“Profiting from the Prophets” – Isaiah 1:10-20

Have you ever been given a thoughtless gift?  Has anybody ever given you a birthday present that they obviously put no effort into?  Maybe you got one of those calendars that you get when you open an account at the bank or maybe your four-year-old princess got a roll of duct tape from her uncle or something.  You know what I mean?  Isn’t that awful?  Or maybe you give somebody a nice gift and then the next time you see them, they re-gift it back to you?  Have you ever had something like that happen?

Wouldn’t you rather just not get a gift from them at all?  Yea, just skip it, Uncle Bob.  I don’t need or even want your opened package of underwear that’s not my size and stuck in a Walmart bag with a used bow on it.  I don’t want bath beads for my birthday that still have a card inside that says, “Merry Christmas Angela.”  That’s just rude and thoughtless and worse than not giving anything at all.  Don’t you agree?

Or maybe you went to a lot of time and trouble to find just the right gift for somebody.  Maybe you made something by hand and worked really hard on it and then realized that they didn’t like it or just weren’t grateful for it.  That’s an awful feeling.  My mom has always said she didn’t want anything for Christmas or her birthday from us kids but she just wanted a hand-made card and I believe her.  For this past Mother’s Day, I made her a card.  I spent some time on it and while it wasn’t fancy and didn’t really cost me any money, I made it just for her and do you know what?  I went to her house the other day and she had that goofy little card framed and sitting on her bookshelf.  That made me feel great!  I believe she liked it and that made me feel good.

Now, when it comes to God, doesn’t He just give the best gifts ever?  James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.”  Somebody tell me what gift God has given you that was just perfect for you.  Maybe you have been given a great spouse or He has healed you from some disease or maybe you just want to thank Him for giving His Son Jesus.

For me, I think some of the greatest gifts God has ever given me are the people, places and especially things that He has taken away from me.  You know what I mean.  Don’t you?  Thank you, Lord!  Now, sometimes when somebody gives you a really nice or really expensive gift, you might feel like you need to get them something really nice so as not to be embarrassed or look like a cheap skate.

But when it comes to giving God gifts, it is the ultimate situation of “what to give the guy who has everything” because God literally already owns everything.  So, what gifts might we give to God?  What can we give God that would really please Him?  What about our worship?  How about giving tithes and offerings to His church or giving to the food pantry or ministering to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated?  Those are gifts that please God.  Did you know that when we meet on Sunday nights or Thursday nights for Bible study or even just get together as a church for a meal and fellowship that God is pleased with that and considers that a gift to Him?  That’s a win-win situation right there!

Now, how would you feel if God said that your gifts were detestable to Him?  What would you think if God told you that He hates it when we get together?  Or if God said He is weary of our prayers?  You would know that something is horribly wrong, wouldn’t you?  What could possibly make God feel that way toward the gifts that we are giving Him?

Turn to the Old Testament book of Isaiah and we will find out what made God say those very things.  We are continuing our study of the prophets in the Old Testament and looking to see how we can profit from those prophets.  We saw last week that Amos spoke 750 years before Jesus and yet it was as relevant to us today as the Sunday newspaper.  Today we get a word from Isaiah.  The book of Isaiah is in between the books of Song of Songs and Jeremiah.

Isaiah wrote and prophesied about the same time as Amos and to mostly the same people.  You would think that with those two preaching at them that Israel would have had a great revival but they were stiff-necked and hard-hearted and so God allowed what those two and many others prophesied to come true.  The nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, were allowed to be conquered and all but a remnant destroyed.

We saw last week that the book of Amos could very well be addressed to the people of the United States and today I want you to see if this passage in Isaiah is addressed to you or your church.  Let’s read Isaiah 1:10-20.

Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
    what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
    in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,
    this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
    Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
    I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
    stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
    you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
    you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Has anybody ever called you a really despicable name or said something about you that was just really hurtful?  It hurts the worst when there is truth behind it, doesn’t it?  God doesn’t beat around the bush in this passage and starts off comparing the nation of Israel and its rulers to Sodom and Gomorrah.  Do you see that in verse 10?

In Isaiah 1:4 the prophet mourns the state of His people. “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.”

This is exactly opposite of that for which Israel had been created by God. In Deuteronomy 7:6 it is said of Israel: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”

The nation of Israel was chosen by God as an instrument to bring about the Messiah. Through Israel God would one day proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bring healing and redemption to the nations; to the entire world. Here in chapter one of Isaiah, they are disgusting to God.  (Chris Surber)

What happened?  I thought God wanted sacrifices in the Old Testament.  I thought God wanted them to go to the temple and celebrate certain festivals and yet here He says He is disgusted by it.  What’s the problem?

I heard about a man who made free use of Christian vocabulary. He talked about the blessing of the Almighty and the Christian confessions which would become the pillars of the new government. He assumed the earnestness of a man weighed down by historic responsibility. He handed out pious stories to the press, especially to the church papers. He showed his tattered Bible and declared that he drew the strength for his great work from it as scores of pious people welcomed him as a man sent from God. Indeed, Adolf Hitler was a master of outward religiosity--with no inward reality! (Today in the Word, June 3, 1989.)

That was the problem with Israel and that is the problem with too many people and even churches today.  We have outward religion and no inward reality and we wonder why people don’t want to come to church anymore.  We come to church because that is what respectable people do.  We don’t have to do it every Sunday but we hit it a lick and a smile and call that good.  When we do come to church, we give a few bucks and it always helps if at least one person sees it so maybe they will tell somebody else they saw us give.

