Chardon church of Christ

The Sower

The Sower

INTRO:    Good evening. I will begin by telling you a story about little Johnny when he was quite young, about 3 years old. Little Johnny went with his dad to see a litter of kittens. When he got home he told his mother that, "There were 2 boy kittens and 2 girl kittens."
His mother asked him, “how do you know?" Johnny said, "Well, daddy picked them up and looked underneath, so I think it's printed on the bottom."

This evening we are going to look at a parable of Jesus which is unique. Unique in that Jesus himself explains the meaning of it. The parable of the Sower is the one we are going to look at in Mark 4.

We’re going to read quite a lot but just little portions at a time.
Mark 4:1-2 – “1. And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:” [NKJV]. Let me stop there a minute. What an amazing sight that must have been. I imagine being in a large number of people sitting along the water’s edge and listening to the Master teacher speaking from a boat. What a pulpit that must have been to use. Jesus says, “Listen” and then goes on to share the parable with them in verse three through nine.

Mark 4:3-9 – “3. "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4. "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5. "Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6. "But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7. "And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8. "But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.'' 9. And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''”
Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Interesting how Jesus starts the parable and how He ends the parable. He starts by saying, “Listen” and ends by saying, “He, who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Teachers understand this issue when giving a lesson. One of the frustrating things for a teacher is wondering if anyone is listening to what they’re trying to say. Come to think of it, that goes for parents too. Those of you who have had children will know exactly what I’m talking about. You tell your child not to do this or that because it might be harmful but they go ahead and do it anyway. You often wonder if they’re getting it or if they are even listening.

We reach the point where we say to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to do that? Am I just wasting my breath?” Then you get them to repeat what you have said. If you ask they may repeat what you said, but it’s pretty obvious that they didn’t really listen to you in the first place. They didn’t fully grasp it. I suspect that’s one of the reasons why Jesus’ catchphrase was, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear." He uses this several times as you will see as you study. It didn’t just mean listen to what I’ve just said. It means think about it, pay attention to what I’ve just said.

I. Now Jesus reveals something to His disciples in Mark 4:10-13 – “10. But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11. And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12. "so that 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.' '' 13. And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
A. Jesus said He speaks in parables so that He can reveal secrets about the kingdom of heaven. "Mystery" in the New Testament sense refers to a glorious truth long concealed but now revealed (Romans 16:25-26).
1. Jesus' statement here is that the parables were intentionally designed to leave some of his audience in the dark. The parable He just shared did exactly what the parable was designed to do. It split the people into two groups, those who were interested in truth and those who weren’t.
2. Verse 10 says; “But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable” There were only a few that asked Him what the parable was about. Only a few people who were really interested in these truths. What Jesus is saying here when He quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10 is that, and I will paraphrase ‘My people can see and perceive, My people can hear and understand but they just don’t want to’. They don’t want to turn to God and be forgiven because their hearts are so far away from Me. They have always seen, they’ve always heard, but My people don’t want to listen and understand, because they are too stubborn.
3. Then in Isaiah 29:13 – “... the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me,” listen to these next words “and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,” A couple of chapters later in Mark 7:6-9 Jesus says; “6... "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 7. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8. "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.'' 9. And He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”
4. That brings to light more information about those who did not understand. Many just did not want to hear, they were too stubborn. Righteous in themselves... self-righteous. But there are others who had an agenda to keep things as they were. The religious leaders of the day. If Jesus had spoken plainly and unambiguously of being the Messiah and talked about the kingdom, the Pharisees could have accomplished His murder prematurely; therefore, it was of necessity that Jesus cloaked His teachings in those beautiful and humble parables, which in no sense hid His message from "ordinary people”," they being the very ones who fully understood him. The parables did, however, fully hide it from the proud, arrogant, unspiritual priesthood who organized against him.
B. Jesus asks those who are listening in Mark 4:13, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?” Jesus is saying this secret about the kingdom of heaven is so easy to understand. It’s so plain and obvious and yet do you understand it?
1. He’s telling them that they need to able to understand this parable so that they can go on and understand other parables He will teach them.
2. It’s much the same idea that Paul has when he says to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 – “1... brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;”
3. Jesus is going to teach them about the parables. What He is doing is essentially teaching them how to listen, how to learn. These few around Him wanted to know but they were yet babes and so He begins to explain in verse 14.
II. Mark 4:14-20 – “14. "The sower sows the word. 15. "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. And when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16. "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17. "and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. 18. "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19. "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20. "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.''”
A. Jesus taught and explained the parable using an everyday life example. He uses the illustration of a farmer sowing his seed.
1. Let me plant something in your heads. Have you ever wondered why some people become Christians and then a little later they fall away? Or have you ever wondered why some people do not become Christians?
2. Every week the gospel is preached in the church. People attend every week and they hear the gospel of Christ being preached. They know what they need to do to become obedient to the Gospel, and yet it seems to happen so infrequently.
3. How come we don’t get people coming to Christ when the gospel is preached like they did during Biblical times? Maybe the best way to answer that question is by letting Jesus ask the question He was asking through this parable.
B. How could the scribes and Pharisees misrepresent God the way they did? How could the disciples and those listening not totally understand what Jesus was teaching? How could they not get it?
1. The way the word is being sown or being preached isn’t the problem. The problem lies with the way people receive the word. In other words those people who are honestly searching for the truth, it’s those people to whom the truth will become much clearer to.
2. Jesus said in Mark 4:3-8, "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, some fell on rocky places, other seed fell among thorns and other seed fell on good soil.”[para]
3. In His explanation people are like the place where the seed lands. He’s talking about 4 different soils, which represent 4 different reactions or responses when the gospel is preached.
III. In Mark 4:15 Jesus tells them and us; “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”[para]
A. Remember to whom the word of God is being preached. It’s being preached to sinners, people whose hearts have been hardened with sin over the years.
B. Jesus said that the birds are a picture of the devil himself, who comes down and takes the seed away. The reason the devil can so easily take it away is because the word of God makes no impression on these people at all.
C. They are so hardened in sin they don’t even understand the significance of the words being said. In other words, the path is hard and the seed has nowhere to plant its roots. They hear the gospel but don’t hang around long enough to find out what it means to them. When people are hardened with sin, they always think that whatever’s being said doesn’t apply to them.
D. Let me ask you this: What I’m saying today, does it apply to any of us? Remember in Acts 2 when Peter preached the 1st gospel meeting, 3000 souls asked, “Brothers what shall we do?” They wanted to hear more. Why? Because they understood that what Peter had just finished saying to them, applied to them. They killed the Messiah and they understood; they got it.
E. But remember, Peter also preached the gospel to thousands more on that day who didn’t want to know and his words landed on a hardened path. That’s what Jesus is talking about in the first part of the parable.
IV. Jesus says in Mark 4:16-17, “Other people, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away” [para].
A. I remember quite some years ago, the late Billy Graham would speak at big gospel meetings in football stadiums and thousands of people would turn up to hear what he had to say. At the end of the night he would always put an invitation out to people to come forward, ‘Confess Jesus as Lord and become Christians’. I don’t want to get into that because we know what’s right and what’s wrong about it, but what happened was many people would come forward and give their lives to Jesus on that night.
B. The problem was that a few days after all the excitement had gone, the troubles of life were remembered and they lost interest in Jesus. In other words, they heard the word of God, they accept it with gladness and joy but it gains no root within them.
C. Jesus says that they are OK for a while but as soon as any persecution or worry comes along from being a follower of God, they just give up. The word was planted in them and it tries to grow but the soil was lacking.
D. Mark 4:5 – “Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.” In Luke 8:6 we read; “Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.”
E. There are hearts out there that will receive the truth with great readiness and joy. Yet, when the heat gets turned up, these people fall away.
F. It is a concern when people become Christians without even studying the word of God first. I think people need to know and understand Who and what they are committing too. Whenever the heat of tribulation or persecution comes along because of the word of God, their delight in the truth just withers away and dries up.
1. With that in mind, let’s look at Luke 14:26-35 – “26. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27. "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it 29. "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, 30. "saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31. "Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32. "Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33. "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. 34. "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35. "It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''”
2. Jesus is telling us; Listen, if we want to become a follower of Him, we need to think hard about it first. We are going to have to love Him more than we love our own family. We are going to have to carry our own cross and suffer like Jesus suffered. He says, we will need to put Him first, in front of everything else in our life.”
3. Again He says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words think about it, think a lot about His words and after you have thought, think about it even more. Then He reminds us in John 16:33 – “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
V. Jesus goes on to describe another type of response to the gospel in Mark 4:18-19 – “18. "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19. "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” In the case of the seed that fell among the thorns, there is nothing wrong with the soil.
A. It’s not too hard like the seed that fell along the path.
B. There’s enough soil for the seed to take root unlike the seed that fell on a rocky place.
C. It’s not the soil that’s the problem. It’s what is in the soil around it. It’s the environment in which it is living that is the problem. We know one of the ways that Satan likes to attack God’s people is with worry. Worry is the greatest joy stealer there is.
D. Jesus says there are 3 things that steal your joy in the gospel as a Christian. He tells of 3 things that can stop you from becoming a fruitful follower of the word.
1. First, "The cares of this world". People are so caught up in this life that they forget about the next. They worry about their jobs. They worry about their homes. They worry about having enough money to get by. I know people who worry all the time.
i. We all recall what Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-34 so I’ll paraphrase; “Listen; do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The Greek word we translate as “worry” or “thought” has the aspect of “being anxious”. When you are anxious, worrying, your mind is focused on the object of that care and not on God.
ii. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” He is saying, listen, you’re a Christian you don’t need to worry about these things, just leave the worrying to the unbelievers.
iii. Peter tells us 1 Peter 5:7 – “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Cast all your anxiety (your worries, distractions) on Him because He cares for you. Do we believe these verses? We do not always act like it.
2. Jesus tells us the 2nd thing that can stop us from becoming a fruitful follower of the word, "The deceitfulness of riches." The world’s biggest con these days is this, ‘get rich fast and you’ll be happy’. People say if I get that new car, I’ll be happy or if I get a new home I’ll be happy. In 1971 the campaign to have a lottery in Ohio began and succeeded in creating the Ohio lottery in 1973. The last I knew most states now have lotteries with the exception of Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii and Utah.
i. What happened that has caused most states to introduce a form of gambling, a lottery? It happened because there’s a demand. The world that is so commercial, people are lusting after the quick fix answer to their problems. They want a “get rich fast” answer to their problems.
ii. Riches are the fruit of the world. People are being deceived into thinking that material goods are the answer to life. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23).
iii. Material goods, wealth, are not the answer to life. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The only answer to this life is Jesus Christ Himself. If you want answers about this life or the next then you need to look to Jesus, because He is the only one who has the answers.
3. The 3rd thing that stops us from becoming fruitful is, "The pleasures of this life." I believe we all like to have fun. There’s nothing wrong with that but the problem comes when the fun becomes more important than godly living. Also if the fun becomes sinful, then a problem comes in.
i. God has given us the gift of pleasure, which in itself can be innocent but we need to remember that the world’s idea of enjoyment can be totally opposite to God’s idea of enjoyment.
4. These 3 things or these 3 thorns that we have just mentioned are constantly in the environment that we live in everyday. What they do is smother and choke the word of God.
i. Jesus says, the reason that people don’t bear any fruit is because of these thorns. These things look promising. They look like they are going to bear fruit but they never do.
ii. Why? These thorns soak up all the moisture and nutrients that are in the soil. The world ends up with all our attention and God just gets the dregs or whatever is left. We become starved of the truth, which is found in the word of God, and that’s the point.
VI. Finally Jesus says in Mark 4:19-20 – “these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Jesus says, “This is the soil I’m looking for, this is the kind of response to My words that I’m looking for.”
A. This soil is the total opposite to the 3 other soils mentioned. These are the people whose hearts are soft and tender. They received and cherished the seed, when it was planted. These people soak up the word of God. You’ll find them studying the Bible because they gain strength from it and go on to produce a crop of thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.
B. Jesus summarizes what was just said in Luke 8:15 “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” [para] They can see the world’s riches for what they really are. They guard themselves against worldly pleasures.
C. These people realize that God loves us so much that God wants us to cast all our anxieties onto Him. He cares for us. These people produce much fruit. They are people who are long distance faith runners, who are faithful to the end.
D. It’s to those people who Jesus says about the others in Mark 4:11 – “so that 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them” In effect, “Do you want to know a secret?” Don’t be surprised when people don’t want to hear about Jesus. There’s a secret.
1. Don’t be surprised when people become Christians and only last a short time.
2. Don’t be surprised when people look like they are going to be great ambassador’s for Christ but they fall away.
3. The secret is this, don’t give up planting the seed, but persevere, we never know what kind of response we’re going to get. God’s word doesn’t vary but man’s heart does, the soil in which the word is planted does.
4. The nature of the response is dictated by the nature of the heart that receives it.

CONCLUSION:
I wonder how we see ourselves. How is your heart doing today? What will your response be?

If you’re not a Christian, are you going to let God’s word fall from your heart, or are you going to let God help you become a long distance faith runner because you want to know more truths from God’s word?

If you’re a Christian, are you going to continue to let the word of God dwell in you richly, so that you can let God produce much fruit through you, or are you going to go back to the crowd who are not interested in truth?

There’s no mistake folks, we control what does and doesn’t go into our heart. The biggest mistake we can make as Christians after studying His word is to look around us and say, “Yes, I know people who fall into one of those categories”. I know someone who didn’t last long as a Christian”. That’s not the point of the parable.

The point of the parable is to get us to look at ourselves—not around us. Is our heart-felt response to the gospel described in this parable? It’s about you. It’s not about the person sitting next to you. It’s not about the person who isn’t here today. It’s about you. How does it apply to you?

I pray the word fell on good soil. Yet, I know we must take our faith one day at a time because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. We are reminded in 1 Corinthians 10:12 – “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” We must run this race in a constant and deliberate manner. The cares of this world, like weeds in the springtime, will spring up unbidden.

Let’s not judge each other with this parable. Let’s continue to encourage each other to remain faithful to the end and trust in God to help us produce the fruit He requires.

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins... If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

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

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Taken from sermon by Mike Glover

The Master Teacher

The Master Teacher

INTRO:
Good evening. What I would like to do for a few lessons is take a look at the parables taught by Jesus. Why the parables? I want to try and understand what a parable is and why Jesus spoke in parables in the first place. Let’s keep that question in mind as we look at scripture today. Just as a reminder if you hear me say anything that is not according to scripture please let me know and we can look at it together. In general I will be using the New King James or the King James Version for reference.

We have all read the directions and the warning labels on things that we buy. Here are some I found interesting.
On a rain gauge: "Suitable for outdoor use.”
On a packet of airline peanuts: "Open and eat contents."
On a chainsaw: "Do not attempt to stop chain with hands."
On a can of air freshener: "For use by trained personnel only."
On a steering-wheel lock: "Remove lock before driving."
On a box of salt: “Warning: High in sodium.”

I guess the point is that even the simple things in life need some explaining at times.
I’ve shared a lot of stories with you all over the years, often to assist in making a point or bringing something to mind, but when it comes to parables and illustrations Jesus will always be the Master teacher.

I have heard it said about some of the things that Jesus spoke; “That is a parable” or “that is not a parable” and I wondered: What is a parable? Looking at Luke 18:1 we see “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,”. Looking up the Greek for that verse I found the word we translate as “parable” is παραβολή parabolḗ, par-ab-ol-ay. Strong defines it as “a similitude”, a placing beside; a comparison; equivalent or something to compare, a likeness.

Some say that a parable is ‘An earthly story with a heavenly meaning’ but really a parable is more than that. One dictionary defines a parable as ‘A short figurative story, designed to convey some truth or moral lesson.’ Another dictionary says ‘A brief story using events or facts of everyday life to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth.’ The blue letter bible includes: “a pithy and instructive saying, involving some likeness or comparison and having perceptive or admonitory force, an aphorism, a maxim, a proverb.

