Want to Hear a Joke That Will Both Make You Laugh and Make You Think?

We just finished going through Genesis 3 over the last two weeks, examining how sin came into the world.

One tree, one law, one temptation, one transgression.

Doubt, deny, disobey God’s Word.

Run from God, hide in shame.

Then, when we stand guilty, it’s time to blame blame blame everyone else we know. That’s what Adam did. At this point in history, he only knew 2 others: Eve and God. And he blamed them both for his sin. In Genesis 3:12, Adam said, “it was the woman… whom YOU gave to be with me…” (emphasis mine). Things were fine here, why did you put her here? It’s all her fault, and, well… you put her here. Just sayin’.

This got me thinking of one of my favorite jokes. And you need to think about it, too.

An elderly man is out driving, and his wife was at home watching the news. She called his cell phone and said, “Be careful out there. I know you said you were taking Route 79 home today, and they are showing on the news that this maniac is driving the wrong way on Route 79!”

The man screamed back, “What are you talking about?! There are dozens of people going the wrong way!”

The point is obvious: sometimes everyone else isn’t the problem. Sometimes you are the problem. 

p.s. - is often the problem

Earth: A Nice Place to Visit, but I Wouldn't Want to Live Here

My wife will tell you - I get in a funk sometimes. Actually, she would more accurately say, “a lot of times”. Sometimes it is personal frustration. Other times, which I want to type about today, it is just sorrow that this planet is so messed up.

Have you ever just been so… I don’t know, overwhelmed at the horrible condition of the world…? Pick up the paper, turn on the news, get to cnn.com. The theme of the earth: something is seriously wrong. Wars, murder, rape. Innocent people taken advantage of. Children, who should be protected, instead severely abused physically and used to gratify sexual desires for reprobate monsters. Sometimes, just the thought of living on such a world brings an anguish to my soul that is almost too much to bear.

I shared in a recent sermon how dismayed I was to hear a man scream at his infant in Costco. That was the most minor thing to disturb me, all things considered.

Did you hear about the man, Josh Powell whose wife (Susan) went missing? In 2009, she went missing and it was a big mystery. Then one of their sons drew a picture depicting the family on the way to a sudden camping trip, the one in which Mom (Susan) “got lost” and was never found. Suddenly it looks like the father (Josh) may know more than he is letting on. When it looked like the truth was going to come to light, he murdered his sons with an axe / house fire combination and killed himself.

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-06/us/us_washington-powell-explosion_1_mails-josh-powell-carbon-monoxide-poisoning?_s=PM:US

I barely rebounded from that news before I was hit with the story of Donovan McKee. This 11 year old Pittsburgh boy was beaten by his mom’s boyfriend - with sticks - for 9 hours - because he didn’t vacuum the apartment.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/tag/donovan-mckee/

What is going on here? Why doesn’t God do something about this?

Two things shock me about these stories. The first is the level of depravity it takes to inflict harm / death on a child. The second is that I am still shocked at how horrible sin is.

And it is horrible. So horrible that…to answer that last question I asked… it took the death of the Son of God to conquer sin. The sin in my heart was just as wicked as any of these stories - all affronts against God, all ways we spit in God’s face and decide we will live a life of self-destructive sin regardless of what He might say about it.

Yet God pours grace on a wicked world. The offer of forgiveness. Eternal life. Reconciliation. So God has done something about sin.

But what about those who will not accept God’s gracious gift? What about sinners who persist in selfish rebellion that hurts those around them?

Reminder: God will deal with that, too. In His perfect timing, He sent His Son to deal with sin. And yet future, His Son is coming back. Not to deal with sin, but to deal with sinners.

He closes His book with these words: Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. (Revelation 22:11-12)

Is He telling people to sin? What is He talking about?

He is simply saying, “Keep it up.” You want to sin? Go ahead. Sin. Reject Christ. Reject the Gospel. Do whatever you want. You love sin more than you love Christ? Go for it!

But He is coming with the ultimate payback - to repay everyone for what they have done.

This is what keeps me from crawling under a rock until I die or He returns. I have a commission to share the Gospel of His love. And He has promised that someday, He is going to make everything right. No more pain, no more injustice, no more betrayal. The world as it was meant to be. 

Being discouraged at the state mankind's existence is like watching a football game and leaving at halftime, saying, "That game was terrible." 

Let's hold all final comments until the end. Things are scheduled to get amazing.

Come, Lord Jesus.

p.s. - groans with the earth

BE STRONG! Part IV: What has God’s grace done to me?

What is grace?

Grace is God giving to me what He requires from me.

Holiness, righteousness, perfection - God requires these from us. We don’t have any of these! So in His love, He gives them to us in Jesus Christ!

The Gospel is truly about God’s grace. Jesus died for our sins. That was what we discussed in the last blog. Jesus’ death for our sins is only half of the Gospel. The other half has to do with Jesus’ resurrection!

Volumes can be said on the subject, but here are a few morsels for you to meditate on…

WHAT GOD’S GRACE HAS DONE TO ME

1. Dead to alive (Ephesians 2:5) - Jesus doesn’t turn bad people into good people, He turns dead people into alive people. The Bible makes it clear that by nature we may look alive, but spiritually we are separated from God, dead in our sins. Jesus died and rose again so we may die and raise again in Him! (Romans 6:10-11)
    
2. Adopted (John 1:12) - Imagine you have a teen aged son who goes to a party, gets into a fight, and is murdered by another teenage boy. If you track that boy down and murder him, that is called vengeance. If the boy is arrested, and you help get him prosecuted and incarcerated through the legal system, that is called justice. If you manage to get to the trial and ask the judge to let the boy go free, that is mercy. But if you ask the boy to be let free, and you take him into your home, adopting and raising him as your own son, that is called grace. This is what God has done to us through Christ - adoption!
    
