Chardon church of Christ

The Unmerciful Servant

The Unmerciful Servant 
Matthew 18:23-35

Good evening. The scripture I’d like us to look at tonight is Matthew 18:23-35. You will certainly recognize this, and I’ll be referring to it and the surrounding verses.

I’d like to start off tonight with some quips I ran across recently. You may have heard some of these.
There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us.—Edward Wallis Hoch.

Criticism is the one thing most of us think is more blessed to give than to receive.—Society of Automotive Engineers Journal

"The stones that critics hurl with harsh intent
A man may use to build his monument."—Arthur Gutterman

If you are criticized, you have either done something worthwhile, or refrained from doing something foolish. So congratulations!

INTRO: Most of us are quite good at giving criticism, in fact when it comes to fault finding most of us are experts, aren’t we? Please turn your Bibles to Matthew 18. Jesus has been talking with His disciples about right relationships and He said to them in Matthew 18:15-16 - “Moreover if your brother sins (some translations use the word trespass) against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” [NKJ]

I. Peter’s question. As usual Peter needed to clear up some things in his head. We owe a very great deal to the fact that Peter had a quick tongue. Again and again, he rushed into speech and Jesus used the opportunity for great teaching. He asks Jesus in verse 21, " Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” What Peter is asking is, “Lord what I really want to know is, how often I should forgive my brother, as many as seven times, is that enough?”
a. In Peter’s mind, he probably thought this showed he was willing to forgive more than most people would. He probably thought he was being very generous. You see folks; many Rabbis’ taught that a man was to be forgiven 3 times, but no more than 3.
i. This thinking was not without merit. In the opening chapters of Amos there is a series of condemnations on the various nations for three transgressions and for four (Amos 1:3,6,9,11,13; Amos 2:1,4,6).
ii. From this it was deduced that God's forgiveness extends to three offences and that He visits the sinner with punishment at the fourth.
iii. From this, in their zeal to set rules, and thinking that a man could be no more gracious than God, Rabbis’ taught forgiveness was limited to three times.
b. Peter doubled this and added one. Perhaps thinking this would illustrate how far he was willing to go to forgive.
c. Peter was certainly willing to forgive, but he made the mistake of measuring himself by human standards rather than by divine standards. Jesus answers Peter in verse 22, He says, “...I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
d. In other words, Jesus says, “Peter, you shouldn’t just forgive your brother seven times, but seventy times that.” Please don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. He’s not saying, “You forgive someone 70 times 7 and when you get to 70 times 7 + 1 that’s it, you don’t have to forgive them anymore.” He’s not saying that, what He is saying is that a person should always be ready to forgive, it’s not a matter of counting; it’s a matter of conduct.

II. We are going to look at “The parable of the unmerciful servant”. Jesus is going to teach us some things about relationships, and He is going to reveal more truths about the kingdom of God. Our Scripture reading is Matthew 18:23-35 and we’re going to try and understand what Jesus is teaching His disciples.
III. The first thing He teaches them is “The nature of human judgment.” Human judgment is always condemning. Let’s look at the actions of the unmerciful servant first.
a. He’s just had all his debts cleared by the master and it says in Matthew 18:28-30 - " But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' "And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.”
i. This poor guy who only owed him 100 denarii was grabbed by the throat. This was nothing less than pure heartlessness. You see during these times in Greek and Roman culture it was common practice for a debtor to be taken by the throat and brought before the court to stand trial. This debtor was going to be made to pay his debt.
ii. What the unmerciful servant was doing was demanding payment, in other words he was saying, “Pay me what you owe me!” I suppose in the unmerciful servant’s mind he’s probably thinking, “Honest people pay their debts.” But what a short memory he has, hasn’t he?
iii. It was only moments ago that he had a debt of “ten thousand talents” cancelled, yet the text tells us that even though his fellow servant begged and pleaded with him, he didn’t listen and had him thrown into prison. The unmerciful servant expected from his fellow servant what he didn’t expect from himself. This is key, it is very easy for us to see other people’s faults and failures, but we’re so slow when we look at our own. In our human judgment when we judge people, we also condemn them.
b. Let me tell you a story of two prominent preachers that were getting together to have dinner. When the one arrived at the other’s door, he was met by his friend who was smoking a large Panama cigar. Surprised the first preacher said, “How can you, a preacher of the word, stand there, and smoke that cigar?” The second preacher poked the first in his stomach, and said, “The same way you, as a preacher of the word, can stand there with your big belly.”
i. What do we see in the lives of our fellow Christians? Do we see mistakes, which we call sins in other people’s lives, but they are only called faults when they are in ours? Do we see what is selfishness in others, but it is just mischief in ourselves? Do we see what is harshness in others, but it is just openness in ourselves?
ii. Even we as Christians often expect much more of others than we do of ourselves. We expect others to take the lead; we expect others to set the example. We expect others to do the work and we’re quick to criticize if they do not.
c. What did Jesus say about having condemning judgment? Matthew 7:1-5 - “Judge not, that you be not judged. "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck out of your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye.” As Scripture tells us we are indeed to judge, but judge what and judge how must be understood.
i. For example, before we go judging and condemning others, we need to take a closer look at ourselves. I know there are those who might say “I’m not judging I’m just inspecting the fruit.” We need to be very careful of the conclusion we draw from our inspection.
ii. We must look at our own life and see where we are in our relationship with God. Or in the words of Jesus when He’s speaking to those who claimed that a woman had been caught in the act of adultery in John 8:7, “Let you who have no sin throw the first stone.”[para] If only we were as gentle and as understanding and as kind to others as we are to ourselves.

IV. Divine Forgiveness. The second thing Jesus is teaching here is that when it comes to the divine nature of forgiveness, God is merciful and just. Matthew 18:23-27 - "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. "But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. "The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' "Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.”
a. It’s obvious that the king in this parable is God, the debt stands for sin and the servant stands for all of mankind. The first thing that strikes us about the King is His mercy. The King didn’t hold His mercy back from His servant who owed the debt. That’s the kind of God we have, a merciful God.
b. Psalm 130:7 says, “O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” [NIV] Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” [NAS] Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” [ESV]
c. You see folks, God is willing to forgive all our sins. Isn’t He wonderful, isn’t He great? Isn’t He a truly awesome God? Although He is merciful to us, He is also just in forgiveness. The heart of this parable is that God will not forgive us our sins unless we freely forgive others.
d. What did Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”[NIV] What’s He saying? He’s saying that forgiving others is truly a Christian grace. The Law of Moses didn’t obligate a person to forgive his fellow man; forgiveness of enemies wasn’t regarded as a virtue in Israel. But Jesus comes along and says, “Forgiveness is a duty.”
i. Let me ask you; have you ever seen your fellow brother or sister involved in a sin? If you have, what do you do about it? Do you just leave them to it, because you don’t think it’s your responsibility to say anything to them? What then if their sin is against you? What do you do about that?
ii. Let’s ask Jesus and see what He says, Luke 17:3-4 -, “So watch yourselves. "If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying 'I repent,' you must forgive them." [NIV] Jesus says, “If someone sins and they repent, then it’s a Christian’s duty to forgive that person.”
iii. You need to be careful not to get involved with their sin too, but if they have truly repented and are seeking forgiveness from you, you can’t hold their sin against them. That’s another key, holding a grudge, holding their sin against them will stop that person from learning from their mistakes and stop them growing into the likeness of Christ.
e. Ephesians 4:32 - “... be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” [KJ] There’s not an offence that is so great which your brother or sister can commit against you that you cannot forgive. I’m not saying it will be easy all the time. It can be very difficult, but what I am saying is that you need to forgive them because we are to forgive each other just as God forgave us.
i. Let me ask this, does God forgive with a grudge? Absolutely not! 1 John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [KJ] Does this mean that a sin we see is to be ignored or overlooked? Of course not, the person who sins is to be rebuked and the person who repents is to be forgiven. Justice occurs when there is true repentance.
ii. God doesn’t pass over sins lightly and neither should we. Remember that the man who has no pity for his fellow man will not get pity from God. What else did Jesus say concerning forgiveness? Matthew 6:12 - “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” That text was never meant to be simply rehearsed week in and week out, that text was meant to be understood and lived by. God forgives as we have forgiven others.
iii. In other words, we must forgive others before we can be forgiven. Think about it! If we address God with hatred and bitterness in our hearts, if we pray to God knowing that we are at odds with our brother or sister. What we are doing is making it impossible for Him to forgive our sins.
f. Robert Louis Stevenson used to pray the Lord’s Prayer every day at home at his family worship. One day he was about to pray “The Lord’s Prayer” when he stopped and said, “I can’t pray that prayer today.” If you read most accounts of Stevenson’s life he was an avowed atheist. He admitted to his parents that he had rejected Christianity by age 23 and had obtained membership into the LJR League (Liberty, Justice, Reverence) whose motto reads; “Disregard everything our parents have taught us.”
i. Yet in a small book of prayers that he wrote we find this;
ii. For Grace
iii. By Robert Louis Stevenson
iv. Grant that we here before Thee may be set
v. free from the fear of vicissitude and the fear of
vi. death, may finish what remains before us of
vii. our course without dishonor to ourselves or
viii. hurt to others, and, when the day comes, may die
ix. in peace. Deliver us from fear and favor: from
x. mean hopes and cheap pleasures. Have mercy on
xi. each in his deficiency; let him be not cast down;
xii. support the stumbling on the way, and give at
xiii. last rest to the weary.
g. Folks, there are times just like what Stevenson experienced, when we need to be on our guard against empty phrases in our prayers. We need to be extra careful when we say, “Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.” We need to engage our hearts, our minds when we are praying to God. In our relationship with our God, rote prayer, for that matter rote anything in worship is of no value, because other than our mouths moving, we are not there. It is only lip service.
i. We have all heard or read of Siamese twins being born joined in some part of their bodies. Surgeons most times can successfully separate them, and they go on to live healthy lives. Sometimes doctors can’t do anything, and they are born joined, and stay together for the rest of their lives, inseparable. Folks Jesus says that when it comes to forgiveness, God’s forgiveness of a person and that person’s forgiveness of others are inseparable.
ii. I recall a story I read about a man talking to John Wesley one time and he said, “John, I never forgive.” Wesley looked at him and said, “Then I hope sir, that you never sin.”

V. Debtors to God. The last thing I’d like to look at in this parable is that all men are debtors to God. I will borrow a story here from my UK friends. This takes place at a country church somewhere in England. One day they got a “special guest” at their service. An elder came up to the preacher and said, “Now be careful what you say today, you don’t want to offend the Prime Minister.” Well, the preacher got up, started his sermon, and in it said; “If anyone, including the Prime Minister, doesn’t repent of his sins, he will be condemned to hell.”
a. Folks, I tell that story to make the point that it does not matter who you are or where you’re from, you are a debtor to God, and you need to know it. Romans 3:23 - “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Or as Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 53:6 - “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”
b. Man’s relationship to God is one of debtor to creditor. We owe much more than we can ever pay. Jesus deliberately chose the two sums of money mentioned in the parable, because both amounts are extreme.
i. In Matthew 18:28 -, Jesus said that, “The servant owed his fellow servant 100 denarii.” According to the [NAS]. A denarii was a Roman coin, which was worth a small amount and I’m told the total debt was around $10.
ii. Jesus said in Matthew 18:24 - , that “The unmerciful servant owed the king ten thousand talents.” Folks, it’s hard for me to imagine just how large amount of money that was. The talent is worth around $850 in today’s terms, so that meant that 10,000 talents would be worth around $8,500,000. This was a staggering amount of money; it was an unimaginable amount of money.
iii. When you read history of this period, it was more than the total budget of the ordinary province. The total revenue of the province which contained Idumaea, Judaea and Samaria was only 600 talents; the total revenue of even a province like Galilee was only 300 talents. Here was a debt which was greater than a king's ransom. What’s the point Jesus is making? The point is simply this, neither guy could pay! So it is folks—with our obligation. How much do we owe Him?
c. Some people believe that they owe Him nothing and yet they breathe in His air, they enjoy His sunshine and rain, but they never give Him a passing glance or an thought in return. There are people who acknowledge that they owe the Lord something, but there are others who confess that they owe much. This parable of Jesus screams out and says to each and every one of us, “You owe the Lord much more than you can ever pay.”

VI. Payment. What can we give to God? Shall we give Him some animal sacrifice? Psalm 50:9-10 - “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” We can’t give Him animals because He owns the animals. Or shall we give Him our life-long service? Luke 17:10 - “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"
a. If our debt to God is enormous and if we really have nothing with which to release our obligation, then salvation truly is of divine grace and not of mortal merit. We all are debtors because none of us has anything to offer God.
b. I don’t know if you have noticed but this parable has many contrasts.
i. For example, there is a contrast between Peter’s number and the Lord’s number. Peter was willing to forgive seven times, but the Lord said to forgive infinitely.
ii. There is another contrast in the two debts. One was almost a silly sum of money, the other was unpayable. Likewise, the wrongs done to us and the injuries we receive from our fellow servants are amazingly small in comparison with the magnitude of our sins against God.
iii. Lastly there is a contrast of the creditors. The mighty king forgave but the lowly servant would not. If God is willing to forgive the more, then surely, we should be willing to forgive the less.

CONCLUSION.
Consider this. The servant got into trouble after he was forgiven, have you been forgiven? If you have, what are you going to do with your forgiveness? Are you going to hold grudges against your fellow brother or sister? Or will you forgive them as God forgave you?

If you’re not a Christian tonight, then you need to realize that you have a debt to be paid. You can’t pay it yourself; you need someone to wash your debt away. Paul says to the Christians at Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

The people around you tonight were once like that, they were all debtors to God, but they were washed in the blood of the lamb. They heard God’s word, repented of their sins, confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and their debts have been paid. They didn’t pay for it themselves; they accepted the payment that Jesus offered God through His death on a cross. The precious blood of Christ pays for our debt.
Folks, He paid my debt and He paid yours and He’s waiting to pay for others. We need to take these words home with us and think about them deeply. “He paid a debt, He did not owe, I owed a debt, I could not pay; I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand-new song, “Amazing Grace”, Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.”

If anyone here is subject to the gospel call, please come forward while we stand and sing. “Amazing Grace” #257.

A Lesson From Psalm 19

 

 

A Lesson From Psalm 19
Psalms 19

INTRO:
Good morning. This morning I’m going to continue our look at the Psalms. Our text is Psalm 19. This is a magnificent psalm and has two natural divisions. Verses 1-6 describe the glory of God as seen in the heavenly bodies. And verses 7-14 are about the excellence of the revelation of God in the Law. Charles Spurgeon said of this psalm it is, "The World Book and the Word Book".

I want to encourage you to take out your Bibles and look at the scriptures I mention. If you have any questions about anything I say, I’ll be glad to talk to you about it.

