OPEN: How many of you have ever read “Fox in Socks”?
I’ve read many Dr. Seuss books to my kids, though I’m not sure I’ve ever read this one.
But there are many people who love this book. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it features 2 main characters Mr. Fox and Mr. Knox who converse almost entirely in densely rhyming tongue-twisters.
Years ago, there was a TV sitcom about aliens who came to earth and tried to figure out “earth culture”.
One episode dealt with the “leader” of this group examining “Fox In Socks” as a way of understanding the literature of human beings. He read a short segment of the “tweetle beetle battle” that I’m going to read for you next and recited it flawlessly without seeming to take a breath.
This part of the book goes this way:
“What do you know about tweetle beetles?
Well… when tweetle beetles fight, it’s called a tweetle beetle battle.
And when they battle in a puddle, it’s a tweetle beetle puddle battle.
AND when tweetle beetles battle with paddles in a puddle,
They call it a tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle.
AND…when beetles battle beetles in a puddle paddle battle
And the beetle battle puddle is a puddle IN a bottle…
They call this a tweetle beetle bottle puddle paddle battle muddle.
AND… when beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle’s ON a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles
… they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle.”
(pause)
After reciting part of the poem, the “alien” paused dramatically and said “The man’s a genius!”
That sitcom character was clueless about the fact that this was simply a children’s book. But in that one statement, there was a great deal of insight. The alien associated genius with something being complicated.
If it was complicated, it had to be intelligent.
And I’ve noticed that – when it comes to the Bible - there are people who think the same way. There are PhD’s and theologians and Bible commentators that aren’t satisfied until they can make the most common Bible ideas unrecognizable to folks like you and me.
A case in point is on the Biblical doctrine of justification.
Romans 3:23 says it plainly: “… all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”
And in verse 24 we’re told we “are JUSTIFIED freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
The message is simple.
God JUSTIFIES us freely – even when we didn’t deserve it:
All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have no good within us that God should look down upon us and say “Hey you deserve Heaven!”
No. The Bible teaches us that we are all sinners; all under God’s righteous wrath; all under condemnation. And there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. Neither your own righteousness nor mine could buy our salvation.
So HOW could we be saved?
The only way it is possible to be saved is if God did it for us.
And that’s what justification is all about.
God “justified” us.
It’s a legal term. Vine’s Expository Dictionary says that being justified is the “legal and formal acquittal from guilt by God as Judge”.
Our sins made us guilty in God’s presence
We were in danger of being imprisoned by our sins.
We all had warrants out for our arrest.
But God (the righteous judge) pardoned us.
We didn’t deserve it… but God pardoned us. He justified us.
As one person once said
“Being Justified means God made it JUST AS IF I’D never sinned”
It’s a cute simple phrase that helps us realize what a powerful thing God has done for us.
But one scholar didn’t like that that phrase.
He thought it was too simple to do justice the term “justified”.
He wanted something more complicated.
And he’s not alone.
ILLUS: I receive e-mails from various religious sites.
One in particular (ChristianHistory.net) was celebrating John Calvin’s 500th birthday. As a result they were dedicating several articles to Calvin’s contribution to Reformation theology.
One article in particular dealt with Calvin’s teachings on justification.(http://www.christianitytoday.com/
ch/thepastinthepresent/classicfaithformoderntimes/
justificationalajohncalvin.html -
I had to breakup the website address in order for it to fit properly on sermoncentral’s page)
The first line in the article caught my attention.
The author wrote:
“Justification remains a controversial doctrine.”
Really?
He went on to say that New Testament scholars were “reexamining” Paul’s teaching of justification, and that Lutherans and Roman Catholics had produced a “Joint Declaration” on the doctrine.
And then the author of the article examined John Calvin’s writings on the subject.
Now why all this hubbub in the religious community about justification?
Why would it be “controversial”?
Why “re-examine" the doctrine?
Why issue a “Joint Declaration” on the subject?
Is it that hard a doctrine to understand?
No!
All that these ‘re-examinations” and “joint declarations” are going to do is muddy the waters. They’re going to take a fairly straightforward Bible teaching and make it complicated.
And I don’t believe they’re making it complicated because it’s hard to understand. I believe they’re making it complicated because it’s hard to accept.
But why would justification be hard for people to accept?
1st - In order for me to be justified by God – I have to accept the fact that I NEED IT! I have to believe that I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And I have to believe that there’s nothing I can do without God’s justifying me.
That’s hard for a lot of people to accept. They don’t like taking blame for their actions. And so when it comes to being “justified” a lot of folks don’t look to God… they look to themselves. They would prefer to “justify” themselves.
