“Grace and the Law” – Galatians 2:19-21

I want to read something to you.  This is not the main passage we are going to study this morning but you are welcome to follow along.  But you may want to just sit back and listen and try to visualize what this looks like.  I’m reading from Matthew 27:62-28:6. 


The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”  ⁶⁵ “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.  28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.  ² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.  ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.


He is not here.  He has risen, just like He said.  That is the angel’s way of saying, “This Jesus…He’s kind of a big deal!  Yes, He’s a big deal, not just around here; not just in Israel and not just on this planet Earth, but in all the universe, Jesus is a big deal.”  Can you imagine if those words were never written or this incident had never happened?  Can you imagine if Jesus had come to Earth and lived and taught and been a really good guy but then He died and decayed in the grave?


Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  He said if Christ has not been raised then our faith is futile. We are still in our sins.  The dead are lost and we are to be pitied more than all men.  The resurrection of Jesus changed everything.  We are no longer under the Old Testament law.  We are under God’s grace.  We know that we too, all believers, will be resurrected and will be co-heirs with Jesus to all the great things Heaven has to offer.


Not only all that but instead of being pitied more than all men, we can have joy and peace in this life.  Jesus even said in John 10:10 that He came to give us an abundant life; a full life.  Amen?  Do you believe that?  Are you sure?


Then why doesn’t it happen???  Why aren’t you living an abundant, full life?  Why aren’t you living in joy and peace?  Oh, oh, wait.  I hear you.  You’re not living like that because of all the bad things that have happened in your life.  Pretty soon you’ll be living that way but right now, your circumstances make that impossible, right?  Yea, because that’s what Jesus said, right?  He said He came to give you an abundant life when your circumstances allowed it.


The Big Deal of all the universe; the resurrected Savior of the world; the Son of Almighty God will give you joy and peace as soon as your boss gives you a raise, or as soon as you get over this physical problem or when you have enough money or when your husband finally puts the toilet seat down.  Is that what you think?  Or maybe true joy and happiness will come to you when you are finally able to keep the Ten Commandments.  Maybe you need to be a preacher.  That’s what it is.  You just need a job where all you do all day is read the Bible.  That’ll do it.  Then life will be perfect!


In Philippians 4:11, Paul said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”  How do you do that?  In a few weeks we are going to look deeper at Paul’s ministry and everything he went through but most of us know that Paul was rarely laying around, watching Oprah on TV and eating bon-bons.  His life was difficult to say the least.  How was able to say he was content?


Fortunately, he tells more about how to do that in the book of Galatians.  We are going quickly through Galatians.  This is the second sermon of the 3-part series.  Last week we looked at what Paul said about grace and the Gospel.  This week he contrasts grace with the Law.  Next week we will see how to live out that grace.


So, obviously the book of Galatians is all about grace.  One might say that this life is all about grace.  It certainly was important to Paul and when he heard that the churches in Galatia that he had started were starting to teach that you had to follow the Old Testament Law as well as believe in the grace of Jesus, then he knew he had to write to them to set them straight again.


Turn to Galatians chapter 2 and let’s read just verses 19-21.  Galatians is between 2 Corinthians and Ephesians.  It’s on page 824 of most of the Bibles in the pews.


Galatians 2:19-21 says, “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”


I was officiating a funeral service a while back of an older woman who had died in her sleep.  At the end of the service, as is the custom, the pall bearers picked up the casket and were taking it out the side door to be placed in the hearse but they accidently hit the door on the way out.  When that happened, they heard a faint groan from inside the casket, set it down and quickly opened up to find the woman was still alive.


She went on to be okay and lived another couple of years but, as happens to all of us, she finally really did die and we again had her funeral.  At the end of the service, again, as is the custom, the pall bearers went to grab the casket but as they did, the husband of the deceased said to the pall bearers, “Hey!  Watch that door!”


A truly dead person doesn’t have much in common anymore with a person who is truly alive, do they?  A dead person is not affected by heat or cold.  A dead person doesn’t care what you say to them or what you do to them.  You can’t cheat them or make fun of them.  They don’t care.  They’re dead.


Have you ever heard somebody at a funeral say of the deceased, “They look so peaceful”?  Do you ever wish you could have that kind of peace?  People sometimes take their own lives because they think they have to do that to find peace.  All through the Old Testament peace with God was only found through keeping the Law and when you messed up and sinned you had to offer a perfect, living sacrifice of some kind of animal.


In Deuteronomy 27 it says, "Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out."  The Mosaic Law said that a blood sacrifice was required for sin.  Even in Romans 6:23 it says that what we deserve for our sins is death.  Here in Galatians Paul is saying that because the Law says something has to die, he died to the Law and now he lives for God because Jesus was the perfect, living sacrifice for all of us.


When somebody is dead, they can’t be affected by something.  Paul is saying that the Law cannot affect him anymore.  He doesn’t live under the Law.  He goes on to say in verse 20 that he has been crucified with Christ and it is no longer Paul that lives but Christ living in him.  What does it mean and what does it look like when Christ lives in us?


*Hold up empty glass*  How do I get all the air out of this glass?  Can I use a vacuum and suck out all the air?  Can I turn it upside down and let the air fall out?  Maybe I should blow into it real hard and blow the air out. 


*Fill glass with water*  Now all the air is gone.  D.L Moody said, "I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts.” 


