WASHING YOUR HANDS 3

 

WASHING YOUR HANDS 3

Matt. 27:11-26

For many these days, they are reluctant to assume responsibility for their lifestyles and actions. They tend to blame others for their lives. “It’s the culture we live in. It’s my absent parents. It’s how I was treated by my peers growing up. Someone abused me.” Etc. While people do have an impact on us and who we become, they do not control who we remain. We are slaves to our circumstances only if we choose to be. We can do things to change. However, it’s so much easier to just not accept responsibility for our lives and pass the buck. Pilate tried to wash his hands of his role in Jesus’ crucifixion and pass the buck onto others. However, you cannot wash your hands and make your responsibilities go away.

If you are living in sin, you are responsible for your sins. No one can make you do what you don’t want to do. No one can answer to God for you for your sins. No u one will be held accountable to God for your sins but you. You will not get out of it. If you are living in sin, you are living as an enemy of God. You will not be able to hide them from God or blame someone else for them. Your only hope of escaping God’s wrath against you is Jesus. He can do what you nor anyone else can do, He can forgive you for your sins and make them go away.

If you are living by faith, you are responsible for living for how you live. God commands that we live holy lives before Him. There is no other way for a child of God to live.

If you are living by faith, you are responsible for sharing it with others. Faith in Christ cannot be contained. God commands us to share our faith with others. Matt. 28:19-20 We cannot hoard our salvation. Our mandate is to go into the world, share our faith, and make disciples for Christ. We are servants, not hoarders. We must preach and teach the Gospel message whenever and to whomever we can. If you truly love Jesus, you simply can’t do anything but share Him with the world. If you love the people for whom Jesus died, you will be compelled to share Him with them.

You cannot wash your hands of your responsibilities. You alone will be held accountable before God for the life you live.

WASHING YOUR HANDS 2

 

WASHING YOUR HANDS 2

I Tim. 4:1-5

It used to be that when one said they went to church, there was at least a general idea of what they were being taught, not so much anymore we. The church has become a smorgasbord of different kinds of beliefs. Under the umbrella of the church, you will find those whose beliefs are conservative and those who are liberal. Some stand for Biblical truths, others don’t even know what the Bible says. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find churches that stand on the firm foundation of the Word of God.

In the church, we find some people who have clearly abandoned the faith. They may think that faith is no longer relevant or even a necessity for getting into heaven. They may believe that their own goodness is all that is needed. They live like the devil through the week and go to church to make themselves feel better. They abandon the faith because they have failed to live it and think it is impossible and old-fashioned.

In the church, we find those who clearly follow deceiving spirits. They adjust the Bible to suit what they are comfortable with. They rarely, if ever, open their Bibles, if they even have one. They develop an image of God that fits their lifestyle instead of fitting their lifestyle to God. The live for the pleasures of this life with little thought to the eternal. They become the center of the universe instead of God. They live as if they are Lord of life, instead of Christ. They follow the popular, charismatic, and powerful instead of the humble servants of God.

In the church, some people have clearly seared their consciences. For some, the line between right and wrong is muddied with no clear standard to live by. They consider what is right to be only what is right for them. Sin no longer is what God says it is. They buy into the culture’s way of seeing things to the point that they no longer are able to feel remorse over sins committed. They will argue against what the Bible declares and strive to justify themselves for their actions. They rationalize that it’s okay to do whatever everyone else is doing. They so condition themselves to think as the world thinks that they no longer are able to feel conviction over sin.

Is it any wonder why most people no longer attend church? Most churches have nothing more to offer them than the world does. The church cannot stand strong against the culture of this world because the church has nothing to stand for.

Let us not wash our hands from the church. Let us fervently pray for her. Let us be so committed to Christ that the church has to take notice and change. If we aren’t part of the solution, we are part of the problem.

WASHING YOUR HANDS

 

WASHING YOUR HANDS

Matt. 27:24 Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot. I am innocent of the blood of this man. The responsibility is yours!” NLT

Pilate was the man who would decide whether Jesus would live or be crucified. He knew that Jesus was innocent, but he was being pressured by a mob of people led by the chief priests who wanted Him crucified. Pilate tried to persuade them to change their minds, but to no avail. He washed his hands before them and tried to put the accountability for their actions on them. He tried to avoid any accountability for his decision. But, you cannot wash your hands and make your sin go away.