We sing along with the songs while inside we are critiquing the misspells and the times when the words don’t match the music.  We sure hope nobody prays too terribly long because that can sure get boring and Heaven forbid somebody go down for prayer after the sermon because that could make us late to Dos Chiles.  We don’t mind volunteering to pray for or even give to a mission opportunity but for us to go is out of the question.  That’s crazy talk.

Have I hit any nerves yet?  There was a rather pompous deacon at a big church in the city who had volunteered to teach a young boy’s Sunday School class.  In the middle of class, he furrowed his brow and squinted his upturned eyes and said, "Why do people call me a Christian?" After a moment's pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it's because they don't know you."

Now, just like last week, the purpose of this message is not to shame you or get you to do more or give more.  In fact, it’s just the opposite.  God doesn’t need your gifts.  This church doesn’t need your gifts.  If you can’t give or volunteer or worship or pay a tithe with a grateful heart to the Creator of the universe Who gives us grace and mercy and love and forgiveness every day, then maybe you should just hang on to that gift.

My friend David said in Psalm 51, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”  Even before that he knew the value of proper sacrifice.  In 2 Samuel 24, a man offered to give King David everything he needed to make a sacrifice but David said, “I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

So, what is it that God wants of us and why should we care?  Well, the good news is that God tells us what He wants and it has nothing to do with giving more or doing more.  In fact, it may mean doing less.  Look at verse 16.  Wash and make yourselves clean.
    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
    stop doing wrong.  17 Learn to do right

I doubt that rhymed back in the day but it’s a good word to remember, however you can.  I have told you before that my uncle gave me some similar advice when I was making bad decisions as a young man.  He simply said, “STOP IT!”  While that may sound simplistic, for me, it was a wake-up call.  I realized I knew what was right and wrong but I was making excuses for doing the right thing with the wrong motives.  I was doing the wrong thing even if it was just internally.

Maybe you have a bad attitude or maybe you are proud.  Maybe you are so humble and generous that you are proud of your humility and generosity.  Seriously, pride is sneaky.  If Satan can’t get you to be proud of who you are and what you have done, then he will make you proud of your humility.  Proverbs 16:5 says, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”

That was Israel’s worst sin in Isaiah’s day.  They were wealthy enough to bring sacrifices and give offerings and they were proud of that ability and it overshadowed their love and gratefulness to God to the point that God said, “Just stop it!”

Do you sincerely want to please God?  If you do, it is because you see God for Who He really is and you see yourself for who you really are.  You see that God is all-powerful and it is only by His grace, mercy, patience and forgiveness that we can do anything or that we have anything.  That is the attitude in which we give gifts that truly please God and the kind of gifts for which we are rewarded.

He continues in verse 17 by saying, “seek justice. Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

Do you know what that means?  It means to minister to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated just like this church has been called to do.  It means maybe you basically adopt a person or a family from the RV park or in the community who consistently needs help.  Maybe you grab a few things for our food pantry when you go shopping.  Maybe God has called you to visit the local county jail like Morris is going to do today.

Now, don’t get proud of that, Morris, or it will ruin my sermon!  The good news is that there is hope and help even if you have seen yourself in this passage.  If God has revealed to you that you are proud or that you have a bad attitude or that you have put God less than first even though you may attend church faithfully, there is good news.

Look at verse 18.  “Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
    you will eat the good things of the land.”

God doesn’t want or need your money, your stuff, or your time.  Get out of that mindset.  What God wants is your obedience and when you are obedient, God wants to bless you. Then when you see that God has blessed you, you will want to be generous with your time, talent and treasure.  That’s how that works and it works well.  In fact, it works better than we could ever ask or imagine.

What God really wants from you is a relationship and we have a relationship through His son Jesus.  Romans 3:23 says that we are all sinners and Romans 6:23 says that what we deserve for that sin is eternal death which is eternal separation from God.  But John 3:16 says that God provided a way by sending His only Son to die on the cross and pay the debt of sin that we could never pay and all we have to do is believe.  Now, that belief will then manifest itself in a changed life; a life that looks like Jesus and is obedient to Him.

God wants a relationship with you today and wants to bless your obedience.  I would love to pray with you right now about anything that is on your mind.  Come on right now as the music plays.

“Profiting from the Prophets” – Amos 7:7-9

Here’s the scenario.  We sing the last song of our worship time this morning and we all start to go out the front door and we see a car right in front of the church just sitting there facing the lake.  There’s a man none of us know sitting behind the wheel and he’s reading a large map.  For you youngsters here today, a map is what we used to use before GPS.  It was made of paper and could be folded up and put in the glove box of the car.  They were pretty handy sometimes.

Anyway, this guy is obviously lost and so engrossed in the map that he doesn’t notice that his foot slips off the brake and the car starts to slowly move forward.  We are all standing out front but nobody thinks much about it at this point but then as his car moves forward, he starts to go off in the field across the street.  He hits some bumps and his car starts to come back this way a little bit but then we all notice that his car is picking up speed and this guy is still just staring at his map, completely unaware that his car is rolling toward the lake.