Do you want peace and joy in this life?  Do you want to live an abundant life?  Well then I have some bad news and some good news.  The bad news is that you can’t do it.  It’s impossible.  You can no more have peace and joy in this life than you can breathe underwater.  You aren’t built for it.

The good news is that when you allow the Holy Spirit to live in you, then you can have joy and peace.  When you empty your heart of anything that is contrary to God or His Word and allow the crucified Christ to be Lord and you completely lose anything that resembles pride or your accomplishments then you get peace and joy even in the difficult times.


That’s what Paul understood and why he could honestly say he was content whatever was happening to him.  It’s not because he gave up living.  He goes on to say in verse 20, “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  He lives by faith.


Martin Luther said, “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.”  That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  I want to have everything.  Don’t you?  So, what does that look like?  We saw what it looks like to be crucified with Christ from the first part of verse 20.  We know that we have to empty our hearts of anything that is contrary to God or His Word.


How do we live by faith so that in the end we wind up with everything as Luther said?  The beautiful, little book of James tells us the secret to doing that right off the bat in James 1, verse 2.  He says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”


What’s the secret to having faith that leads to having everything (as Luther said) or not lacking anything (as James said)?  Facing trials of many kinds.  That’s the secret.  Oh, I know what you’re thinking.  No, no!  That’s not the secret.  The secret is how to avoid trials of many kinds.  How do we do that?  That’s what we all want to know.


The problem is, we don’t.  We can’t avoid them.  Jesus even said in Matthew 5 that the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  The secret, the key to having joy and peace, the way to live an abundant life is not in avoiding the difficulties of life but by letting the Holy Spirit live in us and guide us, trusting by faith that He loves us and is in control.


Paul said in verse 20 that he lives by faith in the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him.  Because Jesus gave Himself to be crucified, we, too, are crucified to this world.  We are dead to this world.  We don’t have to be affected by the world and its problems and its temptations.  Yes, we are alive but when it is Christ who lives in us, we have faith that even when things are more than we can handle, that God is in control and He loves us.


By the way, don’t fall for that lie from Satan that God will never give you more than you can handle.  Satan loves it when that is repeated because it means that if you are going through something difficult, you should just try harder.  All that does is lead to frustration and guilt and failure.  God often gives us more than we can handle so that we will live by faith and know that He can handle it.  All we have to do is let Him.


That’s hard for us to do, though.  We want to do something so that we can be proud of what we did.  We want to be able to say, “Look at what I did.  I made it through those hard times.”  Well, how’s that working out for you so far?  Oh, sure, you can handle the small stuff…some of the time but what happens when the doctor gives you bad news?


What happens when you have way more bills than you do money or your spouse leaves or your child dies?  That’s way, way, way more than you can handle and that kind of stuff is going to happen to you, if it hasn’t already.  It’s really easy for us to sit in church and since we had that really bad hang nail the other day we have learned that God is in control and He loves us.


But what happens when the bottom drops out and the worst happens and you can’t handle it?  I know I’m talking to some of you right now and I hate to do this.  I hate to drop the Job bomb on you but it’s the perfect illustration.  You know the story.  God has caused Job to lose everything he has.  Yes, you heard me right.  I said God caused it.  I’m not afraid to say that.  I have biblical basis for it but anyway, Job is a big, ol’ mess.  Finally, at the end of the book, Job has nothing, is nothing, brings nothing to the table and has finally had the last of his pride wrung out of him and look at what he says in Job 42.


“I know that you can do all things.”  He said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”  That is living by faith.  God didn’t even explain why He did what He did to Job.  He didn’t have to.  But it took Job going through what James calls “trials of many kinds” before Job got there.  Thankfully, most of us don’t have to go through all that old Job had to go through but we will all go through some kind of trials and when we do, we have a choice.


We can choose to let Christ live in us and through us and empty our hearts of anything that is contrary to God or His Word and let the Spirit of God guide us and show us what to do and what not to do…or not, then see how it works out for you.

Psalm 105:4 says, “Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.”  His strength, seek His face.  That is grace.  We don’t deserve it but He wants to show us grace.  Grace is not getting what you deserve.  What we deserve is Hell for our sins according to Romans 6:23. 

Paul ends here by saying, “²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”  We have seen that through Christ living in us, we can have peace and joy in whatever situation we find ourselves in this life and that’s good.  Peace and joy in this life are important and wonderful but this life is just a wisp of smoke.  Eternity is forever and just like peace and joy can only be found through God’s grace, not by anything we do, being right with God can only happen through God’s grace as well and not through anything we can do.  Paul said if there was something that man could do to earn salvation or do enough good works to be right with God then Jesus died in vain.  He wasted His time and effort and blood, if that is the case.

Thank you, Lord, for your grace.  Grace is sort of like a parachute.  If you are flying in a plane and you only wear the parachute because you want to have peace and joy and to be comfortable while on the plane then pretty soon, you are going to think that this big old parachute is not really worth it.  But that’s not the main purpose of a parachute, is it?  The main purpose of a parachute is to save your life when it comes time to get out of the plane.

You need God’s grace, His undeserved help to make it through this life but you really need His grace to make into the next life that lasts forever and ever.  The good news about the Good News (the Gospel) is that all you have to do is believe.  That belief includes emptying yourself of all your pride and all the things that keep you from being like Jesus but there is no other way.  Be saved by faith.  Live by faith, knowing that God loves you and He is in control.

