How Can We Meet the Perfect Standards of God?

Solomon's writing of Ecclesiastes is a fascinating book that I can't say I have totally mastered. But I know this; his final words that conclude the book are complete truth and ought to make us take pause and consider where we stand with Jesus.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14  

Every deed we've done and every secret thought we have ever had, will be judged at the end of it all. God's standard is perfection. I'm not even close. How about you? Do you really think you are prepared to hold up your life to the standard of God's holiness?

Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins we commit and the Bible tells us how to receive His free gift of salvation.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” - Romans 10:8-11 

Is Jesus Your King?

One of the greatest stumbling blocks in the lives of the American Christian is found in the concept of Kings and Kingdoms. America was founded on rebellion, particularly rebellion against the king. Yet, to call ourselves Christians, demands that we relinquish our prideful desire to be independent and to humble ourselves in submission to a king, that king being Jesus.

We had a guest preacher come to our church yesterday and preach on Psalm 2. Take a moment and read that Psalm.

Psalm 2:1-12
 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?  The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,  "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.  Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,  "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."  "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"  Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

You might want to read that through several times because it runs quite contrary to the typical description we often hear preachers use in describing Jesus. And there is no question that what we are reading here in this psalm is a pre-incarnation picture of Jesus.

As we heard yesterday in our sermon, Jesus is not your “buddy”, He is your King. That Jesus loves you is a wonderful truth, and in His work on the cross we have been adopted into God’s family. But we have far too often made Jesus out to just be someone we can treat like we do our best friend. Yes, we have been adopted into His family and we can have an intimate relationship with Him now, but we can never lose sight of who He is and Psalm 2 is a stark reminder of the dangers of not humbling ourselves in reverent submission to His Kingship.

Look at a few quick points we hear from the psalmist.

Verses 1-3 tell us that the world’s leaders plot against God and call on us to break away from God and His Word. We are certainly seeing that today. Just look at America and its rejection of God’s moral law. And the people are more eager that ever in our history to change laws that give approval to things that God and His Word call sin.

But listen to what God’s Word in this Psalm says about those who plot against Him.

Psalm 2:4
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

As they think they are breaking free from God’s sovereignty and power, God is laughing at them.

The day is coming when the world leaders and those who follow them, are going to hear from God.

Psalm 2:5
 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury…

Jesus came the first time with salvation, not to judge the world, but to warn us that we must repent and follow Him. But the second time He comes, and oh yes, He is coming, He will come to judge. He will be coming with wrath.

Psalm 2:7-9
 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

God has given His Son, Jesus, the nations. And to those who have sought to be free of God’s fetters and cords, Jesus will break them with a rod of iron and shatter them like earthenware.

That ought to change how we see Jesus and how we preach to the lost. There is a judgment coming to those who refuse to bow before the King.

What do we do? What do we say to them?

Psalm 2:10-12
 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

We must warn them of the imminent danger of the return of Christ. We must “Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son.”

As far those who are willing to place themselves under a King, the sovereign King of Kings? How blessed are we, for we have our refuge in Him.

This is serious business. There are only two choices in this life. Have Satan be your king and follow him. Or let Christ be your King and submit yourself to His Kingdom.

Be careful what you choose.

The bad news: His wrath may soon be kindled.

The good news: How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

I pray you take refuge in the King.

Why We Fear Death and How Not To

Death. The very word sounds scary. The topic of death for many, is a subject they prefer not to talk about. We even have a word that people use when they feel uncomfortable when someone gets a little too familiar with death in conversation. We say they are being morbid, and the implication of the adjective is that we don’t wish to hear such talk.

Yet, the world of entertainment is filled with the subject of death. Go to the library and look at the novels. The shelves are filled with books about murders and the mysteries that surround them. Our movies and TV shows are often centered on the deaths that occur in real life. We even have dinner shows called Murder Mystery Dinners, that allow us to participate in the old ‘who done it” theme.

But then again, we spend millions upon millions on medical treatments and research on how to defeat death. We clamor against cancer and other diseases, demanding our government spend more on this quest for immortality.

In truth, death is a huge part of our lives. We even have a saying about it. We like to say that there are only two sure things in life; taxes and death. But that’s a poor statement. You do not have to pay taxes. There are several ways around that. But there is no way around death. It will come. And no one has a clue when. It could occur at any minute to anyone of us. And that scares us.