I. Let’s start with verses 1 through 6. Psalms 19:1-6 – “1. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. 2. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. 3. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. 4. Their message has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5. Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. 6. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.” [para] The text tells us how the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows His handiwork. It talks about how it is speaking to us. It reveals knowledge and speaks to all languages. That is, it doesn't matter where you are in history, or what country you come from. It doesn't matter what language you speak. Creation speaks your language.
A. It is speaking to all mankind and it is telling us something about the creator. It is telling us and declaring to us the glory of God. The firmament is showing His handy work with the understanding that God made it.
1. If you are one of the lucky people who have been in the country far, far away from cities and lights, and on a clear night looking up at the night sky, you can better appreciate what the psalmist is saying. In my time in North Dakota going to remote missile sites I experienced this many times. Pictures of stars are wonderful, amazing even, but seeing the real thing yourself is so much more. On a clear night you can see the Milky Way with its hundreds of billions of stars. In Psalm 147:4-5 it says; “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.”
2. We see in the firmament His handiwork. Whenever we look at our solar system, our galaxy and the universe beyond, what we need to understand is there is an intelligent being that created it all. Then when we understand how many stars are actually out there, and see the text tells us here He knows every single star, not just in our galaxy but in the universe, knows every single star and He has given every single star a name that He calls it by, it is overwhelming.
3. These days many of us live in cities and towns where the impact of the immensity of the universe is not seen. However with telescopes we can see the expanse above us in greater detail and this too gives us an appreciation of our creator. Our galaxy is the Milky Way but there are other galaxies out there. There are some beautiful pictures of these other galaxies, photographs taken by the Hubble telescope and others.
4. In modern times we've come to realize how many galaxies there are actually out there. Astronomers estimated a few years ago there are around 100 billion galaxies. We're in a galaxy with between one hundred and fifty and two hundred fifty billion stars and there are a hundred billion galaxies out there. God created every single one of them and every single star. He knows every single star and gives it a name. What kind of being has the power to create the universe? Let that sink in. That is God. The heavens declare His glory. The firmament shows His handiwork.
B. The day speaks to us, and night reveals knowledge. There is no place and no language where their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. There is a phrase repeated in Genesis “... and God saw that it was good” In Genesis 1:10 the phrase is used in reference to the dry land and the sea. In verse 12 it is in reference to the plants, in verse 18 in reference to the sunlight and the moonlight, in verse 21 in reference to the sea creatures and birds, and in verse 25 in reference to the animal life.
1. God appreciates beauty and has given us that appreciation. The day and the night reveal it to us. Psalm 50:1-2 “1. The Mighty One, God the Lord, Has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. 2. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.” God shows us a beauty which in many cases is unnecessary. What God has selected for us tells us He knows about beauty on all levels. The sound of a waterfall, the soft colors of a rainbow, these all speak to us of God.
2. Proverbs 8:1 “Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?” In verse 5 wisdom continues; “O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.” [KJV] Verse 22 tells us that wisdom was involved before the beginning, before the earth ever was. Verse 35, wisdom still speaking says; “For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord;”
3. Who created the sun? Who created this earth? Who made us the right distance from the sun? Who gave us the moon and everything we have in our solar system, our galaxy and our universe? God!
4. He created it all and is speaking to us if we will just open our eyes and our ears. Yes, unfortunately there are people around us who say, “I don't see any reason to believe in God.” They say I've don’t have enough information to believe or even know there's a God. They have their eyes closed and their ears stopped. They are not facing the reality of what they’re seeing in front of them.
C. Romans 1:20 – “ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” Think of the tremendous variations there are in plants. Plants that do so many things for us, provide food, shelter, medicine, they release oxygen, provide beauty, inspiration, they show us life. Consider the seeds, all the information, and the sequencing of it to grow a new plant is stored right there. Seeds have been found that were thousands of years old and when they were provided the right conditions they germinate and produced plants.
1. In the plants around us God has given us beauty for the senses. The eye delights in the riot of colors in flowers, the nostrils take in the heady fragrances of perfumes and the ear receives the gentle sound of the breeze in the leaves.
2. Perhaps you have experienced seeing some wonder of nature, a roaring waterfall perhaps, or mountain covered with flowers. God knows beauty and He has blessed us with it in abundance. The wonder of the natural world that God has provided us is something each one of us should take the opportunity at some point our life to experience and explore.
D. God has given us a wonderful creation full of beauty in sight, sound, smell and touch. But He has given us more. He has given us a creation to discover. A creation to stimulate the mind. Things that are too small to see with the naked eye are now being explored and new wonders are found. Things we can never actually see but their presence is evident by their effects, sub-atomic particles, black holes. Things in the deepest oceans, the deepest caverns, the deepest space.
1. Enjoy it, seek it out, wonder at it, and let the wonder of the creation reveal to you the power of the creator.
2. Slow down and see the beauty, see the design, see the wonder and understand the power behind it all is God. Hear what it’s saying to you. It is declaring to you the power, the majesty, and the strength of the creator.
3. I remember from school learning about germs, bacteria and viruses and then I remember there was a chapter that was called the simple cell. That is a lie. No cell is simple. When we start going down into it, studying the depths of biology, getting down to the DNA and the different parts of a cell we find the deeper we go the more it becomes complex. The design is everywhere you're looking, it surrounds you.
4. One of the things I have learned in my life is it doesn't matter what level you go to in the study of things, whenever we think we've reached the bottom it's not the bottom. We find more information underneath. As we study and learn it shows design over and over and over and over and over again at a level we can't comprehend.
E. Going back to Romans “even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”
1. There is no excuse for atheists. There is no excuse for agnosticism, absolutely zero, none. They have their eyes closed to reality and yes closed to common sense. Every house was built by someone.
2. Look at this building. Common sense. Somebody made it. You are a far more complex creation than anything any human beings ever thought about making.
3. Yet people will say there's no God, there's no designer out there, it just looks like design but there's really no design. Don't listen to their foolishness. The number one reality is that God exists. The creator of the universe is real.
F. Yet there are those that deny God unless... Let me illustrate. The world watched in horror as the Allies revealed the atrocities the Nazis had committed in the camps. The world decided things like this ought not to be done.
1. But under what law could the Nazis be tried? They were obeying German law. They were not under the law of any allied power.
2. In the prosecution of the Nuremburg trials, Robert H. Jackson, a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and one of the Nuremburg prosecutors, argued that the Nazis were being tried by a “higher law” which “transcends the provincial and transient” (Warren and Flew 41). A higher law which transcends the “provincial” means it is not merely the law of any geographical area (i.e. America, Russia, Germany, etc.) To say it is a law which transcends “the transient” means it is above any law that has been passed by human beings during a certain period of time. In other words, the Nuremburg prosecutors affirmed that the Nazis were judged by a law which was (is) beyond any geographical area of the Earth and beyond any period in human history.
3. We have heard our President, and others, speak of the evil acts perpetrated against civilization on September 11, 2001, and that those who did such are evildoers. If such acts really are evil (and they are), and if those who did them can rightly be called evildoers (and they can), then there must be an objective reference by which human behavior is evaluated. Justice Jackson stated, “. . . a higher law.” What is this “higher law”? It is the Ultimate Good who is God. Therefore, God exists. If such is not the case, then the horrific acts of September 11 were not acts of evil, and those who did them were not evildoers. Surely no right-thinking person believes such! “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1).
II. Now let’s look at verses 7 thru 14 of Psalm 19; Psalm 19:7-14 – “7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11. Moreover by them your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. 12. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. 13. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
A. In verse 7 scripture says The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. An amazing thing can be done by the word of God. It can change you—it can change you dramatically. Romans 10:17 says “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
1. We can deduce a creator's existence from the creation. We can deduce a designer's existence from the design. But what is the creator like? What is the designer like? What is God like?
i. We cannot deduce that there is one God from the creation. Left to ourselves mankind is quick to ascribe a god responsible for each of the facets that is observed.
ii. We cannot deduce that God is holy from a rose. The rose shows us something but not everything.
iii. I cannot deduce that God loves me by seeing a sunset.
iv. What we can deduce is there is a powerful force at work, but we do not know its character or its relationship with us.
2. The only way we can truly understand and know God, is for God who has created everything, to reveal Himself to us. He has done this in His word.
i. One of the amazing things about the Word is when we read it, it has the power to change us, to convert our soul and to bring us to the point of faith.
ii. What we're talking about here is faith of who Jesus is, that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God.
3. Every person in the world who has that faith has come to that faith through the Word of God.
i. John 17:17 says; “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.
ii. We are set apart from the world, sanctified, and the way in which this separation takes place—is by the power of the Word of God.
4. As we come to understand God through His word there is a conversion, a converting of the soul which changes us.
i. That's what repentance is all about. I've often mentioned that repentance is linear. It is the continual process of the transformation that is taking place in our life as a Christian.
ii. What is guiding that repentance is our faith in the Word of God. The Word of God is the truth about how to live our life.
iii. It is the Word of God that produces the faith and provides the force to do the changing and the repenting.
B. Next the text says; “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” In Psalm 119:104 we read; “Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.” In what way do we understand reality?
1. Someone suggested there are five Big Questions that we consider when trying to understand reality. They are;
i. What am I?
ii. Where did I come from?
iii. What is death?
iv. What is beyond death?
v. How should I live my life to get the most out of it?
2. Without the word of God, we would find it quite difficult to discover any answers that would truly satisfy us. It is through the Word of God that we can come to have understanding that there is a God who created everything.
3. We can take the light of the Bible and shine it all the way back to Genesis and the creation itself.
4. Then we can take the Word of God and come to understand that there is sin in the world and it is sin where death comes from.
5. We learn from the Word of God there is an existence beyond death. There is heaven and there is hell. If we do not deal with sin, we will spend eternity in hell. If we do not come to God through Jesus Christ, we just don’t go to heaven.
6. As we study, we will find the word of God will show us not only where we came from, He will tell us what we are and show us where we are in our relationship with God. God’s word will show us how to get to heaven itself.
7. It gives us understanding about how to live our life. It gives us commandments and instruction on how to live and how to get the most out of this life. How to avoid hell and how to make it to heaven. That’s understanding.
C. It is through the Word of God that we get wisdom and understanding. Going back to Psalm 19 he said; “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” In First Corinthians 13:4-6 you may recall this, in talking of love it says; “4. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5. does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;”
1. We just partook of the Lord's Supper a little while ago. I regret that it took the crucifixion of Christ because of my sin, but I certainly am grateful God did it for me.
2. The hope I have of being able to go to heaven and realizing heaven is real, the resurrection is real, eternal life with God is real, and that I can have this through faith in Christ and obedience to God's word by that faith; - folks, that is why we rejoice.
3. The rejoicing in our life is a result of our hope of being with our loved ones again in heaven, of being together with Jesus and in the presence of God the Creator—for all eternity.
4. From the Word of God, we find joy and we are rejoicing because of the hope we have in Christ.
D. Let’s go into the next phrase. “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes”. If you turn to Psalm 119:105 we read these familiar words; “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God’s word illuminates our path as we walk in this journey through life. It shows me where I am, it shows the destinations, and it shows how to get to where I want to be. If you can not see where you are walking you will follow the crowd in the broad way, listening to all the guidance of the world. If you study the word of God you will see where you are, be able to find the right way and follow it instead.
E. Next our text says; “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever”. First Peter 1:22-23 says; “22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23. having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,” The Word of God is eternal. You see, the Word of God is like a seed and if we plant that seed in our heart until we leave this world, we will rise to eternal life. Within that seed are all the instructions we need to live and grow to where we will be with God. Our relationship with God is right there in the Bible. This seed of the Word of God will produce the faith; produce the knowledge of the will of God. It endures forever and because it endures forever you will endure forever.
F. In Psalm 19 again – “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” In Second Timothy 3:16-17, again very familiar words; “16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17. that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
1. If our concern is about the truth and we want to know the way of righteousness, the way to live our life so that we are pleasing to God, the information is right here in the Bible. The scripture will give you everything we need to know to be instructed in righteousness. No wonder it is to be desired more then the riches of the world.
2. The text continues; “Moreover by them (i.e. God’s words) your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward.” We’ve talked about heaven, the great reward, now let's talk about the warning, let's talk about hell.
3. Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” Folks, we are all going to die. That is reality. We are going to be judged by God and we're going to be judged according to what is written in the book.
4. I strongly suspect we probably want to know what's in the book. The books are going to be opened and we're going to be judged by what's written. Study and find out what is in the Word of God and prepare yourself for Judgment Day according to what's written in the book. Next in Revelation 20:15 – “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” We're talking about how rejoicing in the heart has to do with the hope of heaven, and we're warned about hell. I believe it's real, and I don't want to go there.
5. If hell does not bother you, you don't have faith, you don't believe the truth. Come into reality. The Bible is reality. God exists. He created everything. Death is in the world because of Sin. Sin separates you from God and sin must to be dealt with.
III. When we look at Psalm 19, the beginning of it talks about the creation, the middle of it talks about the revelation of God's word. Now let’s look at the last part. 12. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. 13. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” We read earlier that keeping God’s word has great reward. In James 1:21-22 James says; “21. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
A. We understand that God is holy and that we have sinned and sin is separating us from God. We need to have our sins dealt with. Do we know all our sins? The text asks Who can understand their errors?[para] We have secret sins, faults, and we need to be, as he says in the text, cleansed of those sins. The sins have got to be removed.
B. The only way that can be done, look at the very last part of this, Oh Lord my strength and my what? Redeemer
1. The only way we're going to be cleansed of our sins is through the redeemer. Who is the redeemer?
2. God’s word says in Revelation 5:9 – “And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”
3. The only way we're going to be cleansed of our sins, have any hope of the reward in heaven, and avoid what we're being warned of in hell; is through the Redeemer himself, Jesus the Christ and His blood that was shed at Calvary.
4. We took the Lord's Supper earlier remembering it was about the blood that was shed on Calvary so that our sins could be forgiven. The only way we're going to have any hope of being with God in heaven is through the blood of the redeemer Jesus Christ.
5. In Acts 2:38 - “then Peter said to them repent and let everyone be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”[para] So many times we have heard that verse. Never let it wash over your brain, please, like water over a rock. Like water over a thirsty ground—let it sink in. We can have our sins forgiven. Those sins that separate us from God can be washed away by the power of the blood of the Christ

CONCLUSION:
We must come into reality and recognize from the creation we can deduce God's existence. The Bible really is a revelation from God to let us know about Him, about ourselves and our relationship with Him. It shows us how to deal with sin so we can be reconciled to God and have those sins remitted by the power of the blood of the Christ.

In Luke 18:3 – “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner!'” That tax collector understood sin as the Pharisee did not. Obeying the Gospel does not mean you will not sin again. That's not reality. A Christian is a realist, we live in reality. We understand that we will sin even though we have obeyed the Gospel. What do we do about those moments when we mess up and sin as Christians? We take the sin to God confessing it to him, repent of it, turn from it and the blood of the Christ will cleanse us.

The blood that was shed at Calvary cleanses us when we obey the gospel and when we go to God in prayer; we need to pray for forgiveness of every sin. If we do that, we will be forgiven by the power of the blood of Christ Our Redeemer who purchased us from Satan's sin and death. That is reality! Are you a realist?

Go out look at the Creation, slowdown let it speak to you. Hear it. It is speaking to you about the glory of God the power of God, His Majesty, His infinite intellect and power.
Go ahead and be amazed at it because when the Creation amazes you, you’re seeing the Creator behind it.

I'm so thankful He's given us this revelation so we can know the truth about Him, the truth about us, and the truth about the way to have our sins forgiven. Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one will come to the Father except through him.

If you're not right with God get right while you can, come to understand the truth about Jesus. Remember the power of the Word of God. It has the power to convert the soul.
Go into it and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read about the virgin birth, the miracles. Read about the resurrection and the crucifixion. Read about it for yourself.
Read it, study it and hopefully you'll come to the conclusion He really is the Christ, the son of God.

Then be willing to confess that faith and motivated by your faith show repentance in your life, putting off the old man putting on the new man. That's the process of conversion, transformation, repentance. If you're willing to make that commitment we'd be glad to assist you and baptize you into the one body for the remission of sins.
If you're in Christ already and there is sin between you and God that needs to be dealt with deal with it and deal with it now. The blood of the Christ is there for you.
We will pray for you. We will pray with you and do the best we can to encourage you and strengthen you. If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand and sing the song that has been selected.

Invitation song: 78 (Hark, The Gentle Voice)
Reference sermon by: Wayne Fancher

Psalms of Blessing in Our Lives

Psalms of Blessing in Our Lives  

Psalms

INTRO:

Good morning.   The weather is cooler, the leaves are changing and summer is past.   It may be just me, but this summer seems to have passed very quickly. I look at the changing of the seasons around here - as a blessing. True, there are things we do not like about them - the too wet Spring, the too hot Summer, the too stormy Autumn and the too cold Winter. Yet that are many things we do like about the change of the seasons as well.

 

Today I’d like to spend some time in the book of Psalms and look at some things from many different Psalms.   As I was going through the Book of Psalms, I came across several verses that had something in common, they're talking about the different blessings that God gives us in our life. The sermon this morning is simply a compilation of these Psalms.

 

Turn with me to Psalm 68:19 – “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!” [NKJV] This Psalm reminds us that we are daily being loaded with blessings and benefits. Every single day of our life God is giving us blessings.   Not just one here and there. The way in which God is blessing us is He's daily loading us with blessings and benefits, one after another, after another.

 

In the fall our minds turn to thoughts of the holidays. This month we will celebrate Thanksgiving, a celebration which was established to remind us to be thankful for all we have. Traditionally in many cultures this time of year, the time of harvests, people celebrate what they have received. It is sad, I think, that the rest of the year they rarely give thought to what they have been blessed with.

