INTRO.- Innocence. That sounds good, but are we innocent in any way, shape or form? I was once in life. You were too.
ILL.- It’s like the story of the little boy peeking over the corner of his newborn baby brother’s crib, saying, "Quick! Tell me what God is like before you forget."
We all were innocent at birth but that innocence didn’t last long. It seems like it doesn’t take long to lose our innocence in this old sinful world, does it?
What’s the worse thing you did as a little kid at home that would indicate you lost some of your innocence? Tell a lie, do something naughty, sass your mom, etc.?
ILL.- Most of my mother’s cooking was very good but there were a few things that I didn’t like. And of course, we were told to clean our plates, especially, if we wanted any dessert. Well, when mother left the room and the dog was near....MY PLATE WAS LICKED CLEAN!
But I wouldn’t say that was the start of losing my innocence. I did worse things than that, but for some reason, I have a loss of memory.
WHAT DID YOU DO? We all lost our innocence at some point in time.
ILL.- The first “First Lady” to go counter to the social custom of serving champagne and other wines at formal White House functions was the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes, who refused to serve any kind of alcoholic beverages. She said, “I have young sons who have never tasted liquor. They shall not receive, from my hand, or with the sanction that its use in my family would give, their taste of what might prove to be their ruin. What I wish for my own sons, I must do for the sons of other mothers.”
That kind of commitment opposing alcoholic beverages isn’t seen often in our world but I believe that the whole world would be a much better place without alcohol in any form. Much evil has been thought up and performed as a result of drinking alcohol: people have been killed or maimed for life, children left orphaned, marriages destroyed, theft and murders performed, etc.
Frankly, it’s hard to be innocent in a world that is filled with all kinds of sins taking place. And the world doesn’t just keep sin to itself, the world flaunts it in our faces. The world advertises it everywhere. The world invites us to participate through TV, movies, peer pressure, sports stars, and Hollywood actors who give us horrible examples in life.
And anybody that goes to Hollywood and starts making movies is asking for trouble! However, you don’t have to go to Hollywood to be affected and/or corrupted by the world. We all know about the evil around us and the pressures to give into that evil.
But Jesus said, "you are the light of the world." Meaning that we are light because we belong to Him and He is the way, the truth and the life. And we must give forth this light in the world. WE MUST SHED LIGHT IN THIS DARK WORLD!
We do this by living out the gospel in our lives and by presenting the message of Christ.
26Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. Paul speaks of being innocent of the blood of all. What’s he talking about?
ILL.- What if I knew the answer to your problem in life and didn’t share that answer? What if you had a terrible disease and I knew exactly what would cure it but didn’t tell you? Would that make me innocent? No way.
The only way I could be innocent is by telling you how to cure your disease.
Brothers and sisters, we know the cure for man’s disease called sin! The cure is Jesus Christ! And if we don’t share that cure we are NOT innocent of the blood of all men!
PROP.- How can we Christians become innocent of the blood of all men?
1- By proclaiming the will of God
2- By warning people night and day
I. BY PROCLAIMING THE WILL OF GOD
25"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
ILL.- As the golfer approached the first tee, a hazardous hole with a green surrounded by water, he debated if he should use his new golf ball. Deciding that the hole was too treacherous, he pulled out an old ball and placed it on the tee. Just then he heard a voice from above say loudly: "Use the new ball!" Frightened, he replaced the old ball with the new one and approached the tee.
Now the voice from above shouted: "Take a practice swing." So the golfer stepped backward and took a swing. Feeling more confident, he approached the tee when the voice again rang out: "Use the old ball!"
How do we know when something is the will of God and when it is not? It’s not whenever we hear a voice ring out from heaven because few people have heard such.
Some Christian people talk about God speaking to them, but I’ve never heard a voice that I considered to be God speaking to me. I have, however, been moved to do good and I believe that to be God’s Spirit prompting me to do that good.
If God doesn’t speak to us on a verbal and daily basis, how then can we know His will for our lives?
ILL.- A Church bishop (Church of the United Brethren in Christ) of long ago announced from his pulpit and in the periodical he edited that heavier-than-air flight was both impossible and contrary to the will of God. And that Bishop was named Wright had two sons, Orville and Wilbur! Bishop Wright was wrong.
How can we know the will of God? It’s in the book! The basic or general will of God is in His Word. His will is for all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (I Tim. 2:4).
II Pet. 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
God’s will is for all people to be saved! And God made this possible by giving His son as a sacrifice for our sins. Now it’s our job to proclaim this will of God to all mankind!
It’s my job. It’s your job. We’ve been saved to serve, told to tell, and won to win!
