KNOWING Can you imagine living your whole life anticipating the most horrible death possible? No doubt Jesus saw hundreds of Roman crucifixions as He was growing up. He must have thought, “That’s me someday.” Every time Joseph planed a rough piece of wood, Jesus probably thought about the cross. Every time Joseph pounded nails in wood, Jesus surely thought of the last time His human ears would hear that sound. John 19:28-30.
We live in a culture where the world, the devil and the flesh are doing everything possible to draw us away from Jesus. We can be drawn in two different directions. Have you ever been at the ocean and you’re in the surf near the shore? The waves are pulling you toward shore and the undertow is pulling you in the other direction. On the surface, there is so much in our culture trying to distract you and draw you away from Jesus.
The New Testament records Jesus healing seven different blind men. And in each case He employed a different method. God is a God of variety. He seldom saves two people the same way. Some people come to Christ in a dramatic way with tears and anguish. Others are so full of joy they laugh at the point of regeneration. Others just quietly place their faith in Jesus. God saved the Apostle Paul by shining a bright light from heaven that knocked him off his feet. There’s not another account of a similar conversion experience.
When we think about what the vineyard workers were paid, our immediate reaction to that story is, “Hey, that’s not fair!” Jesus didn’t say this is what the kingdom of this world is like. He said this is what the Kingdom of heaven is like. Heaven uses different math than the world uses. Jesus leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one lost one—the world doesn’t operate that way. Jesus said that a widow’s two pennies were more valuable than all the gold given in the Temple one day. The world would call that fuzzy math, but the Bible calls it grace.
When Moses faced the Red Sea in front of him and an army chasing him, he faced an impossible situation, but God specializes in the impossible and He made a twelve-lane express highway in the middle of the sea. When Joshua faced the flood-swollen Jordan River, there was no way to cross, but God told the priests to step into the water by faith, and He stopped the river. Impossible? But God did it. When little David faced a nine-foot monster with only a slingshot, victory was impossible by human standards. But the God of the impossible directed the stone to strike Goliath right between the eyes. When Gabriel visited a teenager named Mary he announced she would give birth to a son who would be the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Mary said, “How can this be, since I’m a virgin?” Gabriel said, “Nothing is impossible for God.”
We love to talk about how God has forgiven us, but we sometimes choke on the idea of forgiving others. The world’s answer is simple: Payback time! But as Christians, we’re told to turn the other cheek; we’re told to forgive. But sometimes forgiveness is very difficult when we know the person who needs our forgiveness is going to keep on hitting us.
There is a deep-seated need in the human heart to seek forgiveness. For those of us who know Christ, we find our forgiveness in God’s amazing grace. But what about the millions of people who claim to have no relationship with Jesus? They are still desperately seeking ways to find forgiveness and to unload their sense of guilt. Because of this need to confess and seek forgiveness, there are a number of “apology websites” in cyberspace where guilty people can go and anonymously confess their sins.
There are some interesting parallels between football and being a Christian. In the same way, before you can move on to the deeper truths about God, you must begin with the fundamentals—a belief in God; prayer; Bible Study; belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Four ways in which football and the Christian faith are alike.
It’s hard to live up to the promise “satisfaction guaranteed” because there are plenty of people whose theme song is the old Rolling Stones ballad, “I can’t get no satisfaction!” Some people will never be satisfied! The Bible teaches true satisfaction comes from having a relationship with God. And God guarantees we can have that. The term “salvation” covers more than just your original commitment to Christ. The Bible teaches we have been saved—that’s justification; we’re being saved—that’s sanctification; and we WILL be saved—that’s glorification. And God guarantees our salvation.
As horrifying as the physical agony of the cross was, the spiritual and mental agony of carrying the sins of the world was much worse. Jesus literally endured hell for us. When Jesus took our sin in His own body and experienced the hell of separation from God. He experienced the darkness of hell for us. He experienced the agony and torture of hell for us. As He moved closer to death, death must seemed to be as pleasant as a warm blanket on a cold night. Praise God, His suffering was over!
As Christians, we don’t have to make our lives extraordinary, we are extraordinary. Jesus Christ lives in us, and that makes us different. We are naturally supernatural and supernaturally natural. Every day, we have opportunities to show people how we are different. We turn the other cheek. We go the second mile. We pray for our enemies. We don’t have to act different, we are different.
Do you know what the Israelites ate for 40 years? Manna. God supernaturally fed them with little white wafers that appeared on the ground every morning. When they first saw it they called it manhu, which means “What is it?” Based on the description in the Bible, the closest food we have to it today is Corn Flakes. Corn Flakes are okay, but can you imagine eating corn flakes every meal–for 40 years? It got so bad they longed for the food they ate back in Egypt. Many of the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt, where they had been slaves. When you are living in the wilderness, you find yourself longing for the life you had before you were a Christian.
