“So What?” – Part II – Rev. 20:11-15

For those of you that are new here, you might think you caught me on a bad day. You might think the pastor is in a bad mood or not on his game or something but today’s message is a little bit different. I usually start by doing something or saying something that will be dramatic or get your attention but due to the somber nature of the scripture passage before us this morning I would like to go straight to the Word and read Revelation 20:11-15. Please turn there if you have your Bibles.

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now that we have read the passage you can understand why I don’t want to start with a joke or by doing something funny. I believe of all the passages in the Bible, this one should be the most motivating of them all. It should motivate believer and unbeliever alike. It should scare all of us into either making sure that we are true believers and if so, to make sure that everybody else is a believer as well.

I know that anytime someone preaches on hell somebody somewhere is going to roll their eyes and say, “Oh, you’re just trying to scare people into Heaven.” And my response to that would be, “You are absolutely correct!” I will preach it again next week if I thought it was needed. I would come to your house and stand in the yard with a megaphone if I thought that would convince you. How do you read that passage and not want to scream “Jesus” from the mountain top? How do you read that passage and not want everyone you know to be scared of hell? That’s my response.

Now, let me tell you what the Bible’s response is. Leviticus 25 says to fear your God. Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me. Joshua 24 says Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Psalm 2 :11 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Luke 1:50His mercy extends to those who fear him. In Acts 9 the church grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. And finally from this same book of Revelation 14:6-7 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth--to every nation, tribe, language and people.

He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.”

Most of you know that I am not usually a “hellfire and brimstone” kind of preacher but I do preach the entire canon of scripture and I will always preach all of it and I make no apologies for preaching something that Jesus Himself spoke of so many times. And so I continue our series entitled “So What?” by asking the question, “So what if there is a hell?” Last week we asked, “So what if Jesus comes back?” and next week we will ask, “So what if there is a heaven?”

I find it hard to believe that anybody could ask such a question about hell, but they do it all the time. The thing is, most people don’t believe in hell and if they do hardly anybody thinks they are going there. And of those few that would admit they believe they are going there they have a serious misunderstanding of the place because they talk about partying down there with all their friends. Or they joke about Satan being afraid they are going to take over or some other foolishness.

They obviously don’t understand this passage and so I want to look at this a little closer. This is a passage speaking about the last judgment that will be cast onto all unbelievers at the end of time. As most of you know there are actually 2 judgments. In II Corinthians 5:10Paul talks about the Bema seat or the Judgment Seat of Christ and it is there that we as Christians will be judged and rewarded for our good deeds and scripture teaches that we will have already gone through that when the Great White Throne judgment takes place where all unbelievers will be judged.

So, with that in mind I want us to see 3 things in this passage this morning. As your bulletin insert says,

#1. God is worthy to judge.

#2. All will be judged.

#3. Hell is the judgment.

Inverse 11 the author, John, says he saw a great white throne. He doesn’t say who is sitting on it and he doesn’t have to. He has had this revelation come from God and John has seen in this revelation God, specifically Jesus, sitting on the throne. And as the King on the throne He is worthy to judge. The same type of person who would ask, “So what if there is a hell?” might also question the authority of the one on the throne making these judgments so let’s look at what makes God worthy.

What makes any judge worthy to judge anything? How many of you saw the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on TV a few nights ago? It was won by Banana Joe, an Affenpincher, whatever that is. It’s a little monkey-faced mutt that looks to me like it wandered in from the junk yard, but what do I know? You see, it is the judge who knows what an Affenpincher is supposed to look like. He knew what the standard is for that breed and so he has the right to judge.

God has the right to judge because he has the knowledge of what we are supposed to look like. We are supposed to look like Jesus. God knows the Law and He knows what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to look and so He is worthy to judge. As Christians, as Jesus-followers, as believers having asked Jesus into our lives and for forgiveness of our sins, God sees us just as He sees Jesus and so we meet the standard. We are pure and spotless just like Jesus because we look like Jesus, not because we deserve it but only through our faith in Him.

Not only is God worthy to judge because He knows the standard but also because He is perfect. In Matthew 5:48we are told to ^“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” He is also worthy because He is the creator. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image.” He is the creator and as such He is worthy to judge. And the worthy judge sits on the Great White Throne.

Not only is He worthy to judge but all people will be judged. John goes to great lengths here to show us that all people will be judged. Everyone, the great and the small, those that have died on land and on sea, from days of old to the present will be judged by the worthy King. All will be judged according to their deeds including Hitler and Stalin down to that foul-mouthed Madonna down to the sweet little old lady down the street who has refused to ask Jesus into her life.

John says the books will be open and those books have recorded everything the unbelievers have ever done, good and bad. Every act, attitude and thought will be recorded and will be read for everyone to hear and then God will judge those people on how they have lived. So many people think they will be judged on a scale where hopefully their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds and when God asks them for an account of all they have done that is where they will point.

is where they will point.

