God Still Speaks - Part One

 

Today’s text comes from the first few verses of Hebrew chapter one: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 

 

In our multicultural, pluralistic culture, to make the claim that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Savior, the ONLY hope for eternal life, the ONLY hope for God’s favor – such a claim nowadays seems to border on what some would call absurd (at best) or hate speech (at worst).

 

But frankly, I for one do not care if others think my unwavering declaration that Jesus is humanity’s ONLY savior, that He is humanity’s ONLY hope for eternal life – I don’t care if others think I am being absurd or if they lie about being hateful.

 

Those who chose unbelief in the days Jesus walked the earth killed Him because He told them things they did not want to hear. And so, today, those who CHOOSE unbelief do the same. Satan hates truth. Satan hates light. And so, the Lord warned His disciples in that first century, as He warns His disciples in 2025: “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” (Mark 13:12-13).

 

According to a report in 2024 by Open Doors – a global ministry dedicated to serving persecuted Christians – including here in America – more than 4,000 Christians were murdered around the globe because of their beliefs in Christ and His resurrection. Nearly 5,000 were imprisoned. Nearly 8,000 churches and Christian properties were attacked. And Charlie Kirk is only one of the more recent Christians martyred for their bold faith in Christ and their courageous proclamation of God’s truth.

 

And speaking of God’s truth, this is a good place to pause and consider the very idea of God as He describes Himself throughout Scripture, because if He does NOT exist, then there is no infallible and unfailing Truth – absolute truth, unchangeable truth, perfect truth.

 

And that is precisely what atheists, agnostics, and whatever other labels modern scoffers of God and His Truth assign to themselves – that is precisely why such men and women want to believe God doesn’t exist, because if there is no absolute truth – truth to which they are and will be held accountable – then they can live as they choose. And if anyone wonders how a culture looks when led by atheists and agnostics and those who mock God – watch the nightly news for 10 minutes.

 

A favorite excuse many atheists use to soothe their own conscience is that faith in God is a fairytale fit only for old women and small children. They like to tell themselves that intelligent adults have no time for myths.

 

But when they say such things, they simply parrot the ignorance of others who themselves parrot the ignorance of others. However, and to the contrary of what they tell themselves, when any intelligent person with an honest and humble heart seeks to know if God exists, they ALWAYS come away with the answer that converts them to God AND to the Savior, Jesus.

How many of our unbelieving family, friends, and acquaintances know that in the 20^th century, just under 66% of those receiving Nobel awards in physics and medicine were Christians? Nearly 75% of Nobel prize awards in Chemistry went to Christians.

Were those Nobel Prize awardees uneducated and superstitious fools because they believed in God? Really? And I could spend the next hour just listing the names and the contributions to science that Christian men and women have made in the last several centuries, up to and including the 21^st century. Yes, it takes a certain kind of self-blindness to hang on to the irrational excuse that God is the stuff of fairy tales fit only for old women and small children

You meet your share of scoffers and unbelievers in your daily rubbing of shoulders with those at the tables around you at each meal. That’s why I remind you of things I have said here in this sanctuary before: Your faith in God and of His Christ is found to be true by all who seek truth with an honest and humble heart. And let us ever remember what the Lord Jesus said of those who look for excuses to deny Truth:

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

 

So, let’s go back to that first clause in today’s text: “God, after He spoke long ago to the Fathers . . . .”

 

From the perspective of the writer to the Hebrews, ‘long ago’ had been some 1400 years since Moses wrote the history of creation, the introduction of sin into humanity by Satan, of God’s promise to bring us a savior to break Satan’s chains.

 

I need to repeat that for the emphasis it deserves. It was 1400 years before God finally fulfilled His promise to send a Redeemer, a Savior, a Messiah to humanity trapped by Satan’s chains of sins. That means that for all those 1400 years after Moses wrote his books, generation after generation were born, lived, and died, without seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption from the grip of sin and the devil.