At this point, what do you do?  Do you holler at him?  Do you run up to the car and knock politely on the window?  Uh oh, now his car is really picking up speed and you run along next to it banging on the window but he blows you off and tells you he’s too busy to listen to you, all the while trying to read his map as his car is now careening over the boat ramp and you know that in just a second this guy is going to crash into the lake and drown.  Now, what do you do?

You would do whatever you had to do, wouldn’t you?  You would run up and open his door.  Grab him and pull him out or maybe try to hit the brake yourself because you know he is about to die and only you can save him!

Now, here’s the question.  Why?  Why would you do this for a stranger that you have never met and know nothing about?  What’s in it for you?  You might even get hurt trying to help him so why would you do it?  You would do it because life is precious, right?  You know that life is sacred and that person is made by God and loved by Him.  He may be a father or somebody’s son or uncle but it doesn’t matter because ultimately you know that he is a human who needs your help whether he knows it or not or wants it or not.

Did you ask to have the job of saving him?  No.  Are you going around looking for a task like that?  Probably not.  It’s not something you want to do.  It’s pretty scary and you wish he hadn’t put you in that position but he did and because he did what he did, you had to do what you did. 

Welcome to the world of the Old Testament prophet.  That’s a lot like how it was for them.  Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Jonah, Moses, Jeremiah and a bunch more…the list is long; some are better than others at what they were called to do.  Some had longer careers than others and some saw more success than others but God called them all to help save a bunch of hard-hearted, stiff-necked people who may or may not listen or respect them.

I’m reminded of Jonah who probably had the worst attitude about it and yet had some of the greatest success in bringing people back to God.  He ran farther and farther away from God until he finally, grudgingly obeyed and then spoke basically one sentence and without breaking stride, walked out and the whole country repented.

Jeremiah, on the other hand, preached and prayed and wept for 40 years and never saw a single convert.  Prophets were rarely popular people, usually poor and without respect but all true, biblical prophets were called by God to be His spokesmen.  That’s what the word means.  It’s very similar to what preachers are supposed to be today.  We are called by God to be his spokesmen but today we have the full canon of divinely-inspired scripture to go by.  In the Old Testament they were living through it and so they spoke what God revealed to them in dreams, visions, angels, and revelations of sight and audible voice.

Today, the office of prophet is a little different and God doesn’t reveal Himself to people like that as much as He used to because we do have the Bible and God has revealed Himself in His Word.  All preachers have to do today is proclaim it.  But like the Old Testament prophets, preachers today have different levels of ability, different lengths of service and very different levels of so-called success.

We are not always popular or respected and we are usually poor but we can understand when Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”  Poor old Jeremiah said (20:8-9), “⁸Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. ⁹But if I say, "I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

Turn, if you would please, to the book of Amos.  Amos is in between Joel and Obadiah, if that helps.  There’s no shame in looking at the front of your Bible to find the page it’s on.  You probably don’t hear many sermons preached from any of the prophets.  Your quiet time this morning probably did not include any comforting or motivational scripture from the likes of Joel or Haggai and to be honest, most people have not read much of the prophets for several reasons.

First, they’re boring.  They don’t apply to us.  We don’t understand them or even know most of the places talked about and when we do understand, you have to admit it can be pretty depressing sometimes.  I mean, other than that, they’re great, right?  Go Nahum!

The problem with that is that they do still apply to us.  Sometimes it may seem like they are even written directly to us just like in Amos this morning.  We are going to look at Amos 7:7-9 but the book of Amos might well start out, “Dear Christ Fellowship…” or at least, “Dear United States.”

It was written to the people of Israel 750 years before Jesus but it was written at a time when the country was corrupt politically, crime was rampant, the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer.  Yet they felt comfortable living how they wanted to live because their superficial religion said that if they just went to church every so often, prayed when they needed something and threw God a bone now and then that was surely good enough.

Does that sound familiar?  I hope it doesn’t sound too familiar.  I hope that is not a description of you but it is definitely a description of the country we live in.  This country is about to go off the moral and spiritual cliff and drown in their sins all the while they are searching for a way through this nasty old world and they are not rushing into the church for help.  The question is, what are you going to do about it?

Well, we can complain about it.  We can shake our heads in disgust and blame video games, the school system and Democrats.  We can do what we have always done and continue to get the results we have been getting but when you get to Heaven, do you want eternal rewards that are “good enough”?  Do you want God to bless you a little bit in this life?  Or do you want to live a full and abundant life like it says in John 10:10 and be rewarded more than you can ever ask or imagine as it says in Ephesians 3:20?

Now, let me warn you.  We just got through with a very intense sermon series on the full armor of God in Ephesians and I’m pretty sure I heard Satan give a relieved sigh when it was over, thinking he could rest a little now that it’s done.  Or maybe that was your sigh that I heard because you are tired of Satan attacking you because you have tried to put on that armor every day.  Well, he’s not going to like this one either and if you are bored, it is my fault because these prophets have spoken things that certainly still apply to us today and should stir your spirit because their words demand life change for all of us today. 

Good grief, I’ve been building it up long enough.  Let’s finally dive into the little book of the prophet Amos.  God is in the middle of speaking to Amos and showing him visions and telling Amos that the time is up for God’s own chosen people, Israel.  They have been disobedient long enough and it is time to face the consequences.

Let’s read Amos 7:7-9.

⁷This is what he showed me: The LORD was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the LORD said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. ⁹"The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."