God took Rahab from the House of Shame to the Hall of Fame. God can change a lady of the night into a lady of the light. He can change a woman of ill repute into a woman of illustrious reputation. God can turn a harlot into a heroine. And in this message we’re going to examine just how He changes a prostitute into a princess.
If God had delegated creation to me, I would have done things differently. I would have created a world where there is no disease or accidents or, terrorism, birth defects, or killer weather. But wait—God did create a world like that didn’t He? But he also created something extremely powerful: Human choice. He gave mankind the option to be cruel and unkind, or to be loving and kind. He didn’t create us as zombies or robots who would automatically bow before Him and love Him. When mankind chose to sin, we unleashed a horrible chain reaction of natural and accidental evil into the world.
Job expressed his frustration at not being able to talk to God as an equal. He cried out for an umpire, a mediator. He needed someone to negotiate with God so His rod of punishment would be withdrawn. Too many people think they don’t need this spiritual mediator. They think they can find God on their own. But if you’ve ever committed one sinful act, or had one sinful thought in your life, you have disqualified yourself from being a mediator with God.
A pig returns to its mud because it is the nature of a pig to love mud. Don’t be surprised when you see some people start attending church, and seem to clean up their lives, only to go running back into the same old filthy, sinful lifestyle. Their nature was never changed. A counterfeit Christian is like that old pig. The lesson of the prodigal pig is this: You can clean a person up on the outside, but unless their inner nature is changed, they will always return to sin.
The future of America is at stake in every Presidential election, but the future of the universe doesn’t depend on who is sitting in the White House in Washington. It all depends on Who is sitting on the Great White throne in heaven. The election spoken of in the Bible is the act whereby God elects men and women to be His children. It is a Divine Election for salvation. And it is possible to be absolutely sure about this election.
When the Bible says “It is appointed for men to die once” it is speaking of the absolute certainty of death. We live in a day of uncertainties. Nations rise and fall, the stock market goes up and goes down, spouses leave, jobs are cut back. Someone said the only two certain things are death and taxes. But there are many folks who have figured out how to avoid paying taxes, but nobody except Jesus figured out how to cheat death. It’s the only true certainty.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly! Instead, God allows us to experience struggles, pain, and suffering because He wants us to be able to float above our circumstances like a beautiful butterfly.
I’ve often been asked the question: How were people in the Old Testament time saved? How would you answer that question? You may be tempted to say, “By obeying the Old Testament Law.” If you think that, you’d be wrong. Nobody could obey the law. And what about Noah and Abraham? They lived and died before the Law was given through Moses.
Here’s the correct answer: People in the Old Testament time were saved in exactly the same way we are today—by grace through faith.
When you’re being tested it’s important to remember God set a limit to what Satan could do in testing Job. In the same way, our trials may come from Satan, but they are filtered by God. When I make coffee every morning, I put a paper filter in the coffee maker. I don’t want to have the coffee grounds in my cup. It’s good to know that all of your trials have to pass through the filter of God’s grace, and the filter of His mercy, and the filter of His omnipotence.
The word “home” is a powerful word. It means so much more than a house or an apartment where you live; it’s a place dear to your heart. Have you ever lived somewhere or visited somewhere and you seemed “out of place?” In your heart you felt a longing and a tugging to return home? We call that homesickness. As you grow closer to Jesus through your relationship with Him, the more out of place you will feel in this world. You’ll find yourself becoming homesick for heaven, and the pleasures and allures of this world become less and less appetizing.
When the thief on the cross prayed His prayer of faith, Jesus responded with a three-fold promise. He said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” He didn’t say, “tomorrow” or “in three days” or “in forty days when I ascend” or “next year” or “in a thousand years.” He didn’t say, “after you’ve been baptized” or “after you’ve gone through catechism” or “after you’ve spent a few years in purgatory.” No, He told Jason, “TODAY, you’ll be with me.” The great part of this promise for us is the moment a Christian dies they can be with the Lord in paradise. The Bible doesn’t teach the doctrine of limbo, or purgatory, or soul sleep. We are told when a Christian dies they are “absent from the Body and present with the Lord.” (II Corinthians 5:8) If you’ve trusted Jesus, then the moment you die, you can claim that part of His promise, “Today, you’ll be with me in paradise.”