 

Think for a moment how they must have felt, being among the untold millions of men, women, and children who faithfully lifted their prayers week after week, prayers from the lips of faithful Jews who NEVER saw the fulfillment of God’s promise to establish Messiah’s kingdom. No wonder the disciples asked Jesus just prior to the His ascension, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

 

Their waiting – indeed, and now OUR waiting for the return of Christ, which has now lasted two thousand years – such delay has given skeptics ammunition to mock those of us who continue to wait for the Lord to fulfill His promise of the second Advent. St. Peter talked about mockers and skeptics in his day. Here is what he wrote:

 

“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4)

 

And besides waiting for Christ’s return, are you tired of waiting for answers to your prayers? It’s no surprise if you are. Our culture has conditioned us since infancy to expect quick results when we want something. But when we do not see the expected results of our prayers – how many just give up – not only praying, but some even walk away from the Lord, thinking He’s not concerned about my prayers.

 

That idea, of course, is utterly preposterous.

 

The first clause in today’s Scripture text ought to give us a better perspective about being PATIENT about God’s timing. And in addition to patience, God teaches us something else in this first clause related to waiting. It also teaches us about trust.

 

God tells His children to trust Him whose plans are bigger and grander than ours. And just as important – JUST as important – we are EACH a PART of that plan.

 

Trusting God is NOT a psychological trick we play on ourselves and gets its vigor from our emotions. Trusting God is an act of the will, an intellectual decision – not an emotional decision. It is an intellectual decision to trust the Sovereign God who spoke the universe into existence and who is so deeply connected to you and me that He knows how many hairs we have on our heads.

He is so connected with us that – as we saw when I preached through Psalm 139: “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

I’m the first to admit this kind of trust is far easier to say than it is to do when life throws us a wicked curve. It was not that long ago, as some of you know, that I failed miserably to live up to the kind of trust I just told you we should have. When Nancy was in the ICU with a stroke, I melted into a slough of dread and anxiety that plagued me for many weeks.

But the truth is – truth with a capital T – the truth is we can trust our Father in heaven – regardless of how we ‘feel.’ We can trust Him because He really and immeasurably cares for us. For you. For me. Put your name on that statement. The Almighty, omnipotent God profoundly cares for you.

 

Never think your existence or your role in His grand plan for humanity is insignificant. As I spoke last week about what the Lord did with the fish and loaves, we are each an integral part of God’s plan for humanity in general and for specific individuals, in particular.

 

Listen: If we are NOT integral, then we wouldn’t have been born, or been placed in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. If every sheep was not important to the Shepherd, He would not have left the 99 safely in the corral and gone looking for the one lost sheep.

 

Yes, YOU are important. But – and this too is critical – just because you and I are important to God’s work, that does NOT mean our role in His plan will be easy. Or comfortable. May God help us adopt the kind of attitude of the apostle Paul. While a prisoner of Rome for his faith, Paul wrote this to the church at Philippi:

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. . . .

 

A few verses later he shares with his readers about his expectation and hope that – the end of verse 20: “Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:12-20)

The apostle had the same nature as any other person. He had his own set of sins, of fears, of joys, and sorrows, and frustrations. He was, at a fundamental level, just as human as you and I. But he made a decision, an act of the will, that whatever the circumstances, he wanted Jesus to be exalted in his body – whether that meant life or death. It didn’t matter, so long as Jesus was exalted.

 

May God help us to develop such an attitude, that whether in health or illness, poverty or riches, loneliness or surrounded by loved ones, freedom or imprisonment, fear or security – whatever our circumstances, God has permitted them – or in some cases actually brought them to us – so that, because of our TRUST in our Father’s love for us, Jesus Christ will be exalted through our lives and others will be drawn to Him.