That brings peace and joy in this life and life in Heaven with Jesus in the next life.  If you don’t have that then I would love to talk with you right now as the music plays.  Step out right now and ask Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and repent of those sins, turning away from that life, never to live it again.

“The Good News About the Good News” – Galatians 1:6-9

Well, I have made a decision and I think you will be glad about it.  You know how good it is to be able to do something good for someone and the blessing you receive from it, right?  Well I want you to be blessed.  I do.  So, you remember the Corvette I told you I was going to buy a couple of weeks ago?  2017 Z06 in Adrenaline Red?  I’ve decided to let the church help me pay for it.  Aren’t you excited?

Now, don’t worry.  I’m not getting the most expensive one.  Well, I am but I’m not getting the convertible.  I don’t want to appear extravagant.  But so that you get a blessing, I am going to pay part and the church will pay part.  That’s fair, right?  The MSRP on a base model Z06 is $80,395.  I checked my bank account and I have $14.  Of course I don’t want to use all of that on the purchase price.  I have to have some for insurance and gas so I will pay $7.  That leaves the church with about $80,388 (and a few taxes).  How does that sound?

No?  We are both paying a part.  I don’t want to rob you of your blessing!  I can’t believe you don’t want to do that.  Well, if you don’t think that is a good deal then how do you think Jesus feels when we try to add our paltry good works to His amazing saving grace?  When we alter the Gospel even a little bit by adding to or taking away anything, it is a direct insult to the Creator of the Universe and His only begotten Son.

When someone says they believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that Gospel includes the fact that Jesus died on the cross to be the perfect sacrifice that we could never be to pay the price we could never pay and then they add anything else to that…it is a false Gospel and is not Good News at all.  Anything besides the work that Jesus did on the cross to show us grace for our salvation is just like me saying we can share the cost of a new Vette by me paying $7.

That is highly offensive, not only to all true believers, but also to God Himself.  The Apostle Paul got pretty worked up about this subject in the book of Galatians.  The whole book of Galatians is written to refute all those who would say salvation is by faith and any kind of works.  Paul got pretty upset when he found out that the churches of Galatia; the churches he started and founded on the pure, unadulterated Gospel, were including in their teaching that you needed to follow the Jewish law as well as believe in Jesus.

Anytime something is perverted it means that the truth has been twisted into something it was not meant to be.  Saying that sex is okay between anybody except a husband and wife is a perversion of the truth.  Saying a baby is not human until it is born is a perversion of the truth.  Saying that we can share the cost of a new car is a perversion of the truth and saying that Jesus plus anything leads to salvation is a perversion of the truth and anytime somebody takes the truth of the Gospel and twists it into something it is not, Satan gets a big kick out of that because it robs God of glory that is due Him.

Let’s turn to the New Testament book of Galatians and see just how strongly Paul felt about this subject.  Galatians is in between 2 Corinthians and Ephesians.  It’s only 6 chapters and it divides real nicely into 3 major themes.  Today we are going to look at grace and the Gospel in chapter 1, verses 6-9.  Now, I have to warn you.  If this passage was a TV show, it would start out with one of those disclaimers that says, “Caution:  some scenes may be hard to watch.” I know what you do when you see one of those disclaimers too.  You lean forward a little and turn up the volume, don’t you?  Listen to this.  Galatians 1:6-9.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

I heard the story about the man who was applying for a job and the interviewer was looking at his resume and said, “It looks to me like you have been fired from every job you have ever had.”  The man said, “Yes sir, that’s right.  Which just goes to prove I’m no quitter.”

Sometimes, depending on what you are doing, the proper and good choice is to quit.  Trying to be good enough to get to Heaven is one of those things.  Trying to earn your way to salvation with good works and a “holier than thou” attitude is something you need to stop immediately.  It’s like trying to teach a pig to sing.  All you do is annoy the pig and wear yourself out.

Paul’s point here is that the Gospel is enough.  Before we go any further, let’s define “Gospel”.  What is the Gospel?  Actually, the central ingredient of the gospel message is a two-fold confession: (1) Christ died for our sins and (2) He was raised on the third day. The reality of these two elements can be verified by the Scriptures (cf. Ps. 16:10; Isa. 53:8-10) and by such historical evidence as the empty tomb and the eye witnesses. Thus, the two elements mentioned here accomplish two important facts regarding the gospel. The fact that He was buried verified His death, and the fact that He appeared to others verified His resurrection. https://bible.org/article/what-gospel

Do you remember what song we sang just before I got up here?  The song “To God Be the Glory” contains the Gospel.  It’s one of the reasons we still sing some of the old hymns around here.  There is a line in there that sums up the Gospel pretty well.  It says, “The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

John 3:16 is the Gospel.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  We are only told to do one thing in that verse.  What is it?  Believe.  What does it mean to believe?  For me, as the vilest offender, what do I have to do to truly believe? 

True belief is somewhat of an enigma to me because on one hand you don’t have to do anything yet on the other you constantly have to do something.  Let me illustrate with this chair.  Let’s pretend for a minute that this chair is the way to salvation.  This chair will represent the Gospel, the way to Heaven.  It represents everything Jesus did on the cross and in the tomb.  All you need to do is sit in it.

Now, I can admire this chair and I can talk about this chair and I can recommend that you sit in it.  I believe that this chair will hold me.  I believe that there is nothing wrong with it and it is fully capable of holding even me up.  I understand that the material from which it is made is strong and that all the bolts are snug and it is adjusted just right.  I might even be able to tell you how much it weighs and how much it can hold and how long it is guaranteed but until I actually park myself in it, I have not truly believed in this chair.