I. As I read all of that, and you will find more, it seems to me that parables come in many different styles and forms and shapes and formats.
A. Let me give you a couple of examples. You may not have thought of these as parables. In Luke 4 for example, after Jesus had been tempted by the devil, He went on the Sabbath Day to the synagogue. When the leaders heard Him read the prophet Isaiah from a scroll they asked in verse 22 “Is not this Joseph's son?” Jesus replied at verse 23, “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.” Here we have an example of a parable in the form of a ‘proverb’.
B. Another example in Luke chapter 5 is where we find Jesus sharing a parable in the form of a ‘metaphor’ to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Luke 5:36-39 – “36. Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37. "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38. "But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39. "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.' ''”
C. There are many other forms of parables that Jesus used in His teaching. Jesus used parables as a form of teaching, a tool. It wasn’t the only form of teaching He used but it was definitely a form He used often. Throughout the gospels there are over 30 parables that Jesus spoke. Most people know the parables of Jesus, even non-Christians know some of the parables He used. All of them are “classics” in some form and like I said earlier Jesus was the Master teacher. There’s no getting away from that.
II. Let’s go ahead and let the Master teacher answer our first question. Jesus, why did you speak in parables? We find the answer in Mark 4:10-13 – “10. But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11. And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12. "so that 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.' '' 13. And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
A. He said you are given to understand but to those on the outside everything is said in parables. Why? So that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?”
B. His parables were designed to test His hearers, not an intelligence test but a spiritual responsiveness test. That’s what they were designed to do. They were all designed to get a response. However, as Jesus says, if you can’t understand this parable, how will you understand any parable? Of course, here in Mark where we just read, Jesus is teaching the parable of ‘The Seed Sower’. We will look at that in more detail some day.
C. Turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 10. We will use this parable to help us understand some things about all the parables that Jesus taught. We are going to look at it for some foundations. I’ll start with some background.
III. There was a man who was an expert in the Law of Moses and he asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus, the Master teacher does what He usually does and swings it right back and asks the man what he thought the law said concerning eternal life. His answer to Jesus was, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Jesus tells him that he had answered correctly and told him that if he does this he will live.
A. However, we are told this lawyer wanted to justify himself and so he asks Jesus another question, "And who is my neighbor?" The master teacher starts His parable in verse 30 of Luke 10. Luke 10:30 – “Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him, "and went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?''” [NKJV]
B. The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." When Jesus taught, His parables were always spontaneous. He did not have to think about them first and say, “Listen, can you come back next week and I’ll explain what I’m talking about here. I certainly would have.
C. Jesus would give spontaneous answers to people’s questions, and we should too. We should always be truthful with people when they ask us a question. There are times when we honestly must say, “Listen I don’t know the answer to that question right now, but I will get back to you. Then we do need to get back to them.
D. There are some questions that all Christians should always have an answer to. Has anyone ever asked you why you are a Christian? Has anyone ever asked you, why do you believe in God and go to worship every week? I suspect many of us can answer ‘Yes’ to those questions, because as Christians those are the type of questions we should easily be able to answer, even if we don’t know the Scriptures that well. A person doesn’t need to be a Bible scholar to answer them. We don’t need to know all the books of the Bible and all the apostles’ names to answer those questions, but we do need to be able to answer them.
1. 2 Timothy 4:2 says; “Preach the word! Be ready (when are we to be ready?) in season and out of season (i.e. all the time) . Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” We are to correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
2. 1 Peter 3:15 – “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;” Peter doesn’t tell us to have an answer for every question that comes our way. We are to answer for the hope that we have.
3. Folks, whether we have been a Christian for one day or 40 years it makes no difference, we should know why we became a Christian in the first place. It is an important thing for us to keep in mind and I suspect forgetting is the main reason why people fall away from the Lord, why they suddenly stop. Ultimately people fall away because they have forgotten where they came from. They’ve forgotten why they became Christians in the first place. They have forgotten the hope that they had in the very beginning after coming up out of the waters of baptism. They’ve forgotten.
E. Here is something else about Jesus’ parables we need to remember. You see in Luke 10:25 when the law expert asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
1. Notice what Jesus does. Jesus swings it back around to him and asks him, “What do you think the Law says?” The lawyer answers in verse 27, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
2. Then the man asked Jesus another question in verse 29, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus went on and told him the parable we call ‘The Good Samaritan’. I say “we call” it the ‘good Samaritan’ because the Bible never does. Please note, Jesus never calls the Samaritan good. Then Jesus asked the man this question in verse 36, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
3. Every parable had a point or a purpose. That’s why the man answered in verse 37, "The one who had mercy on him." Parables were told to get the listeners to think for themselves. That’s why they’re there. In this scene it is the lawyer who both asks, and answers the questions.
4. Jesus gave parables that were always designed to get a response, a change in attitude or a change in action in those who heard them because they had to have a response. Jesus gets to the point in this parable, and He tells the man, "Go and do likewise."
5. Jesus is saying to that man, “I know you understand how to get eternal life because you answered the question correctly.” Then Jesus tells him the difficult part of the answer, Jesus said “You need to go and do it.” The doing part is the hard part. Jesus wants us to love all people, have mercy on all people, not just those in our family, not just those we like, but all people. Love even those Samaritan people that you can’t stand to be around.
F. Notice in this parable the Law expert never even mentioned the word ‘Samaritan’. Did you notice that? He answers correctly—but he says, “The one who had mercy on him.” We don’t comprehend just how much the Jews hated the Samaritans and this hatred is not to be underestimated. They considered them unclean people. This guy hated them so much he wouldn’t even use the word ‘Samaritan’, never mind call him a neighbor.
1. Remember in John 4 when Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well? After the disciples went away to buy some food, it says in verse 27, “And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?'' or, "Why are You talking with her?''” We might wonder why the disciples were surprised, and why did they marvel. Not just because Jesus was talking to a woman but because He was speaking to a Samaritan woman.
2. Even she was surprised when Jesus, a Jew, was willing to speak to her, a Samaritan. That’s why she said to Jesus in John 4:9 – “"How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?'' (then John is being polite here says) For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” The Jews hated the Samaritans.
G. In some ways this dates back to the days of Jacob. Joseph was despised by his brothers and they attempted to do away with him. God intervened. Then before his death Jacob gave Joseph a blessing in which he calls him “a fruitful bough by a well” (Genesis 49:22). The tribes of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh were allotted the fertile land that eventually became Samaria. In about 722 BC Assyria conquered Northern Israel and took many people into captivity, resettling the land with foreigners, Gentiles. Around 600 BC the southern kingdom fell to Babylon and about 70 years later the remnant were allowed to return to rebuild Jerusalem. The Samaritans, a combination of Gentiles and those of the Northern Kingdom, opposed this repatriation of the south and tried to undermine it while the southern repatriates detested the mixed marriages and corrupt worship of their northern cousins.
1. This man’s answer to Jesus must have hurt his Jewish pride so much that he couldn’t even say the word ‘Samaritan’. To get the full import of this it helps us to understand what the parable meant to those who first heard it.
2. We need to be careful because some people have become experts at making every little detail, every little verse mean something in a parable. People try to dig more out of it. For example people will say that the priest and the Levite couldn’t help the man because of religious reasons. They will try and find out who the robbers were and who the robbers stood for. It’s like the man who said to his friend, “Do you see that forest over there?” His friend said, “What forest? I can’t see anything but trees.” We understand people can get tangled up so much in the text that sometimes they fail to see the point. Sometimes we do try to get a point from every little detail; and in the end miss the main point.
H. We forget to ask the question, what did it mean to those who were listening? That should be our first approach.
1. When Jesus was telling this man the parable; does it say the man listened and then though to himself, who’s the man who was robbed? Who were the robbers? He didn’t do any of that. Why? He knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. The lawyer had lost clear sight the Law because of traditions. The lawyer was just like the Priests and the Levites. They paid lip service to the Law. They forgot what God said to Moses in Exodus 33:19 “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” [para] Mercy? To a Samaritan? That would have been the last thing in that Jewish man’s mind. By the time Jesus had finished, the expert in the law knew that Jesus was saying to him, “I don’t want lip service, I don’t want sacrifice.”
2. What did Jesus really want him to understand? Matthew 23:23 this is one of those verses that we all remember. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” That’s what the parable is about. It was about the Jews getting rid of their racist attitude towards the Samaritans, toward the Gentiles and instead of treating others like some piece of dirt, outcasts, they should treat everyone justly and with mercy.
3. It’s about loving your neighbor as you love the Lord and yourself. The Samaritan did exactly what the priest and the Levite should have done. The Samaritan did what the lawyer now needs to go and do. In other words he needs to practice what he preaches, what he just said in his answer.
IV. Not all parables seem to apply to us today but we can still learn many lessons from them. After all they are the very words of Jesus, written in scriptures and as we all know “All Scripture is God breathed”, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that.
A. Now that we understand what the parable meant to that lawyer, we can now go on and see what we can learn from it ourselves. The lawyer only asked Jesus the question, “Who is my neighbor?” for one reason. Luke 10:29 “He wanted to justify himself.”
1. In other words, he wanted to make himself out to be blameless. He wanted people to look at him and see a good Jewish citizen doing what he should be doing. What Jesus did in the form of this parable was to get him to look at himself. That the lawyer could see his own sinfulness, and see just how far from the Law he really was.
2. I suspect we can become experts in justification, can’t we? When it comes to justifying ourselves of sin, justifying what we think or what we want to do, we have all become experts. We pick a position and then we justify that position. That’s because we tend to have different standards about what God’s Word says. In other words we can all give a good reason for doing something we shouldn’t be doing. Or in the case of the lawyer, not doing something he should have been doing.
B. Sin isn’t just about the things that you shouldn’t do like gossiping and drunkenness. Sin is also not doing the things that you should be doing.
1. Let’s look at that. James gives us an example in James 2:2-5 – “2. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3. and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place,'' and say to the poor man, "You stand there,'' or, "Sit here at my footstool,'' 4. have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5. Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
2. In other words if someone came into our meeting place who was dressed all scruffy, unshaven and probably lacked having a bath for a few weeks, are we going to love them or treat them any different from those who came in well dressed? Or as James asks, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” They may be poor in the world’s eyes but they may be richer in faith than we are. You don’t know.
3. Poor people have as much right to enter the kingdom of heaven as anyone. Test yourself – when you see people, mentally ask; Do they deserve to hear the gospel?
C. If we ever answer ‘No’ to that question, then we need to take a good hard look at our self and see just how far we have come from the standard we find in God’s Word. Take it one step further now, and imagine the situation James puts forward. If two people came into our worship assembly and one of them was well dressed and the other one wasn’t, which one would you invite to your home for dinner? I’m certain we would all talk to both of them. We wouldn’t have a problem with that, but which one would you take home to get to know a little better?
1. The lawyer had to learn to treat all people the same, whether they were a Jew or Samaritan, Jew or Gentile, because the Gospel is not just about believing, is it? It’s about doing. It’s about doing for one what you would do for another. If you don’t do that, then that is sin in God’s eyes.
D. I’m going to give you another example from James. You probably know this in James 2:15-17 – “15. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16. and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,'' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” It’s all very well standing up here and talking about the needy. It’s all very well having our after worship chats about those in need. If we just talk the talk and don’t walk the walk, we’re sinning. We are not living as Christians, trying to follow the example Jesus gave us. Unfortunately we sometimes try and justify ourselves just like the lawyer did and say things like, “Well, I’m kind of busy to stop and help that person sitting homeless in the street.”
1. If you see a brother or sister in need “I can’t invite them in to eat today because I need to get to church on time, I’m reading or serving today.” Are we not justifying ourselves? That’s what the priest and the Levite did in the story. They were going somewhere, but guess what, so was the Samaritan. The only difference was that the Samaritan stopped to help.
2. We can stop and help people; we can stop and share the gospel with people because wherever we are going can wait. How long does it take to give a hungry person a couple of bucks to buy a sandwich? You may not be able to stay long with them but you can arrange to catch up with them again later. Even a few words can serve to hold the door open.
3. That’s what the Samaritan did. Luke 10:35 - “"On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'” He didn’t just help the man and then leave him. He went back to make sure he was OK.
E. Let’s not make excuses for not helping people and try to justify ourselves in the process. Let’s practice what we preach because we love our Lord and we do try to show our neighbors how much we love them.
V. Perhaps the real question the lawyer should have asked Jesus was this; “Master, how do I love my neighbor?” He didn’t ask that, he asked, “Who is my neighbor?” We too often say things to get an answer which will remove us from the necessity of doing anything. We should be asking the question that the lawyer should have asked. Jesus, how do we love our neighbors?
A. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:6 – “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Faith with legs attached. We love our neighbors by helping our neighbors with the love the Lord has shown to us.
B. Thinking about that, what about those who aren’t Christians today? Do they deserve to hear the gospel? Or are we going to say, “I wish you well; keep safe and best of luck for getting into heaven.” Is that what we’re going to do?

CONCLUSION:
If there are any of you who aren’t Christians today, there is good news. You are surrounded by a bunch of people who have heard that good news and have responded to that good news. We are ready to share with you why we became Christians in the first place and share our hope with you.

We have those answers and are ready to give you an answer to the hope that lies within us; all you have to do is ask any of them. When they tell you why they became Christians, they will tell you how you too can become a Christian by being obedient to the Gospel of Christ.

The parables of Christ separated people. Did you know that? Those who wanted to know the truth and those who didn’t want to know the truth. The truth is this, if you turn to God and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and if you confess Jesus as Lord of your life and are immersed for the forgiveness of your sins then you will receive God’s promised Holy Spirit to dwell within you.

The Holy Spirit acts as a deposit, guaranteeing your entry into heaven, if you remain faithful to Him and His word for the rest of your life. He’s not looking for perfection as we understand perfection. What He is looking for is faithfulness.

We need to ask people today; what can I do for you? I hope and pray that we ask Jesus; how do we love our neighbor? That’s the right question that should have been asked here.

We are about to sing the song of invitation. If you are not a Christian, we with all our heart, plead with you to make a decision for Christ today. To decide to be His child, step out in faith and be baptized in water for the forgiveness of sin. That faith becomes access to the grace of God, made possible by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We believe in that and we rest our hope in that blood.

We invite anyone who has that need or any other need to come forward while we stand and while we sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Mike Glover

Singing With The Understanding

Singing With The Understanding
1 Corinthians 14:15

INTRO:
Good morning. This morning let us begin by reading a passage from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 2:1-13 – “1. My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, 2. so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; 3. yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, 4. If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5. then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 8. He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints. 9. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path. 10. When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11. discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, 12. to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, 13. from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness;”

As we have studied in the past, our worship to God is actually a manifestation of our personal relationship with God that comes from our heart. Worship is an expression of what is in our heart. A part of this worship and our relationship with God is singing to Him. Our sermon this morning is going to be on the subject of the importance of singing with the understanding.

Let’s look at First Corinthians 14:15 where it says; “What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” We recognize that in our worship to God while we're singing praises to Him, He is looking into our hearts.
He wants it to be actual communication from our heart to His heart. It is not just making noise. Communication is expected to be with the understanding of what you say.

Would we feel that we were praised, honored or glorified if someone was saying something to us, and even though the words being said were kind, the person saying them didn't know what they were saying? In the same way, if we don't know what we're saying to someone is there really any meaning behind it? The Lord wants us to understand what we are saying and singing to Him because that is how we are involved. Can we really put our heart into singing something we do not understand?

In the letter to the Colossians 3:16 Paul says; “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” You will note there are two aspects of our singing mentioned here.

One part of it is from our heart to the Lord, but another part of our singing is teaching and admonishing one another. That means there's a lesson in the songs that we are singing and we're supposed to be receiving and understanding the lesson in the song.
Folks, there is a danger that I sincerely believe we face when it comes to our worshipping God in song. That is we do not always understand the message of the song. Sometimes we understand only a part of it. Sometimes even if we read the words we might not understand what is being said. In addition to the poetic writing, misunderstandings might come from a number of other factors, figures of speech, archaic terms, words very seldom used, and even ignorance of a Bible teaching that may be alluded to in the song.

What I would like to do today is look at four songs which have a great deal of what I call poetic license within them. When we sing these songs if we do not understand what these poetic terms are referring to, then we're just saying words. Even though we may be singing the words in the exact melody and tone they are supposed to be sung in, if we don't know what the message is we can not sing from the heart to please the Lord.