Let’s go back now to the text. The writer tells us God spoke to the Fathers in many diverse ways. And Scripture certainly confirms that. For example,

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2)

 

God has spoken through shepherds and kings, priests and paupers, farmers and tentmakers, fishermen and physicians. He declared His words through men and women who were well-known, little-known, and unknown.

 

He speaks through His creation of man and woman. Any high school biology textbook illustrates with photos and maps of the intricacy of the human cell – not to mention the astounding complexity of the entire human body.

 

But as is true today, we find throughout the old and new testaments that only a few truly listened and obeyed what God spoke. Only a remnant cared enough about God’s loving embrace to follow what He told them thought the prophets and apostles. Here is only one of dozens of sad accounts recorded for us. You will find this one in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16:

 

“The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.”

 

Why do we think so many, even among those who warm a pew each week, why would they continue to travel the broad way to the wide gate that leads to destruction? Why do very few choose the narrow road and the small gate that leads to life?

 

Perhaps because the narrow road and the small gate are arduous. Anyone who has ever given more than lip service to an obedient and holy lifestyle knows how arduous the road is. It is much easier to live in sin than it is to be holy. It is much easier to find reasons to NOT obey Jesus than it is to faithfully follow Him.

 

And so, it remains true: In these last days, God has spoken His final and unalterable word about sin, righteousness, judgment, eternal life and eternal torment. And He has spoken His truth to us through His Son.

 

For good reason, the apostle Peter told the religious leaders of his day: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

 

Peter was simply restating what the Lord Jesus had said earlier to the crowds of laity and clergy: “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24) Then later to His disciples: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

 

That’s why I don’t care if unbelievers think what I am saying about Jesus is absurd or if they lie and call it hate speech. There is no one else who can save us from the wrath of God toward us for our sins. No one but Jesus. Not Buddha. Not Muhammed. Not Moses, not our good works or good intentions. Nothing and no one in all history can save us from the eternal Lake of Fire. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can save us.

 

Do not ever be ashamed of that unique Truth – capital ‘T’ – in a pluralistic world racing toward the eternal damnation. You and I are created by God to exalt Him, to be an integral part of His plan of redemption, of reconciliation for sinners who WANT to be reconciled. And our part is wrapped and sealed in the unique truth of Jesus Christ.

 

That’s why Paul proclaimed on the streets and in the towns and villages of his own pagan, pluralistic, and polytheistic culture: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the [Gentile].”  (Romans 1:16)

God has spoken. God continues to speak. And He has ENTRUSTED us with His message of hope and the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.

When God said in Isaiah’s hearing: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Isaiah answered, “Here am I. Send me!”

May God please change our hearts to become increasingly willing to answer God’s question with the same answer: “Here am I. Send me.”

 

Fifty-Three Years Ago

 

Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – is the highest of the holy days in Jewish faith. The holy day falls on different days each fall because Yom Kippur – like Ash Wednesday, Passover, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday – follows the lunar calendar and not the solar calendar.

 

This year, Yom Kippur falls on October 2^nd, but in 1972, it fell on September 18^th. For me, today is my 53^rd anniversary of the time God began to change my life-trajectory.

 

First, let me back up just a little. On Yom Kippur in 1971 I woke up thinking about how I’d been living my life – and I was not happy about it. I knew intuitively that I was a sinner. I also knew God was not pleased with the way I was living. I knew I had to change. I needed to be a better Jew. So, when I awakened on Yom Kippur in 1971, I determined that I would obey the Ten Commandments for the rest of my life.

 

But when my girlfriend unexpectedly knocked on my apartment door around noon – my determination quickly evaporated.

 

Now, fast forward a year later. On Yom Kippur in 1972 I sat in my navy barracks room, sadly remembering my failure of one year earlier. I pulled my journal from my locker and wrote a heart-felt plea: “Oh, God – forgive me for my past sins and look with tolerance on my future ones.”

 

I wrote as I did because I knew I was trapped in sin. I knew no matter how hard I tried and how many promises I made – I could not live up to God's commandments. I didn’t know it at the time, but heart was at a place it needed to be for God to break through and reveal to my heart the answer to my prayer for forgiveness.