But Jesus, on the throne, the great I Am, will say, “I Am the standard. I Am the way you are supposed to look to get into Heaven. I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father except through me. And you don’t look like me. I modeled the standard while I was on earth. I gave you the rules in my Word. I made it plain what you had to do and your salvation from hell has nothing to do with how many good works you have done in your life but it has everything to do with asking Me into your life to be Lord while you were alive on earth. There are no more chances. You have been weighed on the scales, not your deeds. You have been weighed and have been found lacking. You are judged.”

And just like when the Supreme Court of the United States makes a judgment there is no appeal. There is no more arguing. There is no more evidence to bring out. The Supreme Court has the last word when it comes to justice in America but when it comes to eternity, God is the worthy judge and all will be judged and the judgment is always going to be hell. Hell is the judgment at the Great White Throne. Verse 15 says that anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Some people get distracted here trying to figure out if this is a literal passage or if it is symbolic. Is it really a lake of fire? How could a lake be fire? Is God really opening literal books or is it something else? And to be honest, I don’t know for sure if it is a literal lake or if it is something else. But remember, this is a revelation to John and he is using the best words he can to describe what he sees and I know that if what he is seeing is not literal then it is worse. I don’t want to know what a lake of fire looks like and I believe that is John’s point here. When it comes to hell it doesn’t matter.

I want you to notice a couple of things in this message. I am not using a bunch of illustrations at all and I’m trying to let the scriptures speak for themselves. But I am also not using any horror stories of people who have been dying and screaming about what they have seen in hell or how they feel as they go there. I’m not trying to be dramatic. I’m not screaming at you and I’m not trying to make you feel guilty or sad.

But hear me say that there is a literal hell and there are literally people all around us who are dying in their sins and going there every day. And when I say that hell is the judgment for those unbelievers I want you to know what the Bible says about it.

Jesus says in Mark 9:44 that the fire in hell never goes out.

Some people think hell is a place much like before we are born. Or they want to think that we will be unconscious but the rich man in Luke 16 was very much conscious in hell and it says he was in torment begging for the beggar Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool the man’s tongue.

Matthew tells us in chapter 8 and chapter 22 that hell is a place of complete darkness.

Luke 13 teaches that hell is a place of complete separation from anybody else. One of the things about heaven that I look forward to the most is seeing friends and family again that have passed away but in hell the unbeliever is all by himself. Not to mention the fact that he will be completely cut off from God Himself.

Several places mention the fact that hell is a place of absolutely no hope. Hebrews 6:2 and Matthew 25 both say it is a place of eternal judgment or punishment.

The one thing they will have in hell is their memory; memories of all their family and friends, memories of all the people who tried to talk to them about God and heaven and Jesus and knowing that the judge was fair and righteous and holy and worthy and that the only person to blame was themselves.

I don’t like preaching about hell. I really don’t. I look forward to next week when I get to talk about heaven. We could do that every week, just come together and tell ourselves how blessed we are to be going there and what it’s going to be like. But just like preaching about hell, there is a time for that but we can’t do it every week. I appreciate those that went to the Wednesday evening series on soul-winning. We all learned a lot.

But now it’s time to use what we have learned. Sure, we could all stay right here and pat ourselves on the back for being saved but Jesus says in John 4:35 that the harvest is ripe. Romans 10 asks how they can hear without a preacher? Jesus left the disciples with the task of spreading the Gospel to the entire world and there is no Plan B. Everybody we see we ought to be thinking about what we can say in the 30 seconds we have with them at the grocery store or the 30 years we live with them that will bring them to have a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, while there is no good news to someone already in hell there is still Good News that we can share. And that Good News is that while we were yet sinners Jesus died for us because He loves us so much. He died because the penalty for sin is death and the only way we can pay for that is by death in hell but Jesus paid the debt that we owed with His death on the cross. Then after 3 days He rose again and is the only God of any religion that is alive today and so therefore He is the only true God because only God can defeat death and keep us out of everlasting hell. Have you asked Him into your life today to forgive you of your sins and be Lord of your life?

"So What? - Part 1" - Mark 13:26-37

*Pause 10 seconds before preaching*

I hate waiting. Don't you? I only paused there for less than 10 seconds and yet, how uncomfortable was that? When you know something ought to be happening and it doesn't, that is so frustrating. We live in a world where we expect everything to happen right now. In this world of computers and telephones and microwaves and planes that can take you across the world in a day, waiting 10 seconds with nothing happening can seem like an eternity.

About a month ago I went with Brian and some other guys out somewhere in west Texas to go goose hunting. I had never been before but I was as prepared as I could be thanks to Brian. I had my cold weather gear and a shotgun. One of them I didn’t need at all and the other I needed more of. We got out to this big open field out in the middle of nowhere about 530 in the morning and set up a bunch of decoys and then lie down on the ground surrounded by these decoys and then for the crowning touch we put a giant plastic goose on our heads. No kidding.

