow chews the grass, swallows it, then she will regurgitate the grass or cud and chew on it some more. In this process the cow is doing is breaking down that which she has consumed to get more nutrition out of it and her body can use it.

We should do the same thing with God’s Word. We need to eat God’s Word. He said we do not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. We need to chew on God’s Word. We need to swallow it. We need to bring it back up and chew on it some more, break it down some more to get more out of it and swallow it again. In other words we need to meditate on God’s Word.

There is value in meditating on God’s Word day and night. It can lead us to make good decisions. It can help up to properly evaluate ourselves. Paul said for us to examine ourselves. When we examine ourselves, what are basing that examination on? We should examine ourselves based on God’s Word. It can lead us to know what is really important in life.

It can help us to stand strong against compromise. Compromise is short term gratification. Think about the things you are tempted to do. If eating a whole cake is your temptation, eat it and it’s over with. That’s short term gratification. Do you feel good about the cake now that you ate it?

Think about some sin that you’ve been tempted to commit and you did it. That’s short term gratification. Do you live on that gratification now? No. It’s in the past. It’s a vague memory now.

CONCLUSION:
Meditating on God’s Word day and night will do us no good if we do not obey it. There are many people who meditate on God’s Word, but they never obey the gospel. They may be positive and upbeat in life, they may be kind, etc., but they’re not saved if they don’t obey. Its one thing to meditate on it, but it’s another thing to put it in practice. If you don’t go that extra mile to put it into practice it does no good.

To obey the gospel the Bible teaches us that we must believe. Mark 16:16 says: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. He that believeth is the person that’s taught. He’s thinking about Jesus Christ being the Son of God. He believes that Jesus died. The person that believes must commit himself. Baptism is not a work because you are not doing it. It is something that someone is doing to you. Just believing is not good enough you must submit to doing God’s will. In this case being baptized, allowing someone else to immerse you beneath the water.

Before you’re baptized you need to repent of your sins? The Bible tells you nay except you repent you all shall likewise perish. We need to have a change of mind about our sins. It has to result to a change in lifestyle. Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

We also need to confess Christ before men. Matthew 10:32-33 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. We should not be ashamed to say that I believe in Jesus Christ.

Like I said before we also need to be baptized. When we do that the Lord has promised to add us to His church. Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus promised before He went to the cross that He was going to build His church. He built that church. On the Day of Pentecost we know that there were many people that heard Peter preach the gospel. The Bible tells us in Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

If we have obeyed the gospel, but haven’t been practicing the things that have been taught from scriptures we need to repent and reapply what we have and what we know by asking the Lord to forgive us and get back on the road.

If you are here this morning and stand in need we ask you to come as we stand and sing.

Take Heed, Lest Ye Fall

1 Corinthians 10:12, 1 Corinthians 9:27

This morning I would like to bring to you a sermon that I have that I have entitled Take Heed, Lest Ye Fall. I'll be reading a number of scriptures, and I would encourage you to get a pen and paper so you can write them down and you can look them up later or you can follow along with me. I'll first read a couple of scriptures, First Corinthians 10:12, and then First Corinthians 9:27.
And we read these words: Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. First Corinthians 10:12. Then First Corinthians 9:27, But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

More then any other book in the world, the Bible is a book that should make us think. Think long and to think hard. Also, more than any other book the Bible should make us think during both the difficult times in life, and also those good times in life. Obviously, during those bad times, you know, we may go to God's word, go to the Bible, and think about our problems. Hopefully to help us to put those problems or those struggles into the right perspective, but during those good times, it's should serve to remind us also. That is God's word reminds us to think how we need to stay close to the Lord, because of course, in those times it's easy for us to go straight.

The scripture says wherefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. When things seem to be going pretty well for us, it may be very easy for us to think that we're not vulnerable. Right? To think that we don't have any problem, but how many people have we known from elders on down who appear to have been the idea or the picture of faithfulness only later to find out that they have fallen in some way or another? We know that this has happened.

Of course, it can happen again to anyone. Even the great apostle Paul himself was not immune from this temptation. He says in the scriptures that he had to buffet his body. He had to bring his body into subjection under the will of God. Otherwise, he could have found himself among the people he was trying to save. That is those who were lost. The danger of falling is all is real.

Notice these words in Hebrews 10:38, “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” Then in Second Peter 2:20, you can write it down. “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning”.

So the danger is real. It is not something that is imaginary. Right? I imagine over the years, tens of thousands of people have lost their faith out of millions who have obeyed. I imagine thousands have again entangled themselves in the world. I imagine there are thousands or tens of thousands who are worse off than when they first believed. Right? The fact of the matter is over and over again, the Bible teaches us that the child of God can fall and be lost. Right?

For example, the Bible teaches us that a child of God can stop believing. Notice with me, Hebrews 3:9-12 “When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” Also note with me, Luke 16:29-31, there were read; “Abraham said unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham. But if weren't, but if one went on, two of them from the dead they will repent, he said, unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though rose from the dead.” Sometimes it may be difficult for us to understand, but people can stop believing.

Think about Israel. Think about this people that we read of, I believe we can read over the Book of Exodus. Right? They saw God’s work for many years. I believe the Bible says 40 years. They saw at the Red Sea was provided a miracle, obviously just mind boggling, the Red Sea divided. They saw a pillar of cloud that led them by day. They saw a pillar of fire by night. They saw God speaking to them or heard God speaking to them from the mountain, the voice of God. They observed God giving them manna, bread out of basically nowhere, to eat. God sent them when they desire meat to eat He sent them quails from the sky. They landed right there for them to take with their own hands. When they were thirsty in the desert or out in the wilderness, God gave them water from a rock, a dry rock. When they were walking in the desert for all those many years, remember, the Bible says that they sandals did not wear out. Now we all know where shoes wear out over time but their sandals did not wear out. So they saw a miracle after miracle after miracle.

Some still chose not to believe. When you step back and think about that, it's amazing. There's also chilling when you think about that fact. Today, the same thing is possible for us. We can stop believing. We can choose to depart and leave the Lord and we should we should keep in mind that we need to guard ourselves from falling into this temptation. It should be something that's on the mind all the time. Now, let us not think that it is easier for us to fall away than it was for the Israelites who saw all these miracles. Right?

That may be a temptation. They saw all these miracles, but notice the rich man. He had brothers who were still in sin. We know that this rich man had died and he was in the Hadean world and he was suffering. Right? So he wanted to warn his brothers. He knew they were still in sin. So what do you do knowing that they were still in sin? He wanted to warn them before it was too late. He thought that if a man were to return from the dead, that was Lazarus, the poor man, the beggar, Lazarus, would return from the dead and go to his brothers, knock on the door, if you will, that they would listen to him. This is a man, who rose from the dead, but Abraham corrected him. He said his brothers had Moses and the prophets. That is to say they had their writings, yes, they have the writings of Moses, the Torah, they have the writings of the prophets and if they wouldn’t listen to the written word, they wouldn’t listen though a man rose from the dead.

Think about that. What’s the point? Hearing or reading the written word can have the same powerful effect upon a person as if they heard a man speak who had risen from the death—a loved one to come back from the dead speaking to them. God’s word is just as powerful. Right?

In other words, seeing a miracle would not make a difference. Seeing a miracle would not make a difference. In other words, if the written word is not enough for us to persuade us to believe and to stay faithful, seeing miracles like the Israelites wouldn’t make a difference. It wouldn’t make a difference. Let us get that on our minds. So the Lord warns us that if we are not careful, we can stop believing. We can stop believing, just like the Israelites did.

Also, let's look at the fall from the grace. You can fall from grace. Notice Galatians chapter five verses one through four. It says stead fast, therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ prophet you nothing for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whoever of you are justified by the law, you have fallen from grace.

OK, in the denominational world there is a popular doctrine that says once saved always saved. I think it says pretty much God has chosen you to be safe and you could do nothing about it. You have no choice. Right? Obviously, Paul did not get that memo. He did not give the message because the Galatians were God's children. They were Christians. They were saved, but Paul told them that if they submitted to be circumcised, it is as if a part of the plan of salvation, adding to God's word, just like take away from God's word, they will fall from grace.

I repeat that; adding to God's word, his commandments for us to be saved, or taking away from God’s word, and we can fall from grace. In other words, we will be lost. As we know, grace is important. Grace plays an important part in our salvation. The scripture says we're saved by grace Ephesians 2:8. That is therefore, if we fall from grace, we shall not be saved.

So like the Galatians, if we transgress the boundaries of the gospel, the gospels are like boundaries, right? We are not to cross boundaries both. We transgress those boundaries. We can fall from grace and therefore we can be lost. The scripture says Jesus showed us that a child of God can fail to bear fruit and thus also be lost. Right? Note with me or you can write down Matthew 13:3-8. Also you can add to that, verses 18 through 23.

First, Matthew, 13:3-8. “And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.”

That's Matthew 13:3-8 and then versus 18 to 23 of the same chapter. “Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

One last verse here Matthew 7:19 “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

Here are four kinds of people that hear the word of God. One never obeyed the gospel. He didn’t care at all. The wicked one came and took the word away. Three heard and obeyed the gospel. They became children of God. They became followers or Christians, but only one remained faithful. The one by the stony soil he or she abandoned the Lord when things got difficult. Therefore no fruit was produced. The one by the thorny soil also abandoned the Lord, but not because of difficulties. Rather abandoned the Lord because of riches. He valued worldly treasures. He valued material things more than he or she valued God. Either he didn’t produce or stopped producing. Right? Therefore with no fruit both would be lost.

The same applies to us today. In reality we all produce some kind of fruit. The question is what kind of fruit are we producing? Well, for that, keep in mind Galatians 6:7, shows us that our harvest will depend upon what we are sowing. Our harvest will depend upon what we're sowing.

In Galatians 6:7-9 we read these words, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

We all should understand that we all are sowing some kind of seed today. Right? How do we know this? Because in the end, we all shall reap, we all shall reap something. We all shall reap a harvest. We all in a sense are all different types of farmers. Right? Gardeners.

The only question is what kind of seeds are we sowing? What kind of seeds? Are we sewing, spiritual seeds? That is sowing to the spirit. Sowing things according to the word of God, the way we talk, where we conduct ourselves around in private and around other people. Or are we sowing fleshly seeds, that is to the flesh. Using ourselves, sowing to our lust, our desires that are contrary to God's will? Doing things that are just from the impulse of the flesh rather than from the spirit.

The point is, as God's children, as a child of God, if I sow to the spirit, I shall be saved. That is, if I follow the word of God, the teachings of the word, I shall be saved. But if I sow after the flesh, that is after of my own desires, my own way of doing things, I shall be lost. I shall be lost. Also, the Lord shows us that those who are lukewarm shall be spewed out of the mouth, out of His mouth.

Let us look at Revelation 3:14-18. “There we read And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

I think the Lord really tapped into human nature to get his point across. He tapped into human nature to get his point across. What do I mean? When we are hot in the summertime, perhaps, and we are thirsty and we expect, you know, looking forward to a nice cold glass of water to quench our thirst, I would imagine that most of us would be turned off or perhaps disgusted if the water we drink is lukewarm. We expected something cold to cool us off or it's getting cold out here now and perhaps looking forward to a hot drink to warm us up, maybe a hot tea or hot chocolate or a hot cup of coffee to help us get warm. I would imagine that we would be turned off expecting something hot. It’s room temperature.

I recall going out to the Indians Stadium, buying a cup of hot coffee, close to five dollars, if I recall correctly, it was like lukewarm, was warm. It wasn't where it should have been. You know, something like that would turn you off when you expect something else. Perhaps one of the messages here is that the Lord doesn’t like the idea of people just being average, right, being in the middle neither hot nor cold, what we call the mediocre.

I think this is a fair. A bar is set in Revelation 3:16, referring to the well known fact that tepid water tends to produce sickness if a stomach and inclination to vomit. The image is intensely strong and notes deep disgust and loathing, indifference that is, which prevailed in the church at Laodicea. The idea is that they would be utterly rejected, cast off as a church, a threatening of which there has been in abundant fulfillment in subsequent times and may be remarked also that what was written to that church may be expected to occur in all churches if they are in the same condition, and that all professing Christians...that are lukewarm...have special reason to dread the indignation of the savior. It appears that the church in Laodicea equate it, if you will, their material wealth with spiritual prosperity.

I repeat, that is appears that they equated their material wealth, the abundance, if you will, with spiritual prosperity, but they're not the same. You know, we hear about prosperity doctrine. The Lord blessed us with this, that if you do this just for him. That's not true. Spiritually, they were poor. They had a lot of stuff they could have a jet plane, but they were spiritually poor. They were lacking. They were in need. They were lukewarm and if they didn't repent, they were going to be lost.