 

His answer was – and will always be – Jesus.

 

I think back to that day in 1972 quite often. And please do not misunderstand me – I am nowhere near the living out of holiness that I know I must live. I sin routinely. I suppose it is fair to say I remain trapped in sin because I still have a sin nature.

 

But now I DO have full access to God's forgiveness when I repent of those sins. Now I DO have access to the Holy Spirit who always empowers me to say ‘No’ to some temptation that wants me to say, ‘Yes.”  And while God does not, nor will He ever, look with tolerance on my sins – He always provides me the assurance that when I confess my sins – even if I must do so a dozen times a day for the same sin – God promises to wipe them from my record and from His memory. I’ve memorized dozens of Scriptures to that point.

 

But, enough about me. I hope what I am saying here speaks to you because until we grieve over our sin nature, we won’t know how desperately we need Jesus. Until we recognize we’re trapped in sin, we won’t know how desperately we need Jesus. Until we weep and mourn because we keep doing the same thing again and again and again – hating every time we do it – then we won’t know how desperately we need Jesus.

Please. Think long about what I am saying here. We fool ourselves to tell ourselves that all we need to do to please God is walk down the church aisle and make a ‘commitment’ to Christ. It’s wholly insufficient to be baptized and attend church each Sunday without a true and DAILY commitment of life and lifestyle to Christ. And such a change in our life will only happen when God wakes us up to realize we really DO need Jesus to save us from ourselves.

 

And that would be a good prayer, wouldn’t it? To ask God to reveal to you how desperately – how desperately – you need Jesus, and to ask Him to forgive your sins and change your own life-trajectory to match His will for your life.

 

If you’ve never done that, please don’t delay to do so.

Still Useful

My text today comes from the 92^nd psalm: The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.”

 

I hope you got that. The righteous man or woman will FLOURISH in their work for God.

 

Now listen to the prophet Isaiah: “You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:3b-4)

 

I hope you got that one, too: Even to your old age and you graying years – God will not change in His care for you.

 

It always grieves me to hear men and women who have served the Master for many for decades and who think He has put them out to pasture. They think God is no longer able – nor interested – in using them for His Kingdom because they’re too old, or feeble, or forgetful of Scripture, or inarticulate, poor, or . . . fill in the blank.

 

Well, I stand here today to shout it from the rooftop – that that idea is a satanic lie intended and designed by the devil himself to discourage you from being all you can STILL be for Christ.

 

Still be!

 

This poem I am about to read was supposedly written by an elderly nursing home patient. What this old woman experienced lays the foundation for the theme of my message. She wroteS:

 

“What do you see, nurse, what do you see? What are you thinking when you're looking at me? A crabby old woman, not very wise, uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes? Who dribbles her food and makes no reply when you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"  Who seems not to notice the things that you do, and forever is losing a stocking or shoe.....

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will, with bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.... Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, as I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will. I'm a small child of ten ...with a father and mother, brothers and sisters, who love one another. A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet, dreaming that soon a lover she'll meet. A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap, remembering the vows I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now, I have young of my own, who need me to guide a secure happy home. A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast, bound to each other with ties that should last. At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone, but my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.

At fifty, once more babies play round my knee, again we know children, my loved one and me. [But now] Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread. For my young are all rearing young of their own, and I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman ...and nature is cruel; 'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool. The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart, there is now a stone where I once had a heart. But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells, and now and again my battered heart swells. I remember the joys, I remember the pain, and I'm loving and living life all over again.

I think of the years .... all too few, gone too fast, and accept the stark fact that nothing can last. So, open your eyes, nurse, open and see, not a crabby old woman; look closer ...see ME.

 

That last line always catches my attention as she pleads with her caregivers: “Look closer – see ME.”