I. Our God wants us to sing to Him, praise Him and glorify Him because we love Him for loving us and we want to express to Him, to communicate to Him, our thanksgiving, our love and our devotion. God also wants us to listen to each other and learn from our worship to Him.
A. To do that we need to understand what we're singing. We are to be taught by the lesson and not just go through the motions of singing a song. I admit I’m not very good with songs and I do not mean just the tune but I have difficulty with some songs just recognizing and saying the words especially if it is one we do not sing often. I suppose for that reason I like very simple songs, or at least familiar ones.
B. There are many beautiful songs that we sing which were written a 100 or 200 years ago. They used a different style of writing during then. Song writers used a great deal of poetic license at that time in history. As a consequence, some songs that were written about 100 or so years ago require some effort, some thought, to understand.
1. Let me try to give an example of that sort of difficulty. It's somewhat similar to reading from the King James translation. Unless you were raised with the King James translation as I was, sometimes you read that language and it throws you off.
2. The King James Bible was written using what we now call Early Modern English. Early Modern English is the stage of the English language from the transition out of Middle English, in the late 15th century, to the transition into Modern English, in the mid-to-late 17th century. The grammatical and orthographical conventions of literary Early Modern English are still very influential on Modern Standard English and most modern readers of English can understand texts such as the King James Bible though sometimes care is needed to get the full meaning.
3. Some words which originated in Middle English, survived through Early Modern English in their meaning but lost their meaning in Modern Standard English. An example is the use of the verb "suffer" in the sense of "to allow". It survived into Early Modern English, as in the phrase "suffer the little children" of the King James Bible, but that use of the verb has been lost in Modern Standard English.
4. I read the King James and the New King James because I'm used to them. Not everyone is and since I am uncertain of everyone’s understanding, I find myself spending some time in lessons discussing the meaning of some of the words involved. This is why I often ask for people to comment with a different version during Bible study.
C. Poetry adds another dimension to the issue. Sometimes we have problems with the style of the writing of poetry from the last century and 200 years ago. If you find yourself singing a song and after you go home and you think to yourself; I really don't know what that song was about, get your song book and study that song.
1. Let me give you a quick example in part of a song we sing, “Give Me The Bible”. In this hymn, we sing of “the glory gilding Jordan’s wave”. Something which is “gilded” is overlaid with gold. “Jordan’s wave” is a figurative expression for death. As Israel of old had to literally cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, so all of God’s spiritual Israel (the church) must die to gain Heaven. Death generally holds men in fear, but the promises and comforts of God’s Word make even death attractive (as if it were gilded) for the faithful saint.
2. We need to find the message in the song so that we won't be just going through the motions of worship. If we just go through the motions of worship, if all it is, mouthing words, we need to recognize that is just as empty as not worshipping God according to truth.
II. Let’s look at some songs to gain an understanding of what lessons these songs provide. Probably the most commonly known song which is sung without understanding is Night with Ebon Pinion. It has an absolutely beautiful melody. Its use of poetic words, especially in the first stanza, makes it difficult to understand what it's talking about.
A. In our hymnal, Sacred Selections, this is number 293. This particular song is describing Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night when He's praying to the Lord. You remember that text. I will quote from the Book of Mark 14:33-41. Jesus goes to the God three times and prays “"Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.''” [NKJV] The song is about Jesus before His crucifixion while He is praying in the garden of Gethsemane.
B. Look at the first stanza.
Night, with ebon pinion, brooded o’er the vale;
All around was silent, save the night wind’s wail,
When Christ, the Man of Sorrows,
In tears, and sweat, and blood,
Prostrate in the garden, raised His voice to God.
1. It says “Night with ebon pinion”. What is Ebon? Sometimes we use the word Ebony as in the keys of the piano, ebony and ivory and it means the color black. Night with black pinion. Blackness also imparts a feeling of doom, even death.
2. Then what is a pinion as used here? It is the outer part of a bird’s wing including the flight feathers. Poetically we are talking about night on black wings.
3. Brooding is a term used to describe what chickens and other birds to with their wings when they cover their young. The picture now includes dark wings completely covering and it says “o’er the vale”.
4. A veil is a poetic term for Valley a low lying tract of land. What is being described here in poetic terms is the darkness of night covering a valley like the dark wings a great black bird, bearing doom, and it casts its shadow over the Lord as He knelt to pray in the garden.
5. The second line tells that silence is all around save the night wind’s wail. The word wail is a mournful sound of the wind. This adds to the depiction of Jesus praying with great sorrow. The only thing you can hear in this dark night is the wind blowing because all His companions are sleeping.
6. The next line, “When Christ, the Man of Sorrows”, is quite easy for us to understand and connects back to prophesy of the messiah in Isaiah 53:3 – “He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
7. The words “In tears, and sweat, and blood” in the next line is also easy to understand.
8. The word “Prostrate” in the last line is laying with the face to the ground. This is the position Christ prayed in and is a position of extreme honor to God. A person cannot lower their body anymore then this. When we pray quite often we bow our heads close our eyes, and sometime we stand in order to show respect. That's a common courtesy in our culture. “Prostrate in the garden, raised His voice to God.”
C. Now the second stanza.
Smitten for offenses which were not His own,
He, for our transgressions, had to weep alone;
No friend with words to comfort,
Nor hand to help was there,
When the Meek and Lowly humbly bowed in prayer.
1. This stanza is a clear reference to Isaiah 53. The word smitten means to strike with disaster. This is the idea of the disaster that's about to come upon Christ, but it's not because of anything that He's done wrong.
2. With His stripes we are healed. “He for our transgressions” that is right out of Isaiah 53. “Had to weep alone”. This is dealing with Christ weeping in the garden of Gethsemane, where His tears became as sweat and blood. He is weeping alone, “No friend with words to comfort”, everybody's asleep.
3. He was amazed that they couldn't even watch with him for one hour. “Nor hand to help was there, when the meek and lowly humbly bowed in prayer”.
4. This is beautiful poetry describing our Lord praying in the garden of Gethsemane.
D. Now look at the third stanza and we see the prayer;
“Abba, Father, Father, if indeed it may,
Let this cup of anguish pass from Me, I pray;
Yet, if it must be suffered, by Me, Thine only Son,
Abba, Father, Father, let Thy will be done.”
1. This is clearly from the record of the gospels.
2. I digress here to mention that many of these hymns being poetic in structure are written to bring to our minds a word picture. This one does it very well and we should be thinking on what it tells us, letting our hearts express to God our thoughts of what is shown to us. True we can take many of these poetic hymns to task on scriptural accuracy and some people do that. I’ll leave that with you to ponder.
III. Next I would like to look at number 545 in our hymnal, O’ Thou Font of Every Blessing. This song is again a song written in the same time period, uses terminology that you may not be familiar with, and is describing the blood of Christ.
A. Let's begin here in the first stanza seeing what God has done for us.
O, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me, ever to adore Thee
May I still Thy goodness prove
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love
1. In the very beginning we’re singing about the grace of God, mercy of God, what God has done for us. We’re conscious and mindful of the mercy of God. Fount is descriptive of a fountain which in this case delivers every blessing to us. God is that fountain.
2. “Tune” means to adjust. It moves our hearts to sing praises to Him. We implore that we may reflect His glory and goodness, in the living of our lives, while we are looking forward to the endless glory of being with Him.
B. In the second stanza the song continues in describing the grace of God and what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I’ve come
And I hope by Thy Good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed his precious blood
1. “Here I raise my Ebenezer” has to do with something Samuel did in First Samuel 7:12 – “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us.''” Breaking the word down, Eben is Hebrew for stone and Nezer is Hebrew for help. It's literally stone of help and Samuel set up a monument which means the Lord has helped us.
2. The idea of setting up this monument, this Ebenezer, is to recognize that God has helped us up to this point in time, “Hither by Thy help I’ve come”. Next it is looking forward, that through His help we're going to make it to heaven. “And I hope by Thy Good pleasure safely to arrive at home”. We have hope that God will lead us all the way.
3. The hymn tells us “Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God”. This is describing us as we were, strangers, enemies of God. We were separated from God wandering in the world—and in sin. In Christ we become the friends of God. We become the children of God.
4. Christ rescued us from the danger of this world by interposing His precious blood. Interposed is a word that’s not in our everyday vocabulary. It means to place or insert between one thing and another. It is the idea that the blood of Christ comes between, intervenes between us and the punishment we deserve.
C. Then the last stanza:
O, to Grace how great a debtor
Daily I am constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Never let me wander from Thee,
Never leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O, taken and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."
1. We realize here again we're talking about the grace of God. Every day, being conscious of the grace of God, we recognize our debt to God.
2. Our desire is to be bound to Him through His grace. Unless you work with welding or animals the word “fetter” may be unfamiliar. A “fetter” is something used to restrain. Something which binds one thing to another. When we are conscious of the grace and the love of God, it draws us, binds us to Him and we will not leave Him.
3. “Here is my heart O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.” The closing is talking about our hope in looking to heaven and being with God. This song is about the grace of God and how it moves us to sing praises to God and be aware of the mercy that God has shown to us through the shedding of the blood of His son so that our sins may be forgiven. It moves us to glorify God, to love God, to be drawn to God and not to want to leave God, realizing that we've come this far in our relationship with God by His grace and by that same grace eventually will we be allowed to be with Him in heaven.
IV. The next song I want to look at is There Stands A Rock, number 122 in our hymnal. It’s a wonderful song with a great message. It goes back to the Sermon on the Mount and the close of the seventh chapter where Jesus is talking about a wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. That's where this song is primarily coming from, yet it uses some words that I want to look at.
A. The first stanza:
There stands a Rock, on shores of time
That rears to heav'n its head sublime
That Rock is cleft, and they are blest
Who find within this cleft a rest
1. Let’s start with the second line, “That rears to heav'n its head sublime”. “Rear” as used here means to lift up, to elevate, like a horse when it rears up. In this case it is the idea of a rock elevating its head toward heaven. This also carries with it the aspect of not fully leaving one place and going to another.
2. Sublime is describing the highest degree, that is, majestic. Not hard to figure out that this is describing Christ as the Rock. Christ is depicted as the Rock that rears its majestic head to heaven. “On shores of time” indicates the border between time and eternity where the Rock stands.
3. “That Rock is cleft” – Cleft means to split, divide or to partially divide. A cleft is a narrow opening or crevice in rocks. We find this in the Old Testament in Exodus 33:21-23 – “And the Lord said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. "So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. "Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.''” God is speaking with Moses telling him that God will show Moses His glory but Moses may not see His face and live. Therefore God will protect Moses in the cleft of a rock until He passes by. In this verse the idea being portrayed is that those protected in the cleft, protected by God, are blest.
4. I’ll put it this way. It's a firm rock, it's not going to move, but it's got a crevice in it. We get inside the crevice of this rock for protection. The idea is that Jesus Christ, the rock, is our protection from death. That's why it says that this rock is cleft and those are blessed who find within this cleft a rest. The aspect of a resting place from the storms of life. Christ is our strength (the rock) and shield (the cleft).
B. The second stanza makes it even clearer.
That Rock's a cross, its arms outspread
Celestial glory bathes its head
To its firm base my all I bring
And to the Cross of Ages cling
1. The idea of the cross with its arms outspread is a poetic description of Christ’s arms opening wide for you. It's an unusual picture. The description is that of a cross with arms outspread as though Christ arms are wide open waiting for you to come to Him.
2. Celestial glory is heavenly glory and this confirms we are talking about Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
3. The next two lines describe our actions. We come to the base of the cross bringing ourselves to the Lord realizing that it's through Christ crucified that we have any hope whatsoever of being with God. We bring all our sins to the cross. We bring all our problems to the cross. We bring everything to the Lord.
4. I like this idea—to the Cross of Ages cling. It is as if you can imagine you're out in the ocean and there's a life raft. You cling to that life raft because you know that without it you have no hope whatsoever.
5. The truth of the matter is, that is how a relationship with God is. We cling to the Lord in the storms of life. We cling to him because we realize without him we have no hope. It's a beautiful way to describe our relationship with God.
C. Stanza three says;
That Rock's a tow'r, whose lofty height
Illumed with heav'n's unclouded light
Opes wide its gates beneath the dome
Where saints find rest with Christ at home
1. Here the hymn writer uses another way to describe Christ as a tower, its lofty height is illuminated. Illuminated with heavenly, unclouded light.
2. Opes is an archaic or literary way of saying opening. Opening its gates beneath the dome. The descriptive picture that we go to Christ for refuge in a tower and ultimately where we will be at home with Christ.
3. In this hymn Christ is described as a rock that protects us in times of storm. He’s described as a cross with His arms out spread wanting us to come to Him in love. He’s described as a tower where we can go to gain comfort and for refuge.
4. That Rock stands for our foundation because there will be storms in life and the person who hears the word of God and does the word of God is the one who builds their house on the rock. They are the ones who go to Christ in times of storm, the ones who cling to Him because they are surrounded by the raging sea of this world. That's the lesson this song provides.

CONCLUSION:
The hymns we sing talk about our total dependence upon God, His compassion for us and His grace toward us. We need to be conscious of our dependence upon His compassion and His grace. What we do in response – is to worship and praise God. It is this consciousness of what God has done for us, His love, His grace and His mercy, the fact that He is God, the fact that He hears our prayers, that He sent His Son to interpose His blood between us and our deserved fate, and that Jesus Christ stands as our help and our mediator – that moves us and motivates us to have a desire to worship and sing from our heart to the Lord.

That's what worship is all about folks. It is an expression of our personal relationship with God that comes from a consciousness of what God has done for us. Our hymns give us great teaching and edification. As we sing songs that we do not know as well and learn new ones, we should strive to learn from them. We need to know what they are saying to us so that we are not just mouthing words. When we understand the meaning we will be singing with the understanding from our heart to the Lord.

One more song I want us to consider and that is number 271, Wonderful Love of Jesus. This song starts out with the very poetic line;
“In Vain in High and Holy Lays”
The song goes on in verse 1 to talk about the Inexpressible love of Jesus. In verse 2 the Comforting love of Jesus and in verse 3 about the Forgiving love of Jesus. What about that first line?
The phrase “in vain” simply means worthless, such as “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). The word “lays” comes to us from the Germanic through middle English and means songs. The next line says; “My soul, her grateful voice would raise”. The grateful heart sings the most meaningful, heart-felt songs possible. The first line here describes our singing with our hearts, with truly grateful emotion, the most awe-inspiring melody and most honest and true words... and yet... there is that word “vain”.

The next line explains; “For who can sing the worthy praise of the wonderful love of Jesus?” Striving from our hearts to the utmost still wouldn’t come close to accurately describing the wonderful love of Jesus. It can’t come close to doing justice to the praise Christ deserves. Though we understand in part, there is no way for our human minds to fully express the love of Jesus Christ for us. Though we can try with all our might, there is no way we can adequately express our gratitude for the love of Jesus.

Yet, if we are His and if we love Him with every fiber of our being, we must try. Just know that the love of Jesus is so great, so wonderful, so overwhelming that we cannot ever adequately express it. Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners. He died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). We show that love for Him through praise, worship, and obedience (Hebrews 5:9, John 14:15). The full extent of that love Christ has for us is truly inexpressible. It is through Christ’s love that we are saved, that we have hope, that we have comfort, and that we have forgiveness.

There may be somebody here this morning who is not a member of the body of Christ. Do you know you can change? You can change that situation. You can be a member of the body of Christ today. You can be saved and leave this building as a child of God in the body of Christ. You are a free-willed being with the power of choice.

I would like to encourage you to choose to obey the gospel. If you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God openly confess that faith, repent of your sins, start living by faith and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as you put off the old man and put on the new.
We’ll be glad to assist you, baptizing you for the remission of your sins and God adds you to His Kingdom.

You will be a child of God. You will be a Christian in the body of Christ. What is expected of you then is to take up your cross daily, to follow Him and live by faith.
If you are child of God already and there's sin in your life and you recognize that sin is separating you from God, I would like to encourage you to deal with it. You can change, yes you can. You don't have to do it. You don't have to sin. You can change.

