INTRO.- ILL.- A church deacon was trying to impress a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. He said, "Why do people call me a Christian?" After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t really know you."
Can a person be one way on the outside and different on the inside?
ILL.- Most of you remember very well the famous actor Rock Hudson. (1925 to 1985) He was only 59 years old when he died of AIDS related illness. On the surface, he was Mr. Nice Guy. He was the handsome, leading man in many movies. He was famous for the 1959 movie, "Pillow Talk," which also starred Doris Day and was a romantic comedy. And clean compared to movie standards today.
On the outside, Rock Hudson was a nice man. On the inside, lurked an evil that haunted his whole life.
ILL.- More recently, the Governor of New York, Elliott Spitzer, resigned in March of 2008 because of his involvement with prostitutes. Spitzer actually quoted scripture, saying, “From those to whom much is given, much is expected,” Mr. Spitzer said. “I have been given much: the love of my family, the faith and trust of the people of New York and the chance to lead this state. I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me.”
“Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct,” he said. “I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.”
The scandal erupted when allegations surfaced that the 48-year-old Spitzer spent thousands of dollars on a call girl at a swanky Washington hotel on the night before Valentine’s Day.
Governor Spitzer appeared to a strong family man with high moral standards, but on the inside lurked evil desires.
I believe that we all have a "dark" side to us, however, most of the time we keep it in check. And, of course, because we are in Christ we have help in life to do the better than others.
Matthew 23:25-28 25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
Matthew 12:33-35 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him."
This is somewhat scary, isn’t it? There are some good non-Christian people in our world, however, there are also some pretty bad non-Christian people in our world. Are there others who appear godly but are really godless?
PROP.- In our text, I see two great sins of the godless:
1- They change God’s grace
2- They deny the Lord Jesus
I. THEY CHANGE GOD’S GRACE
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality.
ILL.- A few years prior to the Gulf War, Barbara Walters filed a report on gender roles in Kuwait. In the report, Barbara noted that, in traditional Islamic fashion, women customarily walked approximately ten feet behind their husbands.
Barbara returned to Kuwait recently and observed that the men now walked several yards behind their wives.
Curious about this change in tradition, Barbara approached one of the Kuwati women and asked for an explanation.
"This is marvelous," Barbara said. "What has enabled women here to achieve this reversal of roles?" "Land mines!" replied the Kuwati woman.
Some changes may be necessary if we want to live. However, some changes in life may only make things worse. Some changes may kill us!
What, for example, is better about the church of today versus, say 40 to 50 years ago? We have better buildings. We have AC where in the past we didn’t. We used to sweat through a sermon and through a service. We have better facilities and better tools. We have more programs and hopefully, better programs today. Some may even say that we have better music with the contemporary style music, which obviously, reaches young people.
ILL.- My daughter and son-in-law’s church, Fairmount Christian Church, Mechanicsville, VA, has three morning services for a total of 1,100 people. They have an early traditional service and a late traditional service, which take place in their sanctuary. Their middle service is a contemporary music service but with the same sermon. However, that service takes place in their gymnasium and is the largest of the three at nearly 500.
More than likely they would not have grown as large as they are with only traditional services and without a gymnasium.
BUT WHAT ABOUT PREACHING AND TEACHING TODAY? Are these better than in the past? Obviously, it depends on your viewpoint. If preaching isn’t Christ-centered and scripture-centered then it isn’t better! And so with our teaching as well.
ILL.- A woman, when taken seriously ill, was sent to the hospital. In the evening her husband inquired how she was getting along and was told that she was “improving.” Next day he called again and was told she was still improving. This went on for some time. Finally, one night he was told that his wife was dead.
Seeing the doctor, he went up to him and said: “Well doctor, what did she died of—improvements?” THIS SOUNDS LIKE SOME CHURCHES.
Some changes in the church may be necessary but some changes are not for the better, because they change the way God does business with man. They change God’s grace. And if we change God’s grace into something it’s not, we are wrong!
ILL.- August 2, 2003. When officials announced the vote tally on June 8, thunderous applause showered the crowd at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Concord, N.H. The occasion: Episcopalians in the diocese of New Hampshire had just elected the first openly homosexual bishop anywhere in the worldwide Anglican Church.