 

For those of us in the Kingdom we know that God is always giving us blessings and throughout scripture are reminders to us that we should be thankful for these blessings.

For example, one of the main subjects in the book of Colossians is the importance of making a major part of our prayer and our worship to God – thanksgiving, recognizing the blessings that we have in our life.

 

We should recognize where the blessings are coming from, that they're being given to us by God.   Then we express our gratitude to God for all these blessings that He's giving us in our life.   That being said, now let’s get into the body of the sermon.

 

A man had a habit of grumbling at the food his wife placed before him at family meals. Then he would ask the blessing.  One day after his usual combination complaint-and-asking the blessing, his son, little Johnny, asked, “Daddy, does God hear us when we pray?”

“Why, of course,” he replied. “He hears us every time we pray.” Little Johnny paused on this for a moment, then asked, “Does He hear everything we say the rest of the time?”

1. Life - Please turn with me now to Psalm 100:3 – “Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
   1. The psalmist is telling us God made us, God created man.   According to Acts 17:28 – it is through God we live and move, that we have our very being and existence.  
      1. This is something we all need to come to understand. We exist because of God.
      2. The Lord said in John 15:4-5 – “4. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Do we understand those words “without me you can do nothing”? The idea here is you cannot even exist without God. It is because of Him that you are alive right now.
      3. For my existence, for the fact that I am alive and that it is because of Him that I am alive, I say, - thank you.
   2. Thank you for creating mankind.
      1. Thank you for giving me life.
      2. Thank you for sustaining my life.
      3. I enjoy being with my brethren, with my wife and with my family. I enjoy being alive. Thank you God.
   3. Now I'm just going to ask perhaps a silly sounding question. What is life?
      1. I'm serious.  Try to answer that question in your mind. What is life?
      2. This is the Britannica’s definition of life, “The process of being alive.” Huh. Ok, Life is the process of being alive. That didn't tell me anything.
      3. Let’s try Merriam-Webster – Life is “the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body.”
         1. So it is the opposite of “dead”.
         2. Then I would have to look at the meanings of vital and functional I suppose.
      4. Let’s try the On-line definition – Life is “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.” A bit more helpful perhaps.
      5. What they are talking about though, are the manifestations of life.  If you have all these things taking place, then you're alive.
   4. OK, but what is life? The truth of the matter is we must define life by the way it is manifested, yet we know we are alive. I know I am alive. I exist.
      1. I am here and we need to understand it is because of God I am here.
      2. It is because of God we are alive right now.
      3. Every second every moment of our existence is because of Him.   Without Him we can do nothing.   Be sure to thank God for just being alive.
   5. Earth – Now let’s look at Psalm 115:16 – “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.”
      1. It all begins over in Genesis 1:1 God create the heavens and the earth.
         1. We have the atmosphere above us, the ground beneath our feet and the water to sustain life.
         2. There’s the universe and then there is the spiritual dimension.
         3. All God’s creation, He created the entire universe, He created the spiritual dimension and He created earth.
         4. The psalmist tells us He created Earth for the children of man.  He created it for us.
      2. Isaiah says to us in Isaiah 45:18 – “For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
         1. God created the universe.  God created our solar system, our galaxy, our sun. God created our earth.
         2. Notice that in the verse Isaiah talks about how He created it to be inhabited.
      3. I've been reading in the news they're talking about going to the moon again.   The question comes to mind, why?
         1. They’re talking about going to Mars. Again, the question, why? The moon was not made to be inhabited because it does not naturally support life.
         2. The same with Mars. It was not made to be inhabited.
         3. For centuries many believed that people lived on the moon until they got telescopes strong enough and looked up there.  No there's nobody there. It was not meant to be inhabited.
      4. The earth was created to be inhabited.   It is the right distance from the sun.
         1. If you’re on Venus which is closer to the sun you could not live because Venus was not made or created to be inhabited.
         2. If you're on Mars you're too far from the sun.  It was not created to be inhabited.
         3. We are the right distance from the sun and the moon is the right distance from the earth.
         4. We look at everything that we have around us. The sun, the moon, the atmosphere, the land and the water. Think of all the things that are in balance.   We use oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. Plants use carbon dioxide and emit oxygen.
         5. We are alive and this world was made for us.   Everything that is on it is so that we can stay alive and it can be inhabited.
         6. If you were to change any of these things the earth could become uninhabitable.
      5. The earth is the way God made it. He made it for the children of man, and he made it so that it could be inhabited.   Everywhere else we look we see places that we can not live until we learn enough to find a way to survive there.   Even then - when we find ways to survive in those places there is constant danger from the environments.

• Food – The psalmist goes on in Psalm 104:14 – “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth,”
  1. Here we're talking about food. How the plants and the grass are for the food of animals and for the food of people. This past summer we had a watermelon, nice big one. We cut it open and oh it tasted so good.   Apples grow well around here, and we have many varieties.   I love a good apple. All this food that we have God created. It’s wonderful!   All the different varieties of food and all the different kinds of plants that are out there God created for our service, for our use.
  2. Psalm 136:25 says; “Who gives food to all flesh, For His mercy endures forever.” Tomatoes and squash, cucumbers, and zucchini, where does all this food come from? God.
  3. The text in Psalm 147:7-11 – tells us; “7. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, 8. Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. 9. He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that cry. 10. He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. 11. The Lord takes pleasure in those who honor Him, In those who hope in His mercy.” I recall from my youth that when my father was talking to another farmer the conversation usually went something like this;
     1. “Hello.”
     2. “How you're doing?”
     3. “Do you think it is going to rain?”
        1. That's always the second thing. “Do you think it's going to rain?”
        2. The reason that question is asked is because we always need rain.

• We need rain to get the plants going.   We need the rain to make them grow. We need rain to make them fill out at the end.

1. “Yeah, it’s going to rain, and we should have a big harvest this year.”

4. 1 Corinthians 3:6 – “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” Where did this rain come from?   Who created water?   Who created the condensation cycle? Who created all of this? God.

1. In a little while we are going to be dismissed and go have some lunch.   Some of us are probably hungry already and we are planning what we will eat.   Before we indulge in that wonderful meal, I want to encourage us to do something.
   1. Go to God in prayer and in the prayer be sure to acknowledge where your food comes from and thank God for it.   The song we sing, “Count Your Blessings” says “count your many blessings name them one by one.”
   2. We can go through the day so easily when God is loading us daily with blessings.   Here's another one. Enjoy life.
   3. When I was growing up if somebody gives you something and you don’t acknowledge it, that's rude.  Common courtesy is if somebody gives you something you acknowledge the gift, and you say; “thank you for what you have given to me”.   You're acknowledging their kindness.
   4. The mere fact of our existence along all the blessings given us on earth, all this food that we're eating from all the plants that He has created, should make us want to slow down and look at these blessings, count them and be grateful and express our thanks.
2. Physical Healing – Now Psalm 103:2-3 says; “2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3. Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,”
   1. The human body is an amazing thing.   When we get a cut, it starts bleeding.   The body is designed to clot the blood and stop the bleeding.   Not only do we stop bleeding, but our body starts immediately healing.   God made the body to repair itself.    Whether we realize it or not right now our body is repairing itself.   It is in a continual process of healing and repairing.   It's amazing - and God made us that way.
   2. We talked earlier about plants and we said they are for food for the animals and our food, but they're not just for food, many of them are for medicine.
      1. If you ever studied pharmacology and the origin of medicines, you will find a whole lot of them come from plants.
      2. Folks, we have learned that certain plants can be used to keep us well and help us heal.   Much of this has been known for a very long time. Today that knowledge is much greater and it's an amazing and a wonderful time to be alive.
      3. God created all these things in our world around us to help our bodies heal.
      4. He's given us the intellect to be able to learn how to do things and use things to help us stay alive longer.
      5. Whenever we're going to God in prayer recognize the healing that is taking place not only in you but in others around you and be sure to thank God for healing us of our diseases.
   3. Family - Now Psalm 113:9 says; “He grants the barren woman a home, Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 127:3 says; “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is His reward.”
      1. When a child is born people are excited and thank the Lord because He is blessing them with children and grandchildren.
      2. I’d like us to consider this as well.   You are part of a family; for each of you have a mother and a father. Thank you, God, for our mothers and fathers.   Some of you have siblings. Thank God for those. We may have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, husbands or wives, and in-laws, extended family.
         1. We need to slowdown.   Recognize the family that we have.
         2. Recognize this. These physical blessings of family are being given to us by God and I know I want to say “thank you” to Him for my family.
      3. Forgiveness Of Sin - Now let’s go back to Psalm 103:2-4. “2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3. Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4. Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,” Here we're talking about a different nature of blessings.   Earlier we've been talking about the physical blessings.   Now we're talking about what is commonly called - spiritual blessings and the forgiveness of sins.
         1. We understand the reason we took the Lord's Supper is because we're commemorating the sacrifice that was made for the forgiveness of sin.
            1. Remember when Jesus was instituting the Lord's Supper - what did He say about the fruit of the vine?   Matthew 26:28 – He said; “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
            2. Anybody here by any chance struggle with sin? Of course.   Anybody here feel totally unworthy of going to heaven? Yeah.
            3. We realize this is the beauty of Christianity; God has made a way for your sins and my sins to be forgiven.   That's the beauty of it all.
            4. The reason that Christ came, and the reason Christ died on the cross, is because God loves us personally, knows us individually.   He knew you and I were going to sin.   There is no way we could be with Him in heaven unless our sins were forgiven.   Let that sink in. He loves you. He knows you.
         2. When we're talking about the greatest blessings of life - the greatest blessings are the spiritual blessings that are in Christ Jesus.
            1. If you're not in Christ you're missing out on all the wonderful blessings but if you are in Christ recognize the cost of the gift.
            2. The cost for your sins to be forgiven, was the death of the son of God on the cross at Calvary.   Focus on that.
            3. The whole purpose of the Lord's Supper is for us to remember and focus on that.   When we take the Lord’s Supper we need to slowdown, slowdown and bring our minds back to Christ crucified and the love that God has for you and me.
            4. Hopefully we will focus on the blood of Christ shed for the remission of sins, the sacrifice of Christ and find ourselves loving God, loving Christ, because of the great love that was shown for us.
            5. At the same time, we recognize how terrible sin really is.   That would hopefully motivate us to repent and strive even more to be like the Christ.

• Prayer - Now I would like us to look at Psalm 102:1-2 – “1. Hear my prayer, O Lord, And let my cry come to You. 2. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily.” What a wonderful spiritual blessing is the blessing of prayer.   As children of God we have the privilege and the honor to be able to go to the throne of the King of Kings, to the throne of God Himself – and the Creator of the universe will listen to us.
  1. Amazing isn’t it? The Creator - God Almighty, who created everything who holds everything together - that creator, will listen to us.
     1. He will listen to our prayers. He will listen to our petitions and our cries for help.  Not only will He listen He will respond.  Brethren let that sink in—the blessing of prayer.
     2. When you go to God in prayer… - and by the way if you're not doing this you need to start. Let me tell you a story a preacher told about the time his wife made a pecan pie for their two three-year-old sons. The preacher said he will never forget it.   He said; “After my wife put the pecan pie in front of them this is actually what they said “oooo”. “What is that?” “I'm not going to eat that.”   Then he said; “These words actually came out of my mouth. “Boys if you don't eat that pecan pie, I'm going to spank you.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth he thought; “that has to be the stupidest thing I've ever said.”
     3. The preacher said; “Here I am threatening to spank my boys because they're refusing to eat pecan pie. Of course, when they finally surrendered and took a bite their eyes lit up and they devoured it.”
     4. I relate this story to make the point that I would feel foolish if I rebuked anyone for not having a prayer life. What I want to do is tell you it’s good, you need to try it.
  2. Take your cares, take your fears, take your problems, take everything that's weighing on you, that's causing you stress, take it all to God and lay it before the throne of the Creator of the Universe.
     1. What an amazing blessing.    The Philippian letter in 4:6-7 tells us – “6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
     2. That peace is attainable, but you've got to take it to God in prayer.   You need to cast all your cares before Him and when you're praying - do it with thanksgiving.   Just say - by the way God, thank you for listening to me, thank you for being in my life, for hearing me and answering my prayers.
     3. Every time I go to God in prayer and I’m asking something - my mind always goes back to what God has already blessed me with.   The times He taught me something, the times He kept me safe, the times He gave me physical blessings and the times He gave me spiritual ones.   Always make sure you're acknowledging the blessings and giving thanks for the blessings from God.

• God Is Our Rock – For the last scripture this morning let’s look at Psalm 18:2 – “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
  1. There are times in our life when we're absolutely spent, - spent emotionally and we feel like we’ve got nothing left to give.   Or we're physically wiped out and we feel like all we want to do is sit.   There are times when we're struggling spiritually, and we feel like we're sinking.   I have experienced those things as I believe many of us have.
  2. I’ve got some good news for you. You will find it in Psalm 61:2 – “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
     1. There's a place where you can go where there is stability.
     2. There's a place where you can go where there's a refuge.
     3. There's a place where you can go and get strength from.
     4. They're all the same place and that place is God. God Himself is the ultimate blessing of all.
  3. In our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, God allows us access to Him. To where we can draw strength from Him. Where whenever we feel like we're sinking we can find “The Rock That's Higher Than I”.
     1. When I think about looking for that rock that’s higher than I am, I don't visualize jumping up on the rock like king of the mountain.   I visualize trying to pull myself up on the rock and then laying there, secure and safe.
     2. Find your way to God. Find your way to the rock. Find your way to the strength of God through Jesus Christ.
     3. If we're not doing this, I don't see how we're surviving. I don't see how folks live without God.   I don't see how we can survive without prayer.   I don't see how we can make it in life without having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and God’s spiritual blessings.   There are sorrows so much greater than the physical.

 

CONCLUSION:

It is obvious that I enjoy food. On my chart at the Cleveland Clinic is written “well nourished”. I’ll tell you I enjoy the physical earth on which we live. Folks, if you like it here too then remember the idiom “you ain't seen nothing yet!”

 

What do you think heaven is going be like?   Yup, that's where we're going. The creator of all we see, all we enjoy will be there and we will be with Him.   Think how much more wonderful that place must be!

 

We see from scriptures that the resurrection is real.  I believe the resurrection is coming, it's a spiritual blessing that's coming, I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Become conscious of all the blessings that God has daily loading upon you.

The physical blessings we have in being alive on a planet that is so amazing.  The blessings of the food that we eat and enjoy, the healing of our body, the intellect we have to learn and discern the things before us.

 

The blessings of our family, wife, husband, children, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews

Be thankful to God in prayer.

 

If you're not in Christ, you need to get in Christ as quick as you can because that’s where all the spiritual blessings are found.  If you don't know who Jesus is, you need to search it out.   You need to start reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Read about the virgin birth.

Read about the miracles.

Read about the resurrection and the crucifixion.

This information is given to us so that we can read about them and conclude that somebody we've never laid eyes on, really is the Christ.   He really is the son of God and that sacrifice really was made so our sins could be forgiven.

 

When you come to this point of faith, if you're not a Christian yet, be willing to openly confess that faith. Then be motivated by that faith to make the commitment of repentance which is to follow the Word of God by faith, in your life putting off the old man putting on the new man.   If you're willing to make that commitment we'd be glad to assist you and baptize you into the one body for the remission of your sins.

 

The power of the blood of the Christ is the way in which all sin is going to be removed, my sins, your sins and we are forgiven.

If you’re a child of God already and you realize there is sin between yourself and your God. Deal with it by taking it to God.  We'll pray for you. We will pray with you.

We'll do the best we can to try to encourage you and strengthen you.

If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way whatsoever, let us know as we stand and sing the song that has been selected.

 

Song before the lesson 68 Count Your Blessings

Invitation song: ?

Reference sermon by: Wayne Fancher

 

Is Anything Worth Dying For?

Is Anything Worth Dying For?  

Mark 6: 14 – 29

You might recall a few years ago when the U.S. was part of a coalition to invade Iraq and depose of Saddam Hussein. Not all Americans were in favor of that war and I recall seeing some protestors on the news. They interviewed one angry young man and asked him why he opposed the war. His answer was one that I haven’t been able to forget. He said, “Nothing’s worth dying for!”