Change motivated by godly sorrow, turning from your sin and coming home to the Father. We will pray for you. We will pray with you and do the very best we can to encourage you. If you're subject to the Gospel call in any way let it be made known while we stand and sing the song that has been selected.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Wayne Fancher

At The Tomb

At The Tomb
Matthew 27: 57 – 66

A man was driving along the highway when saw the Easter rabbit hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the rabbit but unfortunately the bunny jumped in front of the car and was struck by his car. The driver, being a sensitive man, as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to check out the situation. Much to his dismay, the colourful rabbit was dead. The driver felt so awful, he began to cry.
A woman driving down the highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong. 'I feel terrible', he explained, 'I accidentally hit the Easter rabbit and killed it. Children will be so disappointed. What should I do?'
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the dead, limp rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can onto the furry animal. Miraculously the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. 50 metres away the rabbit stopped turned around, waved and hopped down the road. 50 metres further on, he turned again, waved and hopped another 50 metres, again he waved.
The man was astonished. He couldn't figure out what substance could be in the woman's spray can. He ran over to the woman and asked, 'What is in your spray can?
The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: 'Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave.'
This morning I would like to look at the 27th chapter of Matthew and a few lessons we can learn from the tomb of Jesus.
The disciples must have been devastated. They had been inspired by Jesus’ teachings. And they had decided to follow Him. It had not been an easy road, but they had willingly left families, homes, & jobs to follow Jesus.
As they walked with Him they had seen amazing things. They had seen Him multiply a few loaves & fishes & feed the multitudes. They saw Him walk on water, & calm an angry storm.
They saw Him straighten crooked limbs & give sight to the blind. He even raised the dead back to life again. Truly, He was the Messiah that God had promised would come!
And a week prior, when He entered Jerusalem, seemed to be a perfect climax to it all. To be in that crowded parade; to listen to their jubilant “Hosannas” & watch as they waved palm branches & threw flowers before Him. Everything confirmed that THEY had followed the RIGHT man.
B. But now He is dead. How could they have been SO WRONG? What would they do now?
What do you do when your heart is filled with despair?
What do you do when your world falls apart?
PROP. Well, what did happen? And what lessons can we apply to our lives today? Our scripture text this morning is Matthew 27:57-66.
I. THE SCENE AT THE TOMB
A. To begin with, the Bible tells us that Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus.
Listen to vs’s 57-58. “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
“Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.”
What do we know about this man named Joseph? We don’t know much, but we do know some things about him.
1. First of all, he was from Arimathea, a small town about 20 miles from Jerusalem. As towns go, Arimathea wasn’t very important, but Joseph himself evidently was.
In fact, Mark 15:43 tells us he was “...a prominent member of the Council...” (That’s the Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial authority of Israel who had illegally condemned Jesus to death).
But Luke 23:51 says that he was “...a good & upright man, who had not consented to their decision & action.”
2. Secondly, Matthew tells us that he was rich. I don’t know about you, but sometimes we act as if we think that Jesus came to minister only to those who are poor & down & out.
But Jesus Himself said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me.” (John 12:32) He came to minister not just to the poor but to the rich, also.
3. Thirdly, Joseph had an acquaintance named Nicodemus who helped him bury Jesus. Listen to John 19:39, “He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh & aloes, about 75 pounds.”
Matthew 27:59-60 goes on to say, “Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, & placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb & went away.”
So Joseph & Nicodemus together buried Jesus. They shared the cost. Joseph paid for the tomb, & Nicodemus paid for the burial spices. Why did they do this?
4. The apostle John gives a reason when he writes in John 19:38,
“Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews.”
ILL. That reminds me of the little boy who had adopted a stray dog. Someone asked, “What kind of dog is that?” He answered, “He’s a police dog.” The man said, “He doesn’t look like a police dog.” The boy answered, “That’s because he’s in the secret service.”
There are some Christians who seem to be in the secret service, following Jesus at a distance. They want to be His disciples, but like Joseph of Arimathea, they’re not sure they want everyone else to know. So they keep their faith secret.
Maybe now, when it was too late, Joseph & Nicodemus were trying to make amends, by doing the only thing left to do - bury the body of Jesus.
B. But Joseph & Nicodemus weren’t the only ones at the tomb. Vs. 61 says, “Mary Magdalene & the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.”
Do you realize that Jesus acted differently toward women than the average Jewish man? He treated women with respect. He acknowledged the presence of women. He spoke to them in public. No rabbi or Pharisee would have done that!
So, two women were there. They had been with others at the cross, weeping as He died. And now they were there as He was being buried.
C. Enemies of Jesus came to the tomb also.
Vs’s 62-63 say, “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests & the Pharisees went to Pilate. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After 3 days I will rise again.’’
Now think about that. The enemies of Jesus remembered that He had predicted His resurrection. And because His enemies remembered, they said to Pilate in vs’s 64-66,
“So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come & steal the body & tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. The last deception will be worse than the first.”
“‘Take a guard,’ Pilate answered. ‘Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.’ So, they went & made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone & posting the guard.’”
ILL. James Stuart, the writer, says that the most pathetic sentence in human literature is that of Pilate to the priests, “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
Stuart asks, “What would you say to a man who stands in the gray of dawn & says to the rising sun, ‘Stop! You cannot soar into the heavens today’?
“Or what would you say to a man who stands on the beach & draws a line in the sand & says to the tide, ‘Halt! You cannot cross this line’?
You would say to each of them, ‘You are mad!’
So what do you say to Roman soldiers who stand with spears in hand, guarding the tomb which holds the Lord of Life, trying to keep Him from rising from the dead?“
ILL. A hymn writer wrote:
See the tomb where death had laid Him, Empty now, its mouth declares; “Death & I could not contain Him, For the Throne of Life He shares.”
Come & worship, come & worship, Worship Christ, the Risen King!
II. FOUR LESSONS FROM THE TOMB
A. And as we worship, there are 4 lessons we should learn. The first one is: “Be realistic. The Christian life can be an emotional roller coaster.”
For the disciples it was exactly that. For them, Palm Sunday was a mountain-top experience. Then came Friday & the cross. And then Sunday & the resurrection. Up & down, up & down, & up again.
There are some who believe that once we become a Christian our troubles will be over, & everything will be wonderful from then on. But as we mature in the faith, as we learn to be realistic about our lives, we can say with the apostle Paul,
“I have learned the secret of being content in any & every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” [Philippians 4:12-13].
B. Here’s a second lesson: “Be patient. Desperate circumstances sometimes can be quickly reversed.”
For the disciples it took only 3 days. On Friday they are in deep despair, but by Sunday night they’re on top of the mountain because of the resurrection. So sometimes things can be quickly reversed.
Sometimes we wonder: “Why does God allow us to find ourselves in desperate circumstances?” The answer ought to be clear: God allows us to experience desperate things in life so that we’ll turn to Him.
Oftentimes it is only when we’re desperate or in despair, that we really recognize our need of God.
ILL. Why did God allow Moses to reach the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit? So that the people would turn to God for help. Then God parted the waters of the Red Sea & the children of Israel walked across on dry ground.
Why did God permit Joseph to spend 2 years in an Egyptian prison? So that he would depend completely on God. Then God gave him the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams & soon he is the Prime Minister of Egypt.
Why did God allow Jonah to be thrown overboard into a stormy sea? So that He could send His special fish to rescue him & vomit him up on the shore nearest Nineveh. Then he could preach the message of God to the people of Nineveh.
C. Here is the third lesson: “Be faithful, even when God doesn’t change your circumstances.”
I think the ultimate test of faith is not “What do we do when the problems are taken away?” The ultimate test of faith in our lives is “What do we do if the problems are not taken away?”
ILL. Maybe you’re dealing with cancer, & there’s no cure. And every day you experience the pain & face the uncertainty of the future.
Maybe you have a spouse or parent with Alzheimer’s. You’ve been dealing with that now for months & it just goes on & on.
Maybe you have a home situation filled with stress & tension, & there seems to be no solution to it.
The Living Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1:6-7, “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here. These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong & pure.”
D. And the fourth lesson is: “God’s plan may be better than all of our plans.”
ILL. Becky Pepper tells the familiar children’s story: “Once Upon A Mountaintop.” It’s about 3 little trees growing on the top of a mountain.
These trees were talking together one day. (Remember that In children’s stories trees can talk with one another.) One tree said to the others, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
One answered, “Well, when I look up at the heavens & see the stars sparkling in the sky, I think to myself, ‘I’d like to be a treasure chest that holds diamonds & precious stones.’”
The other one said, “Well, when I grow up, I want to be part of a giant ship that sails across the sea carrying kings & queens to important destinations.”
Then the one who asked the question in the first place said, “When I grow up I just want to stay right here. I want to grow tall & straight, pointing to the heavens so that everyone who comes up on the mountain will look at me & think of God.”
Over the years the trees grew & grew. Finally, men came & cut the trees & took them down from the mountain.
The first one was delighted to find that he was being taken to a carpenter’s shop. But he was devastated when he discovered that he was not going to be made into a treasure chest, but rather, into a feeding trough.
And instead of holding precious stones, he would hold hay & feed for animals. And animals would come & slobber over him.
The second one was delighted to find that he was being taken to the seaside. But then he was devastated to discover that he was not going to be part of a giant ship, but just a tiny fishing boat. And his cargo would not be kings & queens taken to important places, but dead, smelly fish.
The third tree was disappointed that he was cut down. He had just wanted to stay on top of the mountain. He was even more disappointed when he was cut into beams that were placed in a stack of lumber & forgotten.
Years passed, & one day 2 people came into the stable where the young feeding trough had now grown old & worn through years of use.
The old feeding trough watched as the woman gave birth to a baby, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, & then laid him in the feeding trough. And he thought to himself, “I am a treasure chest, because now I hold the most precious thing that has ever come into this world.”
More years passed, & one day the second tree was sailing across the Sea of Galilee. On board were strangers, mostly fishermen.
Suddenly the winds came up & blew fiercely, & the waves began to beat against the little ship. Then one of the men stood up & said, “Peace, be still.” And the little ship suddenly realized that his task was not to carry kings, but the King of Kings & Lord of Lords.
A couple more years passed & one day the third tree was yanked from the lumber pile, & placed on the shoulders of a man who had to carry it through jeering crowds toward a hill called Calvary.
When they got there the beam was tossed to the ground, & the man was placed upon it. Then it felt the penetration of the nails driven through the man’s hands, & into its wood.
And as the people gathered around cursing & mocking the man, the poor tree felt ugly & hated, too.
But then the man was taken down & buried in a tomb, & on the third day raised from the dead. And the tree said, “Now I know that every time men look at ME they’ll think of God.”
INVITATION

Based on a sermon given
by Melvin Newland

Avoiding A Drifting Heart

Avoiding a Drifting Heart
Matthew 23: 23 – 28

IF GOD CAN MAKE A BUG’s BOTTOM LIGHT UP TO DECORATE THE NIGHT SKY, IMAGINE ALL HE CAN DO IN YOUR LIFE!
Dr. Evan Kane was the chief surgeon of Kane Summit Hospital in New York City.
He had practiced his specialty for 37 years.
Over the course of time he came to question the wisdom of using general anesthesia for every surgery.
He believed people would recover quicker if they only had local anesthesia.
Yet, no matter how convinced Dr. Kane was about his theory, he had one problem.
No one wanted to go under his knife while they were awake. Everyone he talked to had the same fear.
They did not want to feel the pain of the scalpel while they were awake during the surgery.
After much searching, Kane finally found a willing subject.
It helped that it was a relatively common procedure.
According to Dr. Kane's own records, ...... during his practice he had performed around 4,000 appendectomies, (P) so the procedure was almost second nature to him.
The patient was prepped and brought into the operating room. The local anesthesia was carefully administered.
As he had always done, he cut into the right side of the abdomen and entered the body cavity.
He tied off the blood vessels, found the appendix, excised it, and finished by sewing the incision back up.
To his own credit, he proved himself right.
Throughout the surgery the patient felt very little discomfort.
In fact, the patient was up and about the next afternoon, which was remarkable since this was back in 1921.
Back then when people had appendectomies they stayed in the hospital from 6 to 8 days.
It was a milestone in the world of medicine.
However what made it particularly noteworthy was that the patient and the doctor were the same person. Dr. Kane operated on himself. (Pause)
Believe it or not, that is what I am going to ask of you today.
What I want you to do is something like "spiritual exploratory surgery."
I want you to root around a bit in your soul, take a hard and honest look at your spiritual health, and to see if your faith walk is as healthy as it should be.

• Today we will see how the scribes and Pharisees ended up with the worst-case scenario
• Somewhere along the line, these men had drifted so far from God that they ended up with no heart for God.
• They were so far from God that they were plotting to kill Jesus.
• How could this happen, these men were supposed to be the cream of the crop when it came to being religious.
• They were the ones that people were to look to in order to see what it meant to serve and follow God.
• These men follow the law to the letter, but yet here they are, so far from God they could not recognize Him if He were standing right in front of them, WHICH HE WAS!
• Are the scribes and Pharisees so unique that what happened to them could only happen to them?
• Is it possible for me to drift so far from God, that I would no longer have a heart for Him?
• Wait, nothing can separate us from the love of God, no one can snatch us out of His hand, is that not what the Bible tells us?
• It sure does, BUT, we are a free-will being who can walk away from God anytime we choose.
• The context of the message today is that Jesus is confronting the scribes and Pharisees.
• Jesus will proclaim eight WOES against these leaders, chastising them in eight blind spots in their lives that was driving them from God.
• Not only were they drifting away from God, but they were also leading others to do the same thing.
• You know what is scary, how can folks who are so religious be so far from God?
• Let that thought bounce around in your mind, we will come back to that question later!
• Today we are going to look at three of the eight woes so that we can see how to protect ourselves from letting our heart drift so far away from God that we lose heart.
• Let’s turn to Matthew 23, we will be in verses 23-28, let’s start with verses 23 and 24
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Our heart will drift from God when we...
Allow the practice of putting the little things over the more significant things.
• The Pharisees were not treating the essential duties (how to treat people in a way that honors God) with the same sense of urgency as they were counting seeds.
• That would be like seeing your loved one with their arm almost cut off, and bleeding profusely, then you would get on them because their shirt does not match their pants?
• Jesus offers what God sees as weightier issues, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
• Justice is making sure we give all their just due. Treating everyone evenhanded, in a fair way.
• Mercy is displaying compassion and kindness to the poor and miserable, displaying loving-kindness in one’s conduct toward others.
• Faithfulness is a commitment to one's promise and/or belief in God.
• The Pharisees were very religious, yet they lacked in these crucial areas because they were only worried about being self-righteous.
• Jesus dealt with this in Matthew 25 where Jesus talked about clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and visiting folks in prison.
• The people asked when was Jesus in any of those conditions, He replies...
• Matthew 25:40 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
• The religious leaders treated people with contempt, they were so wrapped up in being what they considered righteous, that they forget that God loves people and has compassion toward people.
• Now, let’s take it to a different level.
• Jesus knew the heart of these people, He also knew what they were going to do to Him.
• These men prided themselves on being righteous, yet these men, in their desperation to get rid of Jesus, were willing to accuse an innocent man, to condemn an innocent man to death.
• These men would participate in pronouncing an unjust sentence against Jesus. They were unmerciful toward Him, and they had no faith in anything He or the Father said.
• Jesus told them they were to practice justice, mercy, and faithfulness without neglecting the other things they were doing.
• In verse 24, Jesus uses some humor to make a point.
• It was common practice to strain one’s wine through a linen cloth to keep one from swallowing an insect, which would make one ceremonially unclean.
• Jesus said you all are straining gnats and swallowing camels (which would make them unclean also).
• Religious duty is essential, but we are not to perform that duty at the exclusion or in place of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
• Jesus called them blind guides, the blind cannot see where they are going nor can they be trusted to lead others.
• Let’s look at verses 25-26
• Matthew 23:25–26 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Our Heart will drift from God by...
II. Focusing on what man can see.
• Now Jesus hits them with WOE number 6.
• These guys would clean the outside of the dishes and cups they would eat and drink from.
• Jesus was not condemning the practice, He was condemning the fact that these leaders were so focused on what man could see, the outside, that they paid no attention to the inside.
• Those pretty cups and dishes were littered with crusty and moldy food particles from past meals.
• These leaders were great at looking good on the outside.
• People wrongly surmised that because these guys looked the part, that they were the real deal.
• In the NFL, they love a big strong-armed quarterback.
• Throughout the history of the NFL, there have been so many prototype quarterbacks who looked the part but failed miserably.
• The year Peyton Manning was drafted, Ryan Leaf was that big strong-armed quarterback. San Diego selected him number 2 behind Manning in the 1998 draft out of Washington State.
• Leaf was 6’5”, 235 lbs, he could make all the throws and had a cannon for an arm.
• Many believed he should have been the number 1 pick.
• Leaf washed out, he looked the part, but could not play the role. His life is a sad story of failure.
• When you spend all your time focusing on what others can see, you will neglect what is important in life.
• How much time did you spend getting ready for church today? How much time did you spiritually prepare to be here, I am looking in the mirror on this one also?
• To these guys, appearance trumped what was on the inside. Should you take care of your appearance, YES, but not at the exclusion of what is happening on the inside.
• Many relationships fail because one or both in the marriage work hard on putting on the appearance of a perfect marriage, yet they do nothing internally to make it healthy.
• It is like spending all your resources on making your car look good while neglecting what is under the hood.
• Jesus said, you look good but, on the inside, they were full of greed and self-indulgence.
• It is like the man who says he loves his wife, yet is hooked on porn, and lusts after every female that crosses his path. Yet the marriage appears to be strong.
• In verse 26, Jesus tells them to clean the inside first then the outside. This leads us to verses 27-28.
• Matthew 23:27–28 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Our Heart will drift from God by...
III. Neglecting what only God can see.
• The seventh WOE deals with a different level of hypocrisy.
• The religious leaders were careful about what others could see yet gave no regard for only what God could see.
• Time and time again they did things to receive the applause of man, not caring what God thought.
• Only God knows your heart.
• The Jews would whitewash tombs just before Passover so that a person would not accidentally step on a grave and make themselves ceremonially unclean before the Passover. Numbers 19:16
• It is easy to look good, to give off an impression that you are holy and devoted to God.
• It is actually quite easy to fake it. You can fool pretty much everyone you want, maybe except your spouse and children.
• We need to place our focus on working on only what God can see.
• We do not need to clean ourselves then come to Jesus, we need to go to Jesus and let Him work on us from the inside out, not the outside in!
• Jesus said, gentlemen, you look marvelous on the outside, but just like those whitewashed tombs, on the inside, they were full of dead bones and every kind of impurity!
• These were the ones who would put Jesus to death.
• He says this in verse 28.
• In the same way, on the outside, you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
• What good is it to fool people when I cannot fool God.
• The only explanation is for one to live this way in my view is that they do not think there is a God to fool.
CONCLUSION
• Back to a question I posed in the introduction, how can folks who are so religious be so far from God?
• This can happen when we do religious acts, and we think those religious acts make us righteous.
• We need to understand that you can be the most religious person on the earth, but if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, those acts are just acts.
• When I feel like I can earn my salvation, I have no need for Jesus, and my heart will drift away.
• There are so many out there who do not think they need Jesus because they can do it on their own, their own way.
• Don’t let your heart drift so far away that you end up with no heart for God.
• Do not neglect only what God can see. Use that same thought in your relationships also!