This is a plumb line.  Some people call it a plumb bob.  I’m sure there is some kind of electronic device that builders today use to make sure their walls are plumb.  There’s probably an app for that.  I don’t know but this plumb line simply hangs down straight and one can see, once it quits swinging, if a wall or structure is straight up and down by comparing the wall with the line.  That’s important because if a wall is even a little off plumb then gradually it will start to lean and then finally just fall over.

The wall that God is talking about here is the nation of Israel and the plumb line God is using is His Word, which for them, was the Law of Moses.  That’s about all of the Bible that was written at this point but that was enough.  In fact, it was too much because the people couldn’t follow the law and had, in fact, turned away from it and turned to other gods and other rules and laws that they had made up because God’s rules weren’t any fun.  They were hard to follow and not very convenient so they just came up with other rules that sounded good and religious to them and they called themselves very religious.

A little boy ran into where his mother was and excitedly said, “Hey, Mama!  I’m eight feet, four inches tall!”  His mother said, “Really?”  He said, “Yea, I measured it myself with this.”  Then he held up one of those little six-inch rulers.

It matters what you compare yourself to, doesn’t it?  See, Satan wants you to compare yourself to people in this world, people on TV and in the news. It’s easy to feel pretty good about yourself when you compare yourself to them.  “I haven’t killed anybody all day.  I hardly ever rob a bank and while I am living with somebody I’m not married to, I haven’t cheated on them in months.  So, I would imagine me and God are cool.  Right?”

See what I mean?  Because right now you are comparing yourself to the fictional person saying those words and you feel better about yourself because of it.  Now, the point of this message today is not to make you feel bad about yourself.  Not at all.  I say all the time that I want to know truth and I think everybody, deep down, wants to know truth and that is the point of this message.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:14, “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children.”

The truth is, my Christian family, that God is looking at your life.  Proverbs 5:21 says, “For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths.”  That ought to scare some of you to death.  Others it ought to at least motivate you to think about what God wants and what God expects from His children.  The good news is that He has told us in His Word.

Amos had to stand up and point to the Law of Moses as the standard.  That was the plumb line that God used back then.  In Romans 6, Paul says we are no longer under the Law, but are now under grace.  Thank you Lord for that.  We are to be like Jesus and do what Jesus said.  But…Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

That’s the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.  He then goes on to say over and over again, “You have heard it said…” then He would quote part of the Law but then Jesus would go on to say, “but I tell you…” and then He would modify the Law for us today.

Let me give you an example.  Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”

Uh oh.

That sounds pretty bad.  But hang on, maybe it gets better.  Let me read another one.  ²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Now, wait a minute.  I thought this whole “under grace” thing was easier than that.  I thought it meant that if I tried real hard and went to church sometimes and didn’t commit the big sins too often that me and God were cool.  You know, surely He understands that I’m only human and everybody makes mistakes and everybody sins every day.

Is that what you think?  If that is what you think then you don’t know the plumb line that God is using to judge.  You don’t know what the Bible says or you don’t care.  If you don’t care then it’s probably because you think that because we live under grace then you can do what you want and then just ask God for forgiveness.  But, as we learned a couple of weeks ago, sin is actually the very worst thing in this world that can happen to us.

When we sin; when we do anything to displease God, when our life doesn’t match up to God’s plumb line, that puts a barrier between us and God and that’s a very dangerous place to be.  So it is imperative that we read, understand, believe and live out what Jesus said in places like the Sermon on the Mount.  We need to know what He said about divorce and how to treat our enemies and even about worry.

Let’s go back to the illustration we started with about the guy in the car with the map in front of his face.  Imagine for a minute if his foot slipped off the brake and you got to him in plenty of time to warn him but he just looked at you like you were crazy.  Maybe he said something to you about how this is the way he prefers to drive; that driving with a map in front of your face is now just an accepted alternative way to drive and you need to just accept people that drive this way and stop being so narrow-minded.

You would think he was crazy, wouldn’t you?  Because you don’t have to be a Driver’s Ed teacher to see that this guy is about to crash and burn.  Well, that is just what our society is doing to all of us today.  Every day we hear that homosexuality is just an alternative lifestyle.  It’s not a sin.  How dare you!  You must hate people to say that.  Quit being so narrow-minded.  (Use toy blocks to build a leaning wall.)

Every day we are bombarded with messages in the TV shows we watch and the movies we see, the books and magazines we read that sex before marriage is just what people do nowadays.  Marriage is what our parents failed at so we just don’t do that anymore.  It’s not sin.  Marriage is too hard so we do it differently.  How is that attitude any different than Israel’s attitude when Amos was preaching to them that they were about to be destroyed?

Every day Satan and the world are telling us as individuals, as a church and as a country that God’s laws and the Bible, as a whole, is old fashioned.  It’s antiquated and out of date and nobody really lives that way.  Everybody cusses.  Everybody gossips.  Everybody overeats.  Every day Satan says this out-of-plumb wall is really plumb.  You are just looking at it wrong.

How much longer do we have as individuals, as a church or especially as a nation before God says, “Enough!”? (Knock down wall.)  So, here is what we have to do, starting today.  It is time to hold the plumb line of God’s Word up to our own lives and take a good, hard look. 

James 1 says, “²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it-not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it-they will be blessed in what they do.”

We first have to make sure that we are plumb.  We have to be plumb walls before we can do anything else.  We need to be plumb as individuals and as a church then we take a stand against the schemes of the devil in this dark world.  The problem is, they don’t know they are in darkness.  A blind man doesn’t know what it means to see black and white.  Nor does this world want to know, most of the time.

