Sermons From My Heart

There are three stages in every successful relationship, including romance. First, you must get to know the other person. Second, you must like the other person. Finally, you must love the other person. Our relationship with Jesus involves all three stages. Paul emphasizes this in Romans 10:1-13.

Knowing Jesus involves knowing what he wants us to do so we can be saved. The Jews were outwardly eager to know God, but they were not eager to know Christ. They failed to submit to God’s righteousness. They tried to be righteous before God on the basis of their own works. They sought to establish their own righteousness and missed the gift God offered them. For the Jews to receive God’s righteousness, they had to stop relying on works and start believing in Christ’s work.

Asking Christ to be our Saviour requires us to give up control in order to have real life. The Jews did not want to give up that control. Asking Christ to be our Saviour also involves breaking through the barriers of generation gaps, social status and culture-something else that the Jews did not want to do. True happiness only comes when we discover the treasure house that Jesus makes available when we come to Him in faith.

Asking God to save us but not change us is like asking a surgeon to remove a cancerous growth from our bodies without cutting. Cutting and breaking are a part of healing in God’s kingdom. Healing can only come when we allow Jesus to enter our hearts and remove anything that is useless or harmful.

Knowing Christ involves knowing what he did for us. The word “end” means that Christ is the goal or fulfillment of the Old Testament law. He was the object to which the law pointed. The Mosaic law is no longer binding on us as Christians. The Mosaic law looked forward to Christ. It ended when Christ came to earth.

If a person chooses to be justified by the law, he or she must live by the law. There is no room for error. The entire law must be kept because keeping a portion of it has no value. If someone breaks one of the laws, he or she breaks all of them. The law demands absolute perfection without any mitigation. Christ was the only person who obeyed the law perfectly, so he was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

An outward expression of our faith in Christ gives outward evidence of inward faith. We need to believe in the resurrection and the complete truth connected with it. That includes Jesus’ sin-bearing death in our place and God’s approval of Christ’s work. Trusting in Christ is the pathway to salvation, not deeds. We can’t earn salvation through our own efforts. It can only be obtained through faith in Christ. Faith is a heartfelt belief in the reality of Christ’s resurrection. In Christ’s resurrection we see that his claim to deity is valid. We also see that his death brings salvation to us.

When we place our faith in Christ, God looks at us just as He looks at Jesus. Jesus completely obeyed the law, without exception and without fault. Christ’s perfect record becomes ours through faith. Anyone who puts his or her faith in Christ will be saved and will receive eternal life.

Paul speaks of righteousness as if it is a person. We do not need to ascend to heaven to bring righteousness down. Christ has already done that. W do not need to descend into the grave. Christ has already been raised from the dead. We do not have to go on a journey around the world to find it. Christ is accessible by faith, as near as our mouths and hearts. All we have to do is reach out and receive Him by faith.

Knowing Christ involves confessing that Christ is our Saviour. Confessing Christ is evidence of genuine faith. Salvation comes through belief in Christ, acknowledging that He is God, and was raised from the dead. His death satisfied God’s demand for the penalty for sins. His resurrection validated both His claims and the Father’s statements that He is God.

When we are saved, we need to anchor our faith in the promises of God and nothing else. If we pray a prayer of salvation, our hearts and mouths must go together. Words are not enough. Real life begins when we depend on Jesus, when we call out to Him to give us what we can’t earn ourselves-a right relationship with God. That can only happen through faith in what he did for us on the cross.

When we are saved, that does not mean that we won’t have any problems in life. What it does mean is that our eternity will be set in heaven with God. In return, we are to tell the world about Jesus. We are called to either go where God sends us or donate money or anything else that will help others go into the mission field.

Because Christ is God, His death, burial and resurrection took care of the world’s sins. Just as all who sin will be judged, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Christ lived the life we could not live and took the punishment we could not take to offer the hope we can’t resist. His sacrifice forces us to ask the question: If he so loved us, can we not love each other?

 Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, pp. 1558-1559)
2. ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3. Briscoe, D.S. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 193-198)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, New King James version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
6. Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010)
7. Bayless Conley, “Wise Counsel.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com
8. Anne Graham Lotz, “One Life.” Retrieved from www.angelministries.org
9. Elizabeth Cole, “The Call.” Retrieved from www.homeword.com
10. Pastor Ed Young, “Acknowledge Who God Is.” Retrieved from www.edyoung.com
11. Dr. David Jeremiah, “Sending and Sent.” Retrieved from www.davidjeremiah.org
12. Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, “Call on Him.” Retrieved from www.lhm.org
13. Dr. Charles Stanley, “The Mission Question.” Retrieved from www.intouch.org
14. Pastor Bobby Schuller, “Supposed to Be.” Retrieved from www.hourofpower.org
15. Os Hillman, “The Eternal Sales Call.” Retrieved from www.marketplaceleaders.com
16. “Crossing the Gap Between Us.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com
17. Michael Youssef, Ph.D., “Our Treasure House.” Retrieved from www.ltw.org
18. Exegesis for Romans 10:5-15. Retrieved from www.sermonwriter.com 

Have you ever wondered what happens to people who don’t obey God’s will? If you have, there is a good example in the passage from Jeremiah 22:13-23.

Jehoiakim renovated the palace by conscripting his people during the Babylonian crisis, and that reflected his misplaced priorities. He attended to his personal comfort rather than fulfilling his royal duty to care for the poor and the needy. Jehoiakim would not only die, which happened before the Babylonians captured the city of Jerusalem in 597 BC, but there would not even be lament over his death and he would not receive a proper burial.

Jehoiakim’s oppressive ways meant that he did not know God. He saw only an opportunity for wealth. He did not see the needs of the poor. Because he was cruel, no one mourned his death. His burial was the same as the burial of a donkey. Those of you who have ever buried the remains of a dead animal know that it is a very simple task. All you have to do is dig a hole that is big enough for the carcass, put it in the hole and fill the hole. This is not the same as the elaborate burial rituals dead kings and queens receive today.

Those who followed Jehoiakim and his ways were driven out of the country and scattered throughout the world just like the wind scatters seeds that are lying on the ground. God had the last word then, and he has the last word today.

When we serve, when we give to the poor and needy, when we step out of our comfort zones and step into the lives of those who are suffering, we will see God’s heart for people. Generous living is a life of proper stewardship. We aren’t living generously if we give away our time, talent and obligations in one part of our lives but not meeting the obligations in the other parts of our lives.

One of our obligations is to know God. That means more than having a peaceful feeling in our hearts. It means acting for the benefit of others, especially for people who can’t pay us back. If we know God, we will love to serve him. If we know God, he will speak to us in both our prosperity and our hardship. In both cases we have to listen carefully for His voice and hear and obey what He says. What has God been saying to you lately?

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, pp. 1456-1458)
2. ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3. Guest, J. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 19: Jeremiah, Lamentations (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1988; pp. 154-159)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
6. “Spending on the Future.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
7. Kelly McFadden, “God’s Heart for the Poor and Needy.” Retrieved from www.homeword.com

How many of your either know or knew someone who people might say is “different?”

They end up in this category for many different reasons-race, colour, creed, beliefs, religion, the community they live in, or even a disability. I can tell you from personal experience that it is no fun to be labelled as “different.” I can sympathize with the blind man in the reading we heard from John 9:1-41. I hope that all of us as Christians can sympathize with him as well.

When the disciples saw the blind man, they saw an object of theological curiosity. In contrast, Jesus saw a man in need. There was a common belief at that time that suffering was the result of sin. The New Testament argues that this is not necessarily true, although situations such as cirrhosis of the liver and lung cancer are caused by the sins of drinking and smoking respectively. Even today, there are some people who look for someone to blame when tragedy strikes. They would rather call it a curse of God or a fitting punishment for some previous fault or crime instead of admitting that such things just happen or might happen to them.

Sometimes God allows us to go through suffering and hardship so that we can see Him deliver us through His mercy and power. Miracles can and do happen when we pray to God. For example, many of you know that I’ve been going through a tough time money-wise because of working part-time. The recent death of my mother did not help the situation either. A couple of months ago I was running short of money one day and wondering how I was going to make it until the next payday. I prayed to God for an answer. I was eating my supper one evening when all of a sudden someone called to me from the front hall of my house. One of our parishioners dropped off a sympathy card along with a bag of groceries. Even better was the surprise I found inside the sympathy card-money meant for me!

Jesus used the metaphors of night and day to highlight His identity as the light of the world. Then he brought light to the blind man by healing him. Jesus could have simply spoken and restored the man’s sight, but his instruction to go and wash in the pool of Siloam was perhaps intended to test the man’s faith.

Jesus saw the blind man who was in physical and spiritual darkness and responded to his need. Similarly, he responds to our need for spiritual light because we live with the handicaps of our sin, limitations and false ideas about God. Baptism gives us our initial sight, just like washing in the pool at Siloam helped to give the blind man his physical sight. As we continue our journey through Lent, we have a chance for a spiritual eye exam. Just as we need to have physical eye exams on a regular basis, we need to have our spiritual eyesight checked regularly.