Things To Know For Times Of Trouble

Things To Know For Times Of Trouble
Judges 6:1 – 7:15

A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed between the pages.

'Momma, look what I found,' the boy called out.

'What have you got there, dear?' his mother asked.

With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: 'I think it's Adam's suit!'

• How many of you have had a life where you have had no difficulties? Life has been easy with no challenges. I would venture to say there are not too many people who can lay claim to a life without challenges and difficulty.
• How many times have you been in the midst of a difficult time and you just did not know what to do, you did not know where to turn. In desperation you cried out to God for help.
• When we get in tough situations we feel very helpless. Sometimes we feel so helpless that we forget that God can use us as part of the solution to the problem.
• When we feel helpless, there are a lot of things that we seem to forget regarding God and our problem.
• Today we are going to look in the book of Judges Chapters 6 and 7.  I want to look at someone who was in a terrible situation and I want us to look at some things that we need to know for times of trouble.
• The nation of Israel was in the throws of oppression, this time at the hands of the Midianites. The nation had enjoyed close to 40 years worth of prosperity and peace after Jabin had delivered them from the last oppression.
• Near the end of the 40 years, the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Now they were in the middle of 7 years of oppression at the hands of the Midianites. Each year during the harvest the Midians along with their allies would sweep into Israel and take all the grain and livestock they could take, thus ruining the harvest for the nation. READ Judges 6:3-6
3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them; 4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah.
• The nation was scared. Listen to verse 2 of chapter 6. “The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.”
• The nation of Israel was desperate to the point that they were once again crying out to God. JUDGES 6:6&7
• The nation was at a low point and they felt abandoned by God and they did not know what to do. Have you ever felt that way? They were so absorbed by the problem that the people could not see what to do in order to fix it.
• From our story today I want us to look at some things we need to know for times of trouble.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
I. GOD UNDERSTANDS THE REAL PROBLEM- 6:1-10
• How many times do we find our selves in a situation where we really do not see what got us unto the situation, or maybe down deep we knew why things were happening but we did not want to admit it?
• The nation had to know why they were in the throws of oppression; it is not like it had never happened before.
• Nevertheless the people were distraught. Verse six told us that the nation was at a low point.
• It has amazed me in my own life how many times I would be in the middle of something and not really want to acknowledge what the real problem was. How many times has this happened with money?
• The nation cried out to God. What did God do? He came in and immediately pushed the oppressors out of the county! WRONG.
• READ 6:7-10
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah because of Midian, 8 that Jehovah sent a prophet unto the children of Israel: and he said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land; 10 and I said unto you, I am Jehovah your God; ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But ye have not hearkened unto my voice.
• God gave them an answer in a strange way. God sent an unnamed prophet to let the nation know WHY they were having the problems they were facing. God did not give the people what they wanted, but instead what they needed. They needed to know why the oppression was happening
• In order to fix a problem, we need to know what the real problem is. If I thought my money problems resulted from a lack of money instead of a lack of discipline, as soon as I would get more money, I would just face more problems until I took care of the real issue.
• For the Israelites, the real issue was not the oppression, but instead their lack of obedience towards God.
• God knows what your real issues are so He can help you in your times of trouble.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
II. GOD KNOWS YOU CAPABILITIES 6:11-16
• Let’s look at what God was about to do. READ 6:11-16
11 And the angel of Jehovah came, and sat under the [a]oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt?
but now Jehovah hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. 14 And Jehovah [b]looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my [c]family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 16 And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
• God is about to offer a solution for the people through a most unlikely source. We do not know what attracted God to Gideon.
• An angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and more or less tells Gideon he is the solution to the problem the nation is facing.
• When Gideon is called by God, Gideon challenges the angel in verse 13. He wants to know why they are in the shape they are in and why God has done nothing about it.
• The angel tells Gideon that Gideon in going to deliver the nation.
• Gideon does not feel qualified to be one to lead the nation out of oppression.
• Gideon had many strikes against him. He was the youngest son; in a family the youngest son was not usually very highly esteemed. He was from an obscure family (Verse 15). Not only that but Gideon’s father is part of the problem, he was an idolater himself (Judges 6:28).
• Even with all the strikes against him, God knew Gideon’s capabilities. Notice in verse 12 the angel calls him a valiant warrior. This is kind of a strange greeting considering there was a good possibility Gideon was hiding while beating out the wheat lest it got taken from him.
• It was time for Gideon to quit feeling helpless and start feeling empowered! The angel tells Gideon in verse 14 to: "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"
• Look at verse 16. “But the Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man."
• Notice the lord tells Gideon that He sent him and that He will be with him and that through Gideon, Gideon would defeat the Midianites!
• When we get into difficult situations, we forget that God knows what we can and cannot do. God will not call us to do what we cannot do unless He is going to be there with us. We MUST remember “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
• We need to also need to remember, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7
• No matter how small, insignificant, young or old you are, God can use you for great things!
During times of trouble we need to know that:
III. GOD WILL LEAD YOU THROUGH SOME TOUGH ACTIONS 6:25-32
• When we have issues in our lives that need attention, there are times that God will lead us to do some tough things, to make some tough choices.
• Before Gideon could cleanse the nation of it’s’ idolatry, Gideon was going to have to do some house cleaning of his own first. READ 6:25-27
25 And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said unto him, Take thy father’s bullock,
[g]even the second bullock seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is [h]by it; 26 and build an altar unto Jehovah thy God upon the top of this stronghold, [i]in the orderly manner, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Jehovah had spoken unto him: and it came to pass, because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
• Gideon was called to clean up his house. Gideon was willing but afraid to do it so he did it at night.
• Many times the road to recovery starts with us. I wonder how many times we really know this but are unwilling to face it.
• Sometimes God will lead us to do things that are not popular with other people. Look at verses 28-30. The people were not too happy with what Gideon did, but it had to be done. Sometimes you will need to do some things that are not popular, but they are things that need to be done.
• It is interesting how Gideon’s father defended Gideon. He says that if Baal is real, Baal will take care of it.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
IV. GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE CONFIDENCE YOU NEED 6:36-40, 7:10-15
• When we are called to do some drastic things, God will give us the confidence we need to accomplish the task at hand.
• After Gideon took the stand and decided to obey God, he gained confidence. When the Midians heard about what happened, they gathered all their allies and Gideon send messengers out to build his army to go up against them. (Judges 6;32-35)
• Judges 6:36-40 gives us an interesting exchange. Follow with me. READ JUDGES 6:36-40.
36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast spoken, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast spoken. 38 And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me make trial, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
• Gideon still lacked a bit of confidence. He asked God to show him a sign. Gideon put out the fleece. Notice that God did not scold Gideon for a lack of faith, but instead He did what Gideon asked, not only once, but twice!
• I know when I have had to face some tough choices in life and I felt God was leading me one way, I have “put out the fleece” asking God for a conformation.
• We also see God giving Gideon another sign in Judges 7:10-15.
• God gave Gideon the confidence he needed to accomplish the task at hand.
• God will do the same for you if you seek Him.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
V. GOD EXPECTS TOTAL DEPENDENCE ON HIM 7:1-14
• How many times has God bailed you out of something or helped you in a time of need only for you to take the credit and for get what God had done for you?
• In Chapter 7:1-4, Gideon has an army an army of over 32,000 men respond to his call. IF you had 32,000 plus men, would you feel a bit more confident in your chances?
• God told Gideon He had too many people in the army so it was time to reduce the number.
• READ Judges 7:1-2
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of [p]Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, [q]by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2 And Jehovah said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

• God did not want Israel taking the credit for something they did not do.
• READ VERSE 3.
3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and [r]depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
• Well, 22,000 left with the first test. Well, 10,000 is not too bad.
• God said, “too many”. So God told Gideon to have the men drink at the river and separate the ones who lap the water like dogs from the ones who kneel to drink. (7:5-8)
• Now Gideon has a whopping 300 people left.
• How were 300 men going to defeat several thousand of the enemy? It could only be God. Sometimes things will not get better for us until we are ready to rely on God. DO you think Gideon would have been successful if he would have told God He was crazy and went to battle with the 32,000 men? Do you think you will succeed if you do the same?
During times of trouble we need to know that:
VI. THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD 7:15-22
• How many times have we tried to go out to battle on our own?
• Through this whole process, did God expect Gideon to do battle without Him? Did God expect Gideon to defeat the Midians without His help?
• NO!
• Does God want you to do battle on your own with Him? NO!
• Gideon took the 300 men he had and divided them into three companies. Judges 7:19-22.
• Always remember, the battle belongs to the Lord. You are not going it alone! Gideon did the impossible with 300 men and the Lord.
CONCLUSION
• When we are having trouble in our lives, know that God is with you.
• Do not wait until all seems lost to go to God. Start with Him.
• Gideon was a man whom would not have been chosen to lead the nation out of oppression, but God knew there was something special about him.
• When we start realizing that through God we have power and strength, nothing will defeat us! We will stand strong and we will realize that the battle belongs to the Lord!

 Based on a sermon given

by Jeffery Anselmi

What Have They Seen In Your House

What Have They Seen In Your House
Isaiah 39:4

INTRO:  Good evening. The sermon this evening is going to begin in Isaiah 39:4 as the foundation text from which we're going to launch into the rest of the lesson. “And he said, "What have they seen in your house?'' So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.''”[NKJV] I will take this phrase, what have they seen in your house and talk about that. This evening we're going to think about that in the physical sense of your own personal home. We're also going to be talking about it in the sense of the house of God.

In First Timothy 3:15 Paul says in part; “... I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

I. We have learned that everything we say, everything we do in the presence of other people will affect them somehow, in some way. Let us consider some questions. How do you carry yourself? That is, when people are around you, what do they see? When they come into your home what do they see? What impression do they carry away about you simply by being in your physical home? Not only that, what is it that people think about the Chardon church of Christ when they visit us, people that we don't know. People that come here from out of town, maybe they are moving to the area, maybe they are visiting someone, maybe they are just passing through. What do they think about the Chardon church of Christ when they come into this congregation of the house of God? What we’re going to be talking about are things that we hope that people would see in our house whenever they come among us.
II. In Colossians 3:18-20 – “18. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. 20. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” One thing we hope that we would see if we went into someone’s home is respect... respect for authority and respect for each other.
A. In the text we were told about the authority within the family unit. The way God has set up the family unit is where the father, the husband, is to be the head of the family, the husband loves the wife and the children obey the parents. That's the way the Lord intends and wants families to be.
1. Have you ever been visiting someone's house and after you've been there maybe 15 minutes you're ready to leave because you're tired of hearing the husband and the wife screaming at each other
2. Or you're tired of hearing the children screaming at the parents?
3. I’m not talking about anybody here, but I have experienced this even within some parts of my own family. I suspect some of you may to a lesser or greater degree, have experienced it as well. I can't believe they're talking that way to each other.
4. We need to realize that people when they come into our home their ears open up. If the husband's speaking rudely to the wife and the wife is speaking rudely to the husband and there's no respect for the parents from the children people pick up on that very quickly. They also pick up on that in the House of God.
B. In Ephesians 5:23-24 – “23. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”
1. Here we’re dealing with the house of God and how in the house of God we are supposed to have respect for authority. The authority in the church is the head of the church, Jesus Christ.
2. Hopefully when people come to the Chardon church of Christ they will get a sense of that respect, the acknowledging of Jesus as the head. It is why we do what we do in this congregation. The congregation is built around and structured around our desire to be pleasing to the head, Jesus Christ.
3. The reason we are organized the way we are is because that's the way that God taught in His word. The reason we sing acappella is because that's the way the Bible tells us to worship Him, in spirit and in truth and all the scriptures that deal with just singing. That's how they did it in the first century.
4. We're just trying to make sure that what we're doing in our worship, by taking the Lord's Supper on the first day of every week, praying to God, singing praises to God and even our lessons, is to pay respect to the authority of Jesus Christ.
5. Hopefully that is the sense that visitors will carry with them when they leave here.
6. They may not agree with everything we practice. They may not agree with everything we do and teach, but hopefully they will carry away a sense that these people are serious about simply wanting to live a life that's pleasing to God. If they don't get that from being with us, something's wrong.
7. Hopefully they never see were we have added to or removed from God’s word because we decided to practice something of our own devising.
III. Another thing that we hope that people would see in our home when they come to visit, is love.
A. Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,”
B. Also we find in Titus 2:4 – “that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,”.
1. I enjoy visiting homes where you can see in the eyes of the husband and the wife that they love each other. I’m not talking about newlyweds either.
2. It's understood that when you're around newlyweds they're all lovey-dovey. I'm talking about folks that have been married for decades. You can sense the strong, deep love they have for each other. Have you ever had it happen where you've visited someone and when you're leaving you think – Wow!?
3. I enjoyed being around them. You could tell they really care about each other. They really love each other even though they've been married many, many years; their love is just so deep. You can see the same thing hopefully, in congregations.
C. In First Peter 1:22 – “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,”
1. In the Gospel of John 13:35 – “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love for one another is the ultimate manifestation that we are really Christians.
2. Have you ever been to a congregation as a visitor and sensed these people really don't like each other? It's amazing they're even worshipping together. I have been and it reminds me of the saying “the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife”. You want to get out of there as quickly as you can.
3. Let people never think that way about the Chardon church of Christ. When people come here as visitors they should get a sense that we really care about each other.
4. We need to realize that this love for one another is a major way that God is showing His love to mankind. I’ll explain.
i. In the ancient Gentile world if you were a widow, your husband has died, you were in trouble. You were big trouble because in general nobody cared.
ii. You did not have a husband to bring home income to help you survive. You are on your own.
iii. If you were an orphan in the ancient Gentile world, your mother and your father died, you were in big trouble, again because in general nobody cared.
iv. It was a cold, heartless world and you were own your own with no one to help you.
v. Not so with God’s people. In Christianity you have an assembly where there are people that are slaves and masters, Jews and Gentiles, wealthy and poor, if someone happens to have their mother and father die what would happen is the spiritual family would come together and take them in and take care of even people that were not their physical flesh and blood.
vi. If a husband died and a widow was left you know what they would do. They would take her in as if she was family and see to her needs.
5. One of the things that caused Christianity to grow in leaps and bounds in the first century was real, honest-to-goodness love.
i. People would come into the assembly and they would see people from all kinds of backgrounds. They would see these people really cared about each other.
ii. It's a family, it's a unit, where if one member suffers all the members suffer. This is a way in which God's love is being shown to mankind.
6. The second of God’s greatest commandments is that we love our neighbor as we love our self. We are to love the brethren sincerely with a fervent heart.
i. When you come into a congregation where people actually care, that has a very strong draw even today. The world is still a very cold place.
ii. The world's still very evil and empty. Generally speaking we are going to find most people don't care. They don't care what your problems are. They don't care what your struggles are. They don't care what your needs are. Hopefully that's not the way we are.
iii. When people come among us, even as visitors, I hope they can sense that we are a family, that we really do care when a brother or sister is hurting. We care.
iv. Yes, we live fast paced lives just like everybody else in this American culture, but we need to do the best we can to slow down and bear one another's burdens.
v. To weep with those that weep, to rejoice with those that rejoice, to be there for one another. As I said it is a very strong draw today. People want to be among those that care.
IV. Romans 12:13 as we recall, says; “distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality”
A. In our physical home, if people come and visit do they feel welcome? That's a big part of what hospitality is.
1. The idea is I have an open house, open home. I want you to come over. I want you to come over and eat with us. Come over and just enjoy company and visiting and talking together.
2. Let me ask you are you that way with your physical home? Do you have people in to visit you, to interact with you?
3. It seems that now we're in such a fast paced culture, sometimes even husbands and wives don't visit with one another. They don't really interact much with each other. Its hello, I’ve got to go. We need to slow down and enjoy our family, enjoy being with each other.
4. God's people are the best people on earth. Perfect? No, not by any means, we have personal problems. Everybody here has got their own situation, their own set of problems.
5. The people who are really serious about Christianity are the best people you're will meet. You will want to be around them. You will want to get to know them. We should all be encouraged to open your homes to each other, to get to know each other.
B. Even if you don't know somebody here, make an effort to get to know them. Invite them over or invite them out.
1. Just do things together and make people feel welcome. Have you ever been around someone to where it's kind of like, hello it's nice to see you. But they keep you at arm's length, always at arm's length and just pass on by.
2. We should be encouraged to let down barriers, let people in sometimes. It is kind of a scary thing because we're not perfect and we do have problems. But we will find that God's people are the best people. They make really, really good friends.
C. First Peter 4:9 – “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.” When people come as visitors make them feel welcome. Hopefully when they leave they will be thinking, you know, those are really friendly people.
1. Let me ask you this. Have you ever been to a congregation when you felt like a ghost? We've gone and visited places before and usually we will try to sit down toward the front unless we are sitting with someone we know.
2. We've gone to congregations when we left our seat and the end of the service we walked all the way out the building and no one said a word, not a peep. It’s like, I guess they could care less that we came.
3. Please don't be that way. I don’t think we are. When people visit, we try to make them feel welcome to where it's understood we want them to come back. We want them to get to know us.
4. Leave them with the feeling that maybe if they live in this area they will consider worshipping with us on a regular basis.
5. We should look for an opportunity to invite them out to eat or even over to our home. It makes a strong impression on people when they recognize you don't know them and yet you want to be with them. The whole idea of hospitality is to make people feel welcome.
V. Now consider First Peter 3:1-2 – “1. Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2. when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” [NIV] Peter is speaking of godliness here. The respect of God as ultimately seen and manifested in the way in which a person lives. Here again we're talking about influence, about people seeing the way you live.
A. When people come into your home hopefully they will see a respect for authority. Hopefully they will see love. They should experience hospitality... but also one thing we hope that they will see and that is Godliness.
1. By the way you carry yourself in your home, by the things you do in your home together, they will come to the sense these people are serious about God and their relationship with God.
2. In this text Peter talking about a woman who's married to an unbeliever and what she is doing is living the Christian life. Her husband watches the way she lives day after day after day and that is drawing him to God.
3. We know that if we wear the name of Christ people are watching us. They're listening to us. If we tell someone we are a member of the church of Christ they will be watching us like a hawk.
B. You can tell a whole lot about somebody by going into their house, by the movies they watch, by the books they read. You can tell where they are in their relationship with God. If you see them reading and watching things that are vulgar, yelling at each other, showing disrespect and a lack of love, it certainly does not cry out that they honor God.
C. Hebrews 2:12 – “saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise to You.''” First Corinthians 11:26 – “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.”
1. Hopefully when people come to the house of God here in the Chardon, Ohio they will recognize that we respect God, that we are serious about Christianity. We’re not just going through the motions. We're not just coming together for the fun of it.
2. Whenever we're singing praises it's not just going through the motions of singing. We sing with the understanding and we're not just going through in ritualistic fashion the taking the Lord's Supper, singing the song, and saying the prayer.
3. Have you ever gone to a place where it seemed that they were just trying to get out? I've been to congregations before where, it was like how quickly can we get out of here. They just go through the motions, and everything was just go go go go go go go.
4. I would hope that when people come here they sense that our worship is real. Real singing from our hearts to God, really proclaiming the death of the Son of God, focusing our hearts and focusing our minds on Christ crucified, singing praises to our God from our heart, praying to God from our heart. Real worship.
5. People can sense when we are really pouring our heart into it. They can also sense when it's just a drudgery that people want to get through as quick as they can and get out.
D. What I sense when I go to congregations that are ritualistically dead is that in reality there is very little respect for God. It's Him we've come to worship and whom we've come to honor.
VI. Now a note to myself and all who chose to speak here. In First Peter 4:11 – “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.”
A. We are dealing with God being glorified and when we speak the word of God it needs to be in a way that glorifies Him. Yes, we do tell stories in our sermons with the objective of easing the audience into a thought or making an example or an analogy that is useful to the lesson. But it is our responsibility to teach the body of Christ and those that come here the word of God, not cutesy stories, not the latest fads in the news. We must be careful, vigilant that we do not let aids become filler and filler become content.
B. What we need is the Word of God that will produce our faith and strengthen our faith and help us come to understand the will of God more and more. As we grow in our understanding, in faith we will obey and continue to obey the will of God.
C. If we're going to glorify God and truly respect God when we speak, we must speak the oracles of God, the Word of God.
D. I have heard, though I do not know from experience, that there are those out there who are trying to teach preachers to teach without the word of God. I read of one preacher who dropped out of Harding graduate school because they were trying to teach him to preach without the word of God and give a sermon just by telling stories. I don’t know if it is true or not. -- A story has its place.