Their foot is off the brake and onto the gas and their vision is blinded by what feels good and seems right but Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  I can’t just sit idly by, trying not to hurt people’s feelings and being politically correct when this world that our kids and grandkids are growing up in is so far out of plumb it is about to collapse.

Amos had a word from God.  He spoke the truth – it did come true, by the way – but he was obedient to what God told him to do.  He went where he was supposed to go.  He did what he was supposed to do and he said what he was supposed to say.

What is God telling you to do today?  Where does He want you to go?  What are you supposed to say?  Maybe you need to speak truth to your neighbor.  It has to be done in love or don’t do it at all.  It pained Amos to say what he did.  It was hard but he did it.  Where are you supposed to go?  What are you supposed to do?

Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes and spend some time asking Him right now.  Maybe you don’t have a relationship with God this morning but it can be had through His Son Jesus.  Just ask for forgiveness of your sin and turn away from that sin and believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.  Then your life will be changed and you will live a new life.  Do that today.

“The Full Armor” – Part 8 – Eph. 6:10-18

In November of 2009, British sniper Craig Harrison made a world record shot with his rifle in Afghanistan.  Corporal Harrison, of the British army, holds the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at a range of 2,707 yards.  That’s about a mile and a half.  You can’t see a bus at a mile and a half but not only did Harrison make the shot, he did it twice, killing two insurgents with consecutive shots and then he shot the machine gun they had set up so that it couldn’t be used again.  At that distance, it takes over 6 seconds for the bullet to hit the target after the trigger is pulled.  He had to account for the wind, the humidity, bullet drop, even the spin of the earth at that distance.  No kidding.

If you are interested in such things, the rifle he used was an AWSM chambered in .338 Lapua Mag.  The letters stand for Arctic Warfare Super Magnum.  Super Magnum.  I feel manlier just saying it.  Super magnum, yea.

That’s the guy I want on my side in battle.  That’s the guy I want next to me, somebody that can reach out and touch the bad guys from a long distance because I don’t want to get any closer to the enemy than I have to.  It’s nice to be able to call on somebody that can break out the big gun and knows how to use it.

Today we are going to look at the big gun in our arsenal in defending ourselves in the spiritual war we are in.  In the passage that we are going to read in just a second in Ephesians 6, Paul warns us to be ready when the day of evil comes.  He doesn’t say if the day of evil comes.  He said it is coming and for most of us we have to fight the devil and his forces every day.  If we have to fight this battle every day we wake up then shouldn’t we be prepared?  Shouldn’t we make full use of every piece of armor and every weapon we have?

We have seen in Ephesians 6 that the armor available to us includes the belt of truth and that everything else hangs on that belt.  If the Word of God is not truth, if what Jesus said and Paul and the others wrote is not truth then every other weapon and piece of armor falls off and is useless.  But since the Bible has proven itself true over and over again, we know we can depend on it and it will not fail us.

We also have the breastplate of righteousness to protect our heart.  It includes the imparted righteousness of Jesus Himself that He gives to us when we believe on Him and accept Him into our lives to be Lord and Savior.  It also includes the imputed righteousness that we live out, with His help, by keeping ourselves pure and holy.

Our feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace and that means that when we are obedient to God that we have horizontal peace with others, vertical peace with God and even internal peace but we have to choose the benefits of obedience or we suffer the consequences of disobedience.

Then we pick up the shield of faith and when we don’t understand why we are going through something, we don’t know why somebody else would treat us this way or we can’t imagine being able to get through this difficult circumstance but because of our faith in God we are able to survive and even thrive.  Because God, like His Word, has been proven faithful over and over again in our lives and in the life of our church, we know that He is in control of this situation and when we resist the devil then God is there to reward us.

We have the helmet of salvation strapped on tight knowing that our salvation from this world has not yet been realized but will soon be here when Jesus comes back riding His white horse with angels singing and trumpets blowing; and He will take us to our ultimate reward in Heaven.  Come, Lord come!

We also have the sword of the Spirit which means we have portions of scripture memorized and handy ready to pull out of the scabbard and fend off the attacks of Satan by telling him, not what we think, but what the Bible says just like Jesus Himself did in the desert.

All of that makes for some pretty formidable armor and weaponry.  That makes you a force to be reckoned with if you choose to wear it; if you choose to put it on every day and every hour because the day of evil is here and Satan is just waiting for you to forget to put on one piece of the armor and then the worst thing in the world happens.  Sin happens and we lose the battle.  We haven’t lost the war but our relationship with the Lord is broken, our witness is shot and our peace and joy lay bloody and dying on the battlefield and we are left to face the consequences of our choices.

I Corinthians 10:13 should be part of our sword, part of the verses we have memorized or handy.  It says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

So, let’s (finally) look at our passage for this morning and let’s look again at all the ways we have to escape with a concentration on the last part, the big gun.  You may already be there.  Ephesians 6:10-18.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.

Paul, being the good preacher that he was, knew that all good sermons have 3 points so he laid it out with three things for us to look at as we study what he says about prayer.  We are to pray:

·         In the Spirit

·         On all occasions

·         Always

Now I know some of you are tempted to elbow your spouse and say, “Oh no, he’s talking about prayer again.  I’ve heard this.  I could have stayed in bed and now I have to sleep here.”  And that’s fine but while Sam Colt’s revolver was called the “Great Equalizer”, it couldn’t hold a candle to the big gun of prayer but you have to know how to handle it.  Some of what will be said you may already know.  Some of it you may need a refresher and some of it you may already be doing and didn’t realize it.