Cleaning up your act won’t get rid of your sin problem. You can change your behavior, but you can’t change your heart. Salvation is more than a list of things we do or don’t do. In order to get rid of your sin problem, you must do what God says. Notice what King David did when he was confronted with his sins in Psalm 51. You must humble yourself before Him (1-5), you must seek God (10-12), you must turn from your wicked ways (13-17). It is against God that we sin, and we must submit to God’s way if we are going to get rid of sins. Acts 4:12; John 3:16, 14:6; etc. Just cleaning up your act and living a “good” life will never save your soul. Matt. 7:21-23

Clinging to your past professions of faith will not get rid of your sin problem. I tried that as a young child. Every week I went to the altar to get right with God because I did not live up to my profession. It wasn’t until I gave the Lord all of me that I found the peace of God I was looking for. It was then that I gained victory over my sinful living.

Past confessions need present applications. I John 1:8-10 Words spoken are not enough. We must let Jesus change us. We must determine with His help to not return to our sinful ways. Salvation is lived in the present, not the past.

Past baptisms need present applications. Just because you were baptized at some time in your past does not mean you are now a part of the family of God. Being baptized does not save you, Jesus does. There will be a lot of baptized people in hell.

Salvation is living in the righteousness and holiness of Christ. It is separating ourselves from a life of sin. It is letting Jesus be Lord of our living.

THE STAND WE TAKE

 

THE STAND WE TAKE

I Kings 17:1

In today’s verse, Elijah bursts on the scene. We don’t know anything about Elijah’s background other than he was from a city called Tisbe in Gilead. Elijah went to King Ahab and prophesied that there would be no rainfall in Israel for the next few years unless he said otherwise. King Ahab was known for his evil ways. God had enough, and He sent Elijah to confront him. Elijah stood in the gap and confronted Ahab.

We, too, need to take a public stand for Christ. We must not be silent. Everyone needs to at least hear the Gospel message, and the only way they will hear will be if we tell them. It is not enough to open our doors on Sundays for worship and hope some of the lost will wander in; we must go into the world where they are at and tell them. We must stand in the gap for Christ against the multitudes who try to keep Him out of the public arena and their lives.

We need to take a powerful stand. We must not back down. We must not compromise the truth when we are being challenged by those who don’t believe. We must let our voices be heard! We have the greatest news ever known by man! We have a life-changing message. We have the only hope for mankind. We have the way to resolve the conflicts of the world that swirl all around us.

We need to take a penetrating stand. Heb. 4:12-13 God’s Word can penetrate the darkest of sinners. It can move the worst of sinners to confess their sins and repent. It can guide the worst of us on how to change his ways and thoughts to please God. The Word of God taken to heart leaves no stone unturned. It hits us where we need hit the most.

We need to take a personal stand. Elijah told Ahab, “I serve the Lord.” We must not straddle the fence and hope that someone else will take a stand. We must serve the Lord in our evil world. We must be salt and light wherever we are at. We are Christ’s ambassadors. We must let all who see us see Christ in and through us.

If you love the Lord, you will serve Him and stand in the gap for Him wherever you are at in the world.

THE STATURE OF LIFE

 

THE STATURE OF LIFE

I Kings 16:34

In this verse, a man from Bethel by the name of Hiel, rebuilt the city of Jericho. Joshua had predicted that when the foundation would be laid, the oldest son of whoever built it would die. He also predicted that when the gates were set, the youngest son would die. Well, it happened just as Joshua had foretold.

As we read of Israel’s history, we learn that when we ignore God’s Word, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. God made it very clear that He valued highly human life. He created man in His own image. Gen. 1:26 He created man uniquely and wonderfully. He takes a personal interest in not only how we are created, but what we are made of. We are created to be His image-bearers on earth. We are molded and shaped by Him so that we would bear His image; we are His workmanship. Eph. 2:10 He has chosen us to be vessels for His salvation. Phil. 2:5-11

Yet, when we fail to listen to warned that Jericho would be rebuilt at the cost of human life. Over and over again throughout the Israelite’s history, people ignored God and His Word. They did what they wanted to do, and the result was the loss of many, many lives. When God is ignored, people become expendable. It has happened throughout history, and it is happening right before our eyes.