As joyous clergy and delegates leaped to their feet, the new bishop, the Canon V. Gene Robinson, ambled forward, stood before the altar, and embraced his grown children and his male lover.
ARE YOU THINKING WHAT I’M THINKING? That doesn’t sound godly to me! Since when did God change his law of marriage from male and female to male and male? This sounds like they are changing the grace of God into a license for any kind of immorality they want!
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality.
ILL.- While visiting the U.S. after World War II, Winston Churchill was aboard a train bound for Missouri with President Harry Truman. They were in a special car which had the presidential seal hung up on a wall. Truman noticed Churchill studying the seal and he pointed out that he had changed it so that the eagle on the seal was turned toward the olive branch instead of the arrows. "Why not put the eagle’s head on a swivel," suggested Churchill. "That way you could turn it to the right or the left, depending on what the occasion warranted."
This is exactly what some have done or tried to do with the grace of God. They want to make God’s grace fit every person in every situation; good, bad or otherwise!
ILL.- D. Bonhoeffer said, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” But what has happened in some churches is worse than cheap grace! It’s a perversion of the grace of God!
Titus 2:11-14 "11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
NO MAN DARE CHANGE THIS GRACE!
II. THEY DENY THE LORD JESUS
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
ILL.- One preacher said: "I was once conducting a rap session with high school teenagers. I told them that they could ask me any question on any subject, and I would try and answer it. Their questions were typical of ones I had received in similar sessions scores of times before. As the session drew to a close, one girl toward the back, who had not said anything, raised her hand. I nodded, and she said, "The Bible says God loves everybody. Then it says that God sends people to hell. How can a loving God do that?"
"I gave her my answer, and she came back to me with arguments. I answered her arguments, and she answered my answers. The conversation quickly degenerated into an argument. I did not convince her, nor did she convince me.
"After a few more questions I dismissed the session. After the session I approached her and said, ’I owe you an apology. I really should not have allowed our discussion to become so argumentative.’
"Then I asked, ’May I share something with you?’ She said, ’Yes.’ So I took her through a basic presentation of the gospel. When I got to Romans 3:23 and suggested that all of us were sinners she began to cry. It was then that this high school senior admitted she had been having an affair with a married man. The one thing she needed was forgiveness. When I finished the presentation of the gospel, she expressed her desire to trust and follow Christ.
"The reason she did not believe in hell was because she was going there. In her heart she knew she had sinned. Her conscience condemned her, but rather than face the fact of her guilt, she simply denied any future judgment or future hell."
Interesting story. She didn’t believe in hell because she was going there. I think this is true for many people. We want to throw out certain things in the Bible because we fear them and fear that we are guilty of them.
Many people today deny that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that’s because by acknowledging Him they would have to do something about Him.
ILL.- As Dr. Harry A. Ironside preached in a certain place, he noticed a man in the crowd writing on a card, which he presently handed to the speaker. The man was Arthur Lewis, agnostic lecturer, and he proposed a challenge to the speaker to debate the subject, “Agnosticism versus Christianity,” and offered to pay all expenses involved.
Dr. Ironside read the card aloud to his audience and then said:
“I accept on these conditions: First, that you promise to bring with you to the platform one man who was once an outcast, a slave to sinful habits, but who heard you or some other infidel lecture on agnosticism, was helped by it and cast away his sins and became a new man, and is today a respected member of society, all because of your unbelief.
“Second, that you agree to bring with you one woman who was once lost to all purity and goodness, but who can now testify that agnosticism came to her while deep in sin and implanted in her poor heart a hatred of impurity and a love of holiness, causing her to become chaste and upright, all through a disbelief in the Bible.
“Now, sir,” he continued, “if you will agree, I promise to be there with one hundred such men and women, once just such lost souls, who heard the gospel of the grace of God, believed it and have found new life and joy in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Will you accept my terms?” As might be expected, the atheist could only walk away silently.
Brothers and sisters, there is only one plan that will save a person from their sins and from hell, and that’s the gospel plan of Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION----------------------------
Philippians 2:9-11 9"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
ILL.- The old TV Fram oil filter commercial used to say, "You can pay me now or you can pay me later." God says, "You can confess Christ now and be saved or you will confess Him later. And the consequences may not be good."
We must never change God’s grace into something it’s not or deny the Lord Jesus Christ by word or deed.