So, finally, by faith, I decide to sit in the chair, believing that it will hold me up.  The problem is, I keep wanting to get up and check the bolts.  I’m not comfortable with how it sits so I feel the need to make some adjustments.  Maybe I should just put my feet on an ottoman, you know, to take some pressure off the chair.  But the builder of the chair is very proud of the chair and when we try to make adjustments to make it a little better, the builder is insulted.  All He wants me to do is sit in it and be still and know that He is the builder. (Psalm 46:10)

That’s why Paul is so adamant about the Gospel.  He says if anybody else preaches another gospel then let him be eternally condemned and that person will be eternally condemned because a perverted gospel is not the Gospel.  If you start with the truth of the Gospel but you then twist it to include baptism or the Lord’s Supper or church attendance or even worship, then you have a perverted gospel and not the true Gospel and you will be condemned.

Think about the thief on the cross next to Jesus.  In Luke 23:39-43 it says,

[39] One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"  [40] But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? [41] We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."  [42] Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." [43] Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

There was no baptism, no Lord’s Supper, and he never once even went to church.  But his belief in Jesus as being the only way was enough.  He knew Jesus was God and that was enough.  He knew all he had to do was to sit in the chair and be still and accept the grace of God.  That’s so hard for us to do because we are proud people.  We want to do something to earn our way to Heaven so we can feel good about it.

I hear it a lot when I ask to hear somebody’s testimony.  They tell me all the things they have done.  They went to Sunday School and church.  They got baptized 4 times.  They were a deacon in the church.  They did this and they did that.  I don’t want to hear how you oiled the rollers on the chair.  I want to hear about God’s grace that provided you with a chair in spite of who you are.

When you are really relying on the chair and when you understand that you don’t deserve the chair no matter how well the rollers are oiled or whatever you do; when you truly believe and have a relationship with the Father through His Son Jesus, then you understand grace.

When you understand grace and what it took for the Son of God Himself to leave Heaven where every angel heaped glory on Him constantly and to come to earth where He would be mocked, tortured and crucified to pay the price we could never pay then you will want to be baptized as a message to your family and friends that you are now a believer.

When you understand grace you will want to participate in the Lord’s Supper.  You will want to pray and worship and going to church and supporting the church will be a joy for you but you will understand that none of those things will get you to Heaven and anybody that tells you otherwise is, according to Paul, eternally condemned.

Oh, I almost forgot!  I baked some cookies for us to share this morning.  They are a secret recipe but they are so good.  I bought some special, rare, chocolate chips to put in them.  I hope you like them.  I have some extra chocolate chips here as well if you want to maybe sprinkle them on the cookies before you eat it.  (The chocolate chips are really rat poison pellets.)

What?  You don’t want any?  Why not?  No, these aren’t rat poison.  They’re chocolate chips.  They’re special…French…no?  Hard to believe.  Okay.  You’re right.  But that is exactly like taking the beautiful, pure Gospel of Jesus Christ and adding anything else to it.  You take the truth of grace and you twist it to mean something else entirely when you add works of any kind.  So don’t fall for it when the Mormons come to your door and try to tell you their gospel because it includes a supposed revelation from the Angel Moroni that they have included in their holy scriptures.

Paul said even if an angel really did preach something else he would be eternally condemned.  They have a gospel that is very close to the truth until they poison it with untruth.  Every religion that uses something other than the Bible does the same thing.  Even some so-called Christians might try to tell you that you have to be baptized as a baby or you have to sell a certain number of magazines.  Don’t fall for it.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is pure and simple and all we need.  Just sit in it and be still, knowing He is God.

*Invitation*

*Lord’s Supper*

“Where To Invest” – Truth – John 3:21

President Lincoln once asked the question I am going to ask you.  How many legs does a cow have?  Four, of course, right?  Now, suppose you call the cow's tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?  It still has only four legs.  Calling a cow's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.

Let’s talk about truth for a few minutes.  The question, “What is truth?” could fill a library worth of books in response.  Just because someone says something is truth doesn’t necessarily make it so just like saying a cow has five legs is not necessarily true.  Is that statement true?  Or is that just my opinion?  How do you know?  How do you know that something is truth or not?

The very first sermon I ever preached was in a nursing home and it was a tough room, I’ll tell you.  Two ladies in wheelchairs nearly got in a fight over who was sitting where on the front row.  Everybody in the place had a much-too-detailed list of the things for which they needed prayer.  There was a continually ringing phone in the next room and to top it off, when I finally did get to start preaching, and was just getting into it, some lady in the back yelled, “That’s a lie!” to me several times.

That part was the worst.  Not only was it fairly distracting but it hurt because from day one I have demanded of myself to only preach what I know is true.  But what is truth and how do we know?  It is a subject that has been debated by every great philosopher from Aristotle to Gwen Stefani and to tell you the truth (slight pun intended) it can easily go over my head.  It can be hard for me to understand, sometimes, the deeper meaning of truth.

What I do understand is the importance of finding the truth, knowing the truth and living the truth.  I have said lots of times that deep down everybody wants to know the truth.  They don’t always want to believe it when they see it and they sure don’t want to live it out but nobody wants to go through life deceived.  God has put that desire for truth inside of us.  It is a gift but what we do with that gift is up to us.