Judas never came crawling to Jesus begging Him to forgive him—Jesus just forgave him. Do you have a Judas in your life? You may feel as if you have been betrayed and hurt by someone. They have abused your trust and wounded you in a way that is still painful even though it happened years ago. What are you waiting for? Do you want them to crawl and beg you to forgive them? Do yourself a favor—forgive them anyway. Nothing will make you more miserable than carrying about a bitter spirit of unforgiveness. Arthritis is pretty painful, but there’s something worse than arthritis—grudgitis. When you harbor unforgiveness it makes your food taste bad, it keeps you from sleeping well, and it will send you to an early grave.
Zacchaeus had an itch in his heart all his wealth couldn’t scratch. He probably didn’t even know what he needed. He just knew he desperately needed something. When he heard Jesus was in town, he was hoping Jesus might have the solution to his problem. He didn’t know it, but he was looking for God.
At the beginning of His ministry, large multitudes crowded around Jesus because they were amazed by His miracles and wisdom. After all, when you see that a man can feed five thousand people with five biscuits and two sardines, you follow Him because He’s your fast food source. When you learn He can heal any disease, you’ve got your own walking, talking HMO. And teaching? Why go to college, when you can go out into a beautiful grassy field and listen to this Rabbi? But Jesus didn’t come to heal, teach, or to do miracles. He came to die.
To me this is one of the saddest stories in the Bible. Jesus didn’t ask everyone He met to follow Him. He said that to the original twelve disciples–and He invited the Rich Young Ruler to follow Him. Who knows what might have been? He could have become the 13th disciple. If he had only followed Jesus today, we might be studying the gospel according to Benjamin! There was only one thing he lacked, but it was a big obstacle. Would you buy a car if the salesman said, “It’s a good car, only one thing is missing–the engine.” What is the one thing in your life that may be preventing you from following Jesus? “The saddest words of tongue or pen are these four words: What might have been?”
You can lose your mind, and it’s not as tragic as a lost soul. You can lose your character, and it’s not as bad as a losing your soul. Death will heal the loss of a fortune, or a loss of health or a loss of a mind-but a lost soul is for eternity. We are all like a lost lamb at one time in our lives. Jesus can never find you until you admit you are a lost sinner. That’s the bad news, without Christ we are lost. But the good news is Jesus searches for us in order to save us.
You can choose to enter heaven’s door today. Jesus said it’s a narrow door. Think about that for a minute. It’s so narrow only one person can walk through it at one time. In other words, you can’t walk through heaven’s door holding your daddy’s hand, or your mother’s hand. I thank God my parents told me about Jesus, but when it came time for me to give Him my life, I walked through that door all by myself. Some of you think because your grandfather was a preacher or your mother was a godly saint that you can walk through with them–but you can’t. The narrow door to heaven says, “One person at a time, please.”
There’s not my way to be saved and there’s not your way to be saved–there’s only one way to be saved that’s Jesus. It’s the Jesus way. In fact, he said, “I am the way.” If you insist upon your own stubbornness, your way will be to destruction. Or my way will lead to destruction, because the Bible says we’ve all turned our own way.
If I was your neighbor and I saw your house was on fire, and you didn’t know it, what would be the kindest, most loving thing I could do? I would run to your door and warn you to get out quickly–your house is burning! We know there is a heaven and we know there is a hell. We have a sacred obligation to lovingly warn others about the danger of eternal judgement. I fear hell will be populated with people who ask for all eternity, “Why didn’t David warn me about this?” We have an obligation to tell them about the grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness of God. This should be something we do gladly and eagerly because Jesus has saved us, and we love Him.
Luke’s description of the birth of Jesus is far more detailed than any other gospel writer. In order to help us grasp the fullest significance of who Jesus Christ was and what He accomplished, Luke takes us back to the very beginning of Jesus’ life. He describes more fully than any other gospel writer the announcement of John the Baptist’s birth and the announcement of Jesus’ birth, then the birth of John and the birth of Jesus. By describing the origin of John and the origin of Jesus side by side he shows how their destinies dovetail in God’s plan, but also how Jesus is vastly superior to his forerunner.
The most important question we can ask ourselves is, “Is my name written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life?” But can we know for sure? Yes you can. That’s why Jesus said to “rejoice because your names are written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” He wouldn’t be so cruel to tell us to rejoice over something you can’t be sure about. Is your name in the Book of Life? Are you sure?
Elijah was a great prophet, but then he put his prophetic mantle on Elisha and Elisha said, “I want a double portion of the Spirit that has been on you.” If you happen to count up the miracles Elijah did and Elisha did, you’ll see that under the power of God Elisha performed about twice as many miracles as Elijah did. A study of the miracle of the lepers healed and enemies blinded.