CONCLUSION:
Back to the original question, “What are they seeing in your house?” When people come into your physical home and hopefully this happens, when they come into your home and they observe the way you interact with your family members and they observe just your home itself what does that communicate to them?

When they come to your house they should get a real sense that these people love one another. These people respect and honor one another. These people make me feel welcome in their home. I’d like to go back and visit them again. These people are serious Christians.

What do they see when they come to the Chardon church of Christ? I would hope they see that we respect the authority Jesus Christ as the head of the church. That's why we're doing everything the way we're doing it. Additionally they should get a sense that we really care about each other.

It is a path of spiritual growth to reach the point where when one member suffers all the members suffer with them. We press on trying to have relationships with each other that extends beyond the assembly. We strive to be more than just friendly associates, but becoming real family, who weep when one weeps, rejoice when one rejoices and are found bearing one another's burdens.

We need to realize that it is by this love that we have for each other that we’re really declaring to all of the people out in the world we are the disciples of Christ.
When people come to the Chardon church of Christ as visitors we want them to feel welcome so when they're back in this area again they'll think Oh I'll go back and worship there. I remember how they made me feel and hopefully whenever they come, they will see in our worship to God that we really respect God. That respect shows in our worship and we respect Him by teaching His word... and trying to live it.

If this is not what they see then it's time to do some serious repenting and changing, so it is what they see. I think we're doing well. We love God and love each other.
We’re doing the best we can teaching the word and trying to live it. If I were a visitor I think I would feel welcome. But I also think we are not at the end of that path and we still can learn and improve.

I've been here 13 years and I think I can say this: I think we really do care about each other, but we can still get closer to each other and still get closer to God.

There may be somebody here this evening that is not a member of the body of Christ. If you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and you're willing to confess your faith and repent of your sins, we will be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ.
If you are a child of God and you've gone into the world and left the Father we would like to encourage you to come home come back.
We'll pray for you, pray with you.
As your brothers and sisters in the family of God we'll try to be there for you not just at the front of the building but hopefully throughout the week to encourage you and exhort you to be faithful.
If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way we invite you to come as we stand and sing the song selected.

The Question

The Question

John 17:20-21

INTRO: Good Morning. This lesson was given a little while ago in the evening and was requested to be repeated in at some time in the morning.

In our lessons we have had encouragement to teach people, and that is good. In reality talking to people can be difficult because there are walls built up in their minds. Over the years I have heard something either as a statement or question I thought a bit odd, and I’ve ignored that statement, but ran into it again this year as expressed in a book I was reading so I started to give it some thought. I suspect there's a good chance that you have either heard this question said to you or more likely you've just seen it in the eyes of people you have talked to. It seems to be a pretty common idea that people have when they find out that you are a member of a local church of Christ. “Isn't it true that the church of Christ believes that they are the only ones going to heaven?”

How do you answer that question? It seems simple enough on the face of it, but after some consideration about how we might answer this when we are trying to teach about Christ, I found it's a really difficult question to give a simple answer to. It's something that no matter how you approach it there is likely to be some misunderstanding between what they mean by church of Christ and what you mean by church of Christ. I might give an answer that's right, based on one definition and completely wrong based on another.

Even though it's a pretty complicated thing to tackle, we have to successfully answer this question because it is a roadblock in the minds of some people and it can block our chance to teach them the truth. We need to think about how we can get past this obstacle.

To illustrate how difficult this matter can be let me ask you this; if someone asks you “is it true that the church of Christ believes they're the only ones going to heaven” and if they're talking about the one true church of Christ, that is, the church that belongs to Christ, the Kingdom, what's the answer? YES.

Only people who are part of the one body of Christ are going to heaven. If they mean “is it true that only members of the Chardon 128 Maple Avenue church of Christ are going to heaven”, what's the answer? NO. There are saved people everywhere.

It's one of those really interesting things where you really cannot answer the question unless you come back with a question. I know people hate it when you answer a question with a question, but this is one of those times. “What do you mean when you say the church of Christ believes?” “More precisely who are you talking about?”

I strongly suspect that what they usually mean is neither the One church of Christ nor the Chardon 128 Maple Avenue church of Christ. Usually what folks mean is what we call denominationalism. They mean, “you know, you church of Christ denomination folks. You guys all think that everyone else is lost.”

Ultimately before we can get anyone to see the truth of what the Bible says about salvation, we need to show them that there is no such thing as a church of Christ denomination. Now we might think well that's a really easy thing to do, just say a couple things and that'll be over with.

Do you know how old denominationalism in religion is? It has been around a very long time. Various denominations had been developing in Europe long before this country was discovered. The Baptist denomination shows up on these shores and is established in 1638. Denominationalism was here before this country was established. No American has ever been born without seeing denominations all over the place. In many dictionaries today the first definition of “denomination” is related to religion. The Cambridge Dictionary says; “a religious group whose beliefs differ in some ways from other groups in the same religion”. Another definition is; “Denomination is defined as the act of categorizing or making a category, particularly of a religion.”

Since a denomination is defined as a category of something there is plenty of room for misunderstanding. Category of what? How much variance is needed to call something a category? How much difference before a collection is a category of a category of something?

The idea of telling someone we're undenominational is very confusing. That's not something we're born in this country with the ability to decipher by the very nature of it.
We have literally thousands of denominations. I believe there are members of churches of Christ who are also unclear about what it means to be undenominational.

Why is that? I strongly suspect it is partly because we were born into a denominational country with that way of thinking, and possibly into a denominational family, we may have grown up in a denominational church. It is really hard to grasp religion without categorization.

Let’s pick a place to begin and see if we can get a view of how this works. I don’t want to start with the group called “everyone” as far as religion goes since that would include those who believe in something and those who believe in nothing. Let’s instead take a look at how a person making that statement or asking that question might view us.

Here is what denominationalism looks like and then we'll entertain our question again.
I want you to imagine that there's this box. This rectangle represents where the saved people are. Everybody who's outside, and we know who they are, the really bad folks, they're not going to heaven but everybody in the rectangle is going to heaven.

In our country the only real hurdle you have to cross in order to be saved—is believe in Jesus. If you believe, now this is American thinking, if you believe in Jesus you leave this area outside and you get to be in the rectangle of salvation, bordered by the blood of Jesus. This is the way our nation thinks. When you talk to your neighbor that's where they're coming from. They think everybody who believes in Jesus is saved.

Once you decide you believe in Jesus you need to pick a church, but they don't mean the one church. They're already in that. They don't mean a local church. They mean a denomination. You need to decide what kind of a believer you want to be. I mean you're a believer and you're in, but what kind of a believer are you?
That is, do you want to be a Baptist believer because they have some really interesting rules and regulations some you like some you don’t. Do you want to be a Catholic believer? Because they allow some things that Baptists don't but there are some things they don't. Do you want to be a Methodist believer? Which category of believers do you want to be? It doesn't matter which you choose because they are all in the rectangle.

See that idea? Here we are then over here in the church of Christ box. I don't know why anybody would ever choose to be that because we teach very exclusive things about the necessity of baptism, the absolute omission of instrumental music, the Lord's Supper each week, the need to worship, the need to serve, and the need to learn from the scriptures. Oh that last one is tough. I mean I don't know why anybody would but some people do. You need to choose which box to be in.

Then once you've chosen your box, and it doesn't really matter which one. Then you choose which local church. the circles are; you want to go to, the 128 Maple Ave, you want to go to Mentor, or you get to go over to this church, or that church. You just pick one but they're all going to kind of look the same. Right?

There are plenty of other churches around Chardon. You can go to the Morning Star Friends down on Rt. 44, or New Testament Baptist, or Word of Faith, or St Mary’s, or Peace Lutheran.

This is the way the world sees the church—purely denomination. The idea that you guys over here in the corner are teaching that you must be baptized to be saved, well we don't believe that. The very idea that you would teach that we are wrong with God is pure idiocy. I mean look at the rectangle. Why would you ever teach that any of the rest of us are wrong with God when we're all in the box together? Just because our path looks a little different we all have the same goal.

Unless we can explain to someone what's wrong with this picture just forget about ever telling them that they need to change what they believe or they need to change how they've been baptized or they need to change the way they worship because denominational thinking doesn't need to entertain any of those questions. Why would I need to think about that? It doesn't matter which box you choose.

What then do we need to do? I think it's kind of an interesting journey. If we have any hope of talking to our friends and family about changing their beliefs about Jesus we have to deconstruct denominationalism in their minds. Otherwise they're never really going to care. Although interestingly enough there are some people who would kick these two boxes out. We all kind of make our decisions on who gets to be in the big rectangle right? Unfortunately this large box thinking from all these people puts quite a bit of pressure back on this little corner box and can even influence some here.