 

Christian – I know it can be terribly depressing to think you are nearly invisible to others, ESPECIALLY if it’s your family who cannot see you. It can be incredibly discouraging to think no one thinks of you as valuable any longer.

 

But Christian AND non-Christian, please hear this! WE must receive this into our hearts: Whoever you are, God has not put you out to pasture. You might be lonely. You might be frightened about the future. You might be frail, or ill and unable to do the things you did even last year. But God has not put you out to pasture.

 

If you’re a Christian, God sees you as extraordinarily useful to His kingdom. And if you are not yet a Christian, God sees how extraordinarily useful you CAN be for His kingdom if you will place your faith and obedience in Christ Jesus who died to erase your sins – all of them; Even the ones you don’t remember.  

 

Scripture and church history abound with examples of old and young, of feeble and powerful, of poor and of rich, of the inarticulate and the golden-tongued – Scripture and church history abound with examples of men and women used of God because they WANTED to be used of God.

One of my favorite passages in the gospels is of the poor widow who shuffled up to the Temple treasury to deposit what amounted to a few pennies. You probably remember the story from Mark’s gospel: “And [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)

 

That impoverished widow had absolutely no idea that God would use her simple act of sacrificial faith as an example – for as long as this earth continues – He would use her act as an example of usefulness for the kingdom.

 

How was her act fruitful for the Kingdom? We’re still reading about it two thousand years later, aren’t we?  And doesn’t her gift give us a glimpse into the mind of God who is more interested in our heart than in our gifts, or our health, or in mobility, or in ANYTHING we consider important to being able to work for God.

 

If God has our heart, then what won’t He do with the rest of us?

 

Charles Stanley, in his booklet, We Shall Be Like Him, writes this: Do you know what God has called you to do? There’s much emphasis today on accomplishing something great for the Lord, and that can lead some of us to think that our ordinary life doesn’t amount to much. However, not everyone is called to preach to thousands or serve in distant lands. Being a mother, a student, or a hard-working employee is a tremendous calling, if that’s the task God has given you.

 

And I will add to what Stanley said by saying that being helpful, generous, encouraging, hospitable, and even exhorting others to do what’s right are also tasks God has given us to do.

Speaking of exhortation, Bill Santee was no one anyone might have called spectacular. He was a blue-collar worker. He had no special skills. But God used that humble servant to get my attention when I was succumbing to the satanic lie that I was not very useful to God’s kingdom.

 

Many years ago, as my friend and I chatted over coffee, our discussion turned as it always did to the Lord. As we finished our drinks and donuts and got up to leave, I mentioned how useless I sometimes felt because I thought what I was doing for Christ was only a small thing, compared to what others were doing.

 

When we stepped outside and headed for our cars, Bill stopped me. I’ll never forget what he said. He pointed his finger at my chest and said: “Don’t ever call what God has given you to do a small thing.”

 

I knew immediately that the Holy Spirit Himself had rebuked me. And I needed that rebuke. And maybe you also need that kind of rebuke.

 

We must ever be reminded: It’s all about Jesus’ supernatural power to take what is natural and of the flesh and use whatever we give Him for His glory. I mean, we’re talking about God here. So, stop thinking such foolishness that God is done with you, that He has put you out to pasture.

 

The 25^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel should help put to rest such foolish ideas about our so-called uselessness to God. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40)

I hope you noticed how those standing before the Lord at the judgment were surprised to learn they’d been fruitful for Christ. All they’d done was fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, helped the helpless, spoken kindly to the depressed, cut the food of those who can’t cut it themselves, retrieved the wheelchair or walker for those who needed help getting up from the dining room table, read the scriptures to those who can no longer see well enough to read, prayed with and for those who feel all alone . . . simple things.

 

St. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) reminds us of a critical and very biblical point: Christ has no body but yours; No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now but yours.

I quoted something from Psalm 92 at the beginning of my message, and I need to do it once again for emphasis: “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.”

