Series: America, Bless God
Sermon: Stopping Sin’s Progress
Sunday October 31st, 2004
Intro: Jude 3-4 “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”
Dr. James Dobson, “I have never involved myself to this extent in the buildup to a national election, and quite frankly, I do not relish the idea of taking on such a vocal and public role.”
I feel the same way, too.
The nature and progression of sin: Mine field (Our world is like a giant mine field) Traps for those who wonder from the path of righteousness. Blinded by the darkness of night. We are those called to shine a light, a light for the world to see the entrapments of sin and see the light of Christ.
Proverbs 5:22-23 NIV “The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. 23 He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.”
One of these mine fields being set up to ensnare people: Embryonic Stem cell research:
• The federal government provides many millions of dollars for research on adult stem cells.
• Adult stem cell research provides the opportunity to participate in the potential benefits of regenerative medicine without compromising deeply held beliefs about human life.
• Stem cells are the body’s master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues. They are found not only in human embryos but, also in adult sources, such as bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and placentas. The procurement of stem cells from an adult source does not harm the donor.
• Embryonic stem cell research has experienced multiple failures, including the worsening of Parkinson’s symptoms in one human test group and a tendency to produce tumors in laboratory animals.
• Adult stem cell research, meanwhile, has already produced more than 40 treatments, including the repair of damaged livers and remedies for heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. Recent research promises a cure for arthritis. Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, of a Southern Baptist
What it takes to stop sin’s progress:
Text: Jude
I. Contend for the faith
Contend = To strive in opposition or against difficulties; struggle, To strive in controversy or debate; dispute. To maintain or assert:
a. No back up plan / No plan B to save the world
b. The term "lost" refers to those who are not Christians, to those who are outside of the household of God but whom God desires to come home.
c. Be the Salt of the Earth
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is not longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”
i. Jesus said, “You ARE the salt” It is emphatic He didn’t say you are the earth. He didn’t say you might , you ought to be No, you are the salt. We are either the salt or the world.
ii. If the church fails at being the salt, there is no salt substitute
G.C. Campbell Morgan said nicely when he wrote, “Jesus, looking out over the multitudes of His day, saw the corruption, the disintegration of life at every point, its breakup, its spoliation; and because of His love of the multitudes, He knew the thing that they needed most was the salt in order that the corruption should be arrested.”
i. How do we know when we have lost saltiness? When we stop preserving our surroundings!
ii. Are we doing that?
iii. “…if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?”
1. The American church is at a critical juncture: Will we stand and influence the culture or will be sit back and simply ALLOW ourselves to loose our God given saltiness?
2. Look at Europe from which most of came, they were once “Christian” and now less than 3% are.
iv. Christ is saying let your influence season people’s life for the kingdom.
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
d. Shine as the Light of the World
i. Our light" is our faith-driven compulsion to influence the world for God and for good. It pushes back the darkness. It illumines evil and brings knowledge, which frees people.
ii. Light is described as a form of energy it is always moving. “When light energy ceases to move, because it has been absorbed by matter, it is no longer light”
iii. Light has been a symbol of divine presence. Jesus said that He was the light of the world.
iv. Think about the natural world in which we live: Light always displaced darkness; dark always fills the void when the light is turned off.
Illustration: The story is told of a man whose job was to be on the railroad tracks and warn with his light the upcoming training of the bridge that had been damaged. That night as the train came the man showed his lamp but the train went right into the ditch. The man was taken to court because they wanted to know why the train did not pay attention to this man who was to warn the train of the danger ahead. The man was asked, “Where you on duty on the night that the train had the accident” the judge asked. The man replied, “Yes sir” the judge once again asked did you have your lamp with you? The man replied, “Yes sir,” the judge asked the last question did you wave your lamp to the train? The man replied, “Yes sir” so the man was not held responsible. Later as the man went home he told his friend, “I am glad that the judge did not ask me if my lamp was on”
v. Light shines not so much that people may see the light as that they may see other things because of the light. Our light shines not that people will be attracted to us but to the light Jesus Christ.