Like only God can do, He put the gift of a hunger for truth inside of us and then gives us rewards when we find it and live by it.  Those rewards are for the here and now as well as for the hereafter.  As we finish our sermon series on where to invest for eternal rewards, I have seen that in all that places we have looked at to invest that you not only get rewards for eternity in Heaven but there are also rewards to be had right here and now.

When you want to invest for eternity, whether it is in unbelievers, the Word, the church or in each other, there are rewards to be had in eternity but they also come with rewards here on earth.  But if you want your rewards on earth then this is the only place you will get them.  Jesus said in Matthew 6 that the hypocrites who do their good deeds for show have gotten their rewards in full.

So, let’s turn to the Gospel of John and see what Jesus said about truth and how He relates to it and the reward of finding it.  We are looking at John chapter 3 with a focus on verse 21 but let’s look at verses 19-21 to keep it in context.  You remember that in this passage, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus.  Nic came to Jesus at night because he was a Pharisee and didn’t want anybody seeing him talking to Jesus.  He knew that would be bad for business but at the same time he wanted to know the truth and he knew that Jesus was the Man to talk to.  As we will see, the fact that Nicodemus came at night was not lost on Jesus.

John 3:19-21 says, ^19 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Two men had an argument. To settle the matter, they went to a judge for arbitration. The plaintiff made his case. He was very eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning. When he finished, the judge nodded in approval and said, "That's true, that's true."

On hearing this, the defendant jumped up and said, "Wait a second, judge, you haven't even heard my side of the case yet."  The judge said, “Oh, that’s true.  Go ahead.” And he, too, was very persuasive and eloquent. When he finished, the judge said, "That's true, that's true."

When the clerk of court heard this, he jumped up and said, "Judge, they both can't be right." The judge looked at the clerk of court and said, "That's true, that's true."

I could bore you with statistics but the truth is that younger people nowadays are getting more and more skeptical about the truth of God.  The fault for that skepticism lies in several places.  Part of the problem is an apathetic church.  Part of the blame goes to society, part to the parents and part of the reason we are seeing it is prophetic.  We saw last week that in the end times we will see people become lovers of self and money instead of lovers of God and one way younger people are justifying this trend is just by saying, “Well, I don’t believe it to be true.”

I saw a quote online the other day that said 90% of the quotations posted on the internet were false.  The quotation was credited to George Washington so I don’t know if that’s true or not.  I’m kinda doubting it.  I have thought a lot about truth this week and how to know it; how to believe, why to believe and how to live it out.

That “living it out” part is vital because without living it out then your belief is not really belief, is it?  Look back at verse 21.  Keep your place there and keep looking at it.  We want to focus on that verse.  Jesus said, “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light.”  That phrase “lives by” means to do; to do the truth.  How do we do the truth?

Well, to do the truth, we first have to know it and that is the big question.  How do we know what is truth?  The Greek word for truth is “aletheia” which literally means “to un-hide” or “hiding nothing” meaning that it is all completely seen.  The only thing we can completely see is in the past.  We can’t see into the future, even one second but we can see completely what has happened in the past.  So, we base our belief in truth on what has been true in the past then we have faith that that truth or what is said to be truth will happen again in the future.

Does that make sense?  Are you following me?  Let me give you an example.  I did some research on biblical prophecy and there are between 1800-2500 different prophecies that have all, up to this point, been fulfilled.  Obviously some are prophesied for the future and have not yet come true but up to this point they all have.  There are prophecies written in the Old Testament about Jesus that came true in the New Testament, some of which are thousands of years apart.

It was prophesied that He would be betrayed and abandoned by His friends in Zechariah and Psalms; that He would be accused by false witnesses and beaten and spit upon in Psalms and Isaiah.   Genesis, Numbers, Amos, Daniel, Malachi and so many others prophecy about Jesus.  It says in Psalm 38:11 “My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; And my kinsmen stand afar off.”  Fulfillment: Luke 23:49 “And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee, were standing at a distance, seeing these things.”  Over and over again the prophecies of the Old Testament came true in the New Testament.

So, at the very least this leads me to believe that when the Bible says something…it is truth.  But…wait a minute.  There are other religious writings beside the Bible.  What if they are true?  What if the Koran is also true?  Maybe we could just combine them and maybe even add the Buddhist scriptures or sutras?  What do you think?

Well, I went to Al Islam, which is the official website of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to see what prophecies were in the Koran and surprise, surprise, they, too, had prophecies fulfilled.  This comes straight from the horse’s mouth (or maybe camel) but if you doubt any of this you can check it out when I post the sermon on our website and you will see where I found all of this.

This is from the Muslim website about the Koran and it says, “No one can ever imagine that an unlettered person living in a nomadic society of Arabia 1400 years ago can predict such amazing scientific events, as mentioned hereunder, to happen. It is very well beyond the human capacity to foretell or even visualize such incredible incidents. The only conceivable source of these prophecies and predictions is purely divine.”  https://www.alislam.org/library/articles/prophecies.html

Then the first prophecy that they cite is in chapter 41:21 where the Koran prophecies – are you ready? – fingerprints!  Yes, 1400 years ago this book says, "Their skins will bear witness against them as to what they have been doing" which this website says is a prediction that we would have fingerprints.  So…there’s that.