And then we just laid there. And laid there and laid there. And laid some more. 20 degrees and no geese and I’m in a frozen field with a plastic goose on my head. It would be pretty funny if it was happening to somebody else. I can’t see anybody else because of the goose on my head but I can see out of it enough to see geese flying way up in the sky way out of range. And every time they would fly over the guide would say, “Ok, here they come. Get ready.” And the geese would just fly on by.

It didn’t take too many hours of this before I have to admit that I really didn’t believe the guide anymore. At first I was all tense and ready to jump up and shoot but after a while I was just lying there trying not to freeze solid. I knew that they could fly down to our field and I knew it had happened to other people before but I just didn’t think that any geese would ever fly within range of our guns and, sure enough, they didn’t.

Unfortunately, some of us are the same way about watching and waiting for Jesus to come back. We start off watching the sky, thinking that it can happen at any moment. We have read that it will happen in the twinkling of an eye and we are ready and waiting and watching. But He never comes. In fact, people have been waiting for thousands of years and still nothing. So what do we do? Do we keep on watching or do we just try to get through this life to the end?

And even if He does come back, so what? What does that mean for us today? I’m starting a 3 sermon series today on the question, “So what?” So what if Jesus comes back? So what if there is a hell and so what if there is a heaven? Because that is the question people all around us are asking; maybe not out loud, but they are basically asking with their lives and their habits, “What relevance does all that religion stuff have for me?” And if we are not able to answer that question their lives will be as fruitful as our goose hunting trip. The only difference…is eternity.

Turn to Mark chapter 13 to see what Jesus Himself said about His return. This is a difficult chapter to understand in some respects because Jesus is talking to His disciples about 2 different things in one conversation. He is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in one sentence and His imminent return in another. But with careful study of verses 26-37 we will see clearly the relevance of His return.

- Mark 13:26-37-²⁶ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.²⁸ “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.³²“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴ It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.³⁵ “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶ If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

Several of the commentaries I read on this passage mentioned that it was a difficult passage to understand and the first time I read it I certainly agreed. To fully appreciate the passage you need to know that Jesus is responding to a question asked by His disciples. Earlier in the chapter it says that Jesus and His disciples were walking out of the temple and one of them remarked about how beautiful the temple was and Jesus replied that soon not one stone would be left on top of another.

This had to be a curious response for the disciples to a harmless statement and so they asked Him about it later and our passage today is part of His response. What is difficult about this is that He was answering their question by telling them about 2 different things that were going to happen; the fall of Jerusalem and His second coming. He intertwines the 2 stories in this one conversation and even 2000 years later we have a hard time understanding so you can imagine the disciples’ confusion as they walked along.

Nevertheless, there are 3 easy to understand truths that we can see in this passage and I want to focus on those this morning.

1) He is coming back

2) We have jobs to do

3) We are to keep watch

How many of you have ever been part of a military family? My dad was telling me that his dad was in WWII and would often write home to my grandmother telling her how much he missed her and that he would be home soon. In fact, he was probably telling her exactly when he would be home but my grandmother never knew it because the censors would censor all the mail and literally cut out all the details about where they were and when they were leaving. And so my grandmother never knew when he was coming but she waited and watched every day hoping it would be that day. Maybe some of you can relate to waiting for your loved one to come back from military duty.

Well, Jesus tells us in this passage that He is coming back and there are dozens of other passages that tell us as well. I won’t go through them all but I have to include these 3:

Acts 1:11"Men of Galilee," they said. "Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

Colossians 3:4“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory

1 Thessalonians 3:13 “May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”

Ok, I gotta give you one more. I could do this all day. I get excited about this and you should too. Let me just tell you that the word “amen” just means “that’s the truth” or “I agree” or “so may it be” and that would be very appropriate after reading passages like this. I’m just throwing that out there. One more…

Revelation 1:7-8 “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Man, that gets me excited! I am so ready. I hope you are. I hope you are ready and I hope you are excited. It says that we will not know when and it’s almost too much to think about but if someone were to ask you, “So what if Jesus comes back?” I hope you can be excited as you share with them what it means to all of us. And that leads me to my next point. While we are here we have jobs to do.

In verse 34 Jesus says the man leaves his house but each of his servants has assigned tasks. We have jobs to do while we are here on earth and there are at least 2 facets to this I want to explore. First, what is our job while we are waiting on Him to come back? Is it to have a big church? Is our job to be comfortable while we wait? Is our job to judge sinners? No. None of that is in our job description.

What was the last thing Jesus told His disciples (and us) at the end of the book of Matthew? Turn there in your Bibles if you would. I want you to see it, not just hear it. I want you to know what your job is because Jesus wasn’t just talking to His disciples here. This is our Great Commission as well.

Matthew 28:18-20: ¹⁸ 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.”