 

We’ll never flourish as God wants us to flourish unless we accept the biblical truth that the Almighty and Sovereign God places us – all of us – where He wants us. That means, for now anyway, God has planted you here at Ashwood Meadows for His purposes, to use you in this place for His kingdom. Now, bloom where He has planted you.

 

Let me now remind you of the story in the 14^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel: “When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.”

 

Christian, how many fish and loaves do you have? More than you probably think you do. So, for those who have lived your Christian life for years serving Christ to the best of your human abilities – keep at it, even here in Ashwood Meadows.

And to you who might regret the years you’ve wasted by not giving the Lord whatever loaves and fish you had, you can still COUNT for God in whatever time He has yet given you to live – whether ten days or twenty years – you can still count for God if you will only take what you have . . . and offer them to the Master.

No, we cannot get back the time we have lost, but God will still use us for as many tomorrows as He has granted us – God is able and desires to use us to bring forth fruit for His glory and His kingdom.

 

But the crucial question we must answer is this: Are we willing to do what we must do for the rest of our days to accomplish that?

 

In the last stage of our life-journey, we can end up like the old woman whose poem I read at the beginning of my message, longing for others to recognize the young girl within her, crying out for others to see the real “her” . . . 

 

Or we can end our days with a confidence, knowing that God DOES see the real you and me, that He does know our heart’s cry. We can end up without the answer that satisfies our soul when it asks that inevitable question – does anyone see me? Or we can have a great and comforting answer to that question – my God sees me. He has ALWAYS seen me.

At no time in the whole of Scripture did God ever put His child out to pasture because he was too old or feeble or ill to do anything useful for Him. 

 

Yes, you and I are in different pastures than we were when we were younger, but our different pastures simply give us different opportunities to serve as His hands and feet. We may be in different fields, but those fields are still white unto harvest.

 

Christian – be encouraged. God has not shuffled you off to some corner of His Kingdom, and so I close with this final word from Scripture. It’s a word about our labor for Christ, our planting and watering for Christ, our sacrificial giving for Christ, and our moving forward toward ever-increasing fruitfulness in Christ. It’s about being kind and thoughtful and prayerful and humble because you belong to Him. And so ,the apostle Paul reminds us:

 

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

 

 

What Must I Do?

Those of you who are familiar with the Book of Acts will remember when Paul and Silas were thrown into the jail in Philippi. Around midnight, although their feet were fastened in stocks, they were singing praise to God as all the prisoners listened to them. Suddenly an earthquake occurred, and all the prison cell doors were opened. Luke tells us: “When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:27-30)

 

If you ask a dozen people what they think a person must do to be saved – to have eternal life – you’ll get a variety of opinions ranging from the totally accurate to the totally ignorant. Even of those who attend church services each week and Bible studies during the week – we ought not be too surprised at the erroneous and even heretical ideas people come up with.

 

And that’s why I am preaching this message today. I know most of you – if not all of you – can accurately answer the question of how anyone can get to heaven. But as your pastor I am under obligation to God to remind us and to declare again HIS answer, which is the ONLY correct answer to the question how anyone can be saved from eternal damnation and torment.  

 

To do that, I thought to talk today about two men we find in the New Testament – one a Jew, the other a Gentile. Both righteous. Both godly . . . And both missing an essential element related to eternal life. First, we look at the Jew, a Pharisee named Saul who was later and best known as the apostle Paul.

 

The Pharisees were one of two major religious societies of Judaism at the time of the New Testament. The other was the Sadducees. There were other splinter groups, but those two constituted the major divisions within first century Judaism.  

 

According to the historian Josephus, there were some 6,000 Pharisees at the time of Jesus. Most Pharisees lived a simple, honest, and honorable lifestyle. Unlike the Sadducees, they believed in divine sovereignty and the immortality of both good and evil persons – the good would live forever in heaven, the evil would live in eternal torment. Pharisees adhered strictly to the laws of Moses, as well as to the ‘oral law’ which were the various interpretations, applications, and expansions of the Old Testament Mosaic law. The Pharisees were considered the most accurate interpreters of the various Jewish laws.