And we will never be free from the blood of all people or any person until we share the message of Christ!
Is there someone in your family, or some friend, or neighbor, etc. whose blood is on your hands because you have never shared the gospel with them or shared Christ?
I wonder sometimes what God thinks of me for not sharing Christ with my own father! WHAT ABOUT YOU?
II. BY WARNING PEOPLE NIGHT AND DAY
28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
ILL.- The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, recently issued this bulletin: In light of the rising frequency of human/grizzly bear conflicts, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert of bears while in the field. They said: "We advise outdoorsmen to wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears that aren’t expecting them. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear.
"It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear manure: Black bear manure is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear manure has little bells in it and smells like pepper."
In this text, Paul is speaking to the elders at Ephesus, warning them about grizzly false teachers that could eat them alive!
Some people today are being taken in by false teachers who sound good and/or have an attractive appearance. It was said that prophet Jim Jones of the Guyana tragedy of November 1978 was very charismatic. He had a lot of charisma but he’s dead and so are over 900 of his followers!
Also, parents need to warn their children about the dangers of this world.
ILL.- When we were small children our parents warned, "Don’t play with matches or you’ll get burned." And some of us got burned. But there are worse things in this world than playing with matches. There are such things as: drugs, booze, immorality, violence, etc. I think moms and dads should be straight with their kids and tell them the truth of what is happening to kids in this world in order to warn them and protect them.
And all of us should warn others about the danger of living and dying without Christ.
ILL.- In 1969, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a group of people were preparing to have a "hurricane party" in the face of a storm named Camille. The wind was howling outside the posh Richelieu Apartments when Police Chief Jerry Peralta pulled up sometime after dark. Facing the Beach less than 250 feet from the surf, the apartments were directly in the line of danger.
A man with a drink in his hand came out to the second-floor balcony and waved. Peralta yelled up, "You all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm’s getting worse." But as other joined the man on the balcony, they just laughed at Peralta’s order to leave. "This is my land," one of them yelled back. "If you want me off, you’ll have to arrest me."
Peralta didn’t arrest anyone, but he wasn’t able to persuade them to leave either. He wrote down the names of the next of kin of the twenty or so people who gathered there to party through the storm. They laughed as he took their names. They had been warned, but they had no intention of leaving.
It was 10:15 p.m. when the front wall of the storm came ashore. Scientists clocked Camille’s wind speed at more than 205 miles-per-hour, the strongest on record.Raindrops hit with the force of bullets, and waves off the Gulf Coast crested between twenty-two and twenty-eight feet high.
News reports later showed that the worst damage came at the little settlement of motels, go-go bars, and gambling houses known as Pass Christian, Mississippi, where some twenty people were killed at a hurricane party in the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing was left of that three-story structure but the foundation; the only survivor was a five-year-old boy found clinging to a mattress the following day.
Brothers and sisters, a storm is coming! One that is unlike the world has ever seen and nothing will be able to stop it.
I Thess. 1:8-10 "The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus,who rescues us from the coming wrath."
THE COMING WRATH. How does that sound?
John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."
I Thess. 5:9-10 "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him."
None of us know how strong the wrath of God will be and we don’t want to know. But one thing we do know: There is only one thing that will save anyone from the hellishness of this world and the hell of eternity and that is by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. And we need to be warning people somehow of this danger.
Death is coming. Horrendous danger could be (will be) heaped on some people. Our only hope is in Jesus! WE MUST WARN OTHERS!
CONCLUSION--------------------------
Brothers and sisters, I am both guilty and guilt-ridden. I am guilty in the sense that I have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but Jesus took that guilt away. As C. S. Lewis said, "We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin but, mere time does nothing either to the fact or guilt of sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ."
I fully trust the Lord for the forgiveness of my sins. If the Lord can’t forget me then no one can. HE IS TOTALLY TRUSTWORTHY.
I am also guilt-ridden. I feel guilt over people I know who are not saved. I have some family members who are not saved. They don’t know Jesus and I am more convicted than ever that I need to say something or do something. However, I am not always in the position to say or do anything. I live too far away from many. What can I do? I can pray for them. I can pray that somehow they come to see their need for Christ and better than that, if I can’t talk to them I can pray that God will send someone in their lives to witness to them about Christ. And then whenever I have the opportunity and the door is open, I can and I must say something.
You don’t have to be so blunt as to say, "Are you saved?" Or "Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior?" But you can always look for opportunities to speak or witness.
Someone said, "Guilt is like the red warning light on the dashboard of the car. You can either stop and deal with the trouble, or break out the light."
The red light of eternity is glaring. We must do something. We must do something to become innocent of the blood of all men and women.