Next – and this is a biggie- chapter 30:43 says, “"Corruption has spread on land and sea because of what men’s hands have wrought" which Al Islam says is a prophecy concerning pollution.  Yep, nailed it on the pollution.  I promise I’m not making this up.  Check it out all you skeptics.

It goes on to predict that there will be a nation of Israel.  It says, “And after him We said to the Children of Israel, 'Dwell Ye in the promised land” blah, blah, blah. (17:105)  Yes, he told the nation of Israel that there will be a nation of Israel.  Those are the first three.  There are others about how there will be roads in mountains, there will be zoos and there will extra-terrestrial life (42:30).  I’m not kidding.  That’s a prophecy that the Muslims are proud of.

I didn’t know that Islam would make it so easy to believe in the Bible but not to be outdone, Buddhism goes even a step further when talking about Buddhist prophecies when it actually quotes the Bible to prove it is truth.  Again, I promise this is what the Buddhists say about their prophecies in their holy writings.

They say, “This prophecy by Guatama Buddha is very ambiguous, that is to say, it has very few details that allow us to probe into it and extract details that predict when Maitreya will come.”  Then it goes on to quote Revelation 1:7 because it is easier to understand.  http://maitreya.org/english/PBuddhism.htm

I can’t make this stuff up but obviously somebody has!  I have said before that every other religion basically comes from some guy sitting under a tree trying to figure life out and since the Bible won’t let him live the lifestyle he wants to live, he just makes something up and calls it truth.  But that doesn’t make it truth, does it?

Okay, I went a long way and took a long time to try to prove to you that the Bible and only the Bible is truth and that real truth only comes from Jehovah God.  Now let’s look at what truth is not.  Truth is not simply what works.  A lie can work but is not the truth.

Truth is not always understandable.  God said His ways are higher than our ways and we may not always understand it but that’s okay.  It’s still truth.

Truth is not necessarily what makes people feel good.  In fact, truth often hurts.  That’s why we are told to speak the truth in love.

Truth is not what the majority of people say it is.  The majority of people can be and often are wrong.  For a long time people sincerely thought the earth was flat.

Truth is not defined by what is intended.  You can make an honest mistake but it is still a mistake. (gotquestions.org)

Lastly, while God gives us feelings and discernment through the Holy Spirit living inside of us, those feelings (if they are true) will never supersede or run counter to what God says in the Bible.

There are some problems with truth, though.  Have you ever noticed that telling the truth rarely wins you new friends?  You can tell a dear old friend the truth and they will hopefully still love you but rarely does it bring in new friends.  The problem is that truth is narrow-minded.  2 plus 2 is always going to be 4.  Truth is always going to be truth and there is no room for “almost the truth” in spiritual matters.

You can become the President of the United States telling “almost the truth”.  If you don’t believe it, then just wait for the election in November but when it comes to eternity, that’s too long to be wrong and for Christians, we have to strive for truth because anything less is detrimental to the Kingdom of God.

Look at the last part of verse 21.  “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done through God.”  Some translations say “in the sight of God” or “by God” or “in God”.  It means that when we “do truth” it is done with God’s help and His blessing and according to His will.  Anything less than truth reflects poorly on God.

I know sometimes that the Bible seems harsh and we have a tendency to want to soften it up a bit when we are talking to unbelievers.  You know what I mean.  “Well, Jesus wasn’t really comparing hate with murder.  It was just hyperbole.”  “Yes, Jesus said in Matthew 19:19 that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery. But that doesn’t really apply in this case.”  Softening up the truth makes it less than the truth or almost the truth and that is not truth.

If we are going to do truth or live truth then we have to live all of it, even when it is difficult.  The first step in living truth is knowing it and we know that the Bible is true.  The next steps are to do the truth without delay and then continue doing it.  Know it.  Do it all right away and continue doing it.  So, when 1 Thessalonians (5:22) says to abstain from all appearances of evil, then you make sure that you do that in every aspect of your life to the best of your knowledge and you continue doing it.

When Matthew 6 says forgive men when they sin against you that means every time, no excuses.  Do it now and continue to do it.

In Philippians 4:6 it says not to worry.  Is that just good advice to do when you can?  No.  It is a command; a truth from God to be lived out right away and forever.

Wives, be submissive to your husbands.  Husbands, love your wives as you love yourself (1 Peter 3).  Let no coarse word come from your mouth (Eph. 4:29).  The Bible is full of truth but sometimes it is hard to do and yet not to do it and not to do it right away and not to continue doing it…is sin.  It is sin that put Jesus on the cross.  It is sin that will always have consequences.  It is sin that will be a barrier between you and Holy God.

In John chapter 18, Jesus is standing before Pilate on trial for His life.  The two are standing inside Pilate’s house and Pilate is questioning Him.  Finally, Jesus says, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Pilate, who is standing right there in front of Jesus; standing there looking at the Truth; in the very presence of all truth and what is his response?  “What is truth?”  Don’t you know that for all eternity the only thought Pilate will ever have is “Why didn’t I see it?  How could I have missed it being so close to Truth?”  For all eternity Pilate will be embarrassed.  He will be mad at himself for his unbelief.

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No man comes to the Father but by Me.”  I know it is hard sometimes to do truth; to live truth right away and all the time but I encourage you with this because I love you and want you to have eternal rewards, not just crummy, earthly rewards. In 1 Corinthians 13 it says that love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but love rejoices with the truth.  I love you too much to not encourage you to invest in truth.

Do it today.  Do it right now and continue doing it and see the eternal rewards.