Why are we afraid of death? For one thing, as I alluded to above, we simply don’t know when it will strike. But the other thing about death is that it brings an end, and that end brings something that we have never experienced personally. That makes the other side of death a place of the unknown. And the unknown is scary.

But Christians who have read their Bibles know what death brings. They know that, while it is the end of life as we know it on earth, it is not the end. The Bible is clear about death. It tells us that though it is an end, it is also a beginning. The Bible tells us that all of us are eternal beings. And it tells us that in death, eternity will bring judgment. And judgment is scary.

The world hates judgment. People say they want justice, but they only really want justice to be served on others, because justice demands judgment and judgment demands punishment. Punishment is scary.

This is why the world hates Christians.

The world hates Christians because the world knows we speak of the truth when we speak of judgment and that we tell them that without Christ as their Lord and Savior, their death will bring judgment. They are afraid of death, because they are afraid of judgment and deep down in the recesses of their hearts and minds, they know they are guilty. They hate it when we quote the Bible. They hate when we quote Romans 3:23 which tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They hate it when we quote 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that warns us about the consequences of sin with these words, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” They hate this verse because they know all of us are guilty of the sins it speaks of.

They hate it because this verse speaks to the result of those who die without Christ and who will face judgment on the basis of their own merits. This makes death very scary.

Therefore we must preach the entire Gospel, not just tell them that Jesus loves them. Death, without Jesus is scary and the world needs to know this. Without Christ we are slaves to fear and sin. But Christians have been set free from this fear of death. And it was the death of Christ by which we are set free.

Hebrews 2:14-15
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

Christians should not fear death. We have been freed from that fear because if our faith is in the work of Christ and not our own, we are free of the judgment that death will bring.

Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Christians, we are free from the law of sin and death. We no longer should fear death.

The greatest witness to the lost and dying world is to show them this truth by how we live. We must live free of fear and free of the sin that causes us to be afraid.

Let us go forth in freedom.

Thoughts On the Holy Spirit

A few facts from scripture that speak of the Holy Spirit.

1. John 16:8-11

"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

He came to convict us. Both believers and non-believers, about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

2. Ephesians 4:30

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

We grieve the Holy spirit when

A.) we do wrong - Sin

B.) don't do what's right - righteousness

C.) fail to see that we are not living as we should - judgment

3. 1 Thessalonians 5:19

Do not quench the Spirit

This may be the greatest failing in the modern church today. Our faith is based on the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who is working in us to do God's work. No, we cannot believe all spirits, but must test all things to see if they are from God. But we must not ignore the fact that we are indwelled by a supernatural power that gives each us a gift and that gift transcends our natural abilities.

Our God is a God of power and the Christian faith is to be lived out in the supernatural power of God. But to fully walk in the power of the Holy Spirit we must let Him do the work in us. We must let Him have control. We must decrease; He must increase. When we are weak; He is strong.

What Do the Old Testament Prophets Have To Do With Us Today?

Over the past several weeks I finished reading the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and am currently about one-third of the way through Jeremiah. These are beautiful books of the Old Testament and if you are a passionate reader of the Scriptures, you probably love reading these great works as much as I do. Maybe you have even been through Sunday school lessons on them and heard sermons preached on the texts. Personally, I have read each of these books several times in the course of my travels through scripture. But through the years as I have grown in my Bible studies, it has become clear that these writings are not just wonderful literary works, nor are they simply a history of the Jewish Nation. No, I believe with all my heart, that God not only sent these prophets to speak to the hearts of the Jews, He sent them to us with a message as well. Paul explains the real purpose of the Old Testament to us Christians in Romans 15:4, saying that, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

The Old Testament was as much for our instruction, as are the scriptures of the New Testament. Listen carefully to what I am saying. No, Christians are not under the same covenant as Israel was in those days. We are not bound by the Mosaic Law in terms of a need to follow some rules to be saved. But honestly, a right understanding of the Old Testament will demonstrate the fact that no one is, was, or will ever be saved by the law. The only way to heaven and to God’s Kingdom, is through the saving blood of Jesus. I won’t take time to here to explain the specifics of how salvation by faith worked out for the Jews, I will leave that to your own Biblical study. The point I think needs to be grasped by the modern-day Christian, is that we are no different in what God is looking for when He calls us to be His.

