INTRO. – Have you been saved? Obviously, this depends on what a person is talking about.
ILL.- When I was a freshman in high school my older brother Larry was a senior. Larry and I did not always get along well, as is with some brothers but one day it was different.
During gym class the teacher/coach had us play the game called dodge ball. At least, that’s what we called it. I don’t even know if they still play that game. But the teacher would divide up the class into two teams. One team would be on one side of the gym and the other team on the other side. He would then place three balls (like a volley ball) in the middle of the gym floor and then blow his whistle. The object of the game was to run as fast as you could and grab one of those balls and start throwing it at the opposing team players. And they would try to “dodge” the ball.
All I know is sometimes two guys would get into a fight when they tried to grab the ball. And that happened to me one day. The coach blew his whistle and I ran to grab a ball and a guy from the other team got there at the same time. I didn’t like him (rich kid) and apparently he didn’t like me. So we started slugging it out with one another. I was hitting him in the face just as fast as I could and the other boys cheered me on, “Get ‘em, Shep.”
The coach blew his whistle, stopped the fight and made us both sit in the bleachers. This other kid was two years older than me and I guess he didn’t like the idea of me hitting him. So after school he got one of his friends and cornered me in front of the school. We were out near the street and I certainly didn’t know what was going to happen.
Suddenly I looked up and there was my older brother Larry in his old 1951 Chevy. He said a few choice words to that other guy and his friend and then said to me, “Get in the car!”
Ah ha! Older brother to the rescue! That was the first and only time that my older brother saved me! And he was…my savior in a sense.
It’s highly possible that many of you have been “saved” from a possible disastrous situation: a car wreck, terrible weather (tornado, etc.), perhaps an accident of some sort that could have hurt you or even hospitalized you, etc. We understand the meaning of being saved in the physical sense and thank God for that salvation. But what about being saved in the spiritual sense? Do we truly understand the meaning?
ILL.- I have heard a TV evangelist say time and time again, “Just say this prayer to receive Jesus.” Then he’ll say, “If you said that simple little prayer we believe that you got saved.”
Huh? I have thought, “Now wait a minute!” There is more to being saved spiritually than saying a little prayer.
On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 that’s not what Peter said to the multitude of people when they became convicted of sin and were cut to the heart. They said, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter said in Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Being saved spiritually sounds a lot different from what that TV evangelist said. He called for a prayer. Peter called for action, surrender and submission. Peter called for repentance and baptism in order to be saved from sin and the penalty of sin.
WE NEED TO GET PEOPLE SAVED IN JESUS! Salvation is found in Him alone! There is no other name!
PROP.- In our text, we see faith in Christ that saves people, but we also see something else. Three thoughts:
1- The disciples believed it
2- The people were amazed by it
3- The officials were disturbed by it
I. THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED IT
What do you believe in? Well, someone might say, “I believe in Chevrolet, apple pie and baseball.” And that’s all well and good. What else do you believe in?
ILL.- Recently, I took a short trip to Iberia, MO, to visit an elder whom I have known for 33 years. His name is Ralph Riemensnider and he is now 81 years old, has macular degeneration, lost his wife about a year and a ago, lives alone, BUT HE IS STILL THE WONDERFUL MAN OF GOD I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN HIM TO BE.
I was amazed at how well he took the passing of his wife, Imogene, after nearly 60 years of marriage. He is a sweet-spirited man and always was. I BELIEVE IN RALPH. He was always faithful, always kind, always helpful, etc.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had faithful, loving people like that to believe in and trust? Well, there is someone even better in whom we should believe and trust fully!
ILL.- In a cellar in Cologne, Germany, after World War II were found these words on the wall: I BELIEVE.
I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining;
I believe in love, even when I feel it not;
I believe in God, even when He is silent.
Do you believe in God even you don’t always see Him at work? What about Jesus? The same applies to Him as well.
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
SALVATION IS FOUND IN NO ONE ELSE. Peter and the other disciples believed in Jesus! They believed that salvation was found in Him and Him alone! What a revelation that is to many people today. They haven’t discovered this information or believed in Jesus to that extent.
ILL.- Back in Iberia, MO, we had a funeral home director and his family attend our church. She was from the Church of Christ and his family background was Assembly of God but they compromised and attended our church, First Christian.
One day while visiting with my funeral director friend at the funeral home, I said, “Have you ever been baptized?” He said no and I said, “You should think about it since the Bible commands us to be baptized.” And that’s about all I said.
Then one Sunday morning after I preached my sermon (whatever it was) when the people sang our invitation hymn or hymn of commitment, that funeral home director came walking down the aisle. I asked him, “Do you believe that Jesus is God’s Son and do you want Him as your Savior?”
He said (get this), “YES, I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY HEART THAT JESUS IS GOD’S SON….”
Do you believe with all your heart? Honestly, I have had very few people ever say those words to me, if ever. But we should believe with all our hearts! The disciples believed with all their hearts and we should too!
II. THE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED BY IT
ILL.- DID YOU KNOW THESE FACTS ABOUT NATURE?
2 rats could multiply to over 1 million descendents in less than 2 years? RATS!
A grizzly eats about 35 pounds of food each day?
Bulls can run faster uphill than they can downhill?
The snow leopard can leap 30 feet from standstill?
The fastest land animal in the world is the cheetah with a speed up to 60 mph?
The average housefly lives for about one month?
Rattlesnakes do not always rattle before they strike?
A newborn kangaroo is about the size of a coffee bean?
The coyote can run up to a speed of 40 mph?
The panda’s diet consists of about 95% bamboo?
A grizzly bear can run up to about forty miles per hour?
A grizzly bear give birth while in their winter sleep?
Cobras are able to kill immediately after they are born?