Go and make disciples. That’s our job. Let’s say you took a job with Bob’s Ditch-digging Service and the boss told you to go dig a ditch. He told you in writing when you signed on that your job was to dig ditches. And you said you would do it. You agreed and shook hands and signed on the dotted line knowing that all the tools you needed were available in the shed. But at the end of the day, the boss comes back and sees you leaning on the shovel and you have not dug but a couple of scoops of dirt, what are you going to say?

It’s too hot. It’s too cold. I’m too young. I’m too old. Digging ditches makes me uncomfortable. I never really had the opportunity. Digging ditches is not my gift. I’m digging on the inside. That’s how I do it. Oh, that’s the foreman’s job. What do you think the boss is going to say? What do you think God is going to say when you get to Heaven and you haven’t done your job?

That brings up the other facet of this point that we have jobs to do and that is that God trusts you to do the job. We think of having our faith and trust in God but He also has faith and trust in you that you will do the job of an evangelist as it says in II Timothy 4:5. You are expected to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, according to 1 Peter 3:15. Mark 16:15 says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” And that’s what the disciples did. Jesus trusted them and there was no Plan B. It’s the same today. It is up to us and Jesus put his trust in us to get the job done. He even says that He will be with us always. Everything we need to get the job done is at our disposal but the way some of us live it is as if we are saying, “So what if we have jobs to do? So what?”

So, we know He is coming back and we know we have jobs to do. The last thing we are to do is to keep watch. I am reminded of the passage later on in Mark where Jesus is in the garden praying and the disciples keep falling asleep. Jesus asks them if they couldn’t just keep watch for one hour. Nobody wants to be like that but what does it mean for us today to keep watch?

Verse 35says, “Keep watch, for you do not know when the owner of the house will come back.” I heard about a man who went to Europe on vacation and went to one of the castles in Spain called the Castillo de Coca. The vacationer found only one man on the whole property; the gardener. He asked the gardener where everybody was and the man said he was the only one there but he would be glad to take him on a tour. The vacationing gentleman noticed that every inch of the place was just immaculate. The gardens were tended. The lawn was mowed. Fresh flowers were in the window sill. Even the interior was spotless with beautiful linens and sparkling silver.

The guest asked the gardener how often the owner comes by. “He hasn’t been here in 12 years.” Well then how do you get your orders and your pay? “The owner’s handlers take care of that.” Well how often do they come? “Never.” The man was surprised and said, “Well, you must expect your master to come any day now.” “No sir,” said the gardener. “I expect him back today.”

Our job is to tell others the Good News of Jesus while we are here but while we are here we are also to keep watch over everything God has given us. That means we are to go to work and do our earthly jobs as if God were our boss. Paul says in Philippians 1 that we are to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. I Peter 3:16 says to live so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

To keep watch means to be prepared all the time for Jesus to come back and no matter when He comes you won’t be ashamed of what you are doing and have done. Where do you want to be when Christ comes again? Where do you not want to be when He comes? That’s a good question too!

And if He doesn’t come back today you will be able to say, “So what? I’ll be ready tomorrow.”

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Freedom" Galatians 5:16-26

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Freedom" Galatians 5:16-26

I would like to continue our worship time this morning by playing that opening song, “Come Now is the Time to Worship” on the piano. I want to play a beautiful version of that on the piano right now. Does anybody have any problem with me playing and continuing our worship? Would that be ok? I would really like to but there is a problem. I don’t have the music. And actually there is another problem. I can’t play the piano. At all. But I really want to.

I want to be able to play something beautiful here on this piano. The problem is that while I have the liberty to play (there is no law stopping me from banging out some notes) I don’t have the freedom to play because I never learned how. I was never disciplined enough to sit down and be obedient to a lesson plan long enough to learn to play anything more than “Oscar the Octopus” and that is not very worshipful so I will spare you.

See, in our spiritual lives there is a difference between “liberty” and “freedom”. So many people think that freedom is the license to do whatever a person wants, but true freedom is the ability to do what is right. It takes obedience in order to have true freedom. (Illustrations for Biblical Preaching)

Another illustration of this is the unchained dog lying in the sun in the front yard with no fence. He’s just lying there soaking up the sun watching the cars pass. He has the liberty to run off down the street. He can but when his master caught him he would be in trouble. But true freedom for that dog means he is obedient and therefore he can come and go as he wants from the front to the back and all over the yard instead of being chained or fenced. There is a difference in freedom and liberty.

Paul says in I Corinthians 10:23, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.” As Baptists, there are several subjects that we all kind of have an unwritten understanding that we don’t talk about much; subjects like drinking, smoking, dancing and gambling. There are no laws saying you can’t do any or all of that and lots of people do. But the problem with these things is that they either lead to an addiction or they lead to other things that are destructive so while we have the liberty to do them, freedom comes from the Holy Spirit.

