Have You Been Smoking Lately

Have You been Smoking Lately?

Matthew 12:18-20, "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory."

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR ALL MEN, EVEN THE SAVED!

I want us to focus on one thing this morning – turn your eyes upon Jesus and look at Him

All too often, we measure our greatness by comparing ourselves to other people.

I am far better and more righteous than most, and I am less righteous than others. I am richer than most people in the world and much poorer than those that are rich or wealthy in this world’s goods. I am shorter than most and taller than others. I am more handsome than any of them and most conceited than most people.

Why do we compare ourselves to other people who are doing the same to us?

In these verses, the first thing that we must realize is that God wants us to look upon Jesus Christ and compare ourselves with Him! Jesus is the standard by which all men will be judged.

You won’t be judged by how good looking you are, how well you dress, how intelligent or well educated you are, or how rich or poor you are. That’s the way the world compares you but not Jesus.

We are judged according to our conforming into the image of Christ through obedience to the Word of God and our faithfulness to the call of God upon our life.

Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

Since all men have sinned, and there is none righteous, why compare our selves to other men?

WHEN WE FOCUS ON JESUS, OUR JUDGMENT IS CLEARER!

The Judeo-Christian concepts of laws and government are the source of what little political freedom and laws of liberty that man enjoys in our day and time. Even though we are facing grave troubles and the loss of more and more of those liberties through the influence of those who would prefer their own set of laws and government, we still have the greatest nation on earth, because it was founded upon the principles of righteousness, fairness and equality of all men under the law.

It is only because of Jesus that we have such a sense of right and wrong. The Word of God has been published and distributed throughout the known world to all the Gentile nations.

The Bible gives us every law that is necessary to establish a peaceful and prosperous society if only man would learn to obey God’s laws.

Illustration:

Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look what you got!"

The teachings of the gospel, the salvation message and the hope of redemption and eternal life have given a greater source of comfort and hope to man than any other message.

There is no excuse for a nation that has heard so much of the light of the gospel to ignore that light and to continue to walk in the darkness.

The reason that so many of our laws and our government have become so corrupted is that the leaders and judges of our nation have decided to leave God’s laws and do their own will. That’s why criminals have greater rights than the innocent victims. That’s why people will scream about an inch long fish in an Oregon river that will die and yet allow millions of unborn children to be killed in the mother’s womb.

AS CHRISTIANS, OUR RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION ARISES AND WE WANT TO TAKE MATTERS INTO OUR OWN HANDS!

Verse 19 says that the Holy Spirit is not a Spirit of contention, murmuring, clamor or arguments.

That’s why I do not believe in participating on marches on Washington, Jesus marches to make a statement, picketing of abortion clinics or any such social gatherings to fight against evil in our society.

5 minutes of praying in faith for our leaders and calling upon God to move upon the hearts of men will do more good than all of the marches and picketing put together.

I dare say that if those same people who participate in such things would spend half as much time praying for those who they fight against, and showing the love of Jesus Christ to them than fighting, there is no telling what could be accomplished toward the reversal of the laws that we do not believe are right.