When we ignore God’s Word, we lose our sense of God. By this time in history, the Israelites did not consider God to be relevant. They had wandered so far away from God that God’s Word was usually ignored. People did what was right in their own eyes. They were self-serving. They followed after whatever gods seemed to be popular at the moment. Not much has changed over the years. God no longer is a factor in most people’s lives. They created images of God to suit themselves. They deny that God even exists. They try to keep God out of the public discussions and human affairs.

Yes, the stature of life is bleak indeed. The only help and hope for man is Jesus. Only the Lord can change the course of one’s life and the very course of history. Without God, things are going to continue to get worse. Nothing that man can do on his own can stop our self-destruction. Only Jesus can save us from ourselves. He alone is the way, truth, and life. No one will know the realness of God except through Him.

THE STATE OF THE UNION

 

THE STATE OF THE UNION

I Kings 16:29-17:1

Things were bad in Israel. God’s patience towards them had worn thin. Over and over again, God had sent prophets to them to admonish them to pay attention and repent. He warned them about what was going to happen if they didn’t. In our text today, we are told just how bad things had gotten. The interesting thing is how many similarities there are between how things are now and how they were then. We desperately need people to stand in the gap on behalf of our Lord.

There was aH growing decline in morals. It passed from generation to generation. Loose morals was the norm. King Ahab was blatant in his sinful living. He lived for the pleasures of sin and was deemed to be more wicked than his father and those who preceded him. He made no effort to do what was right in God’s eyes.

There was a moral decline in the institution of marriage. 31; I Cor. 6:14-18 Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of a Baal worshiper. He ignored God’s warnings about marrying a non-believer. Like so many who preceded him, his marriage was a political alliance. MarTriage was not deemed to be a sacred and spiritual institution. Sound familiar?

There was a moral decline in religious practice. 31-33 Ahab was the king of Israel, God’s chosen people. Although Israel was often God’s people in name only, God had watched over them and showed them the way of righteousness for centuries. God had poured out His love upon them, and they spurned His love time and time again. His father was evil, and Ahab followed in his footsteps. He did not look to God for guidance and help; instead, he worshiped Baal and Asherah. He worshiped creation rather than its Creator.

Today we live in a culture that is on a very slippery moral, marital, and religious decline. Sin is blatantly practiced. Morality, marriage, and Christianity are deemed to be old-fashioned and no longer relevant.

We desperately need God’s people to stand in the gap on behalf of our nation and stand for Biblical standards. We must not cave into the culture. We must be God’s voice to this generation. Will you stand in the gap and let your voice be heard?

GOD LOVES US 3

 

GOD LOVES US 3

Isaiah 43:25 “I—yes, I alone-- am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” NLT

Why does God love us? The Lord told Isaiah revealing. “For my own sake.” He does not love us because we are so lovable. He does not love us because we are so good. He does not love us because He is forced to. No, God loves us because He is love. It is part of who God is. God stepped into our cesspool of sin and provided for us a way out of our sin. He came to earth, took on our humanity, died on the cross, and rose from the grave so that we can be free to live without the bondage of sin and so that we can be free to love Him in return.

God does not need to forgive us, we need to be forgiven. He loves us, but does not need our love. God will continue to be God whether we seek His forgiveness or not. He reaches out to us for His name’s sake, for He is love, and there isthin no greater evidence of His love than to forgive us for our sins.

What is the result of God loving us? “I will never think of them again.” When we experience God’s forgiveness, God does not remember what we had done. He will not ever hold it over our head to haunt us with it (but, Satan does). He does not punish us for our past sinfulness. Rom. 8:1 He will not think about what we had done and withhold His blessings from us. Our forgiven sins are far as the east is the west from God’s eyes.

Satan holds us in bondage to our sins, or their memories. Christ sets us free and remembers our sins no more. We choose which kind of life we live, one lived in bondage or one in freedom.