I disagree. I hope we’re going to see in this message that there ARE things worth dying for. Over the last 10 years, we’ve been shocked by the brutality of ISIS as they have released videos of captured British and American citizens just before they were beheaded. ISIS is trying to use shock tactics to scare us and to enlist other radical Muslims.

But you must understand that this kind of barbaric brutality has been a part of the Roman Empire and the Middle East for centuries. The Romans executed criminals and slaves by crucifixion, but they executed their own citizens in what they considered a more merciful punishment by beheading them. Tradition tells us the Apostle Paul was beheaded in Rome. In Acts 12 we read that Herod Agrippa killed the Apostle James with the sword, which referred to beheading. In our passage tonight, we’re going to read about the drama of the day John the Baptist lost his head for the sake of truth.

Mark 6:14-20. “King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.’ Others said, ‘He is Elijah.’ And still others claimed, ‘He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.’ But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.”

With that background, let’s first examine:

1. THE CHARACTERS

This story has been the subject of hundreds of works of art. In one particular painting we see John the Baptist pointing his bony finger at Herod on the throne. Herod can’t make eye contact. The two women are Herodias and her daughter. Let’s learn a little more about each of these characters.

1. I introduce to you Herod Antipas, an arrogant ruler

The name “Herod” was almost like a family name; it meant “heroic” but there weren’t any heroes in the bunch. It can be confusing because no less than eight Roman rulers used the name Herod. This was Herod Antipater, whose nickname was Antipas. He was one of the sons of the ruler who is often called Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the ruler when the wise men came asking, “Where is the one born King of the Jews.” Herod was a great builder, but he had a great capacity of hatred and violence as well. He attempted to kill the Messiah by ordering that all the male toddlers in Bethlehem be slaughtered.

Herod the Great was paranoid and jealous. He ordered the death of several of his wives and sons. The Jewish rabbis had an inside joke that it was safer to be Herod’s pig than to be Herod’s son. Herod the Great was plotting to murder his son Antipas, when he himself died. So Antipas was named the ruler of four small areas so he was called a Tetrarch. But he always wanted to be called a king. To be more like a king, Antipas married an older Arabian princess, the daughter of King Aretas IV. He married her for the royal connection.

1. I introduce to you Herodias, a wicked woman

Herodias was the Jezebel of the New Testament. Jezebel wanted the head of the prophet Elijah, but she wasn’t successful. Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great. She visited Rome and met her uncle, Philip, the half-brother of Antipas. Philip was a wealthy Roman businessman. Herodias seduced her much-older uncle Philip and they were married.

One day, Antipas left his wife and visited his brother Philip in Rome. Herodias had grown tired of her husband, so she seduced Antipas, her brother-in-law, who was also her uncle.

1. I introduce to you Salome, a victimized daughter

This daughter of Herodias and Philip is not named in the Bible, but Roman historians tell us her name was Salome. The really sad thing about Salome is the word used to describe her indicates that she was a very young teen. It was a word to describe a young girl not yet of marriageable age. And girls often married at age 16 in this time. Her wicked mother used her as her pawn to get to John the Baptist.

1. Finally, I introduce to the true hero of the story, John—God’s faithful prophet

This is John the Baptist, six months older than his cousin Jesus. Like Samson, John had taken a Nazarite vow and had never cut his hair or beard. He was a man of the wilderness and ate locusts and wild honey and wore a camel’s hair garment.

He had baptized Jesus even though he felt unworthy to do so. When they asked John if he was the Messiah he denied it. John’s job was to introduce Jesus and then to move off the scene. In fact in John 3:30, John said about Jesus, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”

John, publicly preached that it was both illegal and immoral for Herod to be sleeping with his niece and sister-in-law. This public disgrace infuriated Herodias and she demanded that Herod kill him. But Herod recognized that John was a man of God, so to make his wife happy, he arrested John and put him in jail. We know from Roman historians that John was imprisoned in the desert fortress called Marchaerus near Jericho. You can visit the ruins today and still see the remains of the iron rungs in the wall where prisoners were chained. Now that you know the characters it is time to look at :

1. THE ACTION

As I mentioned earlier, this part of the world has always been known for the brutality and violence of the rulers. There are two scenes:

1. Scene One: A birthday party

It was the birthday of Herod Antipas, so he invited in many special guests to the party. Herodias saw this as an opportunity to get what she wanted so she hatched a wicked plan. She knew the wine would be flowing and Herod had a weakness for dancing girls. So she coached her young daughter to perform a sensual, seductive dance.

The Bible says, “When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised her with an oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’” (Mark 6:22-23) The funny thing about that was that Herod didn’t have a kingdom to give her. He was the man who wanted to be king, but was only a provincial ruler over four districts. He was just bragging in front of his guest.

Salome ran back to her mother and said, “What should I ask for?” She was probably thinking maybe a pony or a doll. But her wicked mother cackled with glee and said, “Tell him you want the head of that preacher, John, on a food platter!”

The Bible says, “At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’” (Mark 6:25) I’m sure Herod sobered up in a hurry. He was in a quandary. He knew John was a man of God, but he had made an oath in front of his guests. I wondered if he tried to negotiate with Salome. “Wouldn’t you rather have horses, chariots, clothes, or jewelry?”

Herod had made an oath in front of his guests. He would lose face if he didn’t keep his promise. So he decided it was better for John to lose his head than for him to lose face.

1. Scene Two: The dungeon

Let’s join John the Baptist in the dungeon. He hears the soldiers approaching and wonders what’s happening. When he sees the sword, he probably realizes what’s going to happen. I wonder what went through his mind as they held his head down and he heard the whoosh of the sword. I wonder if he thought, “Jesus must increase, and I must decrease.”

The Bible says, “So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.” (Mark 6:27-29)

Roman historians write that Herodias’ hatred toward John was so intense that she pulled John’s tongue out and pierced it through with a large sewing needle. It was like she was saying, “Now let me hear you speak against me you ignorant preacher.” But we’re going to see God always has the last word.

III. LIFE LESSONS

There are some life lessons we can learn from the characters in this story.

1. Herod: A guilty conscience is a cruel companion

Months later, when Herod heard about the miracles of Jesus, he was certain it was John the Baptist who had come back to life to haunt him. He would probably wake up in the middle of the night with his pajamas soaked with sweat because of a bad dream about a headless prophet.

God has given every person a conscience to know right from wrong. The reason we often feel guilty about sin is because we ARE guilty. But you don’t have to live with a guilty conscience. The good news is that the Bible says in 1 John 1:9 that if you confess your sins He if faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. You can live a life free of guilt. When you give your life to Jesus, all your sins are forgiven. God has promised He will put our sins behind His back and will remember them no more. He has promised to separate our sins as far as the East is from the West. He had promised to bury our sins in the depth of the sea. He has said, “Though your sins be as scarlet they can be as white as snow.”

1. Herodias: Hateful anger spills out and hurts those close to you

The sad story of Herodias is that her rage at John was like a deadly infectious disease that destroyed her husband and daughter. There is a sad principle in effect that our sin not only affects us, it affects those around us. A pregnant woman who injects crack cocaine into her body also endangers the life of her unborn child. A man who smokes like a chimney is affecting his family with the effects of secondhand smoke.

You never really sin personally. Every sin we commit is like a pebble dropped in a pond. The ripples spread out and touch those around us. Her sin had destructive consequences on Antipas and her daughter.

Two years after Jesus was crucified, King Aretas, attacked Antipas, slaughtered his soldiers and conquered his territory. In shame, Antipas and Herodias fled to Rome. Antipas’ jealous nephew, Herod Agrippa, the brother of Herodias, had convinced the Emperor that Antipas was guilty of treason. So Antipas, the man who would be king, was stripped of his titles and property… and was banished into exile in Gaul. The worst part of the punishment was that the wicked Herodias was sent with him, and they both died in obscurity and were buried in unmarked graves.

1. Salome: Be sure, your sins will find you out

In fact, the Bible says exactly that in Numbers 32:23, “You may be sure that your sin will find you out.” The story of Herod’s family was fascinating to the Romans. History records that Salome’s life was filled with tragedy. She moved back to Rome where she went through several failed marriages.

According to Roman historians, Salome died tragically when she was vacationing in the Northern Alps. She and her party were crossing a frozen river when the ice cracked. In the efforts to extract her from the frozen water, a jagged piece of ice severed her head from her body.

Salome’s life is a sad reminder of the principle of Galatians 6:7 which says, “Whatever a man (or woman) sows, that he will also reap.”

1. John: There ARE things worth dying for

Remember the war protestor I mentioned at the beginning of this message? He said, “Nothing’s worth dying for.” He was wrong. I can think of several things worth dying for.

First, I believe that FREEDOM is worth dying for. We are enjoying our precious freedom to worship today because there were thousands of men and women who have died fighting for our nation. They realized that freedom isn’t free. It comes at a high cost.

On November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to participate in the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery. Edward Everett gave a two-hour address. Then Lincoln got up and spoke for less than two minutes. He concluded his famous remarks by saying, “…The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here… from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

The second thing I think is worth dying for is our FRIENDS and FAMILY, which are often the same. John the Baptist was a friend of Jesus as well as his cousin. Jesus was willing to die for His friends. He said to the disciples, “Greater love has no man than this—that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Jesus went to the cross to die for us, even though He was a sinless Savior. Chuck Colson told the story of a group of World War II American Prisoners of War who were made to do hard labor in a Japanese prison camp. Each had a shovel and dug all day. They were required to return their shovels each evening.

One evening, twenty prisoners lined up by the guard and the shovels were counted. The guard counted only nineteen shovels. He turned in rage toward the POWs and demanded to know which prisoner had kept his shovel. No one responded. The guard drew his pistol and said he would shoot five American prisoners if the guilty prisoner didn’t confess.

After a moment of tense silence, a nineteen-year-old prisoner stepped forward with his head bowed. The guard pointed his gun at the prisoner’s head and fired. As the young man’s body fell to the ground, the guard warned the others that they must always return their shovels. Then the guard recounted the shovels and found that all twenty were accounted for. He had simply miscounted earlier. The young soldier had died for his friends.

Would you like to have a friend like that? You have one. His name is Jesus. It was not some split-second decision. Jesus planned to die for you from the foundation of the world. He laid down His life for you, His friend.

The final thing that is worth dying for is your FAITH. John the Baptist had pointed to Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) But after he was arrested and put in prison John started having some doubts. In Luke 7 we read that John sent word to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” I’m not surprised that this great outdoor prophet had a few doubts when he was restricted in a tiny jail cell chained to the wall. It would have been like putting an eagle in a canary cage, or restricting a great whale to a swimming pool. John began to have a few doubts.

Jesus sent word back to John to tell him that scripture was being fulfilled, miracles were being done, and lives were being changed. If Jesus had only been a man… He might have rebuked John for doubting Him. But on the day that John said the worst thing he ever said about Jesus; Jesus said the BEST thing He ever said about John.

Jesus said John was more than a prophet. He said among men born of women (and that includes most of us), there is NONE GREATER than John.” Wow. Jesus was saying that of all the people in the Old Testament period, John was the greatest—greater than Abraham; greater than Moses; greater than Elijah. But then Jesus said, “There is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28)

John stood for the truth of his faith, and he ended up dying for his faith.

I wonder if John smiled and thought, “Why did I ever doubt?”

CONCLUSION

Freedom, Family, and Faith are at least three things worth dying for. Would you be willing to die for your faith? Warren Wiersbe relates a story from China during the Communist purge of Mao Zedong in 1949. Churches were closed and Christians were arrested and executed. Wiersbe tells the story of a small group of Christians meeting in private. Suddenly the door flies open and three communist soldiers are standing there with weapons drawn. They ordered all the Christians to line up against the far wall to be executed. The soldiers said, “IF you are not a believer you are free to leave.” Some of the group hurried from the room. But a group of faithful followers of Jesus joined hands and stood together waiting to die for Jesus. When the unbelievers left, the soldiers lowered their weapons and said, “We are believers, too, and we wanted to find a group of Christians who are willing to die for their faith. May we join you?”

Here’s rhetorical question: Would you be willing to die for your faith? Here’s a much more practical question: Are you willing to LIVE for your faith seven days a week? I hope your answer to both is YES because there are some things worth dying for.

Sermon Contributor: David Dykes

What Amazes Jesus

What Amazes Jesus?
Mark 6:1

Throughout history there have been many examples of misjudgments. Here are seven of my favorite famous misjudgments:
(1) “I am sorry but I don’t think anyone will be interested in these type of characters.” The 12 publishers who rejected JK Rowlings writings of the beginning of the Harry Potter series which have sold over 450 million copies.
(2) “That contraption is nothing but a toy. It will never catch on.” (William Orton, president of Western Union who turned down the opportunity to buy the rights to Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent in 1876)
(3) “I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” (Gary Cooper on his decision not to accept the leading role in Gone with the Wind)
(4) “Guitar groups are on their way out.” (Dick Rowe of Decca Records who turned down the Beatles after they auditioned for him in 1962)
(5) “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” (Thomas Watson, IBM Chairman, 1943)
(6) “There is no reason that anyone would want a computer in their home.” (Ken Olson, President, Digital Equip. Corp, 1977)
(7) “Stick to driving a truck because you’re never going to make it as a singer.” (Musician/agent Eddie Bond, who auditioned Elvis Presley in 1954)
But the greatest example of misjudgment happened in the ministry of Jesus. After His great miracle tour where He performed a quartet of amazing miracles, He returned home to Nazareth. He preached in His home synagogue.
Have you ever experienced a time when you returned back to your HOMETOWN and felt SPECIAL ... like a celebrity.
But Jesus didn’t receive that kind of reception at His homecoming. You would have imagined that Jesus would have been welcomed as a hero but instead, they treated Him like a zero.
Mark 6:1-6. And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