“Where To Invest” – Unbelievers – Matt. 28:18-20

When you hear the phrase “Back in the good old days”, what do you think of?  Mayberry?  Barney Fife?  Cruising in your ’57 Chevy with your steady girl, listening to Chuck Berry?  What about when you hear “Back in the good old days at church”?  What do you think of then?  Do you think of being at the church 4-5 days a week for something and twice on Sundays for sure?  Don’t be late for Training Union!

For some of us who grew up in the church, it doesn’t seem like that long ago that we had something to do at the church almost every day and that wasn’t all good but it wasn’t all bad either.  Today, most folks only come on Sunday mornings and they don’t even join the church.  They just attend sometimes.  Not Sunday School, of course, because that starts too early, but the average person comes to worship 1-2 a month, checks that box and, depending on what they get out of it, maybe they will come again pretty soon.

Have I stepped on your toes yet?  Give me a few minutes and I will.  Yea, it’s gonna be one of those kind of messages.  But seriously, when you look back 20, 30, 40 years or for Speedy, considerably longer, you can see the level of morality and spirituality of our country and our homes has decreased with the level of church attendance.  Now, since we live in what the Bible calls the last days, we can expect this to happen.  We can expect people to be lovers of money and self and not of the church.  (2 Timothy 3:2)

But just because we can expect it, does that mean we have to accept it?  Does that mean we are off the hook; that we don’t have to try as hard as we used to?  Absolutely not!  In fact, we are going to have to continue to ratchet our efforts up and try even harder, not for our sakes and for the sake of this church but for the sake of our community, our country and our children and grandchildren.

Back in the good old days of the church, a revival would be scheduled for a week but then the Holy Spirit would break out and it would turn into two weeks or even three weeks and people would be getting saved left and right and that had to be some fun times in which to minister.  Well, it’s harder now for any number of reasons and we don’t see that kind of thing happen as often anymore so we can either just write it off as the times we live in or we can do even more and work even harder than they used to.

If you are not willing to do that then we can all expect and accept that this country, our community and the lives of our children will be less and less blessed by God.  I don’t see any way that it can turn out any differently because we are still responsible for making disciples just like they were 50 years ago, 100 years ago or 2000 years ago and since Sovereign God has no “Plan B” for spreading the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ other than using us, then we don’t have any excuse.

Hey, did I tell you I was going to buy a new car?  I am.  Some of you know I have been saving my money and I’m finally going to buy that new Corvette I’ve been talking about for so long.  You believe me, right?  Good.  Yes, I’m going to buy a 2017 Corvette ZL1 in Adrenaline Red and I can’t wait.  It’s gonna be great.  The first thing I’m going to do is, of course, take it home and put it on jack stands and take the wheels off.  I don’t want them to get flat spots on them from sitting there.  I’ll never actually drive it because that would be dangerous.  All that power!

I’ll sit in it a lot, I’m sure, and listen to the premium Bose 9 speaker stereo system while sitting in those Carerra leather GT Bucket seats.  It’s gonna be great!  I’ll talk about it a lot.  Have my picture made sitting in it.  Put ’em on Facebook.  Probably join a Corvette-owner’s club and go to all the meetings (if they’re close enough since I’ll have to ride my bicycle).  I can’t wait!

What’s wrong with this picture?  Yes, lots of things but mainly I’m not using a Corvette for what it is intended.  It is of no real use.  It would be a lot wasted on something with a lot of potential but nothing is really happening.  It’s a waste of time, energy and a lot of money.  Sort of like a church that doesn’t make disciples.  We can come and sit and sing and have a good time and play games and go to meetings and talk about the good old days.  That would be fun but it is not what a church is intended to do nor will there be eternal rewards for it.

If you want to do what a church is supposed to do and have eternal rewards for doing it then let’s turn to Matthew 28:18-20 and let’s read what Jesus said we should be doing.  As we continue our look at how to invest our time, talent and treasure in ways that will bring eternal dividends, let’s read what the Author and Builder of the church wants the church to do.  The Bridegroom says His bride should be busy and so He gives us, His bride, the church, a Great Commission as one of the last things He said while on this earth physically.

The very last part of Matthew says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That’s pretty plain, isn’t it?  Uncomfortably plain, if you ask me.  I guess you could make the argument that Jesus was telling this to His friends a bunch of years ago and that it doesn’t specifically apply to us but the problem is that there are too many other verses that back this up as being something that applies to every one of us. 

Romans 10 – “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”  Oh, wait that’s only for preachers, right?  Ezekiel 3 – “Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.”  But that’s Old Testament and it doesn’t really count, right?  1 Peter 3 – “Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”  Luke 24 - “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

We all know we are supposed to witness for Jesus but almost none of us do it like we should.  I want us to all see a couple of things from this passage that will hopefully encourage you in your witness.  First, notice what Jesus says about it first.  He says all authority on Heaven and on earth has been given him.  What’s that mean?  It means He is in control.

All through the book of Matthew, Jesus shows us His authority.  In chapter 4 He has authority over Satan.  In chapter 7 He shows authority in His teaching.  In 8 He shows authority in healing.  In 9 He has authority to forgive sins.  In 10 He delegates that authority to His disciples.  He still has all of that authority even today for us.  When someone has real authority, it demands obedience.

When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line. "Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?"
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."
"But I'm starved," the governor said.
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around.
"Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state."
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister." Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6.