NEEDED: Christians who will enlist / contend / take up responsibility
II. Never Back Down
This passage is one of the strongest warnings in the New Testament concerning the Judgment of God. He sites three example of what we are not to be:
Jude 5-7 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home… …Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion…
a. Like those leaving Egypt – Saved and delivered but turn from faith
i. Complained about what they had and were they where.
ii. Looked to man and not to God.
b. Fallen Angles – “abandon their own home”
i. Gave up their God given authority
ii. Didn’t consider the blessings of God as worthy of keeping
c. Sodom and Gomorrah – “gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.”
i. Gave up in the struggle against temptation
ii. Gave into the sin around them.
iii. Followed others into sin
iv. Accepted perversion as pure. (all sex outside the marriage of one man and one woman)
d. Selfish False Christians (verse 12)
NEEDED: Christians who will not waiver in: Faith, authority or purity
III. Be Prepared
Verses (20 and 21) are opposites of verses (18 and 19)
Jude 18-21 “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
a. Built up in Faith VS. Division
b. Pray in the Spirit VS. Natural instincts
i. (Spiritual battle / Spiritual weapons)
c. Keeping yourself in God’s love VS. Not having the Spirit
i. NOTICE: “Keep Yourself”
ii. How do we stay in God’s love? Holiness and Obedience
d. Looking for His coming VS. Follow Ungodly Desires
Savory Saints or Pickled Parish
NEEDED: Christians who give of themselves sacrificially in everyway until ALL the harvest is in the barn!
IV. Become a Soul Rescuer
Jude 22-23 Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; To others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Illustration: At the scene of these accidents there are three groups of people, each with a different response toward those involved in the accident.
• The first group is the bystanders and onlookers. They are curious and watch to see what happens but have little active involvement.
• The second group is the police officers. They determine the cause of the accident, assign blame, and give out appropriate warnings and punishments.
• The third group is the paramedics. They are the people usually most welcomed by those involved in the accident. They could care less whose fault the accident was and they did not engage in lecturing about bad driving habits. Their response was to help those who were hurt. They bandaged wounds, freed trapped people, and gave words of encouragement.
Three groups - one is uninvolved, one is assigning blame and assessing punishment, and one is helping the hurting. Which group are you in?
• We will be uninvolved and let others do the work.
• Or we will condemn people for their foolish behavior saying things like, "It’s your own fault that you’re in this mess. If you had been going to church and doing like you should this never would have happened!"
• Or will be like the Paramedics and simply pure in the Love of God?
a. Be merciful to those who doubt
i. Matthew 12:20 CEV He won’t break off a bent reed or put out a dying flame, but he will make sure that justice is done.
ii. Gentle giants / Tender warriors
b. Snatch others from the fire and save them
i. I have the conviction that Christians need to go farther than this, actually we need to act sooner than this:
ii. We have all heard the expression: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
2 Chron 34-36 various passages (King Josiah) 34:1-7; 34:33
And 2 Kings 23:10 “He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech
iii. Josiah’s reign as a King was one of the few that God declared as a good one.
iv. He helped the people by removing the external influences leading them to sin.
v. This passage hints of a path (a way of life) that is great folly. It is full of traps and pitfalls. And once a man falls prey to these traps his is held fast in his sin and he will die.
vi. How many of these traps of Satan, can we prevent our children and follow Americans from falling into? (I think plenty)
c. Show mercy, mixed with fear
i. “Go in but don’t get sucked in.”
ii. Sent into the world but called out of worldliness.
iii. Many of these man and women are Christians/ they are politicians / but they are also missionaries as well. Called to do the work of God for our nation. What can we do to help support them? Pray for them, vote
NEEDED: Christians willing to do the Works
Conclusion:
"Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left? Answer: five. Why? Because there’s a difference between deciding and doing." (Mark L. Feldman)