So it's clear that God's children can be lost. What can we do to avoid becoming that statistic? This is the hope that occurred. Right? First I mean, there are many things that we can do. First of all, these are some things that we can keep in mind to keep us from that from that position.

First, acknowledge that it can happen to you. That's perhaps one of the first steps to acknowledge that we can fall, we can stumble, we can be lost if we're not careful. Notice First Corinthians 10:13. “There hath no temptation taking you or me, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but with the temptation also make a way to escape that he may be able to bear it.”

Now, we should remember that verse. It's like an alcoholic who first must acknowledge that he or she has a problem with alcohol if they want to overcome the problem of drinking. God's children, that’s us, we must acknowledge that we are vulnerable to being tempted to stand against God in every or any possible way. We must acknowledge that. We must acknowledge that temptation is common, is common to mankind, is common to elders, is common with deacons, with preachers, with teachers and everyone else the old, the young men, young women, older women, children who obey the gospel in the like.

Even Jesus, notice this, even Jesus was tempted. Right? Even Jesus was tempted. Right? So you can be tempted but though we can be tempted and fall away, we still have the choice. We have the choice. Notice these encouraging words from Joshua 24:15. “And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord. Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the God which your fathers serve that were on the other side of the flood or the Gods or the Emirates in whose land ye well. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Famous words of Joshua. Regardless of what happens we all have a choice. That's a beautiful thing. We have the freedom to choose. It is up to us.

We can serve God or we can choose to serve sin by giving in to the multitude of temptations that can lead us away from God. Of course, temptation may vary. Some of the temptations are easy to resist, right? While others may be more difficult to resist, we must acknowledge that. You know, we all have different temptations, but regardless of the degree of the temptation, we always have a choice. We have that freedom. God gives us the freedom. Right?

Job, for example, he was tempted by his wife to curse God and die because Job, as we recall, was going through a lot of suffering. He lost his lost wealth, if you will. Now, he was stricken with boils and he was suffering. He was a man who was faithful to God and his wife seeing all this, she comes to him saying why don’t you just curse God die. Why don't you do that? But he chose to stay with God. And of course in the end the Lord blessed him. I believe his wife was blessed as well because he was faithful, she was blessed too, if I understand correctly.

I can imagine that some have been tempted to much less degree, than Job was. Consider Joseph, who was tempted by Potapher’s wife, right? You know, he was tempted by her, but he refused. He ran off, left his coat. He resisted and he was thrown into prison. He was in prison possibly for many years. But he chose to stay with God. He chose to stay with God, but I'm sure that many have given in to temptations of the lust of the flesh and made excuses for it. Excuses are not valid regardless of our temptation. God has always makes a way of escape for us. He has always makes us a way to get out or get away. “There have no temptation taking you, such as is common to man once again, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted to above that you are able, but with the temptation, also make it make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it once again.” First Corinthians 10:13.

So we will be tempted. But also, God will give us a way out, so we must look for that way out and we must choose that way out. There's no excuse if we don't choose the way to escape. Why not? Because God will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to deal with or what we are able to handle.

When we are tempted to not believe or to fall away from the Lord and the church, there is no excuse that will keep us from being lost, but in the end, we don't have to fall if we take heed. So today we are taking heed is the question I raise to you this morning. As a child of God, if we haven't, we need to commit ourselves to doing so, we need to repent if we haven't taking heed. We need to confess if we haven't been taking heed, that is for the child of God.

Consider these words, Revelations 3:19-22, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Notice here that the Lord is not speaking to those who have never obeyed the Gospel. These scriptures here are oftentimes misused by those who never obey the gospel. The Lord is not, if you will, knocking on the door in this context of an unbeliever, one who never will be the gospel. Remember, the letter of Revelation was written to the churches. So he was speaking to believers who had abandoned the Lord or turned away.

He came knocking at the door of their hearts. That is the hearts of believers or children of God who had gone astray. So this is what the law says to the church, if you're here the day, you're going straight. But for those who never obey the gospel, the law says you are in sin “for all have to come short of the glory of God”. Romans 3:23. All have done this. Jews and Gentiles alike the Lord says.

But I'm willing to save you if you believe. Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned or condemned.” So that's the first step is belief.
The second step, if you will, is we must repent. “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” the Bible tells us, Luke 13:3. Confession is a part or step in becoming a child of God.

Must believe, after believing you confess. You acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God. Then you also must repent after confessing. It says, you must repent, then you must be baptized. I skipped over some verses here. The Bible says, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” That's Acts 22:16.

The phrase calling on the name Lord is often misused. Some would say calling upon the name of Lord means to pray. Right? But here the Bible defines what it means to call upon the Lord. Acts 22:16 Ananias is telling Paul, he says “Why terriest thou arise to be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of Lord.” So if you want to call on Him, the Lord, you must be baptized in order to wash your sins. That's the meaning of that phrase. Then call upon the name of Lord being baptized the Lord will add you to the church that He built, that He paid for with His own blood. The Bible says, “and praising God, having faith with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily, such as, should be saved.” The Lord added people to the church. That's something that he does, not us.

If you are here today, as a member of the church and you are tempted to fall away from the Lord, we encourage you to turn back. But if you are here today and you never obey the gospel, you never believed, repented, confessed and were baptized for the remission of your sins we encourage you to do the same. And we like to give you the opportunity to do that this morning. So if you will, we encourage you to come forward at this time, if you are one of those individuals as we stand to sing this song of invitation.

The Way

Acts 9:1-18

INTRO: Good morning. Last Lord’s Day we were looking at Acts chapter 8 and saw Philip baptize the Ethiopian eunuch, and then Philip was taken away in the Spirit.

While all this was going on we need to remember that there was a great persecution taking place in the background, consented to by a man named Saul as we read in Acts 8:1-3.

Today Luke is going to inform us that the persecution of the Lord’s church hasn’t gone away, in fact, it was about to increase. Our text is Acts 9:1-18.

First I am going to tell you a story about a young reporter who had a strong desire to become a star journalist, but living in a small town in Missouri there was not much opportunity. One day the dam upstream broke and the town was flooded. He got in a rowboat and headed out to look for a story. He found a lady sitting on her rooftop, so he tied up the boat and told her he was looking for a story. They both watched as various items floated by. Finally, a hat floats by and then does a 180-degree turn, goes upstream a ways and does another 180-degree turn, etc. The reporter says, "There's a story." The lady exclaimed, "Oh no, that's not a story. That's my husband Hayford. He said that he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water!"

I guess the point of the story is, there comes a time when determination needs to be reexamined. Such was the case for a man named Saul who was determined to persecute the Lord’s church. In the text today we will see how God used that determined man.

Let us begin reading in Acts 9:1-2 – “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”[NKJV]

Luke tells us that Saul was so determined to do what he thought was religiously correct, that not only did he persecute the church in Jerusalem, but he even went to foreign cities to carry out his vicious persecution.

There’s no doubt about it. Saul was very determined when it came to persecuting the Lord’s church. I’m not going to deal with the persecution Saul was doing today because I would like to focus on two little words for a bit; “the way”.

I. We know the Lord’s church has many names in the Bible. The church is called ‘the church of God’ in 1 Corinthians 1:2. The church is also called ‘the church of Christ’ in Romans 16:16. Here in Acts 9, we’re introduced to another name for the Lord’s church. Saul was authorized to seek out a group of people who followed "The Way."

A. Those who followed “The Way” were Christians like you and me, who were following Jesus Christ. God has always had a Way or a pattern for His children to follow. Malachi tells us about priests who had turned from ‘the way’ in Malachi 2:7-8 – “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,'' says the Lord of hosts.”

1. Remember what Jesus said in John 14 when Thomas asked Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus replied in John 14:6 – “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
2. Throughout the Book of Acts, we see people who are followers of ‘the Way’.
3. We see it first here in Acts 9:1-2 – “Then Saul... went to the high priest and asked letters from him... that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”
4. We see reading of Apollos in Acts 18:25 that “This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord”.
5. In the next verse Acts 18:26 we see that “When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”
6. Over in Acts 19, we see Paul debating with the Jews and the Bible says in Acts 19:9 - “... some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude...”
7. Also in Acts 19 we see trouble breaking out in Ephesus and Luke tells us in Acts 19:23 - “And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way.”
8. Then finally in Acts 24 when Paul was defending himself before Governor Felix, we read Acts 24:22 that “... when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings...” Felix was well acquainted with the Way.

B. Those people who followed the way of Christ are the very people whom Saul would go searching for, and when he found either men or women who followed that belief, he was authorized to take them in bonds to Jerusalem.

II. Luke tells us that Saul's mission of persecution was interrupted by a great light coming down from heaven and shining around him. Acts 9:3-9 – “3. And as he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'' 5. And he said, "Who are You, Lord?'' And the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'' 6. So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?'' And the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'' 7. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”

A. Can you imagine being Saul on that road? You’re merrily plodding along the road, discussing what you are going to do with these people who follow the Way, doing what you believe is your duty to God, climbing up the religious ladder with all your good deeds, then suddenly not only are you surrounded by a bright light, but you hear a voice.

1. No wonder Luke tells us Saul fell to the ground as the voice asked, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
2. I don’t know about you but if I was in that situation I would be quite frightened and what to know who was doing this, I would answer the voice.

B. That’s what Saul did. He asked who it was that was speaking and the voice replied according to Acts 26:14 – "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."

1. Let’s just stop and think about this for a moment.
2. Here is a man who gave his approval to Stephen’s death.
3. Here is a man who viciously went about killing and imprisoning the followers of Jesus.

C. Jesus is telling this same man, “Saul when you are persecuting my people, you are persecuting Me”. The deductions from the truth in evidence here are far-reaching and comprehensive:

1. What is done to the church is done to Christ.
2. Hatred of the church is hatred of Christ.
3. Persecution of the church is the persecution of Christ.
4. Membership in the church is membership "in Christ."
5. Liberality toward the church is the same toward Christ.
6. Neglect of the church is the neglect of Christ.
7. Refusal to belong to the church is a refusal to belong to Christ.

D. He says, “Saul, it’s hard for you to kick against the goads."

1. Like some in Peter’s audience in Acts 2 who panicked and asked “What must we do?” after they realized that they had killed the messiah, Saul trembled and asked what he must do.
2. We are living in a society where people think that God is like Santa Claus, all He does is give gifts.
3. People think, “Yes God is good, He sent His Son to die for us, just ask God whatever we want and He will gladly give it because He is a loving, caring God.”
4. Folks, God is not only a giver of good things. That is only one aspect of God. He also wants something in return. He wants obedience to His word.

a. Let me suggest some things we should consider. When was the last time you asked God what He wants you to do?
b. When was the last time you said: “God thank you for answering my prayers, thank you for the salvation you have given me but God what do you want from me”?

III. Let’s look at a few things that God wants you to do.

A. God wants you to pray. How often do you talk to the One who loves you so much He gave His Son for your salvation?

1. Maybe you’re only praying once a day. Maybe only at mealtimes.
2. God wants you to pray more.

B. God wants you to read His word and learn from it.

1. Maybe you only read or hear God’s word on Sunday mornings.
2. God wants you to read His word more than once a week.

C. God wants you to meet with other Christians as often as you can.

1. Do you only see or speak with other Christians once a week?
2. Do you ever visit or call any of your brothers and sisters during the week?
3. God wants you to stay in touch with other Christians as much as possible.

D. God may want you to stop being busy doing other things, worldly things that are taking the place of being with Him, and with fellow Christians.

1. Do you attend Bible studies or are you always busy doing something else?
2. Maybe God wants you to put time aside for Him first.

E. I do not know what God wants you to do, but God does. Maybe you already know what God wants you to do but you keep putting it off. God doesn’t make disciples for the sake of it. He makes disciples to serve and do His will.

IV. The Lord said Saul, "This is what I want you to do, I want you to arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

A. Maybe that’s the message God is saying to you, “Arise and go.” In other words, God is saying, “This is what I want you to do, but you need to make the effort to get up and do it.”

1. Saul's traveling companions were unable to understand the words spoken according to Acts 22:9.
2. According to Acts 26:14, they all had fallen to the ground. When Saul got up, he was blind.
3. His friends had to lead him by the hand into the city.
4. For three days, he prayed and fasted, unwilling, or unable, to take food because of the tremendous shock he had received on the Damascus' road.