You can’t separate your body and your soul and your spirit. God knows if you give your body to Him, the soul and the spirit is going to be given to Him. Sometimes people say to me, “Pastor, I’m not going to be in church this Sunday, but I’ll be there in spirit.” It’s kind of spooky to me to stand up here and preach to a bunch of spirits in these pews. The truth is, you cannot do that. I know they mean they’re going to be there in thought, but you can’t separate your spirit from your body. That’s what happens at physical death; the spirit departs from the body. You can’t do it until then.
When I see a tree with an orange hanging on it, that’s an orange tree. Do you know what the fruit does? The fruit reveals outwardly the inner nature of that tree. The same is true in the Christian life. When there is fruit in your life what you are expressing outwardly is the inner character and nature of Jesus Christ. That’s what the fruit of the Spirit is.
Have you ever thought about how through the centuries God has preserved the Jewish people and they have maintained their identity even though they have been scattered all over the planet Earth? Why? Because God preserved them. And that’s what Romans 9-11 is all about. We’ll start that section today. Looking ahead Romans 12 through 16–the last section of the book–is God’s righteousness displayed in our practical duty. Starting in Romans 12 it is very practical because we are righteous in Christ, and this is how we ought to live.
God is interested in making a whole family of people like Jesus. Some people say, “Well if we were all like Jesus, wouldn’t it be boring?” No it would be pretty exciting. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everybody was loving and totally unselfish in their loving? Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everybody was full of joy? Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everybody was full of peace and patience and kindness? That’s what God is doing. He’s trying to make you and I more like Jesus. That is our destiny our destination and God has already predetermined to make us that way. So that’s God’s purpose. He chose us and then he changes us.
We become accountable when we know we are choosing to sin. When we know it’s right or wrong, that’s when the law has come alive and that’s when as he says in Romans 7:9, “Sin springs to life and that person dies spiritually.” Parents often ask me, “How old is a child when they reach the age of accountability?” I can’t answer that because children develop at different stages, emotionally and spiritually, and this development is not always attached to a biological age. But it has been my observation most children reach that age around 7, 8, 9, 10, when they know what the rules are, but then they knowingly and willfully choose to break the rules. You’ve got to understand the Bible teaches we are sinners by nature from when we are born, but we also become sinners by choice when we choose to break the rules and that’s when we are held accountable.
What’s the difference between living under law and living released from law in a relationship with Jesus? There may be some people who put their children in a safety seat because the law says to do it and they’re afraid that if they get stopped and their child is not in the correct seat, they may get a ticket. You know what motivates them? Fear of being caught. That’s what it’s like to live under the law. But I know this is true of all of you who have children. You know the reason you put your child in that safety seat is not because the law of Texas says to do it, but because you love that child. You do it because the very last thing in the world you’d ever want to happen to that child is for him to be hurt. This person does it out of fear–this person does it out of love. I obey the law of God not because I’m afraid, but because I love Jesus. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
You ask most people and they say, “living forever, existing forever.” The only thing wrong with that is that some of you are so miserable right now in your life the idea of existing as you’re existing right now forever– that’s eternal misery. No, eternal life is not a quantity of life, it is not how long it is, it’s how deep it is, how wonderful it is, how good it is. If you want to know what eternal life is, look at John 17:3 where Jesus says, “Now this is eternal life. That they may know you, the only true God, and know Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” What is eternal life? It is knowing God; it is knowing Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul uses the issue of slavery to simply illustrate and demonstrate how sometimes people can be in bondage to sin, and then how we need to be in servitude to God. When you talk about slavery, the only image many of us have of slavery is antebellum slavery in the South, Uncle Tom’s cabin. But, that’s not really the historical backdrop against which Paul is writing. In the Roman Empire there were millions of slaves, and we would call these people indentured servants, bond slaves, people who were often so close to the family members we have many historical records of a slave literally being adopted into a family and becoming the legal heir of the leaders of that family. Paul said you used to be slaves to sin, now you are slaves to God.
A problem for a lot of people who name the name of Jesus as Christians is there hasn’t been a lot of growth in their Christian life. If I could have a timeline up here, there would be a point in time when you were B.C. (Before Christ) but then there was a point of conversion where you passed from death unto life. The problem a lot of Christians have is they don’t grow much beyond that point. There is no growth in grace, as the Bible calls it. They stay to close to the point of conversion.
I admire women and men who can take a piece of fabric, put it down on a table, and then can take a dress pattern and put the pattern down on the fabric and cut out along the dotted lines, and then sew it together, and have a beautiful garment. That’s a miracle to me! I want you to know that I could never do that. What God is saying, “Upon the fabric of human suffering, I have superimposed my Biblical pattern, and if you will understand what I am trying to do, the result will be something beautiful if you just don’t mess it up.”