The word “amaze” or “amazing” appears frequently in the New Testament. In every case except twice, the word is used to describe how people were amazed by the mighty works of God. Now Jesus is amazing, but I suspected that, as God, He was incapable of being amazed, that He was unamazable (if that’s a word). But there are two times in the New Testament when we read that Jesus was amazed. So what Amazes Jesus? Let’s see.
I. JESUS IS AMAZED BY DEAD FAITH
The Bible says, “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” (Mark 6:6) The word is really unbelief I could have called this weak faith, feeble faith, fake faith, or no faith. But I’ve chosen to call it dead faith because that’s a term that James uses in his letter. He wrote, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26)
There is a kind of self-styled-faith that people claim to have, but their actions don’t match their words. The members of Jesus’ home synagogue were afflicted with this kind of dead faith. Is your faith dead? Let’s examine two characteristics of dead faith.
A. Dead faith questions the authority of Jesus
The people started asking a lot of questions about Jesus. “Where did this man get these things... isn’t this the carpenter?” He should have been the object of their adoration, but instead He was the target of their accusations. Actually they asked six questions, but they never gave Jesus a chance to answer them; they weren’t looking for answers, they were making accusations.
It has always been a favorite tactic of Satan to question the things of God. The devil is a crook, so he puts a crooked question mark where God has placed an exclamation point. For example, in the Garden of Eden, God had spoken clearly. He told Adam and Eve that they could eat of all the trees of the Garden, but if they ate the fruit from just one tree they would die. Period. Exclamation point. Satan slithered into Eve’s presence and asked a question. He said, “Did God really say that you couldn’t eat of any of the trees of the Garden?” That wasn’t what God had said at all. But it got Eve to wondering and that’s when Satan slipped in the lie. “You won’t die. In fact, you’ll be like God.” There’s nothing wrong with asking questions about God and the Bible; just be aware that Satan is always ready to slip in a lie to your questions.
So the members of the synagogue were scandalized that this man who had grown up in their midst claimed to be anything more than a carpenter or the son of Mary. The practical truth we gather here is that Jesus understands what it is to be rejected. You may be familiar with the pain of rejection. Maybe you auditioned for a part in a play, and you didn’t get it. Rejected. Maybe you applied for a job and didn’t get it. Maybe there was someone you thought you loved and might marry, but they didn’t feel the same way—rejection can be painful.
The prophet Isaiah said that Jesus would be “despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3)
They asked, “Isn’t this the carpenter?” Now, Jesus was more than a carpenter, but He was a carpenter until age 30. That word literally means “a craftsman.” It was a jack-of-all-trades who could build or fix anything. I’ve known some men who were like that. They could fix anything around the house. If there’s a plumbing problem, they fix it. If there’s an electrical problem they fix it. If a door or window needs to be replaced, they replace it. Ladies are you married to man like that? I can see from the reaction that most of you aren’t!
Jesus, the master carpenter, is still fixing things. He’s fixing broken hearts, broken homes, and broken hopes. Jesus is the only person in history who claimed to be able to heal a broken heart. But for Jesus to fix your broken life, you’ve got to give Him all the broken pieces.
A good carpenter can look at a stack of lumber and a set of plans and he can envision the finished product. When I look at a stack of lumber, I just see splinters, bent nails, and hitting my thumb with a hammer. Jesus looks at you and me and He sees what we can become. So if you need something fixed today, the Master carpenter is taking appointments. Will you give him your broken heart? Will you offer Him your broken home, or your broken hopes? Give Him all the pieces and see what He can do.
B. Dead faith limits the flow of God’s power
The Bible says, “He could not do any miracles there.” Isn’t the power of God unlimited? Of course. Isn’t God Omnipotent—all powerful? Absolutely. So, what happened? Why couldn’t He do miracles there? It was because of their lack of faith. God is omnipotent, but there is only one area in the Universe where God has voluntarily limited His omnipotence; it’s in the area of your will. He won’t violate your ability to choose to trust Him. God won’t force His power on you. God offers you salvation, but He won’t force you accept His free gift of eternal life.
These Nazareth citizens mistook that Jesus was just a carpenter. They believed He could build a table, but not raise the dead. They were too familiar with Him. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” That’s not really true except in the case of contemptible people. I think it’s safer to say, “Familiarity breeds indifference.” They had watched Jesus grow up and there was nothing special about Him, so they couldn’t accept the fact that He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
I’ve been told that people who live near Niagara Falls long enough get to the point where they don’t even hear the thunder of the falling water. Familiarity breeds indifference. I used to live in Geauga county and we often visited the Cheese Factory in Middlefield. I remember walking inside and sniffing and wrinkling my nose. I was with a group of the workers and I asked them, “Does it always smell like this here?” and they said, “Smell like what?”
When it comes to the things of the Lord, we should be careful about the danger of familiarity. When was the last time you experienced the life changing power of God in your life? It’s easy to get into a rut when you come to church Sunday after Sunday. You know the songs and the routine, and you just go through the entire worship service mindless of the fact that Jesus Christ is here. God’s power is as great as it’s always been,
but if you don’t have the faith to receive it, you are limiting the flow of God’s power in your life.
So dead faith amazes Jesus. That’s the negative aspect of this topic. But the New Testament teaches that there is something else that amazes Jesus—and this should be our goal.
II. JESUS IS AMAZED BY DYNAMIC FAITH
There’s an interesting miracle that Luke and Matthew record that gives us a hint of the kind of faith that Jesus considers amazing. Let’s read about it in Luke 7:1-10: When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, HE WAS AMAZED AT HIM, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
We don’t want to be like those people in Nazareth who had a dead faith. Instead we want to be like this Roman soldier who demonstrated a dynamic faith that amazed Jesus. One reason Jesus was amazed was because this was a Gentile, a Roman soldier! He was a centurion, which meant he was a soldier responsible for roughly 100 soldiers. He understood authority.
He was IN authority over 100 men, and He was UNDER the authority of his commanding officers. This Gentile soldier recognized that Jesus was under the authority of His Father in heaven, but He HAD authority over death and disease. All Jesus had to do was to give the command and the disease would be gone. That’s living, dynamic faith.
Do you want to express this kind of faith that amazes Jesus? Here are four marks of dynamic faith.
A. Dynamic faith focuses on the needs of others
The centurion didn’t selfishly ask Jesus to help him but to heal a servant whom he loved. He wasn’t thinking about his own needs, but the needs of this servant. When you are consumed about things that you want, it can lead to selfishness and trouble.
Frank was 70 years old, and his wife, Betty, was also 70. They were at a friend’s house celebrating Betty’s 70th birthday and Frank wandered back into the home’s library where there was a collection of artifacts from all over the world. Frank picked up one and rubbed it and, “Poof” a female genie appeared. She said, “Because you freed me from the lamp I will grant you one wish.” Frank was pretty selfish and he started thinking about his wife, Betty. At age 70 she was getting old and cranky. Frank was thinking about how nice it would be to have a younger wife. So Frank said to the genie, “I wish I had a wife 30 years younger than me.” The female genie said, “Are you sure?” He said, “I’m sure.” So she blinked her eyes, and “poof” suddenly Frank was 100 years old.
Be careful you don’t become consumed with only praying for yourself. The prayer, “Bless me, bless me, bless me” may seem harmless, but the danger in it is it only focuses on your needs, not the needs of others.
B. Dynamic faith produces acts of loving-kindness
The Jewish leaders who lived in Capernaum were impressed. When they came to ask Jesus to help the centurion’s servant, they mentioned two things about him: They pointed out the centurion loved the Jewish nation—that’s highly unusual in itself. The common pattern was one of hostility and hatred between Jews and Roman soldiers. This centurion backed up his love for the Jews in Capernaum because we are told he built their synagogue. It doesn’t mean he paid for it, because few centurions had that much money. It probably means he commanded his soldiers to work to build it. This centurion didn’t perform these acts of kindness to produce his faith; it was his amazing faith that produced these acts of loving kindness.
C. Dynamic faith is expressed in humility
Notice what the Jewish leaders told Jesus about the centurion. In verse 4-5 they say, “This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” Then skip down and compare it to the words of the centurion himself. He said, “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to you.” Wow! What a picture of humility!
Sometimes we approach God with an attitude of self-worth and self-confidence bordering on cockiness. We flash Him our personal résumé and point out all our accomplishments and try to convince Him why we are so deserving of His attention and acceptance. We wonder why heaven is silent. The attitude He honors is that which says, “I am not worthy.”
A group of tourists were visiting a museum in Vienna where Beethoven, the great composer, spent his last years. They came to the conservatory where his piano stood. The guide quietly said, “And here is the master’s piano.” A thoughtless young man pushed his way from the edge of the crowd, sat down at the bench and began to play one of Beethoven’s sonatas—but he wasn’t very accomplished. He paused and said to the guide, “I suppose a lot of people like me enjoy playing Beethoven’s piano.” The guide said, “Well, sir, the great pianist, Paderewski, was here last summer and some in his group begged him to sit and play, but his answer was, ‘No, I cannot, I am not worthy to sit at the Master’s piano.’” That’s humility.
Brennan Manning wrote, “The Christian life is not a performance; it is a relationship. It is not about being good enough to be accepted by God. It is about being honest enough with myself and God to admit that I will never be good enough to earn God’s acceptance. When I understand that with all my failures, with all of my anger, with all of my lust, with all of my dysfunctions, with all of my stupidity, I am loved by God more than I will ever be able to comprehend, I cannot come to God wearing a mask. Humble honesty is the beginning of a great adventure with God.”
D. Dynamic faith rests on the Word of God
The essence of faith is to believe God without seeing any evidence. The centurion said, “I believe you can heal my servant, just say the word!”
The centurion had such amazing faith he didn’t need Jesus to come and lay hands on his servant. He didn’t need Jesus to pray over him, just say the word. In Matthew’s account, when Jesus saw this dynamic faith he said, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” (Matthew 8:13)
And when the Centurion returned home, he found his servant was healed.
When you read a principle or a promise in the Word of God, you must believe that God is speaking truth. We honor God by our faith and obedience. The great British pastor Charles Spurgeon wrote: “Bible promises are like checks drawn on heaven’s bank that we endorse by faith and present to God for His payment.”
When you go to a place of business, you use money as an exchange for goods or services.
It may be cash, a check, a credit card, or in the future you’ll just have your phone scanned—but money is the currency for business transactions.
In the same way, faith is the only currency accepted by God. Faith is your greatest asset and unbelief is your greatest liability. God doesn’t accept logic, reason, or good works. Faith is not His preferred currency; it is the only currency accepted in heaven. Perhaps the most instructive verse in the Bible about faith is seen in Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Sometimes you’ll encounter someone who says, “Oh, I’m not a person of faith.” Or “I just don’t have any faith.” That’s a false claim because EVERYONE expresses faith every day.
When you eat a bite of food you’re expressing faith in the farmer who produced it and the cook who prepared it. It takes faith to put something into your body and trust that it won’t kill you.
When you buckle your seat belt in an airliner you’re placing faith in the manufacturer of that plane, the skill of the pilot, and the law of aerodynamics. When you are driving and you see a green turn left signal on the traffic light, you’re putting faith in the fact that the oncoming traffic has a red light. We all have faith; the question is what is the object of your faith?
Faith alone is not good enough. Sometimes people say, “Just have faith, everything will turn out okay.” That’s poor advice. Faith in faith is worthless. Your faith is only as good as the object of your faith. The centurion didn’t just have faith his servant would get better; he put his faith in Jesus. A mustard seed of faith in the right object is better than mountain of faith in the wrong thing.
The people of Nazareth had a dead faith. They doubted Jesus was the Son of God, and there were no miracles done there. The Centurion had a dynamic faith and God rewarded that faith with a miracle. When you face any challenge in life, you’re going to approach it with either doubt or faith. You get to choose, will it be doubt or faith? I read a little poem recently that expresses this.
Doubt sees the obstacles; Faith sees the way; Doubt sees the darkest night; Faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step; Faith soars on high. Doubt questions, “Who believes?” Faith answers, “I!”
CONCLUSION
I want to encourage you today to place your faith in God. You can trust Him. In the 1800s, there was a preacher who lived up north. It was the middle of the winter in Minnesota and he needed to cross the frozen Mississippi River. Not knowing the thickness of the ice, he tied his horse to a tree and started walking carefully across the ice. The further he walked, the more afraid he became, as he doubted the thickness of the ice. Finally, he decided to turn around and started crawling on his hands and knees back toward the shore.
Suddenly he heard a loud noise behind him and, thinking the ice was cracking he begged God to save him. But when he finally got the nerve to look over his shoulder at the source of the noise, he saw that it was a lumberjack leading a team of horses dragging a load of heavy logs across the ice. Feeling a little foolish, the preacher jumped to his feet and claimed his horse and rode across the river. The river hadn’t changed. The thickness of the ice hadn’t changed, the only thing that changed was that the preacher stopped doubting the ice and started trusting it.
Whenever you worry or get afraid because of what you face in life, do you have a feeble faith that makes you crawl and doubt God? Just remember that God is trustworthy. As kids we sang a little song that said, “I am weak but He is strong.” You don’t have to crawl and cry; you can walk through life with full confidence that God will sustain you. That’s the kind of amazing faith God rewards.

Sermon Contributor: David Dykes

The Tough Choices in Life

The Tough Choices in Life  
1 Corinthians 3: 11 – 14

I remember the time I put a password on my system to keep out a colleague who was a practical jokester. He said sorry and vowed to be good and asked for the password. I was a little upset and busy and replied don't open it. The whole day he tried a number of times with various combinations and finally gave up. Later, he really needed to use my system and begged me for the password. I replied "Dontopenit, is the password, without space." Oh the look on his face!

INTRODUCTION: A. Several years ago, there was a news story about a man named Don Wyman. He was muscular and worked for a mining company.
One day about 4:00 p.m. he was alone in a forest cutting down a tree when the tree snapped back in his direction and knocked him to the ground.
The massive oak landed on his left shin – shattering his bone and ripping his flesh.
He tried to free himself, using his chainsaw to no avail. He did everything he could think of, but still he couldn’t get free.
He realized that unless he got help soon he was going to bleed to death. He knew it would be hours before someone might figure something had gone wrong and come looking for him. So he made a courageous decision.

Pulling the starter cord from his chain saw he tied a tourniquet to his leg, shutting off the blood flow to his shin. Then somehow, with his pocket-knife, he proceeded to amputate his lower leg, just below the knee.
Now, on one leg, he had to find help. He crawled 135 feet uphill to his bulldozer, climbed in, started it up and drove that extremely slow machine 1/4 mile to his pickup truck.
The truck was a stick shift and he had to use a metal rod to depress the clutch when he shifted. He drove a mile and a half and came upon a dairy farm where someone called an ambulance.

1. Don Wyman survived the ordeal.
--But only because he realized that being pinned like that under that oak tree, to keep his leg might cost him his life.
2. So he had a decision to make.
--And he chose to live.

throughout the entire Bible –there is an invitation to choose to be wise or to choose to be foolish
a. The book of Proverbs is almost entirely devoted to the comparison between the wise person and the foolish person
b. Moses – Dt. 30:19-20a – “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”

c. Joshua – Josh. 24:14-15 – “’Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.’”

d. Jeremiah – “"Furthermore, tell the people, ’This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
--God was saying, “You get to choose which way you will go.”
3. Everyday we’re faced with decisions --Will we be wise or will we be foolish?

4. Jesus gives us three important questions to ask ourselves to ensure that we are following the way of the wise and not the way of the fool
I. WHICH PATH ARE YOU TRAVELING ON?
--Mt. 7:13-14 – “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
A. The foolish person says, “There are no boundaries.”
1. The world thinks total freedom with no restrictions is the goal.

2. Prov. 14:12 – “There is a way that seems right to man but in the end it leads to death .”
B. The wise person says, “The Road is narrow.”

1. Prov. 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
2. There’s a reason Jesus says, “Narrow is the path.” --He knows this route provides the most fulfillment.

C. Comparing the two ways:
1. The broad way
a. The broad way is kind of like an Interstate highway
1). It’s easy to get on
2). You can travel very fast
3). You can be enticed by the many billboards along the way
4). You can quickly exit the highway, partake in whatever pleasure without accountability, and get right back on again.

b. The narrow road is more like a winding rural road
1). It’s not easy to find and therefore not easy to get on
2). You have to be careful how you travel
3). It is very restrictive
4). The word translated “narrow” is from the Greek word for “tribulation” which usually means persecution
5). You have to leave your baggage behind
D. The wise person realizes that the way to life is very narrow as taught in the Bible:
1. Jn 14:6 – “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

2. 1 Tim. 2:5 – “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..”

E. Pursuing the narrow path is an ongoing decision.
1. There is the one time we decide to follow Christ, but we must continue daily to make wise decisions in order to stay on that road.
2. To head on the pathway to hell requires that you do absolutely nothing: simply follow the crowd.

II. WHO ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
--Mt. 7:15-22 – “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

1 Thess. 5:21-22 – “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”
B. The wise person says, “There’s a difference between truth and falsehood.”
2. Jesus is condemning more than just false teaching; He is discouraging false behavior, impure motives, and inconsistent actions.

C. Jesus points to “fruit” as the essential method for discerning what is false and what is true.
1. In Israel the buckthorn plant produced little, black berries that could, initially be mistaken for grapes. There was also a thistle that produced a flower similar to the fig. --So the idea of carefully examining the fruit of a plant was a familiar one to Jesus’ listeners.

2. So, how do we tell between a false teacher and a true one?
a. We should pay attention to the manner of living a teacher shows.
--Do they show righteousness, humility and faithfulness in the way they live?

b. We should pay attention to the content of their teaching.
--Is it true fruit from God’s Word, or is it man-centered, appealing to ears that want to be tickled?

c. We should pay attention to the effect of their teaching.
--Are people growing in Jesus or merely being entertained, and eventually falling away?

D. Along with false teachers, there are false disciples

“Counterfeit Christians, like counterfeit twenty-dollar bills, are not easily detected. It takes a trained, discerning eye.”
--Sadly, the difference between genuine and counterfeit is always subtle, never obvious.

2. Let’s say I went to a local store with a twenty-dollar bill that was printed on yellow paper, had my wife’s picture on it, and was shaped in a funny way. Would they take it?
However, if a gave them a crisp, perfectly shaped, green piece of paper with what looked like the right ink and right background, and had a very distinguished picture of Andrew Jackson on it, I would have a much better chance at deceiving the clerk.

3. In comparison to money, counterfeit believers are a lot harder to spot.
a. They can mouth the right words or even do the right things but that’s religion
b. Jesus calls us to a consistent path, walked daily and regularly, marked by a radical change --That’s relationship

III. WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING ON?
--Mt. 7:24-27 – “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

A. The foolish person says, “I plan for the temporary.”
1. Christ continues throughout the Sermon on the Mount to get people to think long term.
2. As Paul put it, Gal. 6:7-8 – “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

B. The wise person says, “I plan for eternity.”
1. Who is the individual who plans for eternity?
-- There is a qualifier, Jesus says: “The one who puts these words of mine into practice.”