B. John Newton was a rough sailor with a foul mouth and an appetite for rotten living. He hated life and it seemed life hated him. He was captain of a slave ship. Then someone placed in his hands a copy of Thomas à Kempis' “The Imitation of Christ”. He also had the gift of a good mother who told him about the Savior when he was young. John Newton was converted and went all over England sharing his faith. It is told that when he was well past his "retirement" age, he had to have an assistant stand in the pulpit with him on Sundays. He was nearly blind and spoke in whispers, but nothing could keep him from preaching while he still had breath. One Sunday, while delivering his message he repeated the sentence: "Jesus Christ is precious." His helper whispered to him: "But you have already said that twice." Newton turned to his helper and said loudly, "Yes, I've said it twice, and I'm going to say it again." "Jesus Christ is precious!"
C. When Saul of Tarsus had an encounter with the risen Lord, he knew from that moment, that Jesus Christ is precious.

V. Folks, we’ve all been on that road in some way or another. Colossians 1:21-23 – “... you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in His sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” We’ve all been persecutors of “the Way”.

A. Paul says we have all been on that road where we were alienated and enemies of God but now, just like Paul, we have become His servants. Paul thought he was on the road to Damascus but God changed that plan and put him on the road to salvation.
B. Most people here today were heading on some road to a destination they had in mind.

1. When you had your encounter with Jesus through His written word, and you listened and did what God says, God turned your life around and put you on the road to salvation.
2. You were going a different way because you were trying to go through life alone. God prepared His people to meet you on that road so that they could show you the right way to go.

C. That’s what Luke tells us happened next. Acts 9:10-16 – “10. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, "Ananias.'' And he said, "Here I am, Lord.'' 11. So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12. "And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.'' 13. Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14. "And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.'' 15. But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16. "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.''”

1. Notice what Luke records here in verse 10. He says that "there was a disciple," not an apostle or preacher, a disciple of Christ saw a vision from the Lord.
2. This must have been a bit of a shock for Ananias to hear the Lord tell him to go to Straight Street and ask for Saul of Tarsus.
3. It must have been even more of a shock when the Lord said Saul was praying and had seen, in a vision, a man named Ananias coming and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight.

D. Here is another example of God asking someone to get up and go. Ananias was scared and hesitated to do what the Lord asked him to do.

1. I think that’s understandable. Ananias knew about the persecution in Jerusalem and the letters Saul carried from the chief priests which gave him authority to bind any Christians he found in Damascus.
2. Wouldn’t you be afraid of Saul? The Lord was aware of Ananias’ fear, just as He is aware of our fears, and He told him that Saul was specially chosen to take his Name to the Gentiles, kings, and the Jews.
3. Folks, if you have ever wondered why you were chosen to be a Christian, here is one reason why—to take the Name of Jesus to others.
4. I heard a story of a couple who took their son, 11, and daughter, 7, to Carlsbad Caverns. As always, when the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth's surface. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: "Don't cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights." In a real sense, that is the message of the gospel: the light is available, even when darkness seems overwhelming and as a Christian, you know how to show it to others.

VI. Folks, Jesus is coming back one day to take us to heaven and we as the church have only got a short time on this earth to tell as many people as we can that Jesus is the Way to heaven.

A. The hymn “Into Our Hands”, number 90 in our hymnal, puts this very well. Verse 3 says “Souls that are precious, souls that are dying, While we rejoice our sins are forgiven.” We have all these blessings from being in Christ.

1. Our salvation is already taken care of if we remain faithful until we die, but sometimes we’re not very good at telling others that they can have these wonderful things too.
2. Maybe that’s because of fear, but salvation is not only ours to keep, it’s ours to share. “Into our hands, the gospel is given, into our hands is given the light, haste, let us carry God’s precious message, guiding the erring back to the right.”

B. Do we realize what we possess? We possess the answers to life and death.

1. We have God’s word and we possess something unique, hope which is something the world does not have.
2. 1 Peter 3:15 – “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
3. We possess that don’t we? If someone asked us why we are a Christian, we can tell them about the hope of heaven, can’t we?
4. We can tell them about what happened on our road to Damascus. Using our Bibles we can show them the Way, can’t we?

C. Unlike the experience of Saul and Ananias, God is not going to show up in a vision and tell you to go somewhere and do something like some people claim today.

1. Jesus has already revealed that to us in the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20. Where He tells us to go and then tells us where to go...“to all nations.”
2. When Peter was dealing with these very questions about Jesus coming back, people were asking, where is this Jesus? When is He coming back?
3. Peter answers in 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
4. The reason we have to tell others is because God is holding off Jesus’ return so many will be saved. He wants you to go to and tell them about His Son Jesus.

VII. Just like He tells us to go and do His will, He told Ananias to go and do His will. Acts 9:17-19 – “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'' Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. And when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.”

A. Interestingly Ananias calls Saul "Brother," perhaps because they were both from fleshly Israel, or in anticipation of Saul's impending baptism which would result in his being one of God's children in Christ.

1. We don’t know, but we do know that Saul's sight was miraculously restored through the laying on of Ananias' hands.
2. Often when a person has an operation on their eye to remove a cataract they will find when it is done they can see perfectly again.

B. Some people are physically blind which is bad enough but most people in the world suffer from another kind of blindness.

1. A preacher I know told of a friend of his named Glynn who the preacher met when he was at Bible school. Glynn taught Bible school, and went on mission trips all over the world. He is a remarkable Christian and teacher of God’s word, but the preacher said what made him even more remarkable, is that Glynn is physically blind.
2. The preacher said he was listening to Glynn preach one day and Glynn said that many people feel sorry for him because of his physical disability, but do you know what he said his response to that was?
3. “It’s not as bad for me as it is for those who are spiritually blind.”

CONCLUSION:
Paul tells us, in a forceful way, when responding to the objection that the gospel was veiled to some, in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 – “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

Paul does not allow that any person is blameless in the inability to see the truth. If one does not see it, it is their fault. "The veil (that prevents their seeing) is woven by their prejudices and corrupt affections." As Jesus said, "Men love darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil" (John 3:19).

Saul saw the light in more ways than one and it changed the direction of his life forever.
When the blind are healed spiritually they see things for what they are. When that happens their immediate response will be the same as the Jews in Acts 2:38-41, the Samarians in Acts 8:5-12, the Eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 and Saul of Tarsus here in Acts 9:18. “He got up and was baptized.”
Saul is a man who was once a persecutor of the Way of Christ but is now a follower of that Way.

Folks, just like Saul who shared his testimony three times within the Book of Acts, we all have a testimony to share with the people we meet every day.
God gave Ananias the miraculous capability to heal Saul from his physical blindness and God has given us the ability, through the Bible, to heal people who are spiritually blind.

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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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Reference Sermon: Mike Glover

When We See Him - We Can Ask Him

 
Acts 8:14-25

INTRO: Good morning. I have an active imagination and as I study this frequently leads me down paths which take me to a topic for a lesson. If I step on any toes when I give a lesson, please be assured that mine have been stepped on as well. We are going to continue today in Acts chapter 8.

But before we get into our text let me share with you an experience I had when I did a web-search on the topic “Opinions of Others”. Perhaps I ended up there because of all the on-line postings these days. Here are a couple of the quotes:

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”
― Winston Churchill
“The funny thing about truth, everyone seems to have their own version.”
― Carlos Wallace
“(there are) entire groups of people with what seems like an infinite amount of time on their hands to be angry about something that doesn't even affect them in the slightest.”
― Lindsey Ouimet
“Personal opinions rarely mirror the absolute truth yet always reflect the absolution of personal ignorance.”
― Jason Versey

We all have our own ideas about people. The people we want to be around and even I fear, about who should and who should not be accepted into God’s kingdom. This was true of the early Christians as well. We see in scripture that those who have been Jews had to learn to accept the Samaritans into God’s kingdom because God has no favorites among races.

I. In Acts 8:5 we see Philip preaching the good news about Jesus to the Samaritans. In Samaria he was met by a magician whose name was Simon and who was an exceedingly popular figure among the high and the low of society. When Philip preached Jesus his words were confirmed by the miracles he performed, many Samaritans including Simon were baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

A. What Luke shares with us today is that not everyone comes to Christ for the right reasons. Acts 8:14-17- “ Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.”

1. It saddens us today when we hear about bad news within the Lord’s church. When we hear that this or that person who has fallen away or a congregation is forcing something upon its members. Or a congregation has adopted as doctrine what is worldly. It saddens us because bad news seems to spread very quickly, but when a church is doing something great for the Lord we hardly ever hear about it unless it’s been written about in some church publication and even those are often full of the negative.
2. When I stop to think about it, these bad news items compound themselves by being a discouragement to the faithful.

B. When the good news about what was happening in Samaria got to the ears of the apostles who were still in Jerusalem, Luke tells us they sent Peter and John to the city. What we see happening is the power of Jesus changing lives and people’s attitudes towards others. It wasn’t all that long ago when John and his brother, James, asked Jesus to destroy a Samarian city by the way.

1. Luke 9:51-56- “ And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”
2. Previously the Jewish John wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan city that refused to receive Jesus. Now the new Christian John is praying for them in Acts 8:15.
3. Not only did he pray for them, but he and Peter laid their hands on them that they might receive the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit. It is here that we discover the real reason why Simon wanted to become a Christian.
4. Acts 8:18-25- “Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'' But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! "You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. "Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. "For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.'' Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.'' So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.”

C. Before we look at Simon’s sin let me point out a couple of important truths revealed in this text. Clear evidence of a person receiving the miraculous gifts must have been present because Simon was able to see this being accomplished through the laying on of the apostles' hands.

1. Remember that Philip was numbered among the seven in Acts 6:5-6, (appointed to care for the Grecian widows) and he was one of the men whom the apostles had laid their hands upon to bestow miraculous gifts of the Spirit.
2. I’ve made this particular point before recently, but it bears repeating. Ask this question, why didn’t Philip pass on the miraculous gifts to those who were baptized in Samaria?
3. The answer is, he couldn’t. Philip did not have the ability to bestow miraculous gifts on anyone. That’s why Peter and John came to do it.
4. It was only the apostles who had the ability to pass on these miraculous gifts. If you were around then and they bestowed these gifts upon you then you like Philip might perform miracles, but you could not pass those abilities on to someone else.
5. I pray that some of the charismatic crowd would try to understand these texts. When the apostles died, no one was left to pass on these miraculous gifts. When those who had these gifts bestowed upon them by the apostles died all miraculous gifts died with them.
6. Just like Philip, those who had the gifts bestowed on them by the apostles could not pass these gifts on. Religious groups who teach that you’re not a Christian or you don’t posses God’s Spirit until you have a miraculous gift from God need to seriously rethink what they are preaching. That kind of thinking has absolutely no Biblical support whatsoever, and it can be dangerous to the individual.

D. Simon had believed and had been baptized, so there is no doubt he had been saved from his former sins. Jesus tells us in Mark 16:16 - “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Yet, and this is important—when Simon was confronted with a power potentially so useful for dominating the city in Samaria, he reverted to a materialistic approach... and tried to purchase the power from Peter and John.
E. Not all Christians received miraculous gifts, and Simon is one of those people. Simon's attempt to purchase this power with money led Peter to tell Simon that he and his money would perish together if his heart was not changed. He could have no part in matters eternal so long as his heart was not right with God and he tells Simon to repent.
F. That was not the case in Acts 5 if you recall. Let me tell you another story... An elder was preaching to a large audience using as his text the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to God and were struck dead. The preacher roared: "God doesn't strike people dead for lying like He did in Acts 5. If he did, where would I be?" This got a laugh from his audience, but then he retorted, "I tell you where I would be. I would be right here preaching to an empty house!"

II. Every Christian, every single Christian is tempted in many ways. Simon’s temptation to gain more popularity was so great; he was even willing to pay. There nothing wrong with wanting to be great in God’s kingdom provided you’re willing to do it the right way.

A. In Matthew 20 when the mother of James and John asked Jesus to place her sons in positions of high authority, Jesus rebuked them and said in Matthew 20:25-28- "... "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. "Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. "And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'' "
B. We live in a society where everything is fast tracked. People will do anything to get up their professional ladder as fast as they can. You cannot fast track greatness in God’s kingdom. Jesus tells us Matthew 20, “Not so with you.”
C. You don’t become great in God’s kingdom by becoming a dictator, you became great by serving. When you serve and become a slave for Christ and put your brothers and sisters in Christ first... then you become great. Christianity is not a popularity contest; Christianity is a group of slaves who are willing to serve from the bottom up.

1. The apostle Paul preaches what I’m talking about better than I do in Philippians 2:5-11- “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
2. You want to be great in His kingdom? Then do what Jesus did; be humble and serve others. In other words, don’t tell people what to do, show them. If you find yourself wanting to become great by any means other than serving, then do what Peter instructed Simon to do, pray that God would forgive you.
3. Simon became a Christian and was freed from sin, yet the temptation of sin bound his heart once again. Simon acknowledged to the apostles that he had sin in his heart by asking the apostles to pray for him.