Now, on the other hand, many of us wish we could do incredible things for the Kingdom of God but it seems like for all of our good intentions, we get bogged down just trying to survive without killing somebody. How many of you know that feeling? One minute you are thinking of some powerful work that you could do to bring others to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and the next thought you have is“Lord, forgive me for the horrible thought I just had about that person”. Isn’t that frustrating? What can we do about all of that?

That must have been how Paul felt when he said in Romans 7:18, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” So, again, the Holy Spirit tells us that we have the liberty to do all things but not the freedom. And we have the desires to do good things but too often we do the bad things we don’t want to do. Man, are we messed up or what?

So, I go back to my question. What can we do about all that? Well, fortunately for us there is an answer that will help us to not only know the difference in what we should and should not do but it will also give us the power to do all those good things that we want to do and more. Turn to Galatians chapter 5 and let’s see the answer.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God .

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited; provoking and envying each other.

Last week we looked at the 10 Commandments in Exodus and between the Sunday morning and Sunday night services we saw why they were written and why they are still relevant to us today. And by the way, if you aren’t coming to the Sunday evening services you are missing a blessing. But we talked about how we are not under the Law as followers of Jesus but we are under grace and we are grateful for that, right? And yet, while we are not under the Law, the Law is still relevant to us and we are still supposed to keep the Law. Jesus Himself told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19to “Obey the commandments.”

Thankfully, we are not saved by keeping the commandments but we are saved by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ. But that doesn’t get us off the hook for obeying the commandments or anything else God tells us to do as individuals. We all know that there are consequences to falling short in that area. I will say again that there are BOOCOD, benefits of obedience and consequences of disobedience. We know we are not supposed to lie and there are consequences for that. And guys also know that there are consequences for answering your wife incorrectly when she asks, “Honey, does this dress make me look fat?”

That’s just a mean question. Ladies, don’t ask that. And guys, there is a correct answer there that is both truthful and will keep you out of trouble. I don’t know what it is but I’m sure there is one. Anyway, we want to do the right thing as opposed to the wrong thing but we struggle with that and we also want to do great things for the Lord but we struggle with that. This passage shows us the secret to doing both and then it tells us how to know when we are doing it wrong and also how to know when we are doing it right.

Let’s look at the secret to life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom as told by Paul to the church in Galatia . When 56 men sat down in Philadelphia and ratified the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it included the famous words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” They said the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were endowed to us by our creator and I would like to add that the pursuit of spiritual freedom is not only endowed by our creator but is the only way in which we will ever find it.

And Paul makes the secret sound so easy. He says in verse 16, “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Just live by the Spirit. Look, honey, we’re just gonna live by the Spirit. Hey, honey, what’s it mean to live by the Spirit? Well, I’ll tell you, honey, what that means. Let’s learn some more Greek. When Paul uses the word “Spirit” he is obviously talking about the Holy Spirit but the word he used was “pneuma”. It’s the word from which we get pneumatic and means having to do with air. It just meant air or sometimes wind.

What I found interesting in my study of this was that it always meant a powerful wind. There is another Greek word that means a calm, gentle breeze. This is the significance behind the wind at Pentecost that blew into that upper room with a loud noise in Acts chapter 2. There was no mistaking it for a calm breeze. It couldn’t be ignored. It was obviously the work of the Creator and it was powerful. The Spirit of God is the most powerful force in the universe and we have the ability to live in it or your text may say walk in it. And not only do we have the opportunity to walk in it but we are commanded to here by Paul who was, as he wrote this, under the powerful influence of the Spirit and so, therefore we are commanded by the Spirit to live in the Spirit. Not to do so is sin.

Let me give you 2 quick verses on how to live by the Spirit. First, Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” That’s worship. That includes preaching and teaching and singing and prayer, fellowshipping with other brothers and sisters.

Secondly,Romans 8:5 says, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” Do you know how you set your mind on what the Spirit desires? Let me just tell you, it is hard to gossip when you are quoting Proverbs 18:7 over and over. “A fool’s mouth is his undoing. A fool’s mouth is his undoing. A fool’s mouth is his undoing”

It’s hard to lust when you are singing “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.”

Or how about trying to steal, lie or cheat when you are praying the prayer David prayed in Psalm 51 after he sinned with Bathsheba,“Create in me a pure heart oh God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

In other words be prepared for temptation to come and be ready to set your mind on what the Spirit desires by immersing yourself in Him. Have a verse ready and memorized to combat whatever your favorite little nasty sin is. Or have a song or a prayer or whatever it takes to continue living in the powerful Spirit of God.

When I see some guy with a flat belly, I think, “Man, I’d like to look like that again.” I’m tired of having this gut and I really want to be thin. I really do. But do you know how much I want to be thin? I want to be thin this bad (patting stomach). I want to be thin but I have not done everything I can to be that way. I have not used the tools and the knowledge I have to make that happen and it is the same way for us when we struggle with the same sin over and over. God has provided a way and the tools and the power necessary to accomplish it. It’s just up to us to use it by living in the Spirit.