The difference between when Jesus died and the death of every martyr or every hero who ever died is this: Those people died and they are still dead. The thing about Jesus Christ is he died, he was buried, and he came back after three days. We wouldn’t have Christianity to celebrate if there was not a risen Savior. He would be just a good man who died. We wouldn’t be here today. We wouldn’t believe this book. We wouldn’t tell people how to be saved. It’s the fact he’s alive today! That was God’s stamp: PAID IN FULL. He was delivered over for our sins and was resurrected for our justification.
The question the writer of Hebrews asks is the question all of us ought to be considering: How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Here’s the bottom line! God is holy, and he must punish sin. We are sinful and in one way or another, we’re going to have to deal with the punishment of God against sin.
You can be religious, ritualistic, a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, and people around you will look at you, and they will say, “Oh, what a fine, religious, spiritual person he or she is.” And you’ll receive the praise of men. Or you can choose to live Godly, and one day the only applause you will hear will be the applause of the nail-scarred hands and he’ll say, “Well, done good and faithful servant.” Let’s just boil it down. Who are you trying to please? Are you into a religion or are you into a relationship?
Have you ever wondered what the eternal destiny is of a person who is born and raised and lives and dies in a place where they never once have access to a Bible, they never hear about God, they never hear the Christian message? What’s going to be their eternal destiny? What about a person who is faithful to another religion, say Buddhism or Islam all their lives? Is God going to excuse them? Is God going to excuse those people who never had access to the Bible?
Some people think they are going to go to heaven by doing good deeds or acting righteously. I asked a retired lady in our church the other day how she was feeling. “Oh, I feel so great today.” She said, “I led two Boy Scouts across the street.” Some of you think you are going to heaven by helping little old ladies across the street, or by feeding the poor, or clothing the naked. You think you are going to go to heaven by doing all these good things. No, God’s righteousness is humanly impossible. The very best thing I have ever done in my flesh compared to God’s holiness and purity, looks like dirty, filthy, stinking rags before God. It’s all a matter of comparison.
Have you ever wondered what the apostle Paul looked like? While it is true we do not have any written eyewitness description of Jesus’ physical appearance, we have a fairly reliable one for Paul the apostle. A pastor living in the second century (which means the 100s) who perhaps as a child had actually seen Paul, describes him: “A man small of stature with a bald head and crooked legs in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness for now he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel.” Can you just see this little man so full of energy? Before he became a Christian, he was full of energy for the wrong thing, but once he was tamed and changed by Jesus Christ, he used his energy for the right cause. Three ways Paul was changed by Jesus.
What would you do if every night at midnight someone deposited $1,440 into your bank account with the stipulation that you had to spend it all in 24 hours or it would be gone? Wouldn’t you enjoy that? Sure! I imagine you would make sure that every day you spent all $1,440. The truth is better and it is this: Every day God deposits 1,440 minutes into your life and you have to spend them wisely or you will lose them.
If I were to give you a choice between suffering a little bit or being free from suffering, you would say, “I choose to be free from suffering. I don’t want to suffer.” I don’t know anybody who has this attitude: “Man, I can’t wait to suffer some more. I am looking forward so much to suffering this next week, I can hardly wait!” No. The mystery is that even though we suffer, it can bring glory to God and it can work out for good to us.
Sometimes we look at a 50- or 60-year-old man who has never darkened the doors of a church in his life and is an awful scoundrel. We look at him and we say now it’s easy for the child to have life, but it’s so hard for this older man to receive life No, it’s not. It takes exactly the same amount of grace to save a child as it does a 60-year-old scoundrel and it is just as much of a miracle when a child accepts Christ as when an old man accepts Christ.
Today we are looking at the Holy Spirit. The first thing to notice is a sinner’s path to salvation. How can a sinner like you and like me enjoy or experience true salvation? There’s not much for us to do, because God has already done it all. Before the foundation of the world, God chose you. He selected you and said, “You are going to be one of mine.” In other words, before the world was even created, you were in God’s mind and heart.
What was it about salvation that made the apostle Paul break out into spontaneous, exuberant praise? He began to understand what had happened to him. If you could catch a glimpse, if your spiritual eyes could be opened to who you are in Jesus and what has happened to you in Jesus, you would also break out in spontaneous praise and adoration.
Salvation is not achieved by works; it is only by the grace of God and our faith. Baptism, as good and as important as it is, is a good work and we are never saved by works. I’m not saying it’s not important. If you want to be fruitful in your life and want to have the blessing of God on your life, you ought to be baptized. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