2. James 1:22 – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
C. Notice the similarities between the builders:
1. Both are builders
2. Both are building houses
3. Both have similar life situations – they both go through storms
--It’s THE STORM that proves the difference

a. We have to understand that we’re all building something.
b. And what we build will be tested.
--1 Cor. 3:11-14 – “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
D. The important thing is the differences between the two builders
1. Two different kinds of people --they build on two different kinds of foundations
a. The first hears the Word and then builds upon it
b. The second hears the Word but chooses to ignore it

2. Two different outcomes
a. One house stands firm
b. The other is completely destroyed.

3. This parable is the inspiration for that great old gospel song:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

E. Two different underlying principles
1. If you’re only hearing and reading the truth, you’re not prepared for life’s storms
2. If your foundation is sure, no storm will cause your life to collapse.
3. Jesus didn’t preach this message so it would sound nice or so that we could sit around and discuss it.He preached it so that we could act on it.
--He emphasized obedience

CONCLUSION:
Anything that is extremely valuable will be counterfeited. Fake gems have been around for thousands of years, but as the technology for making them has advanced, fakes are now harder to detect with the naked eye.
Gem buyers today must be aware of three types of gems that are made to look more valuable than they are.
1 – Synthetic gems are lab-grown stones that closely duplicate a natural gem’s physical and chemical properties.
2 – Simulated gems are also manmade. The color of a simulated stone may be similar to that of a natural gem, but it is very different physically and chemically. Cubic zirconia is a well-known diamond simulation.
3 – Enhanced gems are natural gems altered in some way to improve their look. Color can be enhanced through heat, radiation, oils and chemicals. Other methods used to imitate or enhance the value of stones are dyeing, waxing or smoking poor quality stones to make them look richer.
Experts advise buyers to verify a stone’s value with gem-testing labs, such as the Gemological Institute of America, before any sales are final. When paying big money for jewels, you want to be very careful about getting the genuine article.
It is the same with truth. We must ensure we are not falling for heresy.

--On that day you will stand alone before God
B. Every day you are building a foundation, based on which path you travel and to whom you listen.
2. The question is: Will you do it?

C. It’s time for you to make your choice:
1. Have I chosen the right gate?
2. Am I traveling the right road?
3. Does my tree bear the right fruit?
4. Am I following those who teach the truth?
5. Is my faith being demonstrated in what I do?
6. Do I truly know God and am I following the teachings of the New Testament.

The Man Who Only Had Two Things - Everything & Nothing

The Man Who Only Had Two Things: Everything & Nothing  
Mark 10:17-31

Have you ever left home and had a funny feeling you have forgotten something? You don’t know what it was, but you just had this nagging feeling. A man said every time his family drove off for a vacation, his mom would say, “Honey, we’ve got to go back home, I think I left the iron turned on. I don’t want the house to burn down.” His dad would turn around and they would go back and check and the iron would be turned off. This continued for several trips. Finally on one trip, when she told her husband to turn around and go check, he didn’t say a word. He pulled the car over to the shoulder, got out and opened the trunk and handed her the iron.
Our passage today introduces us to a young man searching for something. He’s often called the Rich Young Ruler. Matthew tells us he was a young man; Luke describes him as a ruler, or what we would call an aristocrat. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us he was rich. He was a man who had two things, EVERYTHING AND NOTHING. He was wealthy and successful, but he turned away from Jesus with nothing. He was searching for something more in life.
Millions of people are searching for something they really can’t even put their finger on what it is they’re searching for. In 1987 Bono and the Irish rock group U2 recorded a song about this universal search. Bono sang: “I have run; I have crawled; I have scaled these city walls; Only to be with you. But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” He even ends the song referring to Jesus. “You broke the bonds; And you loosed the chains; Carried the cross of my shame; Oh my shame, you know I believe it. But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”
Two thousand years ago, there was a young, wealthy, successful leader who came to Jesus looking for something.
Mark 10:17-31. As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
We don’t know this young man’s name, but since we’re going to be talking about him, let’s give him the name Ben. Ben did so many things right. He came at the right time. He was young.
He came to the right person, Jesus. He came with the right energy—he was running. He came with the right attitude, he knelt before Jesus.
He came with the right question: How can I have eternal life? What a contrast! Ben came running, smiling, full of hope, but he walked away full of sorrow, dragging his feet with his only hope in his wealth. As we examine this amazing encounter, let’s look at five episodes and five life lessons.
1. A STRANGE CONVERSATION: “Keep the commandments!”
So, what’s wrong with this picture? Why would Jesus tell someone to keep the commandments to find eternal life? We all know that nobody will ever make it into God’s Kingdom by obeying rules and regulations. What was Jesus doing?
Every Jew knew the Ten Commandments by heart. They knew them as well as any of us could count from one to ten. The Ten Commandments were divided into two sections, or two tables. The first four commandments have to do with a relationship with God.
We should have no other Gods,
we shouldn’t make and worship idols,
we should never take God’s name in vain,
and we should remember the Sabbath Day.
The second table contained six commandments about how we relate to one another. This is the table that Jesus quoted.
But he intentionally omitted one of the Ten Commandments. You might not have caught it, because you may not have them all memorized. What if I said I am going to count to ten and I say, “One, two, four, five, six...?” You’re going to say, “Hey, you skipped the number three.”
Jesus left out one; did anyone catch which one He omitted? Let’s go through them. He didn’t give them in order, but let’s check them off. He said, “Do not murder.” Check.
“Don’t commit adultery.” Check. “Don’t steal.” Check.
“Don’t bear false witness or defraud” Check.
“Honor your Father and your Mother.” Check. Which one did Jesus leave off intentionally? “Do not covet.”
That means a desire to have more and more stuff. Jesus knew this was Ben’s problem. Ben smiled and said, “I have kept all these since I was a boy!” Jesus said, “There’s one thing you lack.” You see, this Ben already had a “god” in his life. His god was gold and his creed was greed. And there is only room for one God on the throne of your life.
LIFE LESSON: Jesus will probe your heart to expose any competing gods
Jesus wanted to point out that Ben had a problem with greed and covetousness, but He didn’t just come out and say it. He kept probing until Ben saw the problem himself.
I have a friend who recently went to the doctor not knowing he had appendicitis. He complained of hurting all over his torso. The doctor had him lie down and started probing. When he gently touched the area of the appendix, my friend said he almost flew off the table. That’s what Jesus does for us. He keeps probing to show us where we have other gods in our lives.
The Holy Spirit is working on you right now, gently probing. What is that thing, or that person, or that activity that has become more important to you than the true and living God?
2. SHOCKING ADVICE: “Sell all you have and give it to the poor, and follow me”
Jesus said there was only one thing Ben was lacking. This one verse has caused more confusion and dismay that perhaps any verse in the Bible.
Multitudes read it and thought, “I want to obey God. So, should I go and sell everything I have, give it to the poor, and a vow of poverty, and follow Jesus?”
Here’s the short answer. You don’t need to sell all your riches unless your riches have become the god of your life. Ben is the only person to whom Jesus ever spoke those words. Nicodmeus was wealthy. Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy, but Jesus never told them to sell all their possessions because Jesus knew their possessions didn’t possess them.
LIFE LESSON: Jesus provides a personal solution to remove any competing gods
Jesus looked into Ben’s heart and saw that money was his god. And Ben wanted more and more; that’s what it means to covet. So, Jesus was simply giving Ben a solution to get rid of that false God.
And notice Jesus said, “You aren’t losing your treasure, by giving it to the poor, you are laying up treasures in heaven. You’re just transferring your wealth.”
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned there is only room for one God in our lives. He said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24)
Jesus designs a different solution for each person. In Luke 10 a lawyer came to Jesus asking the same thing, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus didn’t say, “Sell all you have and give to the poor,” because He knew this man’s problem was pride.
Jesus asked him what the greatest commandments were. The lawyer said, “Love the Lord your God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “That’s correct.” The lawyer was looking for a loophole. He said, “But who is my neighbor?”
He wanted Jesus to say, “All your Jewish brothers and sisters.” But instead Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan,a half-breed. Jesus saw this man’s god was pride, so he said, “Love your neighbor, even your Gentile neighbors.”
In John 4 Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman at a well. She asked for some living water. Jesus didn’t say, “Go sell all you have and give to the poor.” He didn’t say, “Love your neighbor.” That was her problem, she was loving too many of her neighbors!
He said, “Go call your husband.” She said, “Well, I don’t have a husband.” Jesus said, “That is correct. You’ve had five husbands and the one you’re living with now isn’t your husband.” Jesus was pointing out that she already had a god in her life, lust, and the unhealthy desire for acceptance by a man.
If you have a competing god ruling your life, Jesus will give you a unique word to replace that god with the true and Living God.
3. THE PERSONAL CHOICE: “The young rich ruler went away sad, because he had great wealth”
Mark is the only one who gives us the tiny detail that Jesus looked at the young man and loved him. We know that God loves the world. We know that Jesus loves everyone. But don’t forget that Jesus loves individuals. He looks at you and loves you. He looks at me and loves me. Jesus really did want Ben to make the right choice.
There’s a painting by the German artist Heinrich Hoffman. In this frozen scene, Hoffman captured the divine drama of the moment. The Rich Young Ruler is seen wearing his fancy clothes and hat. Jesus is inviting him to give his money to the poor people in the background and then to follow Him. The Rich Young Ruler looks down as he ponders the most important decision he would ever make.
Give away all his money and follow Jesus? But he has so much! And in that moment he sadly shakes his head and says, “No.
The price is too high.” And he walked away.
Not all stories end, “and they lived happily ever after.” He was a man with only two things: EVERYTHING & NOTHING.
LIFE LESSON: Jesus offers eternal life, but He won’t force you to follow Him
Someone wrote, “The saddest words of tongue or pen, are these four words, ‘What might have been.’”
God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. But there is one area of the universe where He has voluntarily restricted His omnipotence; it’s in the area of your will. God won’t FORCE you to accept his gift of eternal life.
4. THE CAMEL JOKE: “A camel could squeeze through a needle’s eye easier than a rich person could get into heaven”
Have you heard the one about the camel? Stop me if you’ve heard it. Jesus employed overemphasis and humor to teach a powerful point. Jewish humor was based upon impossible, ridiculous images. Jesus used the largest animal in Israel, a camel, and the smallest manmade opening and talked about the impossibility of trying to get a camel through that.
Jesus was partial to camel jokes. In Matthew 23 He used a pun to describe the Pharisees. He said, “You guys strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.”
It’s like the cross-eyed schoolteacher who got fired because she couldn’t keep her pupils straight.
So what was the point of the camel joke? Jesus was pointing out that it is impossible for wealthy people to enter God’s kingdom. One of the reasons is because people with wealth tend to trust their own wealth.
The point Jesus is making is that it is impossible for anyone to gain salvation through his or her own merit. Ben trusted his wealth. What are you trusting today? Is there a competing God in your life?
We all must come to Jesus the same way. Bill Gates needs to come to Jesus the same way a dirty homeless man would come to Jesus. He would have to acknowledge his complete and utter need and come as a guilty sinner and receive the gift of life from Jesus. It doesn’t matter who you are. You can be a rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief; doctor, lawyer, Native American tribal leader. There’s only one way—and that’s Jesus. That leads to our final observation:
5. THE GOOD NEWS: “All things are possible with God”
The disciples were under the impression that rich people were blessed by God, so after they heard the camel joke they turned to Jesus in amazement. They asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus answered with a profound truth: With men it is impossible [salvation]; but all things are possible with God.”
God specializes in miracles. When Moses had the RED SEA in front of him and an army chasing him, he faced an impossible situation, but God specializes in the impossible—and He made a twelve-lane expressway in the middle of the SEA.
When little David faced a nine-foot monster with only a slingshot, victory was impossible by human standards. But the God of the impossible directed the stone to strike Goliath right between the eyes, then David used Goliath’s own sword to decapitate his fallen foe. He showed everyone there he was someone who knew how to get ahead!
When Gabriel visited a teenager named Mary he announced she would give birth to a son who would be the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Mary said, “How can this be, since I’m a virgin?” Gabriel said, “Nothing is impossible for God.” (Luke 1:37)
It’s impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, but it’s a miracle when God takes a person through the door of salvation.
LIFE LESSON: Eternal life can’t be earned or bought; it’s a gift from God
Ben walked away singing that U2 chorus, “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Have you found life?
The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord.”
CONCLUSION
Someone was once asked “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”
That individual relied, “I’m not sure I have. I just go on and try do a better job the next time. If I do something wrong, I just try to make it right. I don’t bring God into the picture.”
It’s not about bringing God into the picture; He is the picture. He’s the artist of the picture that is life and the universe. And there is only one way you can approach God and that is with humility and the admission that you are lost without His forgiveness.
Theoretically, there are three ways to get to heaven.
Notice I said, “Theoretically.” Number 1, you can die before you reach the age of accountability.
Two, you can live a perfect life: Never once commit a sin of thought, attitude, or action. Anybody qualify?
Or Third, you can fall on your knees and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to make you a new person.
Ben had so much, but he ended up with nothing but the god of wealth in his life. There may be someone here today who as a competing god ruling your life.
You may think you have everything you want or need. But if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have anything. Jesus is looking at you today and He loves you.
He looks into your heart and says, “Get rid of all those idols, and follow me. I can give you a life that is really worth living.” Will you trust Him?

 

Sermon Contributor : David Dykes

Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told  
1 John 2:5

A wealthy businessman lay on his deathbed. His preacher came to visit and talked about God’s healing power and prayed for his parishioner. When the preacher was done, the businessman said, “Preacher, if God heals me, I’ll give the church a million dollars.” Miraculously, the businessman got better and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital.

Several months later, the preacher bumped into this businessman on the sidewalk and said, “You know, when you were in the hospital dying, you promised to give them church a million dollars if you got well. We haven’t received it as of yet.”
The businessman replied, “Did I say that? I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!”

1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
A few years back two guys interviewed thousands of people, and they published their findings in a book called The Day America Told the Truth. Of those surveyed,
91% said that they lie on a regular basis.
86% said they lie to their parents regularly,
75% said they lie to their friends,
68% said they lie to their spouses.
50% said they regularly called in to work sick when they weren’t
Doug Sherman and William Hendricks, compared the ethics of Christian and non-Christian adults. They found that almost as many Christians steal from work as non-Christians,
almost as many Christians use company phones for personal long distance ...as non-Christians.
And they found that Christians are just as likely to falsify our income taxes, and commit plagiarism, and give bribes to obtain a building permit, and ignore construction specs, and illegally copy computer programs, and steal time from work, and exaggerate our products, and selectively obey the law.
Matthew 5:33-37 – “33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

--This passage reveals some important reasons why we must live truthfully: First, dishonesty undermines our relationships
When we lie and don’t keep our promises it destroys trust and trust is what healthy relationships are built upon
Honesty helps us grow in our relationships with Christ and with others
--Eph. 4:15 – Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Second, dishonesty is contrary to the character of God
God is a commitment-keeper
--Num. 23:19 – God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Satan, however, is the father of lies

--John. 8:44b – He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
There is a saying you may have heard... “Don’t fudge now.”
The slang term “fudge” in reference to stretching the truth comes from a sea captain named Fudge He became notorious for telling all kinds of lies, tall tales and exaggerations about his improbable adventures at sea.