D. There are times when Christians need to practice what James tells us in James 5:16- “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

1. Mutuality is certainly implied by this. The cathartic effect of confession, as mutually engaged among Christians, is helpful and beneficial; the purpose of such confessions is the enlisting of mutual prayers of Christians for each other. There is no requirement for Christians to confess their past sins "to the whole church," in view here. That is a practice which is not being espoused, and which can have a very detrimental effect.
2. Unfortunately there is a practice among some present-day religious groups for the unbosoming completely of those being initiated. This is apt to have more harmful than beneficial results, giving an outlet for unhealthy exhibitionism or punitive attitudes between those who would worship God.
3. Also don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying we all get together in nice little groups and start to confess all of our sins to each other. What I am saying is that if you have a sin that’s ruling your life and you’re struggling with it, talk to someone about it in confidence.
4. When you talk to someone about it, you can pray together about it and then through the power of prayer, God will give you the strength to overcome that sin problem. The very fact that you took the time and courage to speak to someone about your struggle, says that you’re looking for help and you don’t want to struggle anymore.

III. Luke tells us after Simon’s request, that when Peter and John finished preaching the word of God in this town, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching in all the cities of Samaria along the way. It’s at this point that Luke tells Theophilus that Philip was directed by an angel of the Lord to go south to a place along the Jerusalem to Gaza desert road.

A. Let’s read about that in; Acts 8:26-35- “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.'' This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace [KAN duh see] the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot.'' So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?'' And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?'' And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away. And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.'' So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?'' Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.”
B. We might note that the Jews didn’t have copies of the Old Testament as readily available as we do today. There were scribes whose job it was to copy the Old Testament scriptures for Synagogues and for those who could afford to have one copied. The Ethiopian Eunuch certainly had an important job and was able to have such a copy.

1. In fact, Luke tells us that he served under Candace [KAN duh see] the great Queen of the Ethiopians and his job was treasurer for her. The Eunuch was likely a Jew or converted Jew because not only did he have a copy of Isaiah’s prophecy, but he was on his way home after worship in Jerusalem.
2. However he was struggling to understand what Isaiah meant when he wrote in Isaiah 53:7-8 paraphrased; “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken”.

C. Philip ran alongside the chariot, and asked the Eunuch, "Do you understand what you are reading?" Unlike the Jews who had been listening to Stephen’s sermon, the Eunuch had an open heart, and I know he had an open heart because of his response to Philip. He replies to Philip, "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?"

1. Folks, an open heart is a searching heart and a searching heart is always going to strive to understand better. When Philip accepted his invitation to sit with him in the chariot, the Eunuch asked the most important question of all, "I ask you, of who does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?"
2. When you study the Bible with people, you can get to a point where you can almost know who is going to grow in Christ quickly and who are going to grow slowly. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, I believe that all Christians will have questions which need to be answered.
3. Some Christians have many questions that they want answered and I believe that those Christians are the ones who will grow quicker. Please don’t misunderstand me here, I’m not saying if you don’t ask questions, you’re not growing. What I’m saying is that some Christians have hearts which search more. That’s the kind of heart that the Eunuch has and so Philip did what every one of us should do when we begin a study with someone.

D. You begin from where they are in their understanding. If a non-Christian asks you a question about gambling, you don’t give them a lesson on marriage and divorce. If a non-Christian asks you a question about homosexuality, you don’t give them a lesson on church leadership.

1. No, you do what Philip did; you begin from where they are... and then go on to tell them about the power of the gospel of Christ.
2. Let’s continue in; Acts 8:36-40- “ Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?'' Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may.'' And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'' So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.”

E. This is another good example of the gospel being preached but notice the text doesn’t say anything about Philip preaching baptism to the Eunuch. Common sense again tells us that when a person is preaching about Jesus they have to include baptism in that preaching.

1. Philip must have preached baptism; or why would the Ethiopian ask Philip, "Look, here is water. What’s stopping me from being baptized?"
2. Then in Acts 8:37 Philip replied, “If you believe with all your heart. The Eunuch answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

F. Now I am fully aware that verse 37 is omitted from some translations because it is not found in the oldest and best documents and shows up first around the year 500. However, it is obvious from other scriptures that if a person wants the Lord to confess their name before the Father, then that person will confess Jesus before men.

1. Jesus says in; Matthew 10:32-33- “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
2. Then in; Romans 10:9-10- we read; “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”

G. The Eunuch confessed Jesus as the Son of God in front of Philip and then ordered the chariot to stand still. It’s then that Luke tells us that both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water and Philip baptized him for the forgiveness of his sins. The Eunuch became a Christian in the same way that all others became Christians in the first century church. Indeed, in the same way that we all became Christians, by being baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.
H. The outcome of such obedience is always the same. Rejoicing in the Lord for what He has done for us. Immediately following their coming up out of the water, the Spirit caused Philip to be gone from the presence of the eunuch. On his journey back to Caesarea, Philip preached in coastal cities like Azotus along the way.

CONCLUSION:
I would like us to use our imaginations for a moment. I understand that the Bible doesn’t tell us about what happened to the Eunuch when he got back home. Like I said I have an active imagination so I sometimes wonder what happened. I also understand the reason we are not told because it’s not important for us to know, but wouldn’t you love to know the rest of that story? Perhaps I had too much Paul Harvey in my youth.

Let me tell you a quick story about this man who once stood before God in prayer, his heart breaking from the pain and injustice in the world. "Dear God," he cried out, "look at all the suffering, the anguish and distress in this world. Why don't you send help?" God responded, "I did send help. I sent you."

The Eunuch went back to Ethiopia rejoicing as it says in verse 39. This reminds me of how the Samaritan woman Jesus spoke with at the well went back to the city rejoicing and told others the story of Jesus. I can imagine the Eunuch doing the same thing. I can imagine his friends and maybe even the queen asking, “Well how was your trip,” or “How was worship this time?”

I can imagine, though we don’t know, he couldn’t contain his joy as he shared the whole story about trying to understand Isaiah’s words and Philip appearing. Maybe he shared with them that Isaiah was speaking about Jesus and then went on to tell them we need to be baptized into Christ to enter a relationship with him.

We don’t know what he did, we don’t know if he remained faithful all the days of his life. Maybe one day when we get to heaven and we see him, we can ask him what happened when he got home, because I believe he will never forget that day, even in death. I don’t think there is anything wrong with our wondering as long as we do not add or detract from God’s word. It is when people try to go beyond what they are told in scripture that they can get into trouble.

When we see Jesus, perhaps we can ask Him all the questions we ever wanted answered. But for now, while we are still living on this earth, whenever we are feeling down, whenever we are feeling lost or feel that God isn’t there or doesn’t care anymore, we need to just remember the day we were born again, or remember when it finally dawned on us what Christ has done for us and continues to do for us.

We need to honesty look back at all the sins we committed and know that God forgave us of all of them when we were buried with Christ. God continues to forgive us if we ask Him of every sin committed since. Our hearts need to rejoice in the Lord.

Just like the Psalmist says in Psalm 13:5-6, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me”.

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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.

# ???

Reference Sermon: Mike Glover

God's Will - Will Be Done

Acts 8:1-13

INTRO: Good morning. The last time we were together we left Stephen repeating with his dying breath the words of Jesus, ‘forgive them’ and ’Father receive my spirit’.
What Luke is going to share with us today is one of the most difficult times in church history.

But first I want to tell you a story. A doctor decided to put his overweight patient on a diet.
"I want you to eat normally for two days," he said. "Then I want you to skip a day. Follow this pattern for two weeks and come back to see me. After two weeks you should have lost five pounds."
Two weeks later the man came back for his appointment. He had lost twenty pounds.
The doctor asked, "You lost all this weight just by following my instructions?"
The man said, "Yes, but I'll tell you though, I thought I was going to drop dead on that third day." The doctor asked, "From hunger?" "No," the man said, "from skipping!"

I guess the point of the story is, if you’re going to follow the instructions, make sure you fully understand them. Our lesson this morning will be from Acts 8:1-13.

I. Luke introduces us to Saul in Acts 8:1 as the person who approved of Stephen’s death. It’s this same Saul who later would become Paul and turn out to be one of the greatest apostles of Christ in the history of the kingdom.

A. Jesus had given specific instructions for the apostles to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15. In Acts 1:8 Jesus said that the apostles will be “His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."[para]
B. We catch up with the events of the early church in Acts 8:2-4 - “And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”

1. Immediately following Stephen’s death, an intense period of persecution followed, headed by a young Jewish persecutor named Saul. Luke tells us that "devout” men buried Stephen and greatly mourned his death. These God-fearing men still had enough faith in God to openly bury a Christian who had died such a violent death for preaching the gospel.
2. I find that amazing. You may ask; what is amazing about it? The Sanhedrin didn’t do anything about these God-fearing men yet it was Jewish custom not to allow an individual grave and lamentation for a person who had been judicially stoned. No lamentation or other sign of mourning was permitted on behalf of one who suffered execution, the Jewish rule on this being derived from God's command that Aaron should not mourn for Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:6). I suspect that with Stephen, yet again, the Jews killed another innocent man... and they knew it.

C. It’s interesting to see the apostles remaining in Jerusalem, and disciples driven to every corner of Judea and Samaria. I said this was interesting because when the devil wants to destroy a church, he will often use the form of “divide and conquer”. We see that today and it seems that’s what’s happening in Acts. Also if Satan wants to destroy a congregation he will attack the leadership. If he can destroy them, he usually ends up destroying the rest of the flock.

1. I suspect what we see here is God's divine intervention, God protecting and keeping His apostles’ safe. After all, in the mind of Saul and everyone else who opposed the church the apostles were the church leaders.
2. The New Testament record of Saul's persecution of the church leaves no doubt to the savagery and brutality with which it was carried forward. There was no consideration of age, sex, or other circumstances. The actions of Saul testify to the bitterness and fury with which the Sanhedrin sought to exterminate Christianity.
3. Yet, God’s will, will be done. God doesn’t do evil but He can use the evilness of men to get His will accomplished. The gospel was supposed to begin in Jerusalem where it did, but it was also to be spread in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That wasn’t happening yet, the church seemed destined to stay in Jerusalem.
4. What we do see happening here are the terrible acts of wicked men, who were persecuting the church.

II. I wondered, why was God allowing this to happen? I suspect it might be because the gospel needed to be heard in other parts of the earth and that wasn’t going to happen as long as the church stayed in its comfort zone. Luke tells us in Acts 8:4, that, “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”

A. When was the last time any of us stepped out of our comfort zone? I thank God that the church has had many brethren who have done that. Don’t stop in your comfort zone folks; don’t get so comfortable with your faith that you forget the work.

1. I read an article once about sharks that said if you put a baby shark in a fish tank it will grow to 8 inches long and be fully developed but if you put that same baby shark in the sea, it will grow to 11-16 feet in length.
2. We don’t want to be a baby shark swimming around in our comfort zone, we want to get out there and share our faith with others so that we can become fully mature Christians with a strong faith in God.
3. Growing and developing our faith happens when we get out there and share our faith with people and tell them how Jesus changed our life. God will give us the courage and wisdom to share our faith with our friends and family, if we ask Him.
4. The only persecution we are likely to experience in this place and time is rejection, but the faith of these Christians needs to be commended because even in the face of death they shared their faith.

B. Now I suggest also that we all ask ourselves a really hard question. What would need to happen for you to give up your faith? A divorce, the death of a loved one, family difficulties, personal difficulties? I understand that many of us can’t answer that question unless these things happen to us. We probably know Christians who have gone through or are still going through tough times. When you are talking to God, add thanks that they are still holding on, strong to their faith in Christ.
C. When Saul of Tarsus got wind of where Christians met, that sent fear throughout the whole church. They were frightened but they wouldn’t give up the faith. Even though some were caught and thrown into prisons and then brought before the elders in the synagogue, who tried to force them to deny Jesus, they wouldn’t give up their faith in Christ.

1. Paul said in Acts 22:4 that - “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” A little later in Acts 26:10 – “This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.” These Christians would rather die than deny their faith in Christ.
2. Paul carries on in Acts 26:11 and says that – “And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” Paul said that he had many Christians beaten and punished but still they would not deny their faith in Christ.
3. Again, ask what would it take for you to give up your faith? I pray that nothing that this world can throw at us, or any circumstance which happens in our lives, will cause us to give up our faith. When we think about it, it’s our faith in Christ which helps us through many difficult circumstances in life.