Now fortunately, Paul tells us how to know when we are not living in the Spirit just like our bathroom scales at home tell us when we have not been living correctly in that sense. He has a long list of sins but the list is not exhaustive as Paul says at the end in verse 21, “…and the like”. He lists, “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies.”

When we read this we might be tempted to see this as a list of only the worst of the worst; a list that we can be proud of not having anything to do with things like debauchery or witchcraft or orgies. But look closer. You can know you are not living in the Spirit when you have impurity of any kind in your life. You can know you are not living in the Spirit when you have discord or jealousy, dissensions or factions. Think about that and that is why I say that any time there is discord in the church you can always trace it back to sin somewhere. People don’t always have to agree on everything but when there is dissension or quarrelling you can bet somebody is sinning.

That’s why Paul puts envy right next to idolatry. One is just as bad as the other and both are proof that we are not living in the Spirit. It is so serious that he ends the paragraph saying that those who live like this (and that verb means to continually live, not a one-time lapse) will not inherit the kingdom of God . If you can read that list and name any single one with which you have an ongoing problem then you need to take drastic measures because you just stepped on the scale and broke it! Paul is not saying that if you do all of these then you are in trouble. He is saying you are in trouble if you do any one of these.

Now, I have a question. It seems to me that Paul is being pretty judgmental here. In fact, just a few paragraphs earlier in chapter 2 verse 16 he says that we are not justified by keeping the law but here he is saying that those folks who don’t keep the law are not going to inherit the kingdom of God . How do you justify that?

Some have thought this to be a contradiction in his theology but a closer look shows that the evidence that the Galatian believers had been justified by faith was the presence of the Spirit in their lives. People love to quote Matthew 7that says, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” But Paul is saying that the proof is in the pudding. When you see someone continually living that way you know that they are not living in the Spirit and therefore will not inherit the kingdom. It’s not about keeping the law and it’s not about being judgmental. It’s just proof.

So we know that the secret to living in freedom is to live in the Spirit. And we know what it looks like when we are not living in the Spirit. Now let’s see what living in the Spirit looks like. Paul says that when we are living in the Spirit we will bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Just like the previous list would prove that someone is not living in the Spirit, so it is that this list is proof or the fruit of living in the Spirit. And the first thing I want to say about this is that the proof of the maturity of a Christian is not the gifts of the Spirit but the fruit of the Spirit. I Corinthians 13:1-2 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Paul is telling the Corinthian church that it doesn’t matter if they have the gift of tongues or prophesy or knowledge or anything else, without the fruit of love they are just wasting their breath. It doesn’t matter to us today if you are a great teacher or preacher or musician or any other gift you have, the proof of your maturity as a Christian will show up in the fruit you bear.

Secondly, we might have the tendency to read this and think that we will never bear all of this fruit because that is when life is perfect. Only a perfect person with a perfect life can have love, joy, peace, patience, etc., right? That’s not what Jesus said in John 15:2. “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Sometimes a fruitful person can be pruned by God which, in itself is what brings the maturity. So it is not the gifts of the Spirit that show one’s maturity. It is the fruit of the Spirit.

So, again, we have seen the secret to living in freedom is to live in the Spirit. We know what it looks like when we are not and when we are living in the Spirit. And I love how Paul ends that list. “Against such things there is no law.” You not only have the liberty to have love and joy and peace even in the difficult times, you have the power and the freedom as well.

“Grace and the Law” – Exodus 20:1-17

In 1989, a Philadelphia financial analyst purchased an old, torn picture of a country scene for $4 at a flea market in Adamstown , PA because he liked the frame. Later, when he tried to detach the frame from the painting, the frame fell apart in his hands and he found a folded document between the canvas and wood backing which appeared to be an old copy of the Declaration of Independence. A friend who collected Civil War memorabilia advised him to have it appraised.

It was real -- one of 500 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. (Only twenty-four similar copies were known to exist before this find, of which a mere three were privately owned.) This rare document was offered for sale by Sotheby's on June 4, 1991 and the lucky find fetched even more than had been anticipated: the $800,000 to $1.2 million estimate turned into $2.42 million by the sound of the gavel.

Last month (June 2000) Donald Scheer of Atlanta , who purchased the original copy for $2.42 million put it up for sale a second time. Months prior to the auction, Sotheby's confirmed the printed broadsheet not only as authentic but also as one of the three finest known - as crisp as it was on the evening it was printed by John Dunlap to carry the news of America's independence to the people of the thirteen colonies. This time, the find that was purchased for $4 at a flea market went for a whopping $8.14 million in an on-line auction!