What God wants from each and every person He elects to salvation, is their heart. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man’s heart is naturally turned against God. When God sent the flood to cleanse the earth of its sinful condition, it was the heart of man that God spoke to.

Genesis 6:5
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Jeremiah tells us that truth about our hearts.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

That is us, people. Our hearts are so sick that we cannot even understand ourselves. This is what drives men to desperate acts. Our world, our nation, our cities, and even our families are filled with strife. Addictions, adultery, sexual attitudes that rebel against all of God’s Word, crime and violence consume our news today. Suicides, murders, violence against women and children are all just responses to the sickness of the human heart. Listen to the what God says to us in response to our sick hearts.

Jeremiah 17:10
 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

This must lead us to a personal response to the question, what does God see within my own heart? You see, the message we see in the OT prophets that is for us today, is important. Yes, we are saved by grace, it is only the blood shed at Calvary in which we have hope. But think about what is happening to God’s chosen people in the stories of the OT. God chooses them and makes a covenant that gives them many physical promises, yet in spite of the multitudes of miracles and provision He gives, their hearts continually move away from Him. They fall back to their idols.

I think the American Christian takes his blessings for granted. We live in such abundance that we think God has made a special deal with us and we can just sit back and thank Him on Thanksgiving Day, tell Jesus, “Happy Birthday” on Christmas, and put on a nice suit and go to church on Easter Sunday and then all is well.

Wake up America! Whatever semblance of a Christian nation our forefathers set up, has been systematically dismantled. In my life time alone, prayer has been removed from schools, abortion made legal, sex has been liberated from the bonds of marriage, and even gender is no longer accepted as God-given.

God has no covenant with America. Unlike Israel, we are NOT God’s chosen people. It’s time we opened up our Bibles and turned to the prophets to see what God had to say to them about their sin. If God would bring judgement as He did against His chosen people, then how much more might God consider bringing judgment to us?

The good news for the Jews is that God always leaves a remnant. The good news for us is that God sent Jesus and in Him we have an eternal hope if we confess Him as Lord and Savior. But the warning from the prophets to the Jews is the same warning to us as well. Repent from our sin and we will be blessed. Continue in your sin? Read your Bible. It won’t be good.

The only hope America has is in the remnant of true Christians that dwell here today. If we do not start standing for God and His Word, we are risking severe judgment. As spoiled as we are in this country, even the simple removal of our blessings will bring many to their knees.

What must we do? First of all, pray. We need to stop whining about our leaders and focus on praying for them. Secondly, we as God’s church, His elect, need to repent. Third, we must stand for God’s truth. We must speak out, in love, against sin. This means we must stop following along with the world. Revival starts in our own heart. As my pastor once said, draw a circle around yourself, and start there. Open your Bible and read it as if it is speaking directly to you. It is.

I leave you with a message from God’s Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal its truth to you personally.

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Truths From Isaiah For the Church Today

Reading in Isaiah 28-31 this morning and it is a treasure-laden field of gold. Isaiah writes of judgment and of redemption. Speaking for God, Isaiah gives us a clear picture of the justice of God and reminds us that we cannot just ignore God and His commandments on how to live. There is a coming judgment. Right now, we live in an age of grace, a time when we have an opportunity to repent and turn back to God. Isaiah also speaks of the hope we can have if we turn back. If we confess and repent, then we can live in eternal relationship with God through Jesus. The Book of Isaiah should awaken in us a renewed reverence for God; the fear of the Lord must be what guides our every choice.

Yet, even in this day, our world, our nation, and sadly, even in our churches, people seem to think the Bible is outdated. It is insensitive to the people. It is bigoted. It is racist. It is anti-woman. That is the new mantra. So, just as the times change, so much the church and its people. We must conform, and we must tolerate. It doesn't matter that the Bible condemns adultery, homosexuality, gender-neutrality, and any and other behavior that society deems right. We accept abortion, sex outside of marriage, divorce and almost every other behavior of the world as simply sins to confess and be forgiven for. Yes, those are not unforgivable sins. But we cannot continue as a church to not cry out against these sins. They must be preached against over and over until we truly repent.

I came across a scripture this morning that I think illustrates what we are doing. And this morning I cannot help but wonder what judgments Isaiah would have for us if he were a prophet today and sent to us.

Isaiah 29:16
You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

We must stop trying to say that what God has said in His Holy Word, is no longer relevant. God DOES NOT change.

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

It is time.

Wake up church.