III. I said earlier that God used the evil of wicked men so that the gospel would be spread. This spreading of the Gospel is what Luke tells us about next. Acts 8:5-8 – “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”

A. Remember that Philip is one of the seven mentioned earlier in Acts 6:5. Philip has now gone to the city of Samaria. The city of Samaria was built by Omri, a wicked king in Israel, and it eventually became the capital city for the ten tribes of the northern kingdom.

1. The Samaritans were of mixed descent coming from the intermarriage of Jews and Gentiles and the Jews saw the Samaritans as unclean.
2. If a Jew was walking down the street and he saw a Samaritan coming towards him the Jew would cross over to the other side to avoid being “contaminated”.

B. In John 4:9 when Jesus is speaking to Samaritan woman, she says to Jesus, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?'' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Further down in the same chapter of John, she says to Jesus in John 4:19-26 – “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.'' Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.'' The woman said to Him, "I know that the Messiah is coming'' (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things.'' Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He.”

1. This Samaritan woman had no problems believing who Jesus claimed to be. In fact when she went back into the city, she practiced what we are preaching today.
2. She told everyone what happened when she met Jesus. The Bible says in John 4:39-41 – “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did.'' So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word.”
3. Despite previous grievances with the Samaritans, Philip went to Samaria and watered the seed which Christ had already sown when He spoke to the woman at the well, and the other Samaritans who believed in Him.

C. What exactly did Philip preach? He preached Christ. Philip preached Jesus as the promised Messiah, and as we have already seen with the words of the Samaritan women, the Samaritans would already have been very familiar with the Messiah.

1. Deuteronomy 18:15-18 – “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, "according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.' "And the Lord said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.”
2. The message which Philip was preaching hit home for multitudes of the Samaritans. That message was confirmed by God enabling Philip to work miracles. People who were sick were made well, those paralyzed and lame were able to walk again, and those possessed by demons had the demons driven out of them.
3. The message, and the miracles which confirmed the message, caused the city to be filled with joy. Isn’t that exactly what good news does? It brings joy.

IV. I wonder... how is our joy in the Lord doing? When was the last time you woke up in the morning and just thanked God with a joyful heart, for your healing from sin?

A. Do we ever take a moment out of our busy schedule and think about what God has done for every one of us? I fear some Christians never rejoice in the Lord.

1. Paul in Ephesians 5:19-20 tells us; “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. [para] There are Christians who do that. They love to sing songs of thanksgiving to God when they doing chores, riding in the car, making a cup of coffee, or preparing dinner.
2. Colossians 1:9-14 – “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” There are Christians who sing with thanksgiving in their hearts to God all day long because they appreciate their salvation.

V. I don’t know how true this is but they say the most infectious thing in the world is a smile. I believe when a Christian is full of joy, it’s infectious, and others want a piece of that happiness too. In fact, that’s what happened in Samaria. In Acts 8:9-13 Luke next introduces us to a man named Simon. Simon wanted a piece of that joy but as we will see next time, he wanted it, and something else, for the wrong reasons.

A. Let’s just take a quick look at Simon here in Acts 8. Acts 8:9-11 – “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great power of God.'' And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.”

1. Just like some religious groups in the world today Simon uses trickery to convince people that he was a spokesman for God. He had been doing this for some time because Luke tells us that both high and low classes of people were paying attention to him and thought he was from God.
2. Folks, when you put your faith and trust in Christ, and not in people and their claims, the truth truly does set you free as Jesus tells us in John 8:32.
3. Are we firm and trusting in what the Bible teaches or do we get interested in the preacher down the street who claims he can speak in tongues just like the apostles did? Are we attracted to doctrine that does not stand in the light of scripture?

B. When things get bad, do we put our faith in the Bible or a faith healer who claims he can heal the sick and make the lame walk?

1. The psychological illusionist Derren Brown was doing a live séance on TV and he invited some young people along to join. In the séance the Ouija board planchette moved and he claimed he was speaking to the dead. Some people in attendance screamed and ran out of the séance even though many of them were skeptics.

a. It wasn’t until the end of the program that Derren revealed the dead person he was speaking to was still alive and in another room close by. He told his audience that “the power of suggestion and illusion is very powerful and when you use them properly you can get people to believe absolutely anything”.
b. I strongly suspect there is a lot of this happening in the religious world around us today.
c. People are being drawn into believing what they are being taught because of something they think they see happening.
2. A preacher told of a friend who went to an outdoor campaign of a religious group. They called certain people forward to be healed and among them was a woman in a wheelchair. She came forward and was “healed” and supposedly walked for the first time in twenty years.
a. A few weeks later in a nearby town, there was another outdoor campaign with the same group and the same preacher invited people forward to be healed, and guess what?
b. The woman who was supposedly healed before was back up in front being healed again.

C. When we put our faith in God and His word we will see these so-called spiritual things for what they really are. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 – “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

1. Today we have God’s word and we do not have to rely on miracles, signs, and wonders for our faith. Though you know, some people say that you need some sort of supernatural gift to prove you’re a Christian and you have the Spirit. Jesus doesn’t teach that.
2. Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-17 – “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
3. Jesus never mentions anything about recognizing people by their gifts, but what He does say is that you can recognize those who claim to be Christians... by their fruit.

D. Well then, what is this fruit that He has in mind? Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

VI. There are some who contend God’s word is incomplete. If we are to believe that the Bible isn’t God’s final revelation, and He is still revealing more of His will to mankind today through miraculous gifts... then why would Jude say in Jude 3 – “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” God has either revealed once for all “the faith” or He hasn’t.

A. Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:1-3 – “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,” God has either given us “all things” we need for life and godliness through our knowledge revealed in His word or He hasn’t.
B. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Through His word we are either equipped for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training, “thoroughly equipped for everything” He wants us to know and do—or we’re not. In other words, God’s word is all we need or it isn’t.
C. All in all it seems to be clear to me that God’s word is all I need to know God, live like He wants me to live, and if I follow His plan of salvation I will be with Him forever in heaven.
D. When Philip preached the good news about the Christ and His kingdom, with the accompanying signs, people were set free from false prophets. Acts 8:12-13 – “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.”

1. I know I’m old fashion, but to me this is where common sense needs to come into play. Philip preached the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. The text doesn’t mention anything about Philip preaching baptism, but common sense tells us that this verse makes it clear that preaching belief in Jesus and baptism in His name is a crucial part of preaching about the kingdom.
2. Why would both men and women be baptized if Philip didn’t preach it?
3. Why would Simon himself having been amazed by what he saw and heard, believe, and be baptized?
4. I’ll tell you why, because baptism for the forgiveness of our sins is part of the good news.
5. We’ve already established that baptism is for the forgiveness of our sins when we looked at Acts 2:38 – “Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

E. Folks, as we say all the time you don’t get baptized to join the church. If you want to join something go and join AAA, then they will gladly help you out when your car breaks down. Being christened as a child isn’t Biblical baptism. That’s just getting your hair wet. Baptism involves a burial. Baptism is part of the good news because it’s through baptism for the forgiveness of our sins that we are united with Christ and His baptism and His death.

1. Romans 6:3-5 – “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. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,”
2. The Samaritans had no trouble understanding what Philip was preaching concerning Jesus and what Jesus wants everyone to do. What’s stopping those who aren’t Biblical Christians? Only they can answer that question. I don’t know why people don’t want to become Christians. I don’t know why so many resist Baptism. Only they know their own answer.

CONCLUSION: Let me leave you with this thought. I spoke about the illusionist Derren Brown a little earlier. In October of 2003, he played Russian roulette with himself live on national TV in the UK and he survived to tell the tale. How did he survive? The clue is in his title - ‘Derren Brown Illusionist’. It was all an illusion.

What I can’t for the life of me figure out is why people would want to play Russian roulette with their very souls.

If people are not sure about the baptism they received, then they need to go back to the Bible and see if it’s the same baptism we see being practiced here in Samaria.
If it’s not, then they need to be encouraged to stop hoping that their baptism was ok and to be baptized with the baptism which we know is acceptable to God for the forgiveness of their sins.

Folks, God’s will, will be done whether you obey His will or not.

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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.

# ???

Reference Sermon: Mike Glover

A Jewish History Lesson

Acts 6:15-7:60

INTRO: Good morning. The last time we were together we left Stephen, a man full faith, power, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit according to Acts 6:38... in the middle of a religious debate where he was accused by false witnesses of blasphemy.
We said that the best way to deal with religious conflict is by going back to the source, the scriptures.

Luke continues to inform us of what happened next in Acts 6:15-7:1- “15. And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?''”

Remember in Exodus 34:29-35 where the writer there tells us that Moses' face shone after he had been with the Lord to the point that people could not look directly at him?
Luke tells us that Stephen’s face was like that, like an angel’s face.
Despite Stephen's appearance, the high priest asked him if the accusations of blasphemy, which had been brought against him, were true.

What we are going to hear today is a history lesson from Stephen about God’s dealings with His people.

Like we’ve said time and time again if want to understand the New Testament we need to understand what God was doing in the Old Testament.

These people are accusing Stephen of blasphemy, an offense which is punishable by being stoned to death.
How does Stephen answer this question?
Does he say sorry and beg for forgiveness so that he might live a little longer?
Does he say, no, all these witnesses are false and have been paid to say these things?
No, he doesn’t.
He gives those in the Sanhedrin a Jewish history lesson.
I’m not going to read all of Stephen’s defense because it is a bit long for one sermon but what I do want to do is summarize his words and look at what happened when he talks about their history.

I want us to go back in time with Stephen and then we will look at some applications. Genesis 12:1-9 – “1. Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'' 4. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. 7. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land.'' And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.”

I. In Acts 7:2-4 Stephen begins his history lesson with God’s dealings with Abraham and his children. He reminds the council of Abraham's call to leave the country of his people, which was first received in Ur of the Chaldees and renewed in Haran after his father's death.

A. The point that Stephen is trying to make here is that Abraham moved, under God's direction, to the land of Canaan. In other words, this wasn’t Abraham’s idea to get up and go. This was God’s plan for the future of the Jews and God was going to direct them.
B. Stephen continues in Acts 7:5-8 by speaking about what God said to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14 – “Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”

1. The actual length of their stay in Egypt was 430 years as we find in Exodus, but Stephen rounded it off to 400, just as God had in Genesis 15:13. Again Stephen wanted to let them know that the time the Jews were slaves in Egypt was set to the exact date by God.
2. Let’s look at Exodus 12:40-42 – “Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years on that very same day it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.”

C. Then Stephen moves on and talks about God’s word to Abraham in Genesis 17:9-14 – “9. And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, throughout their generations. 10. "This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11. "and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12. "He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13. "He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14. "And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.''”

1. We find that even though God did not give Abraham an inheritance in the Promised Land, He did promise to give him a son and give the land of Canaan to his descendants.
2. What Stephen is doing here in Acts 7:5-8 is showing how God told Abraham he would judge the nation of Egypt and bring his people out to serve Him in the land of promise at the end of the appointed time.
3. It was after making those significant promises to Abraham, that God instituted circumcision as a sign of the covenant between Abraham and his descendants.

II. We can imagine those listening to Stephen saying, “Yeh, yeh we know all about our history, we know all about our Father Abraham, you might as well go on tell us about our time in Egypt.”

A. That’s exactly what Stephen does next in Acts 7:9-19. He takes them through Genesis 37 - Exodus 1.

1. He tells them about Abraham's great-grandson, Joseph, who was sold into Egypt because of the jealousy of his brothers, but God, in His providence, noted Joseph's mistreatment and delivered him. He went on to make him governor over the land of Egypt.
2. A great famine left Jacob and his household without food to sustain them. Having heard of the plentiful food in Egypt, he sent his sons to purchase grain on two separate occasions.
3. On the second occasion, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers and let Pharaoh know who they were. Joseph, with the approval of Pharaoh, sent wagons to bring his aged father to Egypt.
4. Seventy-five souls left Canaan for the land of Egypt. Jacob's body was carried back to Shechem to be laid in the cave of Machpelah alongside those of Abraham and Sarah.
5. God had not forgotten his promise to Abraham and as the days passed, the children of Israel multiplied from the original seventy-five until they appeared to be a menace to the Egyptians.

B. In time a king ascended to the throne who did not recall the salvation of Egypt by the hand of Joseph. The king mistreated them by placing them in bondage and slaying their babies.

1. Stephen carries on in Acts 7:20-23 and tells that it was during those hard, and difficult years in Egypt when all these babies were being murdered that Moses was born. Stephen is now referring to Exodus 2:1-10. We know from Exodus Moses was hidden by his parents for three months and afterward, God caused him to be found by Pharaoh's daughter and reared as if he were her son. He was taught everything the Egyptians of his day knew. He was a strong man in word and deed. At the age of forty, he visited God's people.
2. Stephen continues in Acts 7:24-29 to talk about how Moses was rejected by God's people. “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. "For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. "And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?' "But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 'Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' "Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.”
3. Moses killed an Egyptian who was mistreating one of his brethren. Moses thought they would understand that what he did was in their defense but he had to flee when a Jew questioned his authority and revealed he knew of the Egyptian's death. Moses had to learn that it would not be by his hand that deliverance would be achieved, but by the hand of God! Moses fled to Midian, where he married and had two sons.