If that handwritten note, signed by the 56 founding fathers that declared America ’s independence from Great Britain was worth $8.14 million, think what an original hand-written note from God must be worth! (Wayde Wilson, Sermoncentral)

In Deut. 9:10, Moses says that God wrote with His own finger the 10 Commandments and then gave them to Moses to give to the people. Now, I want to ask you to put yourself in a place that many of you probably like to go. I want you to put yourself in God’s place. If you were God and you had created man and all other things, what would you do?

Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”Colossians 1:16 reiterates the point: “All things were created by him and for him.”

So, you are God and you created something you called “very good” and now you want all people to know what is expected of them, right. How would you do it? How about just right it down? You could just tell Moses and let him tell all the other people but then Satan would come along and do just what he did to Eve in the book of Genesis and say, “C’mon, did God really say that? I think you misunderstood.”

So, now, the people have written in stone exactly what is expected of them if they are to stay in good favor with you. In fact, if you were a king back in the old days you would probably do something similar. You might draw up a legal document stating that because you are the king and you are sovereign then this is what will be expected of your subjects and as long as they are obedient then they will have your protection.

Even today, in most places of business the boss will draw up an employment handbook and give it to all employees so they will know what is expected; what will get them promoted and what will get them fired. That is what we have with the 10 Commandments in the book of Exodus. And the beautiful thing about these commandments is that they are perfect. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the LORD is perfect.” James 1:25 says it is the perfect law that brings freedom.

So we have this perfect law communicated perfectly but the problem is it is given to an imperfect people. Just how imperfect? You can read in the 32^nd chapter of Exodus that while Moses was still on the mountain getting the 10 Commandments from God that the people sinned. They saw Moses go up the mountain and they saw the fire. They felt the mountain shake. There was smoke and fire and thunder and lightning and they could see, hear, smell and feel that Moses was doing business with God.

And before he even came back down the people said to each other, “Hey, let’s build a golden calf and worship it.” “Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea.” So that’s what they did, within sight of the mountain, they melted all their gold and made a baby cow to worship.

When Moses came down from the mountain his face was shining like a lamp, his clothes were singed and smoking, his hair was white and his eyes were flashing. He had just been in the presence of holy God in a way that no man before or since ever has and as he came through the smoke and the cloud, I can just picture him looking around and wondering where everybody went. And he sees that they have built an idol and they are worshiping some chunk of gold.

“Seriously people? I was gone like 10 minutes and this is what you do?” You can’t blame Moses for being a little frustrated. You can’t blame God for being upset with us even today when we have His perfect law. It is written down in black and white. We all understand the words. And yet we all break those commands just like Moses broke the tablets. Honestly, it’s enough to make you wonder why God gave us those laws to begin with. Why would He give the perfect law to people so imperfect?

Well, let’s read these laws and then maybe we can find out the purpose behind them. Turn toward the front of your Bibles to the Old Testament book of Exodus and find chapter 20, verses 1-17.

And God spoke all these words:²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.³ “You shall have no other gods before me.⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.¹³ “You shall not murder.¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.¹⁵ “You shall not steal.¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Now, after reading this passage it would be the perfect time for me to expound on each one of those laws and explain further what each one means and what they mean for us today. I could even take each one as a separate sermon and preach every week for the next 10 weeks on how you are messing up. I could tell you that you are making your job into your god. I could tell you how your language needs to be cleaned up and how wrong it is not to come to church on Sunday; how you are stealing from God by not tithing and how comparing yourself with your neighbor is wrong and how guilty you are; all from this passage, and I could do it for at least 9 more Sundays, more if I halfway tried. And honestly, that would preach. That’s good stuff. Nothing wrong with that.

And isn’t that why they are in there? Aren’t the 10 Commandments there so I can tell you how poor of a job you are doing in keeping them? It’s almost a“to-do” list. Yep, got that one, got that one. Oh, honey, that’s the one you did yesterday. I told you not to do that. Got that one, check. I’m doing that one right now. But we always end by saying, “Well, I’ve never murdered anybody and I’ve never robbed a bank so I’m not as bad as some.”

Are the 10 Commandments there so we can feel guilty or are they there so we can feel better about ourselves than others? I want us to look this morning at why the Law was written by looking first at why it was notwritten. And, no, it was certainly not written for us to feel better about ourselves but the first reason I would like to share is that it was not written to save us. And when I say that you should be praying, “Thank you Lord!” Thank you Lord that it is not by keeping all of your Laws that provides my way to heaven and to eternal life with you and keeps me out of a literal and fiery hell.

Let’s go back to putting yourself in the place of God. It just makes sense to us that if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds then you are ok, right? That’s how we would do it if we were God. But if you have the law spelled out and every single person blasts through the vast majority of them over and over again, how can you say that person is good?