Real authority demands real obedience and Jesus had the authority over everything when He was on earth physically and He still does today and when He says to go and make disciples then what are you going to tell Him?  Are you going to tell Him that, yes, you read the Great Commission but you didn’t know He really meant you?  Are you going to tell Him you didn’t have the opportunity?  You were scared?  You didn’t know what to say?  You were busy?

Are you going to tell Him that you weren’t quite sure if He had the authority to protect you or give you the words?  That’s dangerous business.  I think I would rather crash and burn trying but failing to lead someone to Christ than to have to try to explain why I didn’t.  We are not going by our own authority.  We don’t have any.  Jesus said that He has all authority so just go.

Now let’s look at this word “go”.  Look at verse 19.  We have talked about this before but since I am the language professor that I am, I want you to see something.  Okay, I got it from my commentaries and actually this kind of stuff usually just gets on my nerves but this is not just interesting but vital to our understanding of what Jesus was saying.

Verse 19 starts by saying, “Therefore go…”  The Greek verb translated “go” is actually not a command but a present participle.  It means “as you go” or “when you go”.  I heard the supposedly true story of the barber who was trying to do better about witnessing to people and so he decided to strike up a conversation with a man who came in for a shave.  He got him all lathered up and as he came at him with the straight razor, asked him, “So, are you ready to meet your God?”  The guy took off running with shaving cream still on his face.

There are some ways to do it that are better than others but the guy was actually doing just what Jesus said to do.  As we go; as we work; as we play; as we travel we are to focus on making disciples.  Now, remember what we said a disciple is.  A disciple is one who learns from Jesus and then teaches and encourages others with what they have learned.  So, you can’t really call yourself a disciple unless you are making disciples.

I worked for the State Comptroller for 6 years and my job was to collect state taxes.  That was what I was paid to do and as a collector, my job was thoroughly scrutinized.  They kept meticulous statistics on how much time I spent in the field, how many contacts I made, how many phone calls, how many miles traveled, what I said, how I said it and everything else.  But do you know what they did not keep track of?  There was no record anywhere of how much money I collected.  Nobody knew.

That was my job.  That was why I was hired and what I was paid to do but nobody kept track of it.  I asked my supervisor one time why that was and she said, “Oh, no.  We don’t do that. Because somebody might take offense if they found out somebody else collected more than they did.”  Somebody might get their feelings hurt.

While that sounds ridiculous and is another example of what’s wrong with government, it’s not really any different in the church.  What is the main thing we are supposed to do as a church?  Jesus said, “As you go, make disciples.”  Well, how many disciples have you made?  I probably don’t want to answer that question any more than you do but it’s time we started asking ourselves, if not each other, what the hold-up is?

Now, let me give you some good news.  Don’t worry.  The toe-stomping is pretty much over for most of us.  I want to encourage you this morning by telling you what it is that Jesus is really wanting us to do and say.  The good news is that it’s not really that hard.  Yes, we are called to go into all the world and that includes places like Nicaragua or Mexico or that far-off country of Oklahoma but the message we are to give them is really pretty simple.

Let me put it this way.  When you accepted Jesus and started your walk as a disciple, was it because you had a thorough understanding of propitiation?  Was it because you understood predestination and the role of free will that you became a Christian?  Maybe it was when you finally memorized the whole Bible that you finally asked Jesus into your life to be Lord and Savior.  Is that right?  I doubt it.  No, that’s not what made you decide to follow Jesus and that is not what we have to teach people for them to become disciples either.

In Acts chapter 4 we have a great picture of the first church doing what Jesus said to do and we see that they were blessed in this life and the next.  In Acts 4:32-33 it says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all."

Did you hear what the apostles were testifying about?  “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”  They didn’t have to explain everything.  Nobody said anything about dinosaurs or what Satan’s last name is or if all dogs go to Heaven.  You don’t have to know everything to tell what you know.  In fact, even if you do know everything, you don’t have to tell it.

The Apostle Paul was a great theologian.  He was extremely well educated in the scriptures and could explain better than anybody else any question one might have.  But I want you to look at what he says in Acts 20.  Here Paul is telling his friends in Ephesus that he is going to have to leave them.  He has started this church but feels the need to go back to Israel and listen what he tells them.

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

Did you hear that?  Paul’s whole message was just the good news of God’s grace.  We talked a lot about God’s grace last week.  What is grace?  Grace is God not giving us what we deserve.  We deserve Hell for being sinners but through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, we can be co-heirs with Jesus to every good thing Heaven has to offer!  How much do you love grace?  How bad do you have to hate your neighbor not to tell them about it?

You don’t even have to understand everything about God’s grace.  I sure don’t.  All you have to know is how it has affected you in your life and then tell that, briefly and succinctly, to your neighbor as you go.  Do you remember that verse?  1 Peter 3:15 – “Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”  Are you prepared?

*Brian and Cindy give testimonies*

That’s what Jesus what telling us all to do.  Be ready, anytime, anywhere to tell somebody, as you go to the store or to Nicaragua, or wherever, about the grace of God in your life.  So…what happens when somebody says, “I want that.  I want what you have.  I want to go to Heaven but I don’t know how”?

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.”

That’s bad news but I have good news.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Maybe you need to do that today.  Believing in Him is more than just acknowledging that He lived.  It means putting all your faith and trust and hope in Him.  It means repenting of your sins – turning away from them – and asking for forgiveness.