III. Stephen, still under the accusation of blasphemy, carries on with Israel’s history in Acts 7:30-36 by reminding them of the events from Exodus 3 right up unto Numbers 13.

A. He says, when Moses was eighty years old, God spoke to him from a burning bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.

1. God told him He had seen His people suffering in Egypt and heard their groaning. He told Moses that he would deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
2. What Stephen is doing here is reminding his listeners that God did deliver His people from bondage. God did deliver them at the Red Sea and looked after them for forty years in the wilderness.

B. Stephen’s point is that God delivered them by the hands of the very one which the children of Israel had previously rejected. There was a shocking parallel to this in the venomous question from those of the Sanhedrin who had rejected Christ in almost the same words, demanding, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?" (Mark 11:28). This point could hardly have escaped the bitter enemies to whom it was addressed.
C. This is not my favorite type of sermon but when we’re dealing with a lot of text, we need to keep it in its proper context so that we can get inside the mind of Stephen and those listening. Jewish history is our history and we need to understand where we come from.

1. It’s a bit like this mother and her four-year-old son who were looking through an old family photo album. The boy pointed at a picture of a handsome young man with dark, curly hair. He asked, "Who's that?" She told him, "That's your father." The boy looked confused. "Then who is that bald guy who lives with us now?"
2. Of course, God’s people didn’t have photo albums. They had the Old Testament scriptures, and these were important to them. It’s important that Stephen goes ahead and reminds them of Israel's rebellion against God.

D. In Acts 7:37-43, Stephen reminds them of their adventures from Numbers 14 right up until the Israelite’s captivity in Babylon as we read about in 1 Chronicles 9. Stephen says that this very deliverer, Moses, was the one who foresaw the day God would raise up another prophet like him.

IV. Moses faithfully worked with those Jews who had been called out of bondage. Through him, they had heard God's living message. Yet, while Moses was receiving God's will on Mount Sinai, the people were rejecting that very will and turning back, at least in their hearts, toward Egypt. When they got Aaron to make the golden calf for them to worship, the people were effectively rejecting the Almighty. He, in turn, gave them up to serve worthless idols.

A. Stephen wanted to show them from the scriptures that their rejection of God was the very reason they were led away into Babylonian captivity.

1. He quotes Amos 5:25-27 – “25. "Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26. You also carried Sikkuth your king and Chiun, your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. 27. Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,'' says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.”
2. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who just tells the story from the very beginning and all you want to do is just get to the point?
3. Perhaps some are thinking this sermon is a bit like that, maybe you’re thinking – “will you hurry up and get to the point?”

B. In many ways, Stephen is about to do that. Remember the last time how we saw that Stephen was telling the Sanhedrin that Jesus was going to destroy the temple?

1. What Stephen is trying to do here is explain that this is also part of God’s plan. Abraham’s leaving to go to the Promised Land could only be done if Abraham followed God’s instructions to the letter.
2. Moses delivering the Israelites from Egypt could only be done if Moses followed God’s instructions.
3. When God’s people didn’t follow His instructions they were punished. That’s why they ended up being taken into captivity by Assyria and then by Babylon.
4. Here in Acts 7:44-50 Stephen reminds them that God has a pattern for His people’s lives which needs to be followed to the letter. In other words, if we want to live in God’s true house, we need to live by His rules.

C. Stephen says the pattern for making the tabernacle was one of the things that God revealed through Moses which had to be followed exactly.

1. Hebrews 8:5 – “who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.''”
2. Stephen says do you remember David? David’s son Solomon says in 1 Kings 8:17-18 – “17. "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 18. "But the Lord said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19. 'Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son, who shall come from your loins, he shall build the house for My name.'”
3. Stephen says David wanted to build a temple for God to dwell in but God wouldn’t let him according to 1 Chronicles 28:3 because he was a man of war. Instead, Solomon, David's son, was allowed to build the temple.

D. Then Stephen gets to the point. He says that the Creator of the universe does not dwell in temples made with men's hands. Stephen quotes from Isaiah 66:1-2 and Psalm 102:25 which clearly show that God cannot be confined like the gods of the pagans.

1. Instead, God, their God, and our God today who created the universe has made the very universe He created to be His throne.
2. The Sanhedrin needed to ask themselves the very same question which Solomon asked many years before them. 1 Kings 8:27 – “"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!”

V. OK, the history lesson is over, now for the message. It’s now that Stephen makes his point, all that history to get to this important truth.

A. Acts 7:51-53 – “51. You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53. who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” Stephen says, you are just like your fathers before you. Your necks are as hard as rock, so hard that you won’t bow down to God just like your forefathers.

1. Have you ever noticed on the back of some cars, there are these stickers of a fish which is supposed to be a symbol for being a Christian? Sometimes when you talk to a person you have just met they can’t wait to tell you they are a Christian because they go to church every week. That is OK, but being a Christian isn’t just about the things on the outside of a person that makes them a Christian it’s what’s in the inside.
2. It’s easy to be a Christian when you just go around living your life however you think is right. Christianity is far from easy when you allow God’s word to change your life. The people who Stephen is addressing had the outward signs of religion but their hearts were far from the truth. They had been circumcised but their hearts were still encased in sinful flesh.

B. If I ignore my mortgage bill, they will send another one. If I still don’t pay I’ll get another until I get a summons and end up in court. I could lose my home and all the money I have invested in it.

1. God, in a very real sense, did that. He told them time and time again through His prophets that the time was coming when He was going to send the Just One, who we know as Jesus.
2. Again just like their fathers before them had persecuted and killed those prophets who foretold the coming of God's Just One, Stephen said they had betrayed and murdered the Just One!
3. Remember this parable in Matthew 21:33-39 – “33. "Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34. "Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35. "And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36. "Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37. "Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38. "But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' 39. "And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”
4. How many times, how many people and angels would it take for them to not only listen to God but follows His will? Stephen says you know what? You guys are just as bad as your ancestors were.

C. Folks when the truth hurts, it hurts deep doesn’t it? I know lots of people who don’t like the truth. I suspect there are even Christians who are afraid to be told the truth.

1. Do you know why I know they don’t like the truth? Because their reaction is very similar to that of those who were listening to Stephen.
2. Acts 7:54-58 – “54. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56. and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!'' 57. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58. and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”
3. Just like Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:37, the truth hurts because the truth cuts to the heart and they were raging. And folks, when you’re faced with a reaction like this one, there is only one place to look, and that’s heavenward.
4. It was the Lord's Spirit who had inspired Stephen to speak and it’s the Lord’s Spirit who caused him to look intently into heaven.

CONCLUSION:
I wonder; do we believe that God cares when we are in trouble? Do we believe that He cares about His people when they are in trouble?
I’m sure most of us would say, yes I believe He cares. Let me tell you something, when one of God’s children is in trouble you better believe He more than cares.

Look at Stephen. He looked up and he saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the Father's right hand. In the New Testament Jesus is almost always described as sitting at the right hand of the Father, but not when one of His children is in trouble. Stephen saw Him standing.

Jesus not only cares about you but He stands up for you. You need to believe that He does that for you every time you’re troubled. In other words, don’t look to the world for protection. For all the answers look to heaven.

When people of the world and even some Christians can’t handle the truth and they get all upset with you, if you keep going to the source, the Bible, for your answers it won’t be long before they ask you to leave.

Stephen told the council what he saw. They cried out, stopped their ears, rushed to him, threw him outside of the city, and stoned him.

It’s here Luke tells us that those who stoned him laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. Just before we finish let me ask you, if you were about to die what would your final words be?
Let me leave you with Stephen’s dying words which echo the words of the Christ as He was dying on the cross of cavalry in Luke 23:34.
Acts 7:59-60 – “And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'' Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin.'' And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

I don’t know many people who would say those words with their dying breath after going through what Stephen went through, except Jesus Himself of course. We should thank God for people like Stephen who are willing even unto death to hold onto the truth and even with his dying words ask God to forgive them.

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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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Reference Sermon: Mike Glover

In A Time of Uncertainty - God Provides

In A Time of Uncertainty - God Provides 
Psalms 103: 1 – 22 & Ephesians 5: 19 – 20

 