It was said of this Captain Fudge that he “always brought home his owners a good cargo of lies.”
By the mid-1800’s the expression “no fudging” was being used in America by children to discourage friends from cheating at marbles.
--For anyone who grew up playing marbles ... I guess that’s where one would have learned the phrase.
One thing that both of my parents stressed when I was growing up: Always tell the truth
--If I did something wrong and then lied about it, I was in “double trouble” but if I told the truth, the discipline wasn’t as bad as when I ‘fessed up to what I’d done.
Being a follower of Christ means a commitment to truth
--We need to be people of our word
You want to be known as someone who keeps your promises no matter what
However, there are some common justifications that most of us give for breaking promises
I didn’t think it was all that important
I thought I might be able to keep the promise
It seemed the right thing to do at the time
I want to challenge you in three areas this evening:
1st ) KEEP YOUR PROMISES...EVEN WHEN THEY SEEM INSIGNIFICANT

When you start to justify a little dishonesty because it seems insignificant, be careful because you’re one step closer to doing what you never thought you would do
The little areas test our integrity
God takes stretching the truth very seriously
Every time a casual commitment is broken, an incremental amount of damage is done
How many of you are familiar with these common “lies”?
Honest, I only need 5 minutes of your time
Your table will be ready in just a few minutes
The check is in the mail
I will get to that 1st thing in the morning ...
If elected, I promise...
-- A busload of politicians were headed to a convention but because of highway construction, they had to take a detour down a rural road. The driver was having problems with this windy,
country lane and lost control of the bus. It ran off the road and crashed into a tree in an old farmer’s field.

The old farmer was driving to town when he noticed that that there was a gaping hole in his fence. He went to investigate and saw what had happened. He went back to his truck, got a
shovel, and buried all the politicians.
Since the politicians never arrived at their destination, a state trooper was dispatched to locate them. He backtracked their route, followed the country road, saw the wrecked bus in the field, and looked up the old farmer that owned the property. The trooper asked the farmer where the politicians had gone. The farmer informed the trooper that he’d buried all of them.

The trooper said, “Didn’t you call the coroner? After all, not all of them might have been dead.” The old farmer replied, “Well, some of them kept sayin’ they weren’t but you know how them politicians lie!”
We might be very familiar with those lies but there are other lies that destroy our integrity:
There are several ways we can be careless with the truth on a daily basis because we don’t see it as a big deal
We lie to cover up our mistakes
We exaggerate
We mislead
We give false flattery
We deceive or cheat
Rodney Buchanan, a preacher in Mt. Vernon, OH: “Who has not been startled to hear yourself say something that is an exaggeration without even thinking about it. It is not that you began the conversation with the intention of saying something that was not quite true, but before you knew it you found yourself embellishing a story.
Are you honest about your age?
Have you been thoroughly honest with your taxes?
Have you ever been dishonest about the time you claimed you worked,
or not given an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wage?
Have you ever cheated on a test?
Have you ever lied to get out of trouble?
Have you ever complimented someone when you didn’t mean it?
Have you ever kept silent when you should have told the truth?
Made yourself appear better than you are?
Lied to gain an advantage or get your way?
Misled someone to save face?”
Eph. 4:25 – Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor...
2nd ) KEEP YOUR PROMISES...EVEN WHEN YOU REGRET MAKING THEM
Maybe you regret making a promise because things didn’t turn out the way you had hoped
Maybe when you made the promise, you’d hoped that you would have:
More time
More money
More knowledge
More energy
More whatever (you fill in the blank)
Maybe you made a promise to do something because you thought you’d get something in return:
money, favors, popularity, position
--Now it looks like you’re going to have to do what you promised and not get anything.
Some people think that if they don’t commit to anything, it’s easier to get out of the obligations and responsibilities implied
However, there are times when we have to make commitments
We have to promise to do certain things whether we like it or not
It’s our commitments that define who we are
We can make promises that we don’t like but fulfill them in ways that show integrity and fortify our witness for Christ
-- Once there were two brothers who were very rich and very wicked. Both of them lived lives of sinfulness and corruption and used their wealth to cover up a lot of their wickedness. Both were
members of a local church and used their money to be in positions of influence.

The old preacher at this church had retired and a new preacher had been hired. This preacher was a man who preached the gospel with zeal and courage and lived an exemplary life. The
congregation began to grow at such a rapid rate that they needed to build a new church building.

At this same time, one of the brothers got sick and died. The new preacher was asked to do the funeral. The day before the funeral service, the surviving brother pulled the preacher aside and
handed him an envelope. He said, “There’s a check in this envelope that is large enough to pay off the new building. All I want you to do is tell all the people at the funeral tomorrow that my brother was a saint. Do you think you can handle that?” The preacher shook the brother’s hand and said, “I will do precisely what you have asked.”
The preacher immediately took the check to the bank and
deposited it to the church’s account.
The next day, the preacher stood in front of the large group of people who had come to the funeral and said, “This man in the coffin was an ungodly sinner and wicked to the core. He was
unfaithful to his wife and abusive to his children.
He was ruthless in business and a hypocrite in
the church. But compared to his brother, he was a saint!”
C. Maybe you regret making a promise because keeping your word ends up costing you more than you expected

Ps. 15:4 describes a righteous person as one “who keeps his oath even when it hurts.”
--Maybe things have not turned out the way you had hoped, but you keep your commitment anyway
There is a story told of a young minister and the suffering he endured because he kept a promise he had made to a buddy during World War I.

This friend was worried about the care of his wife and small daughter if he should be killed in battle, so the minister assured him that if that were to happen he would look after them.
As the war dragged on, the man was killed. True to his word, the minister took care of his friend’s family.
Yet no matter how helpful he tried to be, the woman was ungrateful, rude, arrogant, and domineering. Through it all, the minister kept forgiving her. He refused to let her actions become an excuse to renege on his promise.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus follows His section on divorce with the challenge to keep your promises
--We seem to have a problem with that in our nation
We promise to love, honor, and cherish in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, until death do us part
Yet, almost 50% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce

For some reason, we have trouble keeping those wedding vows
-- Sometimes promises are tough to keep but we need to keep them to the best of our ability.
Another problem is that we have trouble keeping our promises to Jesus
a. We stand in front of a group of people and proclaim: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The civic club meetings become more important than fellowship with the Body of Christ
Watching TV or going to sporting events becomes more important than studying the word of God
Talking to friends or business colleagues becomes more important than spending time in prayer
Our business becomes more important than God’s business
Dr. Seuss, in Horton Hatches an Egg, tells the story of an elephant, named Horton, who promises to sit on an egg and hatch it for it’s mother, lazy Miss Mayzie. As the days and weeks go by, Horton just keeps sitting there on that nest up in a tree. All his friends encourage him to forget his promise and play with them.
Do you remember his response? “I meant what I said, I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful, 100%.”
What could God do with a congregation that had that commitment?
3rd) KEEP YOUR PROMISES...EVEN WHEN YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS
When you can keep a promise to yourself, you will tell the truth to others
Promises to ourselves are sometimes the hardest ones to keep
There is no accountability and seemingly no consequences
Once you start breaking promises to yourself, it becomes much easier to break a promise to others
Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 5 that whenever we make a promise we do so in the presence of God

When we break a promise, we’re not just lying to others or ourselves
--We’re also lying to God
Back in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees had developed elaborate rules governing when a man was bound by his word and when he was not.
If I swear by Jerusalem, I am bound by my words. If I swear towards Jerusalem I’m not bound.
Any promise I make using God’s name binds me, but if I can avoid using God’s name when I
make a promise, maybe I don’t have to keep my word, they thought.
--So they began to swear by anything that sounded like it might mean something
c. In fact a whole book of their law-code dealt with making vows and promises – which ones you had to keep, and which ones you didn’t.
We have similar oaths to swear we’re telling the truth:
Cross my heart and hope to die (stick a needle in my eye)
--Oops, sorry. I had my fingers crossed
I swear on a stack of Bibles
If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’!
May lightening strike me if I’m not telling the truth
I swear by my mother’s grave....
With God as my witness...
Some people try to reason by saying , “If you know you’re lying, and the Lord knows you’re lying, it’s the same as telling the truth.”
Jesus said in Matthew 5: 34-35 – “But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.”
What Jesus is wanting is truthfulness. all the way around
If you’re one of God’s people, then whatever you do reflects on God
Someone once said: “However hard you try, Jesus said, you cannot avoid some reference to God, for the whole world is God’s world and you cannot eliminate him from
any of it.”
God takes lying very seriously
Prov. 12:22 – The Lord hates liars, but is pleased with those who keep their word.

Rev. 21:8 – But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
C. How do I get better at keeping my promises?
1. Admit your struggle
--At one time or another, we’ve all struggled with the truth. Sometimes it’s just easier to fib
The down side is that our culture despises dishonesty coming from people who claim to be
Christians
--We can do some terrible damage to our witness and even the cause of Christ when we’re not
people of our word.
People are looking for authenticity wherever they can find it.
Admit that truthfulness can be a struggle
--But recognize that Jesus says, “No matter what, tell the truth!”
Monitor your promises
Reliability builds credibility
--Can other people count on you to follow through and do what you say you will do?
Do you ever say, “I’ll pray for you,” just because it sound like the right thing to say?
--Do you ever actually pray for that person?
What about in business?
--Is what you advertise what you deliver?
The Message paraphrase of our text is don’t say anything you don’t mean.
This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of moral talk, saying, ’I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ’God be with you,’ and not meaning it.
You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious
lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true.
Just say ’yes’ and ’no.’
When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.”
Just say, “yes” and “no.”
It sounds simple enough. And yet we know speaking the truth is anything but simple.
Examine your motives
--Why am I making this promise? What do I really want?
Do I want success at the cost of relationships?
Do I want acceptance, even if it means being less than truthful?
“The test of character comes when being truthful endangers what you want.”
Living an honest life, keeping our promises can be difficult
Did you know that several of the Bible’s greatest “heroes of the faith” were liars?
Abraham lied to the Egyptian Pharaoh saying that his wife Sarah was actually his sister.

Jacob lied to his father Isaac saying that he was actually his brother Esau, so he could receive the blessing meant for the eldest son.

Peter lied to the servants and soldiers surrounding the fire outside the trial room where Jesus-Peter’s friend, teacher and Lord-was being tried, convicted and sentenced to the cross, saying, “I tell you I never knew the man!”
However, the Holy Spirit can work miracles and change a liar into a person of integrity

Abraham came to a point and place in his life when he was able to trust God for everything, even the life of his beloved son Isaac.
Jacob, after a night of wrestling with God, was able to trust God with everything he had, and so he returned to face his brother Esau whom he had cheated and betrayed.

Peter was able to trust God before the same crowd that had called for Jesus’ crucifixion when he stood up at Pentecost to proclaim the same name he had denied a mere 50 days before.
Jesus faced the gut-wrenching choice of keeping a costly promise.
God had been promising for thousands of years to send His Son to save the world through His death and resurrection.

But when the moment of truth came in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus felt the weight of the difficulty of keeping this promise.
In fact, He asked His Father, “If there is any other way, please let this cup pass from me.”
--Jesus knows what it’s like to face a promise you don’t want to keep
But in that moment of truth, when He realized there was no other way to save us, Jesus became the ultimate promise-keeper.

--Jesus kept His word to die in our place, to absorb all of our sin,
so that we could live and be forgiven and be reconciled to the Father.

Showing Your Better Side

Showing Your Better Side  

Luke 6:31  and  Matthew 7:12

 INTRODUCTION: A truck driver is sitting in a crowded roadside diner ready to eat his lunch. It’s not just ANY diner and ANY lunch.
It’s his FAVORITE diner on the road and his FAVORITE lunch.
Just as the waitress brings the truck driver’s meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans to his table, a motorcycle gang swaggers in the door.
Most of them seat themselves at the table next to the truck driver but there’s not room at that table for all of them. The gang members left standing turn to the truck driver and bark, “Move! We want that table!”
The truck driver calmly says, “I haven’t finished my meal.”
One of the motorcycle toughs takes his dirty finger, swipes it through the mashed potatoes and gravy, sticks his finger in his mouth and says, “Hey, not bad grub.” Another gang member takes the trucker’s cup of coffee and slowly pours it over the remaining food on the plate and snarls, “You’re finished now!”
The trucker stands, takes his napkin, wipes his mouth, walks to the cash register,
pays for his meal, and silently walks out the door. All the bikers are laughing now.
One of them says, “Ain’t much of a man, is he?”
The waitress says, “And he’s not much of a truck driver, either. He just backed his rig over your motorcycles.”
How do you react to people who make life difficult for you?
We all encounter people who are hard to live with.
--How do you treat the “jerks” in your life?
We have some direct instruction on this particular issue
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus raised the bar for those who followed Him.
a. Don’t resist an evil person.
b. Don’t try to get even.
c. Turn the other cheek.
Jesus taught His followers that they should respond differently than the world and counter to their own carnal instincts.
--You have to admit the teachings of Jesus in this section are very tough to keep
unless we are energized by the power of the Holy Spirit within.
Preachers have stated that Jesus’ words recorded in
Matt. 5:38-48, are in contrast to how his audience lived their lives and certainly what they expected to hear.
Nevertheless, His words are wise and His way is right. If we will only give them a chance, we will discover how true and – yes, once again – how simple His advice really is.”
The key to understanding this section of the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus’ words have to be interpreted in light of other Scripture.

--God’s Word does not contradict itself. Rather, it is the best interpreter of itself.
With this principle in mind, let’s look at this section that talks about how we treat people who are difficult to live with.
--Mt. 5:38-39 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

“An eye for an eye” was the Old Testament system of justice.
--It was the principle of exact retribution – mentioned in Deuteronomy 19:21.
It was meant to prevent crime, establish justice, and avoid overreaction.
prevent crime – by providing the knowledge of punishment before the crime occurs
establish justice – the prescription given was not for personal retribution but was designed to be administered by legal authorities such as judges and other governmental leaders
avoid overreaction – provided fair and reasonable punishment
By Jesus’ time it had been replaced by monetary penalties.
But Jesus raised the bar.
--He said, “I tell you, don’t resist an evil person.”
This needs to be taken in light of other scriptures
We’re admonished to resist evil in our society and to resist the devil

This command doesn’t apply to self-defense
Some groups use this particular scripture to say we should be pacifists and never fight back
However, the striking on the right cheek Jesus talks about is actually an insult

--Most people are right handed and you cannot strike someone on the right cheek with your right hand except with a backhand slap

I like the story of an Irishman who was a boxer but left the ring to become a preacher. He was setting up his tent in one particular town. Some of the local toughs began to jeer and sneer as the preacher set about his business.
Eventually, one of them came over and physically challenged the preacher to a fight. The preacher said, “So, you’d like to take a swing at me, would ya?” The local tough guy just sneered. So the preacher stuck out his jaw on the right side and said, “All right then, have at it.”

At that the local tough took a swing, connected his fist with the preacher’s jaw, and the preacher went down to a knee. The preacher stood up, shook his head to clear the cobwebs,
and turned his left jaw to his opponent and asked,
“Would ya like to try it again?”
The local tough takes another swing,
connects with the preacher’s jaw, and the preacher went down on his other knee.
Then the preacher stood up, took of his suit coat, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and said, “The Lord has not given me any more instruction.” As the local tough guy took his next swing, the preacher taught him a little bit about boxing and the nuances of endeavor he just encountered.
I’m not exactly sure that’s what Jesus was talking about
--I am sure that He meant that we would be more Christ-like if we absorb insults rather than always retaliating.
If all we ever did was to continually seek retribution from those who injure us with insults, we’d all be walking around blind and toothless
--Mt. 5:40 – 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
In Jesus’ day, there was a difference between the tunic and the cloak.

The tunic was the garment worn closest to the skin
The cloak was the outer garment that doubled at night as a blanket.
Exodus 22 teaches that every person had an absolute right to his cloak, since it was vital to existence.
It was not permissible to sue for another’s cloak and even if you did, the Mosaic Law required you to give it back before nightfall.
Jesus said if some adversary wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If he’s that desperate, give up your basic rights.
Don’t demand your rights all the time.
That kind of thinking goes absolutely contrary to our gut instinct.
It’s inborn to protect yourself.
--Get even. Don’t let him get by with it.
Jesus is talking about civil matters.
He’s not saying that Christians should refuse to participate in the criminal justice system.
What Jesus is saying is don’t always insist on your rights
--There are four “rights” mentioned in commentary on this passage:
1). My “right” to dignity ... to be treated without insult
2). My “right” to comfort ... to cling to what pleases me
3). My “right” to privacy ... to do only what I prefer
4). My “right” to possessions ... to keep all I wish.
Jesus says that as His followers, we shouldn’t focus so much on our rights as our responsibilities as His subjects in the kingdom of God

Someone has paraphrased this passage to say: “If someone sues for the shirt off your back, gift-wrap your best coat and make a present of it.”
I read a story about a traveler, who between flights at an airport, bought a small package of cookies. She then sat down in the busy snack shop to glance over the newspaper. As she read she became increasingly aware of a rustling noise. Peeking over her newspaper, she was shocked to see a well-dressed gentleman sitting across from her, helping himself to her cookies. Half-angry and half-embarrassed, she reached over and gently slid the package closer to her as she took one out and began to munch on it.