Sometimes our spiritual blindness is the result of the influence other people have on us. As one of our former ministers said one time, “You are who you associate with.” We live in a world where sin is waiting to pounce on us just like a lion or a tiger pounces on its prey.

Spiritual vision allows us to see who we are before God, where we are going and what we have to do along the way. Jesus’ gift of spiritual sight gives us the direction we need in our lives today. Sin is the rejection of the light that was brought into this world by the Light of the World. Our response to that light is important. The Light of the World has the purifying power that cleanses the worst of sins just like many cleaners can clean the worst types of physical dirt.

The way the formerly blind man reported his encounter with Jesus provides a pattern for sharing faith: “Here is my story. This is who I was—blind, helpless and hopeless in my sin. Then I met Jesus, and this is how my life changed.” It is difficult for people to argue with a person’s story.

The Sabbath was established as a day of rest, but the Pharisees had added numerous regulations to make sure everyone “rested.” In their thinking, this healing—if in fact the man had actually been healed—was “work” and thus violated the Sabbath. The law about not healing people on the Sabbath was not God’s law. It was their interpretation of God’s law. To make matters worse, the Pharisees were important, educated, prosperous, respected—and it went to their heads. As we might say locally, they were “too big for their britches.” They assumed that they had they answers, so they closed their minds to new ideas. Instead of celebrating the man’s good fortune, they saw only a violation of their rules and a threat to their power.

Their power was also threatening. The man’s parents acknowledge that he was their son. They acknowledge that he was born blind and could now see, but they either did not know or were afraid to acknowledge the source of his healing. Perhaps they were afraid that if they said that he was healed by Jesus, they would also be expelled from the temple.

Unfortunately, a similar situation exists today, especially for our Christian brothers and sisters in the Third World. Many of them face opposition and persecution because of their faith. The difference between them and the blind man’s parents is that these Christians are proud of their faith and are not ashamed to speak about Jesus.

God’s healing presence was felt through the healing of the blind man’s sight. If people believed that his blindness was the result of sin, then Jesus’ healing should have proved to them that God works through Jesus to forgive sin. The blind man saw what the Pharisees refused to see. Jesus was more than a mere man. The blind man could see God and His truth. The Pharisees could not see this.

The Pharisees rejected the blind man’s healing as a miracle. They held on to their understanding of the man born blind as a product of sin and nothing else. They rejected the evidence of the miracle for the sake of the comfortable worldview that they had been trained to hold.

The worst thing the Pharisees could have done was to assert that they were not sinners. The best thing they did was cast the man out of the synagogue, where he saw Jesus with his own eyes and worshipped Him. Jesus did not rob the Pharisees of their sight, but they were blinded by their refusal to see. They assumed that they could see clearly and rejected anything that was different from their beliefs. Jesus did not condemn them, because they are condemned already because they did not believe in the Son of God. As is often the case with those who reject Christ, the Pharisees were blinded by their pride, not by ignorance. They chose not to understand. They preferred the darkness of their own self-interests to the Light of Christ. The Pharisees are on trial, not the blind man. His newly found freedom judges their darkness. The Pharisees used their so-called superior spiritual position as teachers of the Law as a weak, pathetic defense. Those of us who are Christian leaders can be tempted to fall back on our credentials such as a seminary degree or certificate of ordination when we are confronted by the witness of a newly born disciple of Jesus.

The Old Testament phrase, “Give God the glory” is a Hebrew phrase that often meant “Confess your sins and repent.” Many religions will say we know, just as the Pharisees did, but traditions and prejudices blind their followers. The newly sighted man challenged Jesus’ opponents with his “I know” declaration. His experience was not second-hand faith but the result of a direct encounter with Jesus. In anger, the Pharisees threw the man out of the synagogue. When Jesus heard about this, He sought out the man, just like he seeks us out, offers us His help and encourages us in our walk with God.

There have always been people who reject the truth in order to maintain the status quo, but there have also been those who are willing to stand up and speak up about this bad habit. When someone who tries to live up to the truth is rejected by society, he or she will be sought out by Jesus and called to a new life in Christ.

Through His healing of the blind man, Jesus confronts our spiritual blindness and reminds us that we must look beyond our own perceptions, rules and biases. If we allow our self-righteousness to blind us, we will never see the face of Christ. We will never meet him if we close our eyes to His presence in the world. We can learn to see clearly by doing these three things:

Changing how we see God.