The Pharisees, along with the Sadducees, were antagonistic against Jesus primarily on religious grounds. They considered Jesus a blasphemer against God and against God’s laws.

I think the Pharisees have taken an unjustified bad rap in the Church. Their reputation is tainted by the relatively small group in the Sanhedrin that viciously opposed Jesus. We know of at least two members of the 70-member Sanhedrin who were NOT in favor of killing Jesus: Nicodemus (John 3) and Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15). There may have been others, but we do not know.

Most Pharisees were devoted to God. Their problem – and we should be wary lest such things do not happen to us – their problem was that their devotion to God was overtaken by the rules they built around the law of Moses.

But listen to what Paul tells us of his life-changing discovery about the forgiveness of sins, of holiness, of eternal life, and what alone pleases God – and it was not as he had thought: (Philippians 3:5-6) “[C]ircumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

 

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith

Before we place too much criticism on the Pharisees for elevating their traditions and rabbinic interpretations above God’s word, we should be careful to examine our own houses. How many of the rules some church bodies have established are rooted more in their own traditions and on the doctrines of their counterparts to ancient rabbinic interpretations than on what God actually says in His Book?

 

St. Paul frequently addressed those errors. For the sake of time, here is only one example. In his letter to the Colossian church, he wrote: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” – which all refer to things destined to perish with use – in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23)

Yes, Paul the Jewish Pharisee learned the critically important answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved.” And it had nothing to do – NOTHING to do – with what he once thought was true.

 

Now let’s turn our attention to another devout and God-fearing man, this one a Gentile. Cornelius was a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea, but unlike many Romans, Cornelius “feared God with all his household and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.” (Acts 10:2)

 

From the context of the tenth chapter of Acts it seems Cornelius made his house a sort of gathering place for his family, friends and soldiers who also were devoted to the God of Israel.

 

When in chapter 11 Peter’s Jewish colleagues criticized the apostle for going into the house of a Gentile – something Jews would never do because they believed they’d be ceremonially defiled by being in a Gentile’s house – Peter said: (Acts11:13-14) “[Cornelius] reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.”

Although Cornelius – like the devout Pharisee, Paul – Cornelius was a devout and God-fearing man. Nevertheless, a critical element was missing in his life, and that missing element would have kept him from being saved.

 

So here we have two men. Good men. Religious men. Devout and godly men. Men who sought to honor God in all things. But neither the devout Jew, nor the devout Gentile were what we might call ‘saved’ by their ‘devoutness’. Neither of them – the Jew or the Gentile –would have been granted entrance into the eternal kingdom of Almighty God. Their goodness was simply not good enough.

 

And neither is yours or mine.

 

It is a false and deceptively deadly narrative to tell ourselves that going to church, or doing good works, or giving alms to the poor is all that God requires for our eternal salvation.

 

Yes, God commands us to regularly to gather with other Christians. Here is only one of many New Testament examples: (Hebrews 10:24-25) “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

 

Yes, God commands us to do good for others. Here is only one of many New Testament examples: (Titus 3:14) “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”

 

But really – what good is it to do all those things, what good is it even to receive Holy Communion, or even to be baptized, if we live like the practical atheists St Paul described in his letter to Titus (1:16): “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him” ?

 

Please hear this: The immovable, unchangeable and irrefutable foundation of our salvation is faith in Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 2:8-9) “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

It is only by faith in Christ and through faith in Christ that everyone MUST be saved: Faith in His atoning work on Calvary’s cross to erase our sins; Faith in his physical resurrection from death three days later; Faith that manifests itself in obedience to God’s commandments – all of them, including the ones we don’t like.