I. Not God’s Will: Here's what we want to do. Here is one of the first arguments we need to make. We start by showing that denominationalism is just dead wrong. It is not a biblical idea. It is not God's plan. If we're in a church of Christ denomination, we're wrong. If we’re in a Baptist denomination we're wrong. What it is saying is “we have agreed to be doctrinally different and accept that we're all in it together”. The concept of having separate groups with separate beliefs that look like one another but intentionally have differences, is completely, absolutely in violation of what the Bible teaches. If that's who we are, we are wrong.
A. I want to look at three things here. The first is that division has never been God's plan. I can just imagine saying; Jesus here's what we want to do with your church. What we want to do is to decide that everybody who calls on your name is saved no matter what, and then they get to decide what they want to believe. If they want to believe in baptism that's fine, or if not, that's fine. If they want to believe in women leadership that's fine, or if not, that's fine we'll just create a subset box, a denomination for similar beliefs. By the way there are not just eight of them, more like 20,000 of them.
1. Isn’t that wonderful, there's a flavor for everyone. Oh, and Jesus we're all going to teach a little something different about you, but we're all going to do it in your name.
2. What would the son of God have said to that? Let me ask you to open your Bibles with me to John 17. I would like to look at some common passages we have all read. This is where it all begins we have to throw out denominationalism for us and everybody else.
3. In John Chapter 17 I want you to see in verse 20 Jesus’ beautiful prayer just before He went to the garden and was ultimately crucified. John 17:20-21 – “20. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21. "that they all may be one,... as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Can you imagine Jesus and the Father having all kinds of different doctrinal beliefs? Just seeing things totally differently and deciding to just have like maybe a left heaven and a right heaven you know? When you go to heaven if you like what the Father has to say about things, you can be on this side and if you if you like what the Son has to say—no way! They are completely in unity on what they say and teach and God said that's how I want you to be as well.
4. Lets look at that, in first Corinthians chapter 1 we find the congregation in Corinth started to became divided, they started kind of saying well we favored this guy's teaching, some others said that guy’s teaching. This may sound familiar if you know anything about denominationalism. We favor this guy's teaching, we favor this fella's angle. The very idea of segregating was utterly rejected in; I Corinthians 1:10 – “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
5. What would the Apostle Paul think of Chardon Ohio today? What would he think of it? How many people are meeting in Jesus name in Chardon today? About 26—26 groups. Okay well how many different beliefs are there? About 26—26 differing sets of ideas on this or that. He would say so you do not all agree? Oh no, we do not agree. Then you are divided? Oh, yeah we are big time divided. What would He say about that? That cannot happen. That cannot be. That is not the way it should be. You need to find a way to agree and you need to find a way to bring those divisions together.
6. Think about this. The idea of separate beliefs in the one body is completely foreign to the word of God. Ephesians 4 please. In Ephesians Chapter 4 it talks about walking correctly, verse 1, it talks about having the right attitude - of humility and gentleness verse 2. Let’s look at verse 3. Ephesians 4:3 – “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Yes we want to be patient no doubt about it, but we also have to be diligent to preserve, to keep, the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and then you know what comes after that. Does it say; “There are many bodies with different organizational heads and charters” NO! It says “4. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6. one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
7. Ask a denominational person how many different faiths are there. Oh many, many different faiths. I mean they're all about Jesus but they all have totally different angles and ideas and authority behind them. That is not what God taught. Maybe we need to say let's just throw out denominationalism completely. Let's get rid of it because this idea of division is not God's will.
B. Not Biblical: Second, then I wonder is there somewhere in scripture, anywhere any time, where people believed and taught different doctrinal things and yet they did so in unity with one another. That never takes place. I've just shown you a few verses here that you know very well.
1. Let's look at Ephesians since we're right there. In Ephesians Chapter 1 and you're probably familiar with this, when the New Testament talks about the church it is only talked about in two senses. Are you aware of that? The church as it pertains to Christ is only discussed in two ways. Therefore we should only talk about it, biblically speaking, in those two ways. One way is Ephesians 1:22-23 – “22. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” That is the one church, the whole rectangle. There is the one body of Christ under His protection and saved by Him. Everybody who's in that body is saved, everybody who is outside of that body is lost. If you're asking me about the church, are you asking me about the one body? Because that's a Bible idea.
2. When you're talking about the church you might be talking about the one body or look at Acts 14 you might be talking about local collections of people in the one body working and worshipping together. In Acts chapter 14 we call them local churches in Acts 14:20-23 - “20. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22. strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.'' 23. So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”
3. That's not talking about a denomination of churches; it is talking about a local 128 Maple Ave. church. Folks, that's the only two ways the church is talked about in the whole Bible, the New Testament.
4. It's either the one body or its local people who are members of the one body.
• There is never a mention of a separate square with a separate name.
• There is never a mention of divided ideas.
• There is never a mention of a denominational church of any kind at all.
C. Doctrines Matter To God: Third, do you know why all that is? Do you know why that division cannot exist in the church? Do you know why denominationalism is utterly rejected? Because denominationalism was created out of; “what do we do with different doctrines”? How do we handle that? I believe baptism is essential and you don't. We'd better find separate places to worship, right? We need to call them different things to keep it straight.
1. Here's the problem with that. Doctrines that are taught matter to God. I think we will start in Matthew. When Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapter 7, at the end of that sermon He talked about how people would say Lord, Lord and profess their belief in Him. What did He say in the story that He told next. He said; Let me tell you there will be two kinds of believers. I'm going to tell you now—two kinds. There will be believers who do what I say and there will be believers who do not do what I say. Those who do what I say are mine and those who do not do what I say have their home built on the sand. They built their home on very fortified sand by the way. Lot of wasted effort shoring up their foundations which are not scriptural. There can't be different actions in the name of Jesus, only that which He has taught,
2. Did He not say that in Matthew Chapter 28? In Matthew Chapter 28 and Verse 18 you know this so well Jesus came up and spoke to them saying “18. Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, (Watch this very closely) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20. "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.''
3. Let me tell you why this is so important, we're going somewhere with this that I hope you'll be able to use. When you're having a conversation with a denominational person, when you run into some disagreement on what you both believe, chances are they, if given time, they will go to their denomination, and they will ask their preacher; “what do we believe?”. Please no one come ask me that. I've had people ask, “What do we believe?” What are you talking about?
4. We are not some subset with some special collection of beliefs. That's the way denominationalism thinks. We are just people who do what the Bible says.
• We do what Jesus taught.
• We do what the disciples said.
• We don't run to some board.
• We don't go to some creed book.
• There's no “we” in that sense.
• There's just Jesus and His Word and His will.
5. We know that in Galatians 1:6-9 it says; “6. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7. which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” It said people will come with a different doctrine, you reject them. There can't be multiple doctrines. Did I say that clearly? There can't be multiple doctrines under the one Jesus.
6. Revelation 22 ends with these fateful words Revelation 22:18-19 – “18. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19. and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Do not add to nor take away. He's talking about the Book of Revelation there, but it would apply to all revelation of the Holy Spirit. Don't do more than it says don't do less.
7. You go ask someone who's in a local Chardon denomination. Do you guys think you're doing a few things that are a little bit more than what the Bible says? Well yeah, but that's what we do. That’s who we are. Stop right there. There's no we, there's no you, there's no denomination, there's no subset! That's totally non biblical. There's just; what does the Bible say.
II. Strip Away The Confusion: Before we can make progress in teaching what the truth is the best thing that could happen is for you and one of your friends who worships at some church in the area to sit down and say let's do this first. Let's go back to this and let's start stripping it of things that don't belong so we can have a real conversation here. People have been doing this for the last 2000 years in small numbers. In the last 200 years there was a notable group of folks that did that in this country and in this very area. They made this effort. That's the key.
A. You’ve got to strip all stuff that doesn't belong so you can have a real conversation. The first thing you want to do is clear out all the names.
• I'm not a Church of Christer.
• You're not a Baptist.
• You’re not a Mormon.
• You're not a Methodist.
• Let’s just strip all those names.
1. That idea of subsets and names is all non-bible stuff anyway. We only call ourselves the church of Christ because we're a group of people trying to belong to Christ, but we're not married to that name. Some people are. We can be called the church of the Chardonians in God and Christ. How you like that? First Thessalonians one. Quit being married to the names. When you're married to the name then you're married to the “we” of it and that is not what is needed.
2. Get rid of the names and since we're no longer of this or that let's go ahead and get rid of all the lines too let's decide that we don't believe in lines. What I mean is; in Christ, we don't believe in your belief system or in my belief system and get to pick which categories we keep. We're finished with categorical stuff.
3. We're going to say you know what I think? We're going to re-evaluate that. We're not just going to say that everybody who believes in Jesus is saved. We’re actually going to go back and take another look at that. That's real progress.
4. In our thinking we need to get rid of all these circles. We’re going to get rid of that. There's no I'm a blue circle Christian, I’m a red circle Christian. No. Forget it. Forget the names, forget the lines. Forget the circles. Just go back to where there is a rectangle. Everybody who is outside of it is lost. Everybody who is inside of it is saved. You know what we call that blue rectangle we call that the one body of Jesus Christ. We call that His church, His Kingdom.
5. If you think you can push the point just a little bit and nobody will explode, you can go ahead and say; you may as well call it the church of Christ because that's the only reason we use that name. I know we probably should leave the names out, but what we're saying is it's not really a name at all. All we're saying is there is this one body and everybody who's in it is saved and it is our determination that we just want to make sure we're in that.
B. So then the question, this would be great if you had somebody ask you this question: How do we get in that? Great question. I would say, I think we're done for today. That was just way too much progress because that's where you have to get. The question is; “How do we get in there?” OK.
1. You know we're not going to ask some church—no such thing anyway. We're not going to go to some convention that meets once a year—no such thing anyway biblically speaking. We're not going to go look at some book written in 1983--doesn't do a lick of good.
2. What we are going to do is just go open the Bible. By the way folks have been doing that for a very long time as well.
3. How do you get in there, and here's what we're going to find out. We're going to find out and I'll skip to Matthew 16. Sure enough in Matthew 16 we see Jesus only built one church. Verse 18. We just need to make sure we're in it and that’s all. Forget the names. Just be in it.
4. Then we look at Matthew Chapter 28 and see we need to make sure we're doing what Jesus said. Verses 18-20. Then we open our Bibles to Acts chapter two. How often have you gone to Acts chapter two? Oh boy. Not another church of Christer headed to Acts chapter two. That's the last thing I need. Hang on a minute. I'm not what you just called me. There's no such thing as that. I'm not of this. You're not of that. I'm not trying to build some argument for a square on the board, I just want to find out, biblically speaking, scripturally revealed, on the very first day, day uno, how people went from here to there. Lost to saved. I just want to know how they got there. That's all I'm asking.
5. We go to Acts two and you already know what we find. We find in verse 36 that you must believe that Jesus is Lord and Christ. No doubt about it. You've got to believe that but that is not all that we must do. That’s a threshold that America has sort of created as it's all you've got to do to get in the box. Not a biblical idea because; the very next verse they came to Peter and the Apostles and they were pierced to the heart they were sorry for their sins against the Lord. They said what shall we do? and you know what Peter said. Peter said repent. Ah.
6. In order to get in the box I have to turn from the sins in my life and in verse 38 be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. Well, our church doesn't teach forgiveness of your sins. You need to leave that church, because whatever it is, whatever its lines are made of, it’s not this.
C. The one body of Christ is a body that we enter by believing (Verse 36) who Jesus is, being sorry for our sin, (Verse 37) and requesting salvation, repenting of our sins (verse 38) and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 41 says; Those who had received his word were baptized and that day there were added about 3000 souls and then in verse 42; and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine or as Revelation 2:10 says; just be faithful. What does that mean? Just Keep worshipping, keep reading, and keep learning.
1. Wait, learn what? Just what the Bible says. That's it? That's it. Well, what do I need to learn? I mean I’ve done all this and now what kind of stuff do I need to be reading. Is it what we are about? What's our position on drinking for example? Love that kind of question, hate that kind of question. What do you mean our position on drinking? Well, I got to decide which box I want to be in because that box over there allows social drinking. There are no boxes, no smaller boxes, no wine boxes. There is just—what does the Bible say.
• What does the Bible say about sobriety?
• What does the Bible say about life?
• What does it say about how we represent ourselves?
• What does it say about wine?
D. Isn't that awesome? I just have this vision and it is a little bit overly optimistic perhaps, for all of our religious friends worshipping in denominationalism, that there is a way, and how many in the churches in Chardon that could use this, that there is a way we could just flip the switch, and the light would come on; “Oh you're saying that all we have to do is just what the Bible says and forget about all this other stuff, this segregation, division business and we can all come together?” I just have a feeling that's good news. I mean its great news. Everything that the Lord doesn't want goes away.
E. Let me bring the question back in. Does the church of Christ believe they're the only ones going to heaven? What you want is for the person you're studying with to say well if you mean that church, yeah. So you're talking about the body of saved? Absolutely! We need to get them to see that.

CONCLUSION:
I want to end the lesson here though I am certain there is more to examine.
I want to bring the circles back in. Now there are no red circles, no blue circles, though there might be some different size circles. That are these? They are local churches. They are local churches that follow the Bible. You have lost the element of multiple choice, which Americans dearly love. You mean I don’t get to pick what I want? I don't get variety, I have only one choice? All we're doing is what the Bible said and so you lose a lot of variety. What you also lose is division. You do always get a choice with God, but it is usually a binary choice.

You pick a local church but all you have to concern yourself with, and this is awesome, all you have to be sure of is that the local church is doing what the Bible says! It's not about do they match up with the things I want to believe. By the way we just call these local churches of Christ.
We could change it if you want. We could say Chardon church which belongs to Christ if you like that better. Or Chardon church of Christ in God by Biblical Teaching if you're the wordy type.

We're not a thing, we're not a subset, we're not a group. We're just a local collection of people who have done what the Bible says and just want to keep doing that. We don't want to answer to some council and we don't want to be monitored by some city on another continent.

We just want to do what the Bible says--so I'll give you some verses here.
Acts chapter 14 talks about how they set up elders in every church.
Well our church doesn't have elders like that, our church has a pastor. Where do you get that idea? Well, that's what our church does. There is no our church there is no denomination.

There's just what the Bible says. Look and you will find that you set up elders in every church, just go to First Timothy three and you find out their qualifications and you get everything you need to build congregations that look like what God wants.

People really need to do is forget about what you call yourself or what your parents call themselves. Forget about the name on the building.
All you need to do is find the one true church taught by the Bible and you need to enter it in the Bible way and then you need to find a local group of people doing what the Bible says.

There is nothing of more significance in our lives than when the son of God returns in the sky.
All that's going to matter, not what we’ve called ourselves, not what is on the building, not what we have decided to believe, because all of that will go away. The only thing that will matter is am I in His body. That's all that's going to matter. Am I a part of His church?
Folks, the Bible is the only way to know that. It is absolute knowledge on the subject.
If you want to be a Christian the way the Bible teaches, if you want to be a part of a congregation that does so to the best of our ability, you need to make a decision in that direction.
Today's the day for you to do that, or if you have turned from being a child of Christ, it is the day to return. The invitation is open for you to do so now as we stand and sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: David Schmidt

Balaam and His Donkey

BALAAM AND HIS DONKEY
Numbers 22: 1-35

INTRO:

A farmer who wanted to sell his donkey. A potential buyer showed up and looked the animal over. He asked if he could hitch him up to the wagon and see how he worked.
The farmer did so and climbed up into the wagon with the customer handing him the reins. The customer tapped the reins but the donkey didn’t move. He said, “Giddyup” but the donkey just stood there. He cried out “Ya Donkey” but it just looked straight ahead.
The farmer got down off the wagon, picked up a two by four and hit the animal right between the eyes. While the donkey staggered the farmer got back up into the wagon and said, “Now try it.”
The customer tapped the reins, the donkey moved out and the old farmer said, “He’s a good donkey, but sometimes you have to get his attention first.” Aren’t we like that sometimes?
We say we want God’s guidance but often God has to first get our attention? Well, today we want to talk about the opposite scenario. A time where God used a donkey to get a man’s attention.

APPLY: We have probably all told the story of Balaam’s donkey one time or another ever since we were little children.
BUT, this is an unusual story for a number of reasons... not the least of which is a talking donkey.
So, what I want to do this morning is introduce the major players in this story and then see what applications God may have in mind for us.
So 1st let’s start with the Donkey.

I realized I didn’t really know that much about donkeys when I first read the text, so I did a little research on the internet.
One sermon I read on the net noted that in Bible times “Donkeys were all-purpose vehicles (like ATV’s) and they were used for transportation, carrying loads, grinding grain, and plowing fields.
They were kind of like a pick-up truck for a farmer.
Whenever a city was conquered in the ancient world, the type of animal the victorious king would ride as he entered a defeated town would make all the difference in the world to the people. If he was seated on a horse, the city was doomed; it was a sign that he had come in war, riding his “warhorse.” If he was riding a donkey everyone would breathe a sigh of relief because this was a sign that he was coming in peace. Riding a donkey is a sign of peace. The king has not come to conquer but to forgive, so don’t be afraid.

They were highly dependable.
Very gentle and extremely friendly to people.
In fact – the only major drawback to donkeys is their supposed “Mule headedness”
But most of the sources I read noted that “...the infamous donkey stubbornness keeps these animals and their riders out of danger”
When a donkey senses danger – they simply “...tend to freeze”
They refuse to move.

So, the reaction Balaam’s donkey had to the angel of God was natural.
ALSO,
did you know that donkeys were often part of major Bible stories?
• Abraham saddled his donkey to take Isaac to be sacrificed (Gen 22)

• Joseph’s brothers took donkeys with them to get food from Egypt (Gen 42)
• Moses saddled his donkey to go on his trip to Egypt to free Israel (Ex. 4:20)

• And, of course, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem a week before He was crucified in order to fulfill the prophecy that He would do so (Matthew 21:5; Zechariah 9:9)

And, here are some other facts about donkeys:
* their 1st born male offspring were the only “unclean” animals that God’s law required to be redeemed by sacrifice of a lamb. Ex. 13:13

* The law required that a man’s Donkey HAD to rest on Sabbath Day. (Exodus 23:12)

* If it was stolen, the thief was required to pay back twice the donkey’s value (Exodus. 22:4)

* Exodus 23:5 specifically commanded that “If you see the donkey of someone who hates you... fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.”

* AND the donkey was one of only two animals mentioned in the 10 commandments

Exodus 20:17 said “You shall not covet your neighbor’s OX OR DONKEY...”
So Donkeys were highly valuable to God’s People... and to God Himself.
So, that’s the Donkey.

Now let’s turn our attention to the Midianites... and one of their kings. A man named Balak.

Balak was a troubled King. One day – he wakes up and finds a whole horde of Israelite people marching thru his land. That doesn’t make him happy He’s afraid they’ll eat up everything in sight and leave the land desolate.
So he considers fighting them, but he’s smart enough to know that he can’t fight these trespassers on his own so he sends messengers to a famous prophet who is said to be connected to God and he’s going to ask Balaam to come curse these Israelites so that he can have God’s help in defeating them.

This Balaam has a reputation that when he blesses someone they get blessed. When he cursed them they are cursed and stay cursed.
So, Balak sends an entourage to Balaam with a financial reward for his services... and he’s turned down cold. Balaam talked to God and God told him to stay home.

Balak thinks that maybe he wasn’t persuasive enough, so he sends a larger and more prominent group of men to bring a much larger and more tempting payment for Balaam.

At first Balaam turns them down, but he still enquires of God... and this time God gives him permission to make the journey to Balak... but only if he does and says exactly what God tells him to do and say.

When Balaam actually does arrive he ends up NOT ONLY not cursing the Israelites... - he actually blesses them 3 times - at God’s direction. And a frustrated Balak storms off... and apparently never attempted to fight Israel again (Judges 11:25)

So that brings us to the prophet Balaam.
Balaam was a prophet of God.

There were some preachers and scholars who believe that wasn’t true. There are many who believe that Balaam was just a greedy pagan prophet engaged in sorcery.
One preacher dismissed him by simply saying that:
“Balaam was not a Jew. He was a foreigner from Mesopotamia”
Now that preacher WAS right - Balaam was NOT an Israelite. He was NOT one of God’s chosen people ... he WAS an outsider.

But - it seems - he was still a prophet of God.
And there’s a couple of reasons for believing that
1st – if Balaam was simply a pagan prophet God wouldn’t have cared if he’d cursed Israel. Pagan prophets and priests could curse Israel all day long and it would have meant NOTHING.

But Balaam was a prophet of Yahweh.
When Balaam spoke, he had a reputation of speaking for the one true God
2nd - When Balaam referred to God he always called God by His covenant name.
For example, in Numbers 22:8 Balaam tells Balak’s messengers,
“Stay here and I will bring you back the answer the LORD gives me."

Notice that word LORD.
What IS unique about it? (It’s in all capital letters)
Whenever you see “GOD” or “LORD” in all capital letters in your English translation that’s the translators’ way of telling you that this is God’s personal name: “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”.

So Balaam isn’t inquiring of some pagan god. He’s talking to Yahweh. He’s talking to the God you and I believe in.

3rdly – God used Balaam to make a prophecy about Jesus.
In his third blessing of Israel, Balaam made this declaration:
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel...” Numbers 24:17

Many scholars believe that this was the prophecy the Wisemen from the East used when they followed the Star in the East to find the newborn King – Jesus.