ILL. I would like to start by sharing a story I read:
It was the usual schedule: up at 4:30 a.m., out the door by 5:00 a.m. to take my son to ice hockey practice, pickup another hockey team mate on the way to the rink, dash home, get ready for work and head out the door again. On this morning though, I realized I had not done the grocery shopping. So as I drove the boys to hockey practice I realized I’d be very close to a grocery store that was open 24 hours a day. So I made a mental shopping list and headed straight to the grocery store from the ice rink.
There were only a few shoppers in the store, but the aisles were full of staff stocking the shelves for the rush of grocery purchases. I zipped along. The last aisle was the frozen food section. As I stood in front of the glass door contemplating the frozen vegetables, I noticed my reflection in the frame of the freezer door. I WAS STILL IN MY PAJAMAS!! I laughed out loud!
As I drove home with my groceries I realized that in my hurry up life I was not living graciously. I was like the plate spinner at the circus. Recognizing that something needs to change and actually doing it can be a true challenge. In my daily prayer practice, I changed something. Instead of listing all of the day’s activities and then asking for help to accomplish them, I took a different approach. I began my prayer with gratitude that God was an ever-present, all power of good; and I listened more. This change wasn’t just for a day or a week, it became my regular daily prayer. And life became less frenetic and more joyful.
There are researchers who have been focusing on the beneficial effects of gratitude. One study (sited in a Harvard Health News Letter) found that,
“gratitude...helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals.” Another effect was, “fewer visits to physicians.”
You know, there is so much in our lives as Americans that we take for granted. When we get up in the morning, we can step into my shower & enjoy the hot water.
Then we can get dressed, go out & get into our car & drive anywhere we want to go. When we get low on gas we can pull into a gas station & fill up again.
Then when we go home, we can enter the house, flip a switch, & the lights come on. When we open my refrigerator we’ll find all kinds of foods to eat. And like most Americans we tend to just take all these things for granted.
ILL. But that isn’t the way things have been recently in some of our larger cities. Riots have erupted, statues & memorials torn down, stores & businesses looted & burned, houses destroyed & people terrorized. Whether accidental or deliberate, people have been injured, & lives have been lost.
And the country that we, & millions of others, love & have pledged our allegiance to, is constantly being condemned as an evil, racist society.
ILL. One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days & nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yes, I did," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog & they had four. We have a pool that fills half of our backyard, & they have a creek that stretches way past their property. We have lanterns in our yard & they have the stars at night.
"We have a small piece of land to live on & they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me just how poor we really are."
It makes you wonder what would happen if we gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.
I. DAVID STARTS OUT PRAISING GOD
In the 103rd Psalm David starts out praising God & then says: “Praise the LORD, O my soul, & FORGET NOT all his benefits.” Psalm 103:2
If we forget God’s benefits - if we forget the blessings He’s given us - we can end up being ungrateful, taking what we have for granted.
ILL. We can become like the woman who walked into a grocery store a day before Thanksgiving & was very upset with the size of the turkeys that were left. She turned to the stock boy & asked snippishly, "Don't these turkeys get any bigger?" To which he calmly replied, "No ma'am. They're dead!”
That woman had more food in front of her than people in most 3rd world countries would ever see. And yet, she was angry because what she saw wasn’t BIG enough.
If we don’t get into the habit of thanking God for what we DO have we’ll soon become ungrateful because of what we DON’T have.
So the 103rd Psalm says: Get into the habit of being thankful - NOW! Get into the habit of NOT FORGETTING what God has given you.
II. GET INTO THE HABIT OF BEING THANKFUL – NOW!
A. Ephesians 5:19-20 tells us to "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
And 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
ILL. Several churches in North Dakota were being served by an old circuit-riding preacher. The people were amazed at his ability to pray, for no matter what the circumstances were, he could always find something for which to be thankful.
As he made his rounds one cold, gloomy December morning, he was late in getting to the church because of excessive snow drifts. But when he did get there, as usual he began the service with prayer.
The parishioners were eager to see what the old preacher could come up with to be thankful for on this dismal & frigid morning. "Gracious Lord," his prayer began, "we thank you that all days are not like today."
So as you spend time considering the blessings which God has showered upon you & your family, what do you thank Him for? How has God blessed you?
For most of us I imagine that we thank Him for family & friends, for those who love us & care about us. We thank him for our homes, for our jobs in a time when some are homeless & many are looking for jobs.
And probably many of us thank him for our country & the blessings He has showered upon our nation over the years. I hope, also, that you include this church & its witness – that we might be faithful & true to Jesus, our Lord.
B. Now let's look at the 103rd Psalm. Not once in that entire Psalm do we hear David give thanks for his family, his home, his possessions, or even for God making him a king. David doesn't give thanks for many of the things most people would mention.
Instead, he praises God for forgiving his sins, healing all his diseases, redeeming his life from the pit, crowning him with love & compassion, & satisfying his desires with good things so that his youth was renewed.
David couldn’t lose those things. And the world couldn’t take them away from him. And it is true for us, too. I can lose my loved ones, my home, my possessions, my abilities. But I CANNOT lose the things David wrote about in the 103rd Psalm.
Jesus emphasizes exactly the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth & rust destroy, & where thieves break in & steal.
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth & rust do not destroy, & where thieves do not break in & steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
III. WHAT ARE OUR TREASURES?
A. What are our treasures? Well, in this Psalm David says that his greatest treasure is knowing of God’s love & compassion for each of us.
He writes, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him;
for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14)
Now David acknowledges that neither he – nor any of us – are worthy of God’s love. David goes on to say in vs’s 15-16 that “(our) days are like grass, (we) flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it & it is gone, & its place remembers it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16)
We’re not all that impressive, are we? We’re fragile & easily forgotten. And God knows that. He was the one who formed us from the dust of the earth. But when God formed us from that dust He formed us in His likeness.
You see, the Bible tells us that you & I are a special creation by God. Yes, we are fragile & easily forgotten by this world - but God will never forget us!
He loves us so much that vs. 4 tells us He “...redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love & compassion.” (Psalm 103:4)
B. As we read through the Bible we see stories of men & women who spent time in pits. Jeremiah was thrown into a pit where he sank into the muck up to his armpits. And Daniel was thrown into a pit that we know was a lion’s den.
Then there was Joseph, whose brothers threw him into a pit with the intention of killing him - but then changed their minds & sold him into slavery instead. Those were literal pits that God rescued them from.
But there were other “pits” that weren’t so literal, but were equally depressing: David spent several years hiding from King Saul. Moses spent 40 years in exile from Egypt. And Ruth spent a number of years in poverty.
Each story about these heroes & heroines of faith told how God reached down into the holes those people found themselves in, pulled them up & out of that pit, & placed them on solid ground.
And David says that what God did for those people – He’ll do for you & me.
C. We know that God meets our physical needs on this earth. But just like David we also know that’s not enough.
Jesus said: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, & lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36 KJV)
Unless our sins are dealt with we’ll be cut off from God. And unless our sins are forgiven, we’ll never know the blessings of living eternally in heaven.
Then David tells us “YES, God is willing to take care of that too.” In vs. 3 David says that God “forgives all your sin.” And in vs’s 10-12 David goes on to say, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:10-12)
“As far as the east is from the west.” Now that is an interesting comment. Why not as far as the North is from the South?
Consider this: if we left here going West to CA, & continued West from there, we can go as far West as we like - & we would never start going East.
On the other hand, if we start going North, we would end up at the North Pole. From that point on every direction would be South.
Now, why didn’t God say He would remove our sins from us as far as the North is from the South? He could have. But if He’d said that - He would be telling us that there is a point at which He would stop forgiving us - where He’d stop wanting to forgive us.
But that’s not true. When He forgives us – He removes our sins as far from us as the East is from the West. He will remember them no more.
That is the kind of God we serve. A God who loves us SO much that He “gave His one & only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
ILL. It was the year 1822, & her name was Charlotte Elliott. She had been an invalid from her youth. Her handicap filled her with resentment & anger. And one day, when a preacher was visiting, she let loose on him about her bitterness at her condition.
The preacher listened, but instead of comforting her - he challenged her. He told her that what she needed to do was to give her life totally to God - to come to Him just as she was, with all her bitterness & anger.
As you can imagine, she didn’t like that. She resented what seemed to her to be an almost callous attitude on his part concerning her condition.
But the Holy Spirit used his challenge to get through to her, & she ultimately committed her life to the Lord.
But even as a Christian she had doubts & struggles. Her brother had become a successful preacher. But Charlotte felt that her physical condition prevented her from being of any real service at all.
Then in 1836, on the 14th anniversary of her conversion, she decided to write a song about her faith in God. One of the verses goes this way:
“Just as I am, tho’ tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!”
“Just As I Am” - That hymn has become one of the best known & most powerful invitation songs ever written.
Years later, her brother said: "In the course of a long ministry I have been permitted to see some of the fruit of my labors. But my sister, through her hymn, has accomplished far more than I ever dreamed of being able to do."
Charlotte’s time of testing gave her a testimony. And the mess in her life gave birth to a message that has brought thousands upon thousands to Christ.
INVITATION

Sermon Contributor Melvin Newland

You’re The Answer To Someone’s Prayer

You’re The Answer To Someone’s Prayer
2 Cor. 12: 7-10 & Luke 22:42

ILL. I heard a story recently about a missionary in Africa, named William Chalmers, who was approached by two tribal chieftains. For more than a year they had been hearing about Chalmers & his God & the changes that had occurred in the villages which had welcomed him.
Impressed by it all, they had come to invite him to their villages also. Sadly, Chalmers told them that because of commitments he had already made that he would be unable to go back with them to their villages. They then asked for any Christian teachers he could send. Once again he had to tell them that he had no one to send.
As a result, the two chieftains remained there with Chalmers for 2 weeks, observing what life was like in what was now a predominantly Christian village. They were particularly curious about his custom of daily praying to God – not as a God to be feared & whose anger had to be appeased, but as a God to be loved & thanked for His protection, for providing what is needed, & for His guidance.
Then the chieftains went home, after urging Chalmers to come as soon as he could. Nearly 2 years passed before Chalmers could arrange to go as he had promised. It was early in the morning when he arrived at the first village & found the villagers on their knees in perfect silence. They were not making a sound!
Mystified by this, Chalmers asked the chief what they were doing. "We are praying to your God," he replied. “But you’re not saying anything.”
"We do not know what to say, but for nearly two years we have met here praying & waiting for someone to come & teach us what to say."

A. Now how about us? Do we know how to pray? Well, of course we do! Or do we? For example, how do we pray for Christians who are going through difficulties in life? The natural response when we see someone who is sick, or going through tough times, or family difficulties ... is to say, "We'll pray for you."
But have you ever found yourself wondering, “What is the best thing to pray for in this situation?” Sometimes it is hard to know just what to pray. And doubts can arise when we pray earnestly, & we don’t get the answers that we want.
Sometimes we pray for people who are sick, & they don’t get better. Or we pray for a marriage to be healed, & the couple gets a divorce. Or we pray for a couple to have a healthy child, & a handicapped child is born. I can't give you any easy answers as to why this happens.

B. But what I don’t know about prayer doesn't discourage me, because the way I've seen prayers answered, & the way lives have been changed as a result of prayer, gives me so much encouragement that I'm absolutely convinced the most important thing we can do in times of difficulty is to pray.
Prayer puts us in touch with God. And it’s important for us to come to God & express our needs & the deepest longings of our hearts.

C. So with that in mind, look with me at 2 Cor. 12:7-10 where the Apostle Paul speaks about his "thorn in the flesh."
He says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
“That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Now here is the situation: Paul had just had an amazing spiritual experience. But there is a danger in spiritual experiences. And that is of becoming conceited, of beginning to think that you’re more spiritual or important than anybody else.
So the Bible tells us that God gives Paul what he calls a "thorn in the flesh." We don't know what it was, but it was something that caused Paul physical pain & anguish. In fact, it was so bad that 3 times Paul prays for God to take it away. And 3 times God answers, "No."
Then He tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect (or obvious) in weakness." So Paul learns the lesson & accepts the grace of God & recognizes that it is sufficient to see him through.
APPL. With Paul’s example before us, maybe the question we should be asking is, "When bad things happen, for what should we, as God's people, pray?"

I. SOME OBVIOUS ANSWERS
Of course there are some obvious answers to that question. We need to be asking for God's presence & strength in our daily lives through the Holy Spirit.
We also need to be praying that it is God's will that is done, & not ours.
And of course, our prayers should be for those around us, & the impact that our problems may be having upon them. We need to be concerned about more than just our own needs & trials.

ILL. In his book “Living Life on Purpose”, Greg Anderson shares this story: This man’s wife had left him & he was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, & even in God.
One rainy, gloomy morning he went to a small neighborhood diner for breakfast. Although several customers were there, no one was speaking to anyone else. This miserable man sat hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.
In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the gloomy silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don’t we say our prayers here?"
The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around & said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And the waitress turned & looked at the rest of the people in the diner & said, "Bow your heads."
Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, & said, "God is great, God is good, & we thank him for our food. Amen."
That prayer changed the entire atmosphere in the diner. People began talking with one another. And the waitress said, "We should do that every morning."
"All of a sudden," said the man, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl’s example, I started to thank God for all that I did have, & stopped dwelling on all I didn’t have. I started to choose happiness again."
And God has told us that if we don’t know exactly what to pray, the Holy Spirit will help us.

ILL. A heart-broken little girl knelt & began to pour out her heart to God. But she didn’t know what to say. As she was sobbing she remembered what her father had told her, "God knows your needs even before you pray, & He can answer when you don’t know what to ask."
So she began saying the alphabet. A lady heard her crying & knelt beside her, & hearing her saying her ABC’s, asked her what she was trying to do. The little girl told her, "I’m praying to God from my heart."
The lady replied, "It sounds to me more like you’re just saying the alphabet!" "Yes," she said, "But God knows more about what I need than I do, & He can take all those letters & arrange them in just the right way to hear & answer my prayers!"

II. IT IS ALL RIGHT TO PRAY TO ESCAPE SUFFERING
Another thing we learn from Paul is that it is all right to pray to escape suffering. Paul prayed for an end to his suffering.
And so did Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)
If you're sick, it's legitimate to ask God to heal you. If you're having difficulty in life, whatever it might be, it’s perfectly all right to pray that God will take it away. Sometimes He does, & sometimes He doesn’t, & we don’t always understand why.
But we’re still to trust Him. Paul did, & out of his own experience he was able to write that great passage in Romans proclaiming, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

ILL. A long time minister in a small town tells this story:
Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My 6-yr-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, “God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, & I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty & Justice for all! Amen!”
Along with the laughter from other customers nearby I heard a woman remark, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why, I never!”
Hearing this, my son burst into tears & asked me, “Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?” As I held him, I assured him that he had done a terrific job & God was certainly not mad at him.
An elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son & said, “I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.” “Really?” my son asked. “Cross my heart.” Then in a theatrical whisper he added, “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice-cream is good for the soul sometimes.”
Naturally, after that, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment & then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae & without a word walked over & placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes & my soul is good already.”

III. WE OUGHT ALSO TO PRAY THAT OUR SUFFERING NOT BE WASTED
A. But when we do suffer, I think we ought to pray that our suffering will not be wasted, that it will be used to bring glory to God, & that we gain the victory over it through the strength that God gives us.
I think that is what happened in this passage with Paul. Paul said, "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh." A strange gift, isn't it?
But every once in a while, God allows negative things in life for a reason. In this particular situation Paul tells us that it was to keep him humble. He didn't resign himself to it, but he accepted it as something that God had given him for a reason.

B. Paul prayed, & then he waited on a word from God. "Three times," he said, "I prayed to God, ‘Take this thorn away. Please God, heal me. Take away the hurt & pain.'" Three times heaven was silent. Three times there was no answer from God.
You've experienced that frustration, haven't you? And it is difficult to keep the level of faith you know you should have when it seems heaven is not responding.
But Paul waited, & that is exactly what the scriptures teach us to do. "Wait on God, & keep on praying."
Finally the silence was broken. God spoke to him & said, "My grace is sufficient for you." He didn't take away the thorn. He just gave Paul enough grace to be able to put up with it.
"Then," Paul said, "I suddenly realized that it's not my strength that God wants - it is me, just as I am, trusting my all to Him.” Listen again to Paul’s words:
"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
“That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
Jack took a long look at his speedometer before slowing down: 73 in a 55 zone... Fourth time in as many months. How could a guy get caught so often? When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour, Jack pulled over, but only partially. Let the cop worry about the potential traffic hazard. Maybe some other car will tweak his backside with a mirror.