 

And so, therein lies the focus of my message this afternoon. I want that focus to be like a trumpet resonating repeatedly in our hearts: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” And “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 3:23 and 6:23)

 

Those truths remain the eternally secure signpost pointing us to Jesus who is the only truth, the only life, the only way to the Father.

The Lord Jesus said to another Pharisee – Nicodemus – a man who also trusted in his devoutness, and his obedience to God’s law . . . Jesus warned him, “You must be born again.”  In other words, “You must believe the gospel. You must repent of your sins, be baptized, and make Me lord and ruler of your life.” (See John 3:3 and Acts 2:38)

 

It’s a simple message, really. Yet its simplicity seems to always get lost in our arguments, excuses, rationalizations, self-defensive posturing . . . all designed to convince ourselves we are right – but none of which fools God.

 

Here is what God says about our hearts, and we should pay close heed lest we be guilty of the same self-deception. I’ve quoted this text innumerable times because I always stand humble and silent before it: Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

 

You and I must be born again. What does that mean? In simplest terms, new birth occurs when we humbly acknowledge to God these several truths:

 

First, God is holy. ‘Fire’ is often used to describe Him because fire purifies. Fire burns away the dross, the chaff of our lives. The prophet Malachi tells us: (Malachi 3) “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.”

 

Next, God is not only holy, but we are each born in sin. One might say sin is part of our DNA. It influences our motives, our desires, our hopes, our plans, our past, our present, our future. It affects our families, our careers . . . . Nothing is beyond its influence. The Scriptures repeatedly emphasize that truth. For example, (Psalm 14:2-3) “The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”

 

And Isaiah (64:6) “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

 

Now this unchangeable truth: As we must acknowledge God’s utter holiness, and that we each are sinners worthy of nothing short of condemnation and eternal hell, we must also acknowledge that God will judge sin.

 

Listen to His warning in Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.  . . . “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And Hebrews 9:27 “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”  

 

Which brings us now to the next truth we must accept into the core of our souls: The Holy, Just, Righteous, and Merciful God made a way for us, all of whom live with sin as part of our DNA – God made a way – and ONLY ONE WAY – for humanity to be completely cleansed of ALL of our sins. He did that by His placing the judgment of our sins on the crucified sinless Lamb of God who died on that cross as our substitute and then rose from the dead on the third day.

That’s why the apostle Paul, the born-again devoutly religious Pharisee, said what he did in that passage in Phillipians: [That I] may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. (Philippians 3:9)

It's why he wrote to the Christians at Ephesus the text I quoted earlier, (Ephesians 2:4-9) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

It's why he wrote to the Christians in Rome (Romans 5:8-9) “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

 

SO, what must I do, what must you do, what must ANYONE do to be saved? What must Jew or Gentile, devout or not devout – what must we do to inherit eternal life?

 

The answer is simple, and I’m purposely redundant because our eternal destiny absolutely depends on what we each do with God’s truths and His warnings.

 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledge to Him that you are

a sinner, totally unable to be saved simply by your good works, or church attendance, or any other religious activity. Acknowledge, believe that we can only be saved by being forgiven and pardoned of our sins because Jesus died in our place, as our substitutionary atonement for our sins. His death satisfies God’s righteousness judgment, as well as His mercy. At Messiah’s death, God judged our sin when He placed our sins on Jesus – and at the same time He gave us mercy and forgave our sins because of that substitution.

 

Jesus said to the righteous Pharisee named Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

I’ve tried to make the simple message of salvation as clear as I can this afternoon because our eternal destination is irreducibly tied to what we believe about Jesus, about sin, righteousness, judgment – and obedience.

 

Are you sure of your eternal destiny? If you trust Jesus to be your Savior, your Lord, your Master – if you obey Him to the best of your frail human abilities, if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you have God’s assurance that you are His adopted child and you WILL be with Him in glory after death.

 

We have His promise. Trust Him. There will be no reason for you to fear when ‘the bell tolls for thee.’