So I’m convinced that Balaam was a prophet of the one true God.
And Balak sends messengers to obtain his services in cursing the Israelites.
Each time he’s asked, Balaam goes to God and gets his instructions.

And up to that point in the story I have no trouble following what is going on.
But then, while he’s on his way to King Balak – at God’s command - an angel of the Lord tries to kill him. Not once. Not twice. But three times.

Why? What happened?
I’m not quite sure, but it’s fairly obvious that somewhere along the line – Balaam decided to sell God out. The money and the prestige were just TOO GOOD to pass up. I suspect that some time in the night Balaam decided to play along with God – right up until the moment when he got close to the Israelites - and then he’d CURSE them.

He figured God didn’t know what he was thinking, so he could fake God out until the last moment.
Of course... you can’t fake God out.

That’s the belief of fools
In Psalm 139 David speaks to God and says:

“...You have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD....” Ps 139:1-4

I can’t go anywhere.
I can’t say anything.
I can’t EVEN think anything without God knowing all about it long ahead of time.

So Balaam thinks he can betray God without getting caught.
And an angel is sent to kill him.
Now think about that for a minute.
Do you think for a moment that if an angel of God wanted Balaam dead that the angel couldn’t have gotten the job done?

Do you really think that if God wanted Balaam destroyed... He even needed an angel?
OF COURSE NOT.
He’s God. He can do whatever He wants.

So I don’t think the angel was sent there to kill Balaam.
I think he was there - to teach Balaam a lesson
And I think we’re told the story of how God taught Balaam this lesson so that we could also learn a lesson or two.

What did Balaam need to learn?
Well, I thought it was fairly obvious
• Don’t mess with God.
• Don’t try to manipulate Him or anything that belongs to Him
• It’s dangerous.
• It’s scary
• And it can get downright deadly if God wants.
I have been in churches where certain people thought they could manipulate the congregation because
• they had enough money
• or because they had enough power and prestige
• or because they had enough friends to sway the vote on the board.

That’s not really a smart thing to do with God.
God is not mocked.
You don’t want Him to come against you.
And that’s the message of the angel that was sent against Balaam.
That’s why God told Abraham “I’ll bless those who bless you and I’ll curse those who curse you”
So that’s the first lesson – don’t mess with God.

The second lesson is more comforting
And the lesson is this: God will not give up on you easily
If you or I mess up He’ try to stop us.
He’ll try to send obstacles to slow us down.
Balaam is on his way to sell out to King Balak and the angel stands in his way, and his donkey runs off into the field.
So Balaam becomes angry and beats his donkey and gets her back onto the road and the angel of the Lord stands in his way a second time and his donkey swerved into a wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against it.

So, again Balaam becomes angry and beats his donkey and gets back on the road and again the angel stands in his way, and again the donkey reacts to the angel and this time just lays down in the road.
Balaam is in the process of beating donkey one more time when God gives him a message from the mouth of the beast and then opens the eyes Balaam.
THREE TIMES Balaam tried to reach his destination and disobey God.
THREE TIMES God stood in his way.
Why would God do that?
Because God hadn’t given up on Balaam.
In II Peter 3:9 we’re told:
"God is not slow in keeping his promise as some count slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but that all should come to repentance."

God didn’t want to give up on Balaam.
And God doesn’t want to give up on you or me either.
God has never been willing to do that.
That’s why
• Jesus spent His time with common uneducated laborers.
• Jesus spent His time with those who had little money or influence.
• Jesus spent His time with Prostitutes and sinners.

Jesus NEVER gave up on anyone.
Now, He didn’t excuse their behaviors.
He didn’t overlook their sins.
He simply spent time with them because He refused to accept the human idea that people never change!
Jesus never accepted the idea that “That’s the way they’ve always been... and that’s the way they’ll always be.”
Not with God.
The repeated theme throughout Scripture is that anyone can change
They can change. And many have... because of the blood of Jesus Christ

So the first two lesson of Balaam’s story are
1. Don’t mess with God
2. God never gives up on anyone.
And the third and last message from this story of Balaam’s donkey is this:
God will use whatever it takes to accomplish His will.
ILLUS: Don Francisco wrote a song called “Balaam”... last words of the song say this:
“... that donkey still would not get up but she began to speak
She said, "Balaam you're to blame, the way you beat me is a shame
'Cause all I've done is tried to save your life!"
Then the Angel of the Lord appeared with a flamin' sword in his hand
Balaam fell down on his face, a very frightened man

The Angel said, "Balaam, you'd be dead if your donkey hadn't detected
That I was waitin' there to part your hair when you and my sword connected"
Balaam then repented for his sin
And he promised not to act like that again

And I hope he learned his lesson about God's reward for greed
But you know it's that talkin' donkey that's really strange indeed
Now that donkey's just a donkey but she's still the thing God used
And that's the point I want you all to see
The Lord's the one who makes the choice of the instrument He's usin'

We don't know the reasons and the plans behind His choosin'
So when the Lord starts usin' you don't you pay it any mind
He 'could have used the dog next door if He'd been so inclined.”
God could use the dog next door if He was so inclined?

God can – and does - use whatever He wants.
But the ultimate tool God He’d like to use is you.

You’ve been given a great privilege... but you’ve got to realize that the only way you can do what God wants you to do is to imitate Balaam’s lowly donkey.

God used the donkey because it was something Balaam trusted.
He used the donkey because it was something Balaam depended upon.
He used the donkey because it was a mule-headed creature that would do whatever it needed to do no matter what the cost.

And that’s the kind of servant God wants you to be.
• He wants you to talk to someone who trusts you.
• He wants you to talk with some who depends upon you.
• He wants you to be mule headed enough to stick with it until that person listens.
Most of all He wants someone willing to stand between their friends and judgment.

Look at this: three times Balaam beats his reliable donkey because he was too wrapped up in himself to see God’s road block in front of him. By the 3rd time he got his staff out he was going ballistic!!! Red-in-the-face and spitting mad!
Then, right there in the middle of Balaam’s donkey-beatin’ hissy fit, God opened the donkey’s mouth, and it started talking. I wish I could’ve been there for that one! The original "Mr. Ed".
The donkey demanded, “What on earth have I done to you to make you beat me these 3 times?” Notice that Balaam, supposedly one of the wisest of men, doesn’t seem at all surprised by this talking donkey. Instead, he proceeds to have a rational conversation with one of God’s most ignorant animals. When his counseling session was over, however, the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes to see what he’d been missing. Wonder who felt like a donkey then?
When God “opens our eyes”, and we see how far off course we’ve gotten, we’re faced with a crucial decision: turn back to God - or - defy him and go farther down the road to destruction.
INVITATION

Contributing Sermon
Given by Jeff Strite

The Deadliest Fire in History

The Deadliest Fire in History
Luke 16: 19-31

Jack took a long look at his speedometer before slowing down: 73 in a 55 zone... Fourth time in as many months. How could a guy get caught so often? When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour, Jack pulled over.

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

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

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

"Hello, Jack." No smile.

"Guess you caught me red-handed in a rush to see my wife and kids."

"Yeah, I guess." Bob seemed uncertain.

"I've seen some long days at the office lately. I'm afraid I bent the rules a bit

Jack toed at a pebble on the pavement. "Diane said something about roast beef and potatoes tonight. Know what I mean?"

"I know what you mean. I also know that you have a reputation in our precinct."

Ouch! This was not going in the right direction. Time to change tactics. "What'd you clock me at?"

"Seventy-one. Would you sit back in your car, please?"

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

"Please, Jack, in the car."

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

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

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

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

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

Life is precious. Handle with care. Remember, cars are not the only thing recalled by their maker.*
Does anyone know what the worst fire in American History was? Most people would say it was the great Chicago Fire in 1871. That fire started on Sunday, October 8 and ended on Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing up to 300 people and destroyed a little over 3 square miles of Chicago, leaving over 100,000 people homeless.
But the great Chicago fire wasn’t the worst fire in American history. Ironically, on the very same day the Chicago fire began... so did the one that destroyed Peshtigo, Wisconsin (about 48 miles north of Green Bay). Historians list this as THE deadliest fire in U.S. history. On October 8th (the same day the Chicago fire began) a drought in the lumber area of Peshtigo led to a fire that destroyed nearly 1900 sq. miles of small cities and homes in the area of Peshtigo (as opposed to the 3.3 square miles in Chicago) and killed nearly 2000 people (compared to 300 in Chicago).
The fire was so intense that when people tried to flee... there was no place to go. People died in their homes, and their basements and on the streets. Some folks jumped into a well, but the fire sucked all the oxygen away and they died of suffocation. Others tried to cross the river to the other side only to find the fire there as well.
The few that survived jumped into the river, and had to constantly douse themselves with water to avoid their hair catching on fire. The temperatures that day were estimated to be between 500 and 700 F. The destruction was so total there was virtually nothing left of the city.
It took days for word of the Peshtigo fire to reach the nation. When news finally reached the capital of Wisconsin, all the state’s officials were in Chicago, helping with relief efforts there. For weeks, the Chicago Fire so dominated newspaper headlines that the governor of Wisconsin had to issue a special proclamation to divert aid from Chicago to the Peshtigo area.
Speaking of the tragedy in Peshtigo (“The Deadly Night Of October 8, 1871”) one author noted “The only light available in the dark of the night was that given off by the fire itself, creating an eerie glow that seemed to taunt the dying and surviving alike like the open mouth of hell.”
In our text this morning Jesus tells us the story of a man who went to hell - it’s called the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Now, there are some folks who try to tell us that this story is not true. They say it's fictional. They dismiss it as merely a “parable.”
That’s always bothered me. I mean this story is not even called a parable by Jesus (or even by Luke, where the story appears). Additionally, even in His parables... Jesus never used a personal name like Lazarus, and ALL of Jesus’ parables were based on real-life events that people could identify with. This is the only story Jesus ever told that pulled back the curtain on what happens after death.
So, I’ve always been puzzled that people would try so hard to say that this story is fiction. Why would they do that? Well, there’s all kinds of possibilities... I guess. For example, I think some folks dismiss this story just to prove how smart they are (it’s a pride thing). It’s an intellectual exercise they go through to prove how deep and educated they are. Folks seem to do that often with things the Bible tells us.
But I’m convinced that a lot of other folks argue this story’s not true because they don’t like what it says. They read the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus and they see one of the most disturbing descriptions of hell in Scripture - and they don’t want to accept it.
Jesus tells us the Rich Man was “... in Hades, being in torment...” Luke 16:23
The Rich Man asked for “... mercy” and for “... Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water ‘and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’” Luke 16:24
And it’s described as a “place of torment” and a place people would avoid if they would “repent.” Luke 6:28 and 30
Jesus tells us that Hell is a very, very unpleasant place, and because of that – Hell is a very, very uncomfortable topic for lots of folks.
ILLUS: A Research company did a survey about 5 years ago where they discovered that 72% Americans said they believed in heaven (defined as a place “where people who have led good lives were eternally rewarded”). But, at the same time, 58% of U.S. adults also believed in hell (a place “where people who’d led bad lives and who died without being sorry were eternally punished”)
72% believed in heaven, but only 58% believed in hell? I thought they were a matched set. I figured if you had one you had to have the other. But frankly a lot of people just don’t want to hear about hell.
ILLUS: A group of ministers – when asked why they won’t preach about hell said: “People already feel guilty enough. They’re not doing what they should. And, they have over 100 reasons way.
So, there’s a lot of folks out there that would prefer not to even preach about hell! In fact, I don’t often preach about it!
Even God’s not keen on it: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
So, there are very few people who seem to enjoy the idea of talking about hell.
And yet... it was one of the top 10 things Jesus preached about. Someone did a study of the book of Matthew and found that Jesus dedicated about 66 verses to the topic of judgment and Hell.
For example: Matthew 8:12 “the sons of the kingdom (of Israel) will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 13:49-50 “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
And Matthew 25:46 “... these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”
So what’s going on here? If a lot of folk are really NOT all that happy about hell, and I really don’t like preaching about hell, and even God’s not all that excited about anyone going to hell - why is Jesus preaching so much about hell?
Well, 2 things:
1st – someone once said: "Hell is, Hell is hot, Hell is real, Hell is eternal."
And what is worse: Hell was where everybody was gonna go. Hell was our destiny! That’s where we were ALL going to end up if somebody didn’t do something about it!
Ephesians 2:3 “...we ALL once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Colossians 1:21 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.”
And Romans 8:7-8 “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”
In other words: none of us deserved to go to heaven. We ALL had messed up. We all deserved Hell.
But a lot of people have convinced themselves they deserve to go heaven. In a different survey I've read, about 60% believed there was a hell (just like the other survey) they just weren't going there. Only 4 % of those surveyed thought they were going to end up in Hell. ONLY 4%? I’m pretty sure that’s not even close to the right percentage. But why would so many think that they’d not end up in Hell? Why did they believe they were going to heaven? Well, because most folks are intent on putting up a "good front."
ILLUS: A man once told of the day he and his wife bought their first house. “Our limited finances forced us to find ways of getting what we wanted without spending a great deal of money. We agreed we’d work on the front yard ourselves to save labor expenses and still create a proper setting for our home. It looked great.
One day, while I was standing in our BACK yard, I began to realize that we had spent no time or money making the back look good. Why? Because it couldn’t be seen by others as they passed our house.”
When it comes to sin in our lives, most folks are like that. They clean up the front yard – where everybody can see what’s going on - but they HIDE the “back section” of their life (their thoughts, their deeds and their words). They hide these things way out back where no one can see what’s happening.
Well... almost no one. God knows! Romans 3:23 says “We’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We all deserved to go to Hell!!! Every... single... one of us deserved to go to hell. Unless...
Unless somebody did something to stop it. So, did somebody DO something to stop us from going to hell? Of course! That’s why Jesus came. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him MIGHT NOT PERISH but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
As one man observed: “I deserved to be damned to hell, but God interfered.”
THAT, of course, still doesn’t answer the question of why Jesus taught so much about Hell? I mean, why would He do that? If it upsets people so much – why do it?
There are those ministers who don’t preach about hell, either because they either don’t want God to look bad...or they don’t want the people they minister to, to FEEL bad. Now, I understand that. And I don’t think their motives are necessarily evil - I just think their theology stinks! And here’s why...
ILLUS: Think about your Smoke Alarm (especially the one in or near the kitchen). Annoying, isn’t it? Now a smoke alarm is supposed to go off if the house is on fire but I’ve never had a fire in my home. This doesn’t mean the smoke alarm has never gone off. Once in awhile, when I offer a burnt offering to God in my kitchen, this sucker goes off and keeps incessantly beeping as I drag a chair from the kitchen table into the hallway and climb up on that chair to push this button that shuts it off.
But here’s the problem – I can push that button as many times as I like – as long as there’s smoke in the house, that alarm is going to continue going off, over and over again. So what am I to do? How do I stop this alarm from continually shrieking in my ears?
Well, there’s only two ways to stop this alarm from going off in a smoky room. 1. Remove the ALARM from the room (and throw it out in the backyard) or 2. Remove the BATTERY from the alarm.
Now I’ve known of people who simply take the battery out... and not replace it. They don’t want to be annoyed by that silly alarm. They don’t want to be troubled by its shrieking in their ears. But if their house actually caught on fire and the alarm wouldn’t go off... the fire would destroy their home.
But at least they wouldn’t be annoyed by the alarm. At least they wouldn’t be troubled by the warning.
But just removing the battery from the alarm won't stop the house from burning down. They may have removed the offending noise of the WARNING, but their home would end up in ashes.
THAT’S WHY Jesus preached so much about hell. He was being the fire alarm. He was WARNING people that there was going to be a place of torment; a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth; a place of eternal punishment.
And if Jesus hadn’t warned us about that that eternal hell why should we bother changing our lives? I mean, there are some folks who figure “I like sinning! I like getting drunk and sleeping around and living however I very well please. So, what if when I die... I don’t get to go to heaven... I didn’t want to go anyway! I just want to live the way I want to live and if I die and just don’t leave the grave, why should I care?”
WHY BOTHER believing that Jesus is the Christ, why bother repenting, why bothered getting buried in the waters of baptism and rising up a new creation? I only get to go around once in this life, so why not grab all the gusto I can get?
But... if there’s a hell – that changes the equation in a big hurry. Suddenly, life gets serious. And if there’s no one around to warn us of that reality, we may wake up from the grave to a major surprise!
CLOSE: The message of Hell is not a pleasant one... and it’s not meant to be. But without that part of our message, there’s no urgency for people to change and turn to Jesus.
A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was leaving the room after paying a visit, and said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side."

Very quietly the doctor said, "I don't know."
"You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?"

The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side of the door there came the sound of scratching and whining. As he opened the door a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice that dog? He had never been in this room before. He did not know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing: I know my Master is there, and that is enough. And when the door opens, I shall pass through with no fear, but with gladness."
INVITATION

This sermon is based on
A sermon given by Jeff Strite