If you are a king in the old days and you have made a covenant with your people that if they follow your laws then you will protect them but otherwise there are consequences and if those people break those laws over and over again, what kind of king would you be to say to every single person, “Oh, that’s ok. It’s all right. I forgive you.”? You would have to be a just king or you would be a bad king. So, what do you do? The law does not save. Romans 3:20 says, “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.” The law is about justice. There is no mercy or forgiveness in the law. It’s black and white and if you break it you must pay the price. So the law is not there to save us.

It is also not written to give us goodstanding before God. We all like to think that we are good people but Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Yes, but I do good things now. I’m not perfect but I do some good things. Isaiah 64:6 says, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” We all want to be in good standing with God just like if you were to sell your corporation, the person you are selling it to would want a certificate of good standing with the government. So, you call up your local gubmint official and tell him you want that certificate. He tells you that you haven’t paid your taxes. You have failed to meet the requirement necessary to get that certificate. You can beg and plead and make threats and tell all about how you used to pay your taxes and how your brother works for the gubmint. It doesn’t matter. It’s the same with God. The Law is not written to give us good standing with Him because we have all failed to meet the requirement of keeping that Law.

Lastly, the Law was not written to sanctify the saints. It was not written to make Christians holy. I am quite sure that there are some non-Christians out there that live a more moral life than I do. I’m sure that some people who never darken the door of a church could say they are better people than I am since they have broken the 10 Commandments fewer times than I have. Paul himself says in Romans 7, “¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

The Law doesn’t make us holy or sanctified. Even as Christians we blow through the 10 Commandments like Grant taking Richmond so why was it written? I’ll give you 3 reasons why it was written. First, it was written to show us the character of God. Just like you have certain characteristics that make you who you are, so God has characteristics that make Him God. And the fundamental thing that makes God who He is is that He is holy and righteous. The holiness of God is declared in the 10 Commandments as much as anywhere else. The book of Leviticus says several times, “Be holy, for the Lord your God is holy.”

Going back to the scenario of you being God, you would probably be a pretty cool God, right? You would cut folks some slack when they messed up because you know how it is to mess up. It’s hard not to sometimes and so you would go easy and not be all “righteous and holy”. I mean, that’s so Old Testament, right? Well, you are not God…and I’m glad. And while we all know that we are not under the law but under grace, there are still consequences for sin. It doesn’t matter if you are Billy Graham or Charles Manson. God still calls sin a sin and there will always be consequences to that sin because of God’s righteous and holy character.

Secondly, the reason the Law was given is so that we would see our own character. The Law is the plumbline that we hang down and compare to the crookedness of our own lives and characters. I read the first part of Romans 3:20 earlier, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law.” But the last part says, “Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” When we look at the law and then look into a mirror we see a great difference. That is not our character and hasn’t been since Adam and Eve fell in the garden.

How many of you have honestly prayed to God for forgiveness but told Him that even now as I pray there is a part of me that wants to go do it again! As I sit here asking for forgiveness there is a part of me that want to go wallow in that mess of sin some more. Oh, Lord have mercy on us! But there is no mercy in the Law. There is no forgiveness. There is only justice and consequences. But thank God there is one more reason that the law was given.

Lastly, the reason the Law was given was ultimately to lead us to Jesus. Galatians 3:24 says, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” Paul says that the Law was our “paidagogos”. It means in the original Greek, to lead a child. It was used of the servant in the house who took the child to school. The Law leads us to Jesus in the same way.

When I see that the law is perfect and yet I am not; when I see that the law can’t save us, give us a good standing before God or sanctify us as Christians, I see that I am in trouble because there is no mercy or grace in the Law. When I see the righteousness of God and how holy and perfect He is I realize there is no way I could ever earn my way to heaven no matter how many good things I did and so when the New Testament tells me that God loved me so much He sent His only Son to die in my place I want to scream, “Give me Jesus!” But if it weren’t for the Law in the Old Testament I would never know what was required.

That is why the Law was given so many thousands of years ago. And I would expect that most of the people here this morning know this already. You already know that righteous God requires a death sacrifice to pay for our sins and that He sent Jesus here to earth to show us grace where the law could not. You know that it is because of His death, burial and resurrection that we can be seen as righteous before God and have good standing with Him, through grace, not of ourselves, lest any man should boast. You know all that.

But I’m not going to mince my words here. You know that and I know that but I have reason to believe that TJ and Shannon who live across the street don’t know that. I have reason to believe that the precious older couple right behind us, the Ezells, don’t know that. What about Melissa down at the store? What about Keith who lives a couple of streets over? What about Tony in Runaway Bay ? What about your neighbor who was out working on the car this morning and you waved to him real friendly as you came to church? We are literally surrounded by people who have broken the Law of God just like we have but they have not accepted Jesus to be the Lord of their life and their substitute for punishment for their sin.

I’m not trying to preach a “fire and brimstone” sermon at all but Revelation 20:11 says, “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Because God is a good and righteous judge we have to believe His word and believe that He means what He says. So, I’m going to end with just this question: who are you going to talk to about Jesus today?