But it is vital that we follow Paul’s guidance here and begin with praying in the Spirit.  I have probably a dozen different commentaries that talk about the armor of God in Ephesians and I’m disappointed with every one of them.  About the most I got from any of them about this was that we are to pray with the power of the Spirit.  That’s true and I hope that helps you come Monday morning when the day of evil comes and Satan starts hammering on you.  I hope those pretty words benefit you but for me I want to know more.

This is the most difficult of the 3 points to understand and the one on which I will spend the most time.  It is difficult because some people think Paul is talking about our own spirit or they think that to pray in the Spirit means you have to pray in tongues or that you have to work yourself into a frenzy for God to hear you but since I don’t see anywhere that Jesus did that I don’t think that’s true.

On the other end of the spectrum I see people who go long periods of time, sometimes their whole lives, without ever tapping into the power that they have available through the Spirit of God.  They try to live their lives on their own power, go to work, keep a marriage alive, raise kids, worship, even pray without ever connecting with and utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit should be a normal part of our lives not an extreme part.

The question before us now is, “How do we do that?”  Well, we have the Sword of the Spirit mentioned earlier.  What is that?  The Word of God.  It is called the Sword of the Spirit because as II Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed…”  It is the inspired word and inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and just like every passage of the Bible was written by a person who was inspired to write it, so can our prayers be inspired. 

How did the Spirit speak to the authors of the Bible?  With loud words and thunder and smoke and lightning using blood on the walls and clouds to form the words in the sky?  No.  He spoke like He spoke to Elijah; with a still, small voice; a voice so quiet that you have to be very close to Him to hear.  That is how the Spirit speaks to us today.  What we need to do to pray in the Spirit is to go to God and say, “God, your word says to pray for my friends and so I am.  It says to pray for my enemies and so I do that now.  It says to pray for my leaders and to pray without ceasing and to pray fervently and so I do all of that.  But right now, God, what do you want me to pray for?”

Have you ever done that?  Have you ever prayed about what to pray?  Do you think that is a prayer God wants to answer?  When you tell God you want what He wants and you want to pray for what He wants, do you think God will answer that?  When there is no barrier of sin between you and God and you are so close to Him that you can hear His still, small voice and you ask what prayer would please Him, He will answer you.

Especially in the context that Paul is telling us to pray so that we resist temptation, God wants to help you.  He wants to answer that prayer.  “God, I can’t do this.  I’m not strong enough.  I’m not tough enough.  I have to admit that it looks like fun but not my will but Yours.  Tell me what to do and how to do it and then help me do it!  Please God.  Amen.”

That’s praying in the Spirit.  That’s praying like Jesus prayed.  And that is a prayer God is anxious to answer.  Praying in the Spirit does not mean having just the right words.  In fact, it means just the opposite.  It’s not using your own words but the words God gives you, either from scripture or through prayer.  When the day comes that you think you really have this whole “praying in the Spirit” thing down and you know just the right words to say…then you don’t.

Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”  The opposite of praying in the spirit is telling God what you want Him to do and how you have all this figured out and all He has to do is just answer your prayer and everything will be just fine.

When you really pray in the Spirit, you are falling on God’s grace and mercy and saying, just like Jesus did in the garden, “Not my will but yours, Lord!  Tell me how to pray.  Show me what to do and where to go and what to say and I will do it in your power, God.”  That’s praying in the Spirit.

The next two points are similar in that we are to pray on all occasions and to pray always but a little bit different.  I was talking to my Mom a while back about prayer and she told me she sometimes gets embarrassed because she finds herself at the store praying that God would help her find the best deal on something.  If you know my Mom you would believe that – not just that she prays on all occasions but also that she wants a good deal.

She says she prays and then feels like she needs to apologize to God for wasting His time praying about such trivial matters but I tried to assure her that Paul said we are to pray on every occasion.  Then she said she finds herself sometimes praying as she plays Solitaire that God would help her.  I said that’s probably pushing it too far. 

But that comes from a woman who is so used to praying about everything that it is just natural and normal to her no matter what she is doing to include the Lord.  That ought to be the way we all are that because God has proven Himself to us over and over again that we know the value of prayer.  We knows from where our salvation comes.  We know the truth. We have the peace.  Faith is our shield and while we are not perfect and we are still learning we know how to wield the sword and wear the armor.  We continue to make that choice.

Mama would also tell you to make the choice to keep on praying as Paul says.  Keep on praying on all occasions.  Keep on praying in the Spirit.  Don’t give up.  She has been known to keep on praying.  I won’t mention names for fear of embarrassing somebody (me) but she has been known to pray for long periods of time for some pretty stiff-necked people.

If you look at what is probably the very next page in your Bible Paul tells the church at Philippi that he thanks God for them every time he thinks of them.  He knew how to pray in the Spirit, on all occasions and how to keep on praying.  James 5:16 says those prayers are powerful and effective.  Isn’t that what you need in a big gun, one that is powerful and effective especially since we live in the days of evil?  Make the choice to put on all the armor every day and when the day of evil comes, then you can stand. 