The cop was stepping out of his car, the big pad in hand. Bob? Bob from church? Jack sunk farther into his trench coat. This was worse than the coming ticket. A Christian cop catching a guy from his own church. A guy who happened to be a little anxious to get home after a long day at the office.
A guy he was about to play golf with tomorrow.

Jumping out of the car, he approached a man he saw every Sunday, a man he'd never seen in uniform.

"Hi, Bob. Fancy meeting you like this."

"Hello, Jack." No smile.
"Guess you caught me red-handed in a rush to see my wife and kids."
"Yeah, I guess." Bob seemed uncertain. Good.
"What'd you clock me at?"
"Seventy-one. Would you sit back in your car, please?"

"Now wait a minute here, Bob. I checked as soon as I saw you. I was barely nudging 65." The lie seemed to come easier with every ticket.
"Please, Jack, in the car."

Flustered, Jack hunched himself through the still-open door. Slamming it shut, he stared at the dashboard. He was in no rush to open the window. The minutes ticked by. Bob scribbled away on the pad. Why hadn't he asked for a driver's license? Whatever the reason, it would be a month of Sundays before Jack ever sat near this cop again. A tap on the door jerked his head to the left.

There was Bob, a folded paper in hand. Jack rolled down the window a bare two inches, just enough room for Bob to pass him the slip.

"Thanks." Jack could not quite keep the sneer out of his voice.

Bob returned to his car without a word.
Jack watched his retreat in the mirror. Jack unfolded the sheet of paper. How much was this one going to cost? Wait a minute. What was this? Some kind of joke? Certainly not a ticket.

Jack began to read: "Dear Jack, Once upon a time I had a daughter. She was six when killed by a car. You guessed it - a speeding driver. A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his daughters. All three of them. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until heaven before I can ever hug her again. A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now... Pray for me. And be careful. My son is all I have left.
Bob"

Jack twisted around in time to see Bob's car pull away and head down the road. Jack watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he, too, pulled away and drove slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived.

CONCL. Now let’s go back & review what we have learned today from the apostle Paul. We have learned that we need to be asking for God’s presence & strength in our daily lives, for His Holy Spirit to be working within us.
We need to be praying for God’s will to be done, & not ours. We need to be concerned about more than just our own needs & trials, but also about those who are around us.
At the same time, we also learned that it is all right to pray for God to heal us, to end our suffering, to take away our difficulties, as long as we pray like Jesus, “Not my will, but yours be done” & really mean it!
And if we do suffer, Paul teaches us that we ought to pray that our suffering will not be wasted,
that it will be used to bring glory to God, & that we will gain the victory over it through the strength that God gives us each day.

Sermon Contributor: Melvin Newland

The Beginning & The End

The Beginning & The End

Revelation 22:13 – 14

 

There are Military Slogan’s which state that : “the overall decisions start and stop here.”

Or we have heard the phrase, “The buck stops here!”

And there is the famous quote from a parent … “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!!!!!!”

Back in 2008, there was a surprise best selling book entitled: “Not Quite What I Had Planned - 6-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure”

Notice the first SIX words of the title. “Not Quite What I Had Planned.” The book essentially asked people to sum up their lives in 6 words. Amongst the entries were these:

• Stephen Colbert wrote, “Well, I thought it was funny.”
• A writer from USA Today - who reviewed the book - offered this statement: “Dad was Santa. Downhill from there.”
• Another writer summed up their life this way, “Never really finished anything, except cake.”
• Someone else wrote, "Followed yellow brick road. Disappointment ensued.”
• And still another commented, “Should have risked asking, he sighed.”

Now the author of the book apparently didn’t ask for Jesus’ reply, but Jesus might have said: “I Am The Alpha And Omega.” That 6 word statement literally sums up Jesus’ life. ALPHA was the first letter of the Greek alphabet and OMEGA was the last of that alphabet. So Jesus (in Revelation 22) said:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

This was literally, the last “I AM” statement by Christ in Scripture. And it was how the Bible presents Jesus to us. Jesus was literally the beginning of all things:

Colossians 1:17 says that Jesus "is before all things."

And the Gospel of John describes Jesus as the “WORD” and tells us “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1-2

So Jesus was “THE BEGINNING” of all things… and Jesus will literally be THE END of all things. The last words of the book of Revelation are these: “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Revelation 22:20-21

Now, that’s all cool stuff, but what does that all mean to us? What does it mean to us that Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last??

Well it reminds us AGAIN. that Jesus is God. The terminology used in Revelation 22 is the same that’s used to describe God in several other places in Scripture.

In Isaiah 44:6 GOD declares “I am the first and the last”

And Psalm 90:2 states: “from everlasting to everlasting You are God”

And, in the first chapter of Revelation we find these words: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Revelation 1:8

His story makes its way through Scripture like a common thread. So, for Jesus to claim to be the Alpha and the Omega, was for Him to declare that HE WAS GOD in the flesh.

And because He was God, and because He IS the “Alpha and Omega” and the “Beginning and the End” - He IS IN CONTROL because He literally has me surrounded. And because He is before and behind and all around us, that makes it so that I can TRUST Him, therefore, I don’t have to be afraid.

ILLUS: Recently there have been individuals talking about the present lock-down in our State. Some shared that many people are literally afraid because of the news they were constantly watching and hearing through social media and radio and TV. The fear was being expressed by people right here in our community, and you can understand why. But as Christians, we shouldn’t let that fear control us. As Jesus tells us in Revelation 1:17-18 “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Because Jesus is the Alpha & the Omega, the 1st and the Last, and the Beginning and the End, I don’t have to be afraid… because Jesus has it all under control.

ILLUS: As most of you know …. I have a 2 year old grandson. He’s handsome, and he’s smart and whenever we’re together we have a great time. But one of the things that humbles me is how much he trusts me. A little while back he was at my house for a nice family visit. Now, whenever he’s there I’m usually within a close proximity from him at any given time, because – after all - he is a 2 year old and we know that 2-year-olds can find all kinds of mischief to get into! But at one point I had to be another part of the house for just a few minutes and I left him alone, thinking “what kind of trouble can he get into in just a few minutes?”

I was wrong. I’d only been gone from the room about 5 minutes when suddenly I hear him crying out in panic.

I rushed to the kitchen to see that he’d pulled a dining room chair over to the kitchen counter and had crawled up – belly down – on the counter to reach something. And there he was - his belly on the counter, his butt in the air, and his legs dangling in space about a foot above the chair he’d used. Now he actually wasn’t in any danger, but he didn’t know that. All he knew was that he was stuck and he had no way to get down. And he was afraid!

When I got there and spoke to him, he seemed to relax. And after I helped him back down to the floor, he was happy again. But WHY did he suddenly relax when I got there? Because he believed that I had things under control. He saw that I was there to protect him – he trusted me.

When Jesus said “I am the Alpha and The Omega, the Beginning and the End…” He was saying “I am NEVER FAR AWAY from you. I have this under control, and I’ll always be on hand to protect you.”

That’s how we should view the crisis we now face. It is a dangerous situation, but we in Jesus we have someone who is never far away and always has things under control. In fact, that’s the kind of faith that David had about God back in the Old Testament. He wrote: “I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.” Psalm 17:6-9

Notice, David did face real danger, real enemies, and the very real possibility of death. And yet he believed God had things under control… and He could trust Him. THAT’s how we can view Jesus, because He IS God in the flesh.

So Jesus - being the Alpha and Omega - tells us He has things under control and that we can trust Him, but in addition to that, Jesus is not only THE Alpha and Omega, and THE Beginning and End, Jesus is MY Beginning and End. He is MY Alpha and Omega. HE has re-MADE my life so I my life is re-NEWED. It has re-BEGUN.

You see I could live my life without Jesus. I really could get along quite well without Him.

But it wouldn’t really be living … it would only be simply EXISTING. I would simply be “getting by” with no future and no real purpose for life. But Jesus came so that my life would be changed.

When I was baptized into Christ, Romans 6:4 tells me that “We were buried … with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE.” In Jesus I have a NEWNESS of life because Jesus is the BEGINNING of that new life.

ILLUS: There’s a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck. One day she was approached by a man who said to her, "Little girl, don't you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn't beautiful like the one you're wearing? It was an ugly, wooden thing." The little girl thought about that for a moment and then smiled and replied, "Oh yes, I know that. But they told me in Sunday school that whatever Jesus touches, He changes."

And that was what Jesus came to do. Jesus came to CHANGE our lives and offer us a NEW BEGINNING. But Jesus didn’t just come to change us and walk away. One person observed: “Alpha and Omega” means that whatever Jesus starts, he finishes. Hebrews 12:2 says we should be “looking unto Jesus, the author and FINISHER of our faith....” And Paul reminds us that “He who BEGAN a good work in you will bring it to COMPLETION at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

ILLUS: I’ve noticed that there are many craftsmen and artists in this world who do something, and then get to the point in their task where they’ll say “that’s good enough.” It’s not perfect, but it’s… GOOD ENOUGH. But Jesus is not like that. Jesus is kind of a perfectionist. When He works in our lives “good enough” is never good enough. Jesus will never be satisfied with simply beginning a good work in us and then walk away saying “I’m done.” Jesus is such a perfectionist that He will never stop working on us until He’s satisfied.

ILLUS: Some of the world’s Greatest artists have been like that. Take Leonardo Da Vinci, for example. I’m going to give you a quiz this morning and see if you know the answer:

What is the most valuable and praised painting in the world? Think about it for moment… if you guessed the “Mona Lisa” you were right! This famous portrait by Da Vinci was commissioned by a patron to celebrate a birthday. If Leonardo had simply been interested in the money, he could have painted the portrait in a month and received his payment. But money was never the object with him. It took Da Vince 4 years to paint this masterpiece… and the painting (I read) has up to 30 different layers of paint!

But, why would Da Vinci do that? Why would he keep adding more and more paint to his artwork? Well, he did that because he kept working and reworking the image until he was pleased with it. And he loved this painting so much that he never gave it to his patron. He kept it for himself for years afterward.

And that’s what Jesus does with us. He is constantly working us and reworking us. Jesus will never quite be done with us, because to Jesus… you and I are the most valuable pieces of art in existence, and He wants us to be the best that He can create! And ultimately, He keeps us for Himself because He loves us so much.

As Ephesians 2:10 tells us “We are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do.”

Lastly - Jesus is not just MY Alpha - He’s MY Omega. He’s not just the beginning of my new life, He is the END… the completion of my existence. In other words - ultimately we will be a FINISHED PRODUCT. As Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Now, there are some people who have difficulty understanding what that means. Many may believe that the “finished product” is based on their OWN righteousness. But that’s not what is said here. The passage in Ephesians 5 says that Jesus GAVE Himself up for the church. Jesus sanctified her. Jesus cleansed her. HE DID THE WORK… not us. You can’t buy a ticket to get in because of your “sinlessness” because THAT doesn’t exist.

ILLUS: A minister had a conversation with a man on Facebook some time back about a woman who had had an abortion. From this other man’s comments made the minister got the impression the man viewed this woman as disgraceful. He was very smug as he said that he’d never do anything like that. The minister questioned him on this comment. The minister explained that we ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and that this woman was still loved by God. AND that Jesus would forgive her if she’d repent of her sins and be baptized.

The man responded that HE had never done anything “that bad” that he needed to repent of. The minister’s response to that statement was this: “THAT BAD?” Seriously???

We are reminded of the parable Jesus told about two men who came to the temple to pray.

One was a Pharisee (the very essence of righteousness and holiness) and the other – a Tax Collector (the lowest rung on the moral ladder in Israel). Jesus said that the Pharisee prayed this way “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11-12) In other words, the Pharisee bragged to God that he’d never sinned as badly as the tax collector.

But then, Jesus said, that the Tax Collector prayed: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ And Jesus said “I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:13-14

Now, here’s the deal – you and I WILL NOT get into Heaven because of how righteous WE ARE. We’ll only get into heaven because of how righteous JESUS IS. It’s all about Jesus. If Jesus is not your ALPHA & OMEGA; if Jesus is not your BEGINNING & END;

if Jesus is not your FIRST & LAST priorities … then you and I will not make it in through the gate. To depend upon our righteousness is a fool’s game. Scripture says our righteousness will be like filthy rags unless we are washed in the blood of Christ.

We do that by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That He is our Alpha and Omega. And we do that by acknowledging that our own righteousness isn’t enough because we’ve sinned and fall short of God’s glory… therefore we need to repent of our sins and rely on Christ’s righteousness. And by confessing that Jesus is the true and only son of the father and that – He’s the one that we rely upon and trust. And lastly, we do this by allowing ourselves to imitate Christ by dying to our sins and being buried in the waters of baptism… and then rising up from those waters to walk in newness of life.

 

Sermon Contributor: Jeff Strite