A camel can drink over 25 gallons of water at a time?
At an average speed of 15 feet a day the sloth is the slowest animal on earth?
A wild turkey can run about 25 miles an hour?
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight?
When you sneeze your heart stops for a short while?
The venom in a Daddy Long-Legs spider is more poisonous than the venom of a Black Widow but they cannot bite humans because their fangs are to short?
Wow! God’s creation is amazing! But God Himself is even more amazing. He is beyond comprehension! How could He even begin to think of everything He has created? And then how could He create it? It’s because He is God!
Acts 3:13-14 “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.”
When the people saw the courage of Peter and John they were amazed. They’d been running with Jesus and His character had rubbed off on them!
Has anyone accused you of being like Jesus? What a thought! At best, it would probably only be on our better days.
ILL.- In the past, I’ve mentioned two of my favorite Bible College professors: Don DeWelt and Wilbur Fields. Don DeWelt was a great preacher and it was because he was a great pray-er. I went to him several times with a problem I had and after listening to me, he would always say, “Let’s pray about it.”
He was a man of prayer. He believed in talking to the Lord early and long. He rose around 4 every morning to meet the Lord in prayer. He was a man of prayer who believed totally in the Lord and believed he was going to heaven and was looking forward to the day when he could be with the Lord.
If you happened to meet him in the hallway at school or even in the aisle at the grocery store he was the same person. You might say, “How are you?” And his reply was always the same: “Happy, on the way to heaven.” What an amazing man he was. He’d been with Jesus.
Brother Wilbur Fields was also a man who prayed a lot and trusted the Lord. He was one of the best when it came to teaching the O.T. scriptures. He made them come alive because he’d been on many archaeological digs in the Far East, Holy land, etc. He knew that the people in the O.T. scriptures were real people who’d come from real places, since he visited many of those places.
Often if you happened to get to class early you might find brother Wilbur playing the piano and singing to the Lord. His strong devotion was so evident and his good nature was evident of his relationship to the Lord as well. Another amazing man he was.
HAVE YOU AMAZED ANYONE BECAUSE OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO JESUS? The world needs to be amazed by us: the people we work with, our family members, etc. Our love for the Lord and our sweet spirit should come through to people.
III. THE OFFICIALS WERE DISTURBED BY IT
Acts 4:15-18 CEV “The officials commanded them to leave the council room. Then the officials said to each other, What can we do with these men? Everyone in Jerusalem knows about this miracle, and we cannot say it didn’t happen. But to keep this thing from spreading, we will warn them never again to speak to anyone about the name of Jesus." So they called the two apostles back in and told them that they must never, for any reason, teach anything about the name of Jesus.”
ILL.- An enterprising shoe store owner in New York decided to try an experiment. He put two identical pairs of shoes in his show window side by side, and above them a sign reading: “There is absolutely no difference between these shoes. One pair is priced at $6.95 and the other at $12.95. We just want to see which price you prefer.” Three of every four women suspected trickery and insisted upon buying the shoes for $12.95.
There are plenty of skeptics in the world today and especially when it comes to Christ and the Bible. THEY JUST DON’T BELIEVE.
ILL.- My preacher brother, John Scott of Long Beach, CA, is dying from cancer. After receiving a recent update from his wife, Deborah, I called her. I told her a story about John when we were in Bible college together and it made her laugh. She said she needed that. I asked, “How are you able to live financially?” GET THIS: She said the church is still paying John his salary even though he hasn’t preached for a long time.
How’s that for being thoroughly Christian? And what a great witness that is for Christ to their community! But no matter how good and loving and faithful Christian people are there will always be skeptics in the world. And it seems like they often come from those in high places or with great wealth.
ILL.- For example, billionaire Ted Turner said one time, "Christianity is a religion for losers.” He also said, “I don’t want anybody to die for me. I’ve had a few drinks and a few girlfriends and if that’s gonna put me in hell, then so be it."
Another step in that same direction is Rosie O’Donnell. You never know what will come out of her mouth. Recently, however, she got into a verbal fight with Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the morning TV showed call the VIEW.
Rosie said (with our her own mouth), “Here’s how it gets spun in the media: ’Rosie, big fat lesbian loud Rosie, attacks innocent pure Christian Elisabeth.’” From there, the fight was about our troops in Iraq considered as being terrorists.
Just by using the words “innocent pure Christian Elisabeth,” Rosie was putting Christ and Christianity down. And it’s not surprising. When a person doesn’t yield to the spirit of God they will yield to another spirit.
And it seems like people in high places, government, Hollywood, etc. are always disturbed by our gospel message about Christ. Why are they disturbed? Because they don’t believe it.
They either don’t believe in God and Christ at all or else they are disturbed because if they believe the message of Christ then they are in trouble!
Brothers and sisters, the only way I know to change their attitude and thinking is for us to live a faithful, loving Christian life and keep on preaching Jesus! They’ll either get turned on to Him or else turned off even more!
CONCLUSION---------------------
ILL.- Carrie Underwood is a young girl of 24 years from Checotah, OK, (3500 pop.) which is not far from Arkansas. Carrie became the American Idol two years ago in May of 2005. Since that time she won the Best New Female Vocalist at the ACM Awards. On April 16, 2007, Underwood attended the CMT Awards in Nashville, TN, where she was nominated for three awards, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year, all for "Before He Cheats." She ended up winning all three categories.
Her first big single hit that most people recall is “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” That song won the Gospel Music Association’s award for best country single of the year. Here’s a part of the chorus to that song.
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
’Cause I can’t do this on my own
I’m letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I’m on
Oh Jesus take the wheel
Brothers and sisters, so often in life we want to do the driving, but because of who Jesus is, we really need to let Him take the wheel.