I pray right now that you are a true believer in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).  There is no other way to Heaven, no other way to peace and joy in this life other that making Jesus Lord of your life.  It won’t be easy.  First you have to repent of your sins – turn away from it – and then ask forgiveness of that sin and then live like it.

Then you will be able to put on the full armor of God that He wants you to have so that you can stand – in His power – against the schemes of the devil.  Do that today.

“The Full Armor” – Part 7

My Uncle Bill tells this story of being in the Army.  If you have ever served, I guess you know that you have to hurry up and wait everywhere you go.  He said one day as they were waiting in some very long line, moving slowly forward on a sidewalk, he came to a tree on the side of the sidewalk and in that tree was a soldier screaming at the top of his lungs, “I WILL NOT CUT IN LINE!!!  I WILL NOT CUT IN LINE!!!” over and over again. Well, he thought that was pretty funny until he moved forward enough to hear another man screaming at the top of HIS lungs from the next tree, “I WILL NOT MAKE FUN OF THE GUY IN THE NEXT TREE SHOUTING I WILL NOT CUT IN LINE!!!  I WILL NOT MAKE FUN OF THE GUY IN THE NEXT TREE SHOUTING I WILL NOT CUT IN LINE!!!”

How many of you have been in the military?  You have my sincere thanks and admiration for your service.  As a soldier, what is your basic function?  Your most basic function as a soldier is to fight the enemy, correct?  And as a soldier, what is the worst thing that can happen to you?  Injury or death; anything that takes you out of the battle is the worst thing to happen to you.  You are of no use to the team if you can’t fight.

Now, as a Jesus-loving, God-worshiping, Spirit-filled Christian, what is the worst thing that can happen to you?  I think it is important for us to see this morning that the worst thing that could happen to us as Christians is not death. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that he would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.   The worst thing to happen to us is not an injury or physical ailment.  Again, Paul says in Philippians 4:11 that he is content in whatever state he is in. 

No, for a Christian, the worst thing that can happen to us is to be taken out of the battle.  The Bible tells us in several places that we are in a battle.  The passage we have been going through in Ephesians tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but that we are definitely in a battle and what is the only way we can be taken out of the battle?  Sin.

For a Christian, sin is the absolute worst thing that can happen to you.  Not death, sickness, disease, poverty, divorce, abuse, or persecution.  We don’t usually see it that way, do we?  Maybe when we see it in the life of somebody else but when we have sin in our life, it’s not that big of a deal.  We know that God will forgive us and besides it’s not like we did something really bad.  We are still better than the other guy, right?  God understands we aren’t perfect so what is a little sin among friends?

If sin is not that big of a deal then tell it to Adam and Eve.  All they did was eat an apple, right?  No, they disobeyed God and paid for it the rest of their lives.  Tell it to Uzzah, who in I Chronicles 13 touched the Ark of the Covenant and paid for it with his life because God had told them not to touch it.  Likewise, Annanias and Sapphira misled the apostles in Acts 5 and failed to take another breath because of it.  This should lead one to believe that God takes this sin thing pretty seriously.  It is that big of a deal.  It is, in fact, the worst thing that can happen to a Christian.

As we have talked about before, when there is sin in your life it effectively takes you out of the fight because sin puts a barrier between you and God, ruining your relationship, nullifying your witness and killing your joy and peace.  And for Satan, that’s a mark in the win column.  He gets a big kick out of that at your expense.  Satan laughs at you with great contempt every time you fall for his deception.

Now, what if I told you I had the answer?  What if I told you I know how you can keep Satan from laughing at you; how you can stay in the fight, keeping your relationship intact, your joy complete, your witness strong all the while furthering the Kingdom of God?  The good news is that it actually isn’t something I came up with.  It has been around for a few years and has proven itself to be a reliable form of defense against the schemes of the devil.  As good soldiers would turn to their military handbook, I ask you to turn to Ephesians 6:10-18 where we will continue our study of the armor of God.  Our focus will be on the second part of verse 17 but to keep it all in context and to remind us of the whole armor I want to read verses 10-18.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.

If we are to protect ourselves from the very worst thing in the world happening to us then we need to do exactly what Paul tells us here.  We have already put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, shield of faith and last week we put on the helmet of salvation.  We have seen that with all of this armor we are a force to be reckoned with.  We have the ability to fight off most of the lies of Satan, the deception of the evil one who is prowling around like a roaring lion waiting to kill you dead but we need to add one more piece of armor and this one is vital.

No Roman soldier would think about going into battle without his sword.  This was not the big broadsword mentioned in other places that took two hands to swing.  The word used for sword here in the original Greek is talking about a razor sharp, two-edged sword that was smaller (from 12-24 inches) and would be carried at all times in a scabbard, ready to go.  It was the same kind of sword Peter used to cut off the ear of the guard when they came to get Jesus in the garden.  It was small but very deadly and could be used with precision.

I continue to be amazed at how well this analogy works and how well Paul writes about how to defend ourselves from Satan.  I can just see him sitting there writing to the church in Ephesus thinking, “Now how can I illustrate what I want to say?” and then he looks at the Roman guard he was chained to and goes, “That’ll work.”  Every piece of armor the Roman soldier had was just the right analogy for what we should do to protect ourselves from sin, which is basically what Paul is helping us with here.  And this sword analogy is just perfect as well.