A minute or so passed before she heard more rustling. The man had gotten another cookie! By now there was only one left in the package. Though beside herself, she didn’t want to make a scene so she said nothing.
Finally, as if to add insult to injury, the man broke the remaining cookie into two pieces,
pushed one piece across the table to her with a frown, gulped down his half and left without even saying thank you. She sat there dumbfounded. “Of all the nerve!”
Some time later when her flight was announced, the woman opened her handbag to get her ticket. To her shock, there in her purse was her package of unopened cookies. And somewhere in that airport was another traveler still trying to figure out how that strange woman could have been so forward and insensitive!
--But he didn’t insist on his right to eat the cookies he bought. He shared with someone who demanded that she eat them.
--Mt. 5:41 – 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
The word “forces” is a word that means, “press into service.”
There was a Roman law that gave their soldiers the right to force civilians into service for a period.
--You couldn’t refuse or you would be severely punished
But there were limitations.
--For example, a Roman soldier had a right to make you carry his pack for one mile, but not any further.
Jesus said, “If a soldier demands you carry his equipment for a mile go with him two miles.”
We all have people who have authority over us.
If they are infatuated with their power they can make life miserable.
The natural instinct is to find some way to resist.
But Jesus raised the standard, don’t just go a mile, go two miles.
It’s amazing how much better we feel about ourselves when we go the extra mile.
It’s amazing how quickly most relationships are smoothed over when we do more than expected.
What a testimony to the work of Christ in our life when we perform the extra-mile service with a smile instead of grumbling and complaining the whole time and stop at the exact mile marker.

You have several exemptions as a Christian.
1. First you are not to do anything unethical or illegal.
2. You have a right to confront and not just be run over

--Acts 22:25-29 – As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.” The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. Then the commander said, “I had to pay a big price for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
--Mt. 5:42 – “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
We’re quick to point out that there’s a difference between Jesus’ day and ours.
In Jesus’ time people begged on the streets as their only means of survival.
But Jesus said, Give to those who ask, don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
--If we work hard to find a reason not to give, it’s probably because we want to follow our natural instincts rather than walking by the Spirit
There are some qualifiers to this command however.
You don’t give children everything they ask for.
We are not to loan to people at an excessive interest.
--If you know they can’t repay it, give them a gift with no expectation of repayment.
We are instructed not to give to a person who can work but refuses to work.

--2 Thess. 3:10 – For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
We shouldn’t give money to a person we’re sure will spend it on something destructive. (However, we can still help them)
-- example of man, wife and kids that came to the church building asking for money ... but when we offered to go with them to buy food for the kids they declined ... they were really only interested in money ... not feeding the kids!
Matthew 5:43-48 – 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Even the best of Christians are going to have some enemies.
Jesus said, “Beware when all men speak well of you.”
Gal. 5:11 says that the gospel is going to offend some people.
But not all of our enemies are because of the gospel
Rom. 12:18 – If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Some people are just mean, nasty, and hateful
--Not much you can do about it but be a good servant of Christ and to pray for them
Jesus said, treat your enemies with compassion.
Your instinct tells you to lash out and do to others before they do it to you.
On the contrary
--Rom. 12:20-21: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this,
you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
a). If an enemy refuses to speak to you, smile and speak anyway.
b). If an enemy cuts at you behind your back, you be positive in return.
c). If someone tries to hurt your reputation, you respond with kindness.
d). If an enemy tries to undermine your business, you find some way to help him.
Hate is such powerful thing.
--It destroys your life both inside and out.
Hate should not be a common thing in your life.
--We should hate evil. We should hate sin.
Loving an enemy means choosing to let our love OVERRIDE our feelings of disgust.
Granted we do not love our enemy the same way we love God, our spouse, our children, our fellow church members, or our friends, but we must love them..
When you show mercy and grace, you’ll remind people of your Father in heaven.
-- I came across a story about a burly platoon sergeant who had at one time lived a life of drinking, cursing, swearing, and sexual immorality. He could be arrogant and rude to his soldiers.
However, he had become Christian and turned his life around.
When asked about what made the difference, he told about a private in his platoon that was courageously Christian in his outlook and behavior.

This private was frequently harassed by other but was faithful to Christ.
One night the private came into the barracks quite late. It was a very rainy night. Before getting into his bunk, he knelt, as was his custom, to pray.
The sergeant in a foul mood picked up one of his own boots, which was heavy with wet mud, threw it across the room and hit the private in the side of the head. The private said nothing. He wiped the mud from his face and crawled into bed.

The next morning, however, when the sergeant woke up, he found his muddy boots cleaned and polished by his bedside.
The Sargent then stated : “It broke my heart.”
Jesus requires us to pray for those who behave like enemies toward us
Lk. 6:28 – “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Pray for you enemies.”
It has been said that: “Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. ”
We’re also told to forgive one another
--Eph. 4:31-5:2 – “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

CONCLUSION: Jesus Himself is the perfect example for us to follow.
1. He was arrested, roughed up, insulted by the police.
2. The authorities spat on Him, blindfolded Him, and slapped Him in the face.
3. Then the Roman soldiers mocked Him by crowning Him with thorns and putting a
purple robe on Him, and a weak reed in His hand as a make-believe scepter.
--They jeered at Him, “Hail King of the Jews!” Then they scourged Him.
Jesus had the power to strike them blind, to paralyze their hand, to choke them on their own spit, to condemn them to hell, but, with the divine dignity, He held His peace.

1 Pet. 2:23 – When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he
suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly”
Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them.”
--He didn’t return evil for evil, but He silently turned the other cheek. He did all that for you;
And, he asks you to follow in His steps.

Too Close For Comfort

Too Close For Comfort  
Genesis 19: 1 – 29

OPEN: Just like today, back in the 1690s Jamaica was an island paradise. Palm trees in the sand, tropical breezes, beautiful beaches. People of wealth sought it out then just like they do now. And many of them built huge mansions at a town called Port Royal.
Now, Port Royal wasn’t a “tourist trap.” It was a Pirate city - hailed as the “17th Century Sodom.” And those who lived back then knew it as one of the wickedest and most depraved cities on earth.
If you could think of something evil people would do... they did it. But then - in 1692 – God came down and brought judgement on Port Royal. In the space of less than 10 minutes, the thriving
sea port was shaken by 3 earthquakes (one of which at about 7.6 on the Richter scale) which was followed by a tsunami. Port Royal literally sank into the Caribbean, never to rise again.
An eyewitness described the scene: "The earth heaved and swelled like the rolling billows, and in many places the earth crack'd open, open'd and shut, with a motion quick and fast.
And in some of these places people were swallowed up, in others they were caught by the middle, and pressed to death. The entire event was filled with the noise of falling mountains at a distance, while the sky was turned dull and reddish, like a glowing oven"
Of the city’s population of approximately 6,500 people about 2,000 died in earthquakes and tsunami. Afterwards, lacking of shelter and clean water, nearly 3,000 more died of disease. The people of Jamaica were so shaken by what took place, and they were so convinced that it was God who’d destroyed the city that a religious revival swept through the island and they promptly outlawed piracy. To this day, many Jamaicans believe that Port Royal's destruction was the price exacted by an angry God for its sins.
They called it the 17th Century Sodom. Someone else referred to it as the Sodom of the West. Now, why would they do that? Why would they refer to this city as... Sodom?
Well they did that, because Port Royal’s sinfulness and destruction sounded a lot like the story of Sodom in the Bible. In the Bible, Sodom is synonymous with wickedness... and judgment.
The Prophet Isaiah wrote: “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.” Isaiah 13:19
Jude 7 declared that: “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
Peter agreed – in 2 Peter 2:6 we’re told “by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes (God) condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly”
And Jesus said that His coming would be like "the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.” Luke 17:28-29
Sodom is mentioned 26 times outside of Genesis in Scripture. And it’s spoken of as a place that had existed and stood for God’s judgment.
But, did Sodom and Gomorrah actually exist? And were they actually destroyed as Genesis describes? For a long time skeptics would scoff and say “Nahhh, I don’t think so.”
But they don’t say that anymore. In late 1960s archaeologists found the ruins of a major city in the area called “Ebla.” Over 4,000 years ago, this city Ebla was a major merchant center
with a population of more than 250,000 people. And there, archaeologists found tablets written about 800 yrs. before Moses... written in a language very much like ancient Hebrew. And on these tablets were the names of various cities throughout Palestine. Places like Joppa, Damascus, Gaza... and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Nowadays NOBODY questions whether these cities existed. They’ve discovered that these cities lay along a major merchant route of the day (the King’s Highway). Up until a few years ago, many scholars thought these cities lay underneath the Dead Sea, but more recently, they believe they’ve found their remains to the West and South of the Dead Sea.
You can read about certain archaeologists who have found strong evidence about these cities and how they were destroyed. They stated that the evidence from radiocarbon dating... indicates that a group of civilizations flourished in the area for over two millennia, until approximately 1700 BC, when the mud-brick walls of the buildings in the region simultaneously disappeared and only the stone foundations remained.
At the same time, the pottery in the settlements was heated into glass in the space of milliseconds, according to the results of an analysis of the Zircon crystals formed in the process, indicating that they were briefly exposed to temperatures of approximately 4,000 to 12,000 degrees Celsius, comparable to the temperature of the surface of the sun.
Evidence seems to indicate that approximately 40,000 to 60,000 people living in the region were killed, and a 500-square kilometer area was rendered uninhabitable for about 600 to 700 years. They believe that the area was stripped of its topsoil, and that salts from the nearby Dead Sea were spread over the land, destroying its fertility.
“The Bible records the Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with “fire and brimstone.” Brimstone is Sulphur.
Throughout Sodom and Gomorrah... brimstone is found embedded in the ground. It is highly flammable and when ignited it produces a toxic gas, Sulphur Dioxide (SO2). There is only one area on earth where Sulphur “stones” are found... Sodom and Gomorrah. Sulphur found elsewhere on earth rarely exceeds 40% purity. The Sulphur at Sodom and Gomorrah is approximately 96% pure.”
So, Sodom and Gomorrah DID exist, and they WERE destroyed by God. But now the question is... what can we learn from that? The most obvious lesson is this: You REALLLLLY don’t want to tick God off. There is a point where God won’t look the other way any longer.
Now, there are many people who talk about God being a God of love who wouldn't do something like this. And to some extent they're right - God is a loving God. John 3:16 says “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...”
He loved us so much He was willing to offer a precious sacrifice so that our lives could be changed. But God is also a God who despises evil, and when push comes to shove He HAS and He WILL destroy those who go too far.
***So, the first lesson is this: you REALLY don’t want to tick God off. But for most people that’s not an issue. Most people don’t wake up in the morning and say: “Hey, I want to make God angry today.” Instead, most people kind of “back into” sin. They don’t start out being evil. They just start hanging around evil people... and that changes them.
For example, do you know how Lot ended up in Sodom? I mean, he had to know it was a wicked city. In fact, when the angels came to town, Lot insisted they stay at his house that night because HE KNEW the evil the sodomites would do to them if they were caught on the streets by themselves. So how did Lot end up in the city to begin with?
Well in Genesis 13, Lot and his uncle Abraham were tending their flocks not too far away from that city,
and their herdsmen weren’t getting along real well. So, Abraham looked the situation over and he said to Lot “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left." Genesis 13:8-9
The next few verses say “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) ... Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.” Genesis 13:10 &12
So, we’re told Lot moved his tent as far as Sodom. Another version says he moved NEAR Sodom. He wasn’t IN the city... but he was close. But why? Why did he move near this evil city? Well... because it looked pretty good... it was like the garden of Eden.
But in the next chapter we read that Lot has moved. It says “(Lot) was dwelling IN Sodom.” (Genesis 14:12) So, he had been living NEAR the city of Sodom. Now, he’s living IN the city of Sodom. But wait... . In Genesis 19:1 we’re told that “(When) the two angels came to Sodom in the evening... Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom...”
Lot was “sitting in the gate”? What was Lot doing at the gate? Well, in ancient cities, there was no “courthouse” in town. If you had a dispute with your neighbor, you took your case to the wise men at the GATE of the city, and that’s where Lot was. He was an honored member of the community. People respected his judgment.
So, Lot starts living OUTSIDE of Sodom. Then we find that he’s living INSIDE Sodom.
And then we find that Lot is a leading citizen (at the GATE) in one of the most evil and wicked cities on earth. Why would he do that????
Well I believe his thinking can be summed in 4 words: “I CAN HANDLE IT!” He believed Sodom wouldn’t affect him... he was too righteous to be changed by the evils of the city.
But... could he? Could Lot handle Sodom? Well, let’s think about that. When the Sodomites come to his door demanding to sleep with his visitors Lot said: “Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” Genesis 19:8
Hmmm. Did I hear that right? Lot offered to give his DAUGHTERS to these evil men... That’s what it says.
Would you do that? I’d hope not. It doesn’t sound right to me, but it apparently sounded right to Lot! But why would he do that? Because he lived in Sodom and that’s the kind of thing that Sodomites would do. Lot thought he could handle it! But he couldn’t. Sodom changed him. God tells us “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” 1 Corinthians 15:33
So, Lot couldn’t handle it. How about his family? The text tells us that the angels are rushing them out of the city and they’re told NOT to look back. But Lot’s wife looks back... and she never left town.
And then there’s Lot’s daughters. “Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, 14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.” Genesis 19:14
What happened to those sons-in-law? Well, they died! Why didn’t the angels try to convince these young men to leave town?
Well, because they were as wicked as everyone else in Sodom. Lot was allowing his daughters to marry wicked men.
APPLY: Many Christians will say “I CAN HANDLE IT.” I can handle the alcohol/drugs, I can handle the negative peer pressure from friends, being surrounded by cursing and foul mouths. I can handle ... you name it. They know that what they’re doing is probably something they wouldn’t want Jesus catching them doing... but they think it won’t affect THEM.
And maybe they’re right. But what about their kids/grandkids/nephews/nieces? YOU might start out pure as the driven snow and just get a “little dirty.” You might say “I’ll only go THIS far... and no farther.” But the young ones who look up to you will use that “little farther” as their base line. That’s where they’ll START - where you stopped - because you accepted it as normal.
One of the lessons of Sodom is – hanging around sinful atmospheres does bother you, whether you realize it or not.
One last thought. What do you do if someone you love is in Sodom? What do you do if they’ve allowed themselves to live too long in an evil world. You know they’re hurting themselves, you know they’re headed for destruction. And you just feel SO helpless! Is there anything you can do?
Well, there’s one more part of this story. Before God sent his angels to destroy the city of Sodom, He paid Abraham a visit. And God told Abraham what He had in mind. Do you remember what Abraham did? He bargained with God.
23And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Genesis 18:23-24
Yes, God said... He’d spare the city if there were 50 righteous within the city.
Now, why would Abraham ask that? Why ask if God would spare the city if he found only 50 righteous people? Because he knew LOT was in that town and he wanted to save him.
But he also knew Sodom was a wicked city... so he bargained some more. "Suppose 40 are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." He said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."
Of course, God knew there weren’t even 10 righteous people in the city. But you know what... God knew what was important to Abraham. And for the sake of Abraham... and his prayer, God did what He could to save Lot and his family.
Now, one observation – who did God send to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family? Angels! The Bible teaches that when we pray God sends angels to work on our prayers (Daniel 9:23 and 10:12).
Hebrews says they are “ministering spirits ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” Hebrews 1:14. When we pray, we unleash the very powers of heaven.
Be aware, no matter what we pray, God will not ignore the freewill of those we pray for. If they chose to ignore God, our loved ones do so at their own risk (as Lot’s wife experienced). However, our prayers are mighty and make it so that even the most difficult of our loved ones will feel their impact. Prayer our most powerful tool. Thus, we should always pray to God for Him to save your loved ones and work in their lives. As Jesus taught us, we should ought to always pray.... And NEVER GIVE UP!
INVITATION

Based on a sermon by Jeff Strite