Changing how we see and what we see in our lives.

Changing how we live.

Like Jesus, we must work the works of him who sent us while it is day. That work is the work of shining light into the darkness and leading those who seek the light of God’s truth into Christ’s presence. It is there where we will find life eternal and light perpetual-and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the best light to see.

Bibliography   

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, pp. 1456-1458)
2. ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3. Jude Siciliano, OP, “First Impressions, Fourth Sunday of Lent (A).” retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org
4. Frederikson, R.L. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 27: John (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1985; pp. 162-173)
5. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New American Standard Version. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
6. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
7. Pastor Dick Woodward, “A Definition of Sin.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
8. Bayless Conley, “Not Ashamed.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
9. Ryan Duncan, “Born Blind.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
10. Exegesis for John 9:1-41. Retrieved from www.sermonwriter.com

Have you ever noticed that on warm summer nights all sorts of moths and insects swarm to outdoor lights that are left on? The variety can be fascinating and ranges from mosquitoes to dragonflies and everything in between. Insects are not attracted to more darkness. They are attracted to the light.
In a similar way, people who are living in darkness in our world today are not attracted to more darkness. They are attracted to the Light on Christ. We can help them out by turning on our own lights from Christ. We don’t have to be trained speakers or ministers or evangelists. All we have to do is share with others what Christ has done for us and what he means to us. For example, we can share the fact that we were also in darkness.

Paul declares that we as believers were once darkness, not that we were in darkness. We were not innocently surrounded by sin and evil but were wholly part of that environment. Our old selves had to die in order to sever our relationship with sin. Being new people in Christ doesn’t mean that we are sinless. It means that because our old lives have been crucified and buried just like Christ was crucified and buried for us, we don’t have to sin any more.

Now we have become light and should have no fellowship with darkness. We can walk in the light of Christ by doing good deeds, acting as beacons of light in our dark world and not even thinking about sinning. We are to conduct ourselves ethically since we have adopted the way of Christ. We are to lead moral lives. Good works and Christ-pleasing behaviour are important parts of living the Christian life because God prepared such good works for us to do. In addition, we are to imitate Christ and God as important components of our Christian walk of life.

Paul reminds us of our conversion experience. This reminder is twofold. First, it refocuses our attention on new conduct, which represents a new reality. Second, it strengthens us so that our new conduct encourages others to awaken from sleep and the darkness of their own negative conduct and be converted into the light of Christ.

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians sets boundaries for our lives together as a community of faith. These boundaries allow us to pursue goodness, justice and truth not only by following truth, but by exposing anything that is false or secret. Paul urges us to test everything to see if it is acceptable to God. We can do this by asking questions such as;

1. Is this thing in agreement with God’s Word?
2. Will it draw us closer to God?
3. Does it further the cause of Christ in the world through us?

Being a Christian should cause us to think and act differently from the rest of society. Walking in the light of Christ confronts us with the possibilities of love and goodness. It also exposes the temptations of green and abuse. Exposing evil is risky, but the greater threat is the silence of those who consistently sacrifice their moral consciences on the altar of social order. We do not have to fear evil and darkness because we are armed with the light of Christ.Believers must not only remove themselves from darkness, but they also have a responsibility to expose and stand against the darkness. The Bible gives general principles for living, but we as Christians must use wisdom to discern how to apply these principles to current issues in our lives. Christians are to show by their lives and their wise interactions that evil is not to be ignored by God’s people.Life without Christ is a lot like what we experience during a power outage-survival mode in pitch darkness. Without Christ, hope, truth and morality are whatever we want them to be. Without Christ, our lives are simply lives spent stumbling around in the dark hoping not to bump into anything. How often do we hear friends say something like, “Well, I guess I’ll just wait and see and find out in the end whether I was good enough.” Thankfully, there is an alternative to a life of uncertainty and darkness. It is a life with Christ, who offers assurance and a grace that sheds light in the darkness.    

Bibliography

1.  Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, p. 1646)
2. ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3. Margaret Aymer, “Commentary on Ephesians 5:8-14.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
4. Richard Carlson, “Commentary on Ephesians 5:8-14.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
5. Dunnam, M.D. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 31: Galatians/Ephesians/ Philippians/Colossians/Philemon (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 215-223)
6. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
7. Meghan Kleppinger, “No Longer Stumbling in Darkness.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
8. Dr. Neil Anderson, “A Change in our Very Essence.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
9. Anne Graham Lotz, “Just Turn On the Light.” Retrieved from www.angelministries.org