3. Freed (John 8:36) - Here is an assignment for you: every time you come across the phrase “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt…” in the Old Testament, put some kind of special mark beside it in your Bible. I have been doing that and have been stunned at how often that comes up! So why does the Lord constantly remind Israel of this fact? It isn’t that they forgot their national history - the issue is they had a tendency to forget God and what He did! He is saying, “You were slaves in Egypt, and by my power, I delivered you.” In other words, they were hopeless in bondage until God stepped in and brought freedom. The same can be said to Christians today. We were in bondage to sin, and by God’s power in Christ, we were delivered!
    
4. Heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) - To say we are fellow heirs with Christ may not strike you, until you realize what you inherit with Christ. And what is that? The answer is: everything. Everything! You will inherit with Christ everything that belongs to Christ, which is, again, everything. Colossians 1:16 says everything was created through Him and for Him!
    
5. Heaven bound (John 14:1-3) - If this life is all there is, we are in sad shape because we can exit this life at any moment. Often, when people greet me, I hear the often repeated, “How are you doing?” My answer is always, “Not as good as I am going to be.” This response many times is met with a surprised reaction, “What do you mean by that?” Then I explain for the Christian, the promise is, no matter how rough things seem right now, God promises that someday everything is going to be perfect - when we realize the consummation of our salvation in heaven.

So grace did more than just eliminate my sin and the penalty of that sin - it comes with it promises beyond compare!

Let’s live as forgiven, but let’s also live as alive, adopted, freed, co-heirs of Christ heading for heaven!

p.s. - not doing as good as he’s going to be

BE STRONG! Part III: What has God done to my sin?

Have you given your life to Christ, but sometimes feel overburdened by the weight of sin? As in, "I know I am a born again believer, but someday I have a lot to answer for when I stand before God."

Why is it that many Christians still seem to feel condemned? Satan is called the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). Who is Satan accusing? God’s people! And sadly, too many of God’s people listen to the accusations of who Satan says we are, and do not listen to the declaration of who God says we are.

That’s why Christians say things like, “I am just a sinner.” Wrong! You are a pronounced-holy-by-the-blood-of-Christ child of the living God! But when we dwell on the bondage of our sin, we aren’t dwelling on the freedom of our imputed righteousness. This holds us back from serving God with confidence!

The first way the grace of God strengthens you is by releasing you from your sin. This isn’t the end of the story, it is really only the first half. But before we look at the rest of it, let’s make sure we have this part down: Your forgiveness from sin in Christ is thorough.

WHAT GOD’S GRACE HAS DONE TO MY SIN

1. My sin is cleansed (Isaiah 1:18) - Do you know a shirt can get “permanent stink”? Gross, Pastor Jeff, right? Well, I just recently had to throw a shirt away that I used to love to work out in, but even after several washings, Tide couldn’t even do the job. After some mourning, the shirt and I parted. My wife rejoiced. We are “dirty” in sin before we receive Christ, but the washing He gives doesn’t just fade a stain, it removes it. Whiter than snow. Not even “as white as snow” - but whiter! Cleaner than new. That’s what God says about your sin being cleansed.
    
2. My sin is removed (Psalm 103:12) - Here is another way God describes our sin. Removed. Far removed. Infinitely far removed. As far as East is from West. How far is that? Infinite. Grab a globe. You do have a globe laying around, I hope. Notice God doesn’t say “as far as North is from the South”, because if you go South far enough, eventually you are heading North. Trace it with your finger. But if you go East, you will never head West. Catch that? Your sin is gone. That’s what God says about your sin being removed.
    
3. My sin is lost (Micah 7:19) - Imagine I am on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I am leaning on the rail, overlooking the water, and I am foolishly tossing my wedding ring up and down, catching it until… whoops, I dropped it! And it fell into the ocean! What are my chances of ever seeing that ring again? Zero. Even if I got back to shore and hired the best divers in the world, they are never going to find that ring. And if some sneaky fish grabs it, takes it to the ocean floor and it… it is loster than lost. That’s where God has put my sin - lost forever. No chance of it coming back. Cleansed and removed and lost. That’s what God says about your sin being lost.
    
4. My sin is forgotten (Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12) - Since He says it again in Hebrews 10:17, God must really want to make a point here. A friend of mine once told me he believes when he dies, God will show him a movie of his life and point out all the times he, my friend, blew it. This doesn’t line up with what God already pronounced. He is willing to forget. Forget. As in, “God, don’t you remember the time I really let you down? The time I really dishonored you?” And God’s reply, “No, I don’t remember that at all.” That’s what God says about your sin being forgotten.
    
5. My sin is pardoned (Romans 8:1) - This is courtroom language. We are guilty of sin. When we receive Christ, we are pronounced not guilty. Is someone going to run into the courtroom and try to overturn the Judge’s decision? Not this Judge. He has all knowledge, all power, and all grace. And He says, “Not condemned” and slams the gavel down. Case over. That’s what God says about your sin being pardoned.

Christians, go forward with God in confidence. Your sin is cleansed, removed, lost, forgotten, and pardoned. If it isn’t an issue with God, why is it an issue with you? God’s grace makes us strong. Be strong.

p.s. - amazed at the depths of grace!