It says that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God and we all know what the word of God is, the Bible.  But the word used for “word of God” is not “logos” which means the whole Bible.  The word used is “rhema” which means specific parts of the Bible.  Now I tell you that mainly to impress you with my vast knowledge of the Greek language.  But since most of you know I can’t even speaks English gooder enough there must be another reason to bring it up.  It just goes to show how good the analogy is that instead of saying that when Satan attacks us we are to swing the whole canon of scripture around and hope we hit something when in reality, when Satan attacks us we are to bring up specific scriptures that apply to the specific attack we are enduring.

Don’t swing the big sword when the job calls for the dagger.  In practical terms: we need to have scripture handy or memorized that will pertain specifically to our struggle.  Bill’s joke.  I heard the story recently of the general store owner who was known to always quote scripture every time he rang up a sale.  A little boy came in one day and bought a piece of hard candy.  As the store owner rang up the sale he said, “Honor thy father and mother…”  Another time a man came in and bought a calculator from him so the store owner rang up the sale and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.”  A woman bought a lantern and as he took her money he quoted, “He came as a light unto the world.”  Then one day a fancy truck pulled up outside pulling a horse trailer.  A well-dressed man got out and came in the general store and told the owner he wanted a really nice horse blanket for his horse.  The owner went to the back and got the only horse blanket he had and took it to the counter.  He told the man, “That will be $10.”  The wealthy horseman said, “$10?  I have a thoroughbred racehorse out there.  I want the best quality, most expensive horse blanket you have!”  So, the store owner takes the blanket to the back with him, stands there for a second and then takes the blanket back to the customer.  He said, “Ok, sir, this is the best blanket I have.  That will be $500.”  The wealthy man said, “Good.  That’s better.”  He bought the blanket and walked out as the store owner said, “I saw a stranger and I took him in.”  That’s Bill Lightsey’s joke.

You see, there is an appropriate scripture for whatever situation you are in and the absolute perfect example of this is in Matthew chapter 4 when Satan tempts Jesus.  Jesus had been fasting by Himself in the desert for 40 days.  It is no accident that Satan picks this time to tempt Jesus.  Satan often tempts us when we are physically tired and hungry.  At the end of a long week, Satan often puts it in our heads that we deserve something and when we are tired reality starts to get cloudy and we start to believe that something is ok when other times we might know it is not.

So, Satan must have seen his opportunity and jumped on it.  3 times Satan tries to get Jesus to sin and 3 times Jesus quotes a specific “rhema” or part of scripture.  Note that Jesus does not tell Satan that he doesn’t think that would be right or even that the Bible teaches not to do that but he says, 3 times, “It is written…”  and then quotes scripture.  He draws his sword, which was hanging from his belt of truth and fends off Satan’s attack.

Jesus had on the entire armor of God.  He had His belt of truth.  He knew what truth was and he based everything else on that.  He had on his breastplate of righteousness as He was righteous.  His feet were shod with peace between Himself and God and Himself and men.  His shield of faith brought Him joy and peace and a strong witness.  His helmet of salvation was on tight as He knew when and from where His salvation would come.  And when Satan attacked Him with some flaming arrows of temptation they might as well have been spitballs.

And you have the ability to put on the very same armor and wield the very same sword of the Spirit.  But you have to do it.  I can’t do it for you.  Your mama can’t do it for you.  Just coming to church isn’t going to be enough.  Do you really want to avoid being taken out of the fight?  Do you really want to not hear Satan laughing at you?  Do you want to do your part in furthering the Kingdom of God? 

A good soldier would practice for hours and hours with his sword so that when the time came to use it, it flowed naturally out of the scabbard and felt like an extension of his own arm.  If you are not spending time in God’s word every day I don’t want to hear about how Satan keeps getting the best of you.  Of course he is! 

Dig into God’s word and find your passage or passages.  You know what I’m talking about.  Whatever your little pet sin or sins are, find in the Bible where it talks about that.  Memorize a “rhema” or small part and when Satan comes at you next time and says, “Hey, you really need to go into work this Sunday to help pay some bills.”  You can tell him that Deuteronomy 5:12 says to keep the Sabbath day holy.

When he tells you to look at something you shouldn’t on TV or online you come back at him with Psalm 101:3 that says, “I will put no vile thing before my eyes.”  He may come back at you with his favorite line about nobody ever finding out and you just tell him that Proverbs 5:21 says that a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord and He examines all his paths.

If you are tempted to gossip find a passage that will help you with that and jab it in Satan’s eye when he tells you it’s really just asking for prayer for someone.

If you are tempted to steal or cheat or do mean things to puppies with a fork, whatever it is, have a scripture ready when Satan comes calling.  I’m going to give you some homework.  There are 31 Proverbs.  One for each day of the month.  Perfect for reading as part of your devotional.  Go through Proverbs with an eye for finding a nugget or two every day that will help you in your struggle against the schemes of Satan.  Start today reading Proverbs 4 since today is the 4th and read it every day.  It’s something you can do the rest of your life, in fact.  Every day just read that day’s Proverb and see if the Spirit helps you find just the right verse for what you are going through.

I will tell you again that Satan hates you and wants only the worst for you.  It is time for us as Christians to realize that the very worst thing that Satan can do to us is lead us into sin.  And sin is that big of a deal.  If sin wasn’t that big of a deal do you think God would have allowed His only Son to die to pay the price for our sin?  It is that big of a deal and so Jesus did His part.  It is time for us to do our part.  Ask Him into your heart to be Lord and Savior and then live like He is.