ILLUS: A boy hits his brother and bloodies his brother’s nose. When his mother asks why he did it, he’ll respond – he hit me first! He called me a bad name! He broke one of my toys, etc.
What’s that boy doing?
He’s “Justifying” his actions.
“Yes,” he says “I did something wrong… but it’s his fault.”
We talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God asked Adam why he did it!
What was Adam’s response?
“The woman you gave me – it was HER fault”
It’s my husband’s fault
It’s my wife’s fault.
It’s neighbor’s fault.
My co-worker’s fault.
My boss’s fault.
The government’s fault.
It’s Obama’s fault.
And it goes on and on and on.
I may have done a bad thing, but I JUSTIFY myself by blaming someone or something else.
But God says: “that’s not going to fly!”
When you and I stand before the judgment seat of God, God won’t ask you what this or that woman did to you. The only testimony He’s going to consider is what you did. He won’t listen to your self-justifications because we won’t be able to JUSTIFY ourselves enough to get thru the pearly gates. They only way to get into heaven is if God JUSTIFIES YOU.
And the first step to being justified by God is to accept the fact that you’re not nice enough.
I’m not nice enough.
None of us are nice enough to make it so that God has to let us in.
On the merits – you and I are factory rejects.
The only thing that’s going to make us acceptable is if we allow God to reach in and fix us.
So the 1st reason people have a hard time accepting justification is, they’d rather do it themselves.
The 2nd reason it’s hard for people to accept the doctrine of justification is that it doesn’t fit our concept of justice.
Look again at Romans 3:26 “he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
God justified us in order to show us His form of justice.
But God’s form of justice and ours are different.
Our form of justice can be summed up the saying:
“If you do the crime… (you do the time)”
The mind of mortal man says: If you do evil in your life you need to balance it out with good. You have to pay for all the evil you’ve done in order to qualify for heaven.
ILLUS: The great boxer – Mohammed Ali – once said:
“One day we’re all going to die and God is going to judge us—our good deeds and bad deeds. If the bad outweighs the good, you go to hell. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven”
That’s the theology that’s taught by every world religion.
It’s the theology of Karma and of the Koran.
You’ll find it taught in popular books, TV shows, and movies.
But the one place you’ll never hear it taught is in Scripture.
The Bible rejects the teaching of Karma.
Scripture denies the belief that you or I could ever do enough to be good enough for God.
The Doctrine of Justification tells us “we can’t get there from here.”
BUT because Karma is so appealing to our sense of justice, over the centuries, even church authorities have often been guilty of rejecting justification and finding ways of making their followers “pay” for their forgiveness.
Penance, for example, was the teaching that said sinful men and women were required to PAY for sins before they could be forgiven. According to “The History of the Church” by Philip Schaff, Vol. IV, p. 382 “The Sacrament of Penance and priestly absolution included… contrition of the heart, confession by the mouth, SATISFACTION BY GOOD WORKS. On these conditions, the priests grant absolution…”
If (as a good Catholic) you didn’t do penance, you didn’t receive forgiveness.
Penance, back in the Middle Ages could involve things like
• intense fasting
• sleeping on a cold bench with no blankets
• enduring beatings
The penitent who did these activities would gain brownie points in their pursuit of receiving forgiveness.
ILLUS: Then along came Martin Luther - a good Catholic priest. But he was deeply troubled by his sense of unworthiness so he did repeated acts of contrition and penance to try to win God’s forgiveness.
• He’d repeatedly fast
• Sleep in the snow without blankets
• Endure repeated beatings
• He kissed the steps that led to the Pope’s throne
• And – when he left the confessional – he’d often turn right around and go back in to repent of further sins.
He had fallen prey to the concept of Karma.
If he did enough good things his good deeds would outweigh the bad.
But he soon realized what many people realize do when they take this false doctrine seriously: doing good deeds couldn’t relieve his guilt. His sins weren’t removed… they were still there.
Why? Because he was relying on himself for justification.
Then, one day as he was studying Romans he came across Romans 3:28 (TURN THERE)
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”
As he read that verse he suddenly realized that justification came by faith… not works and he wrote in his Bible – “FAITH ALONE.”
Luther had replaced the idea of mortal justice with the Biblical teaching of justification.
ILLUS: One ad for the U.S. Marines pictures a sword, and beneath it are the words: “Earned, never given.” If you want to become a Marine, you must be prepared to earn that name through sacrifice, hardship, and training. If you get it, you deserve it.
But, if you want to become a Christian, you must understand God’s message of grace, you have to reject the idea of “Earned, never given” and replace it with: “Given, never earned.”
We DON’T receive God’s justification because we deserve it… we receive it because God loves us.
So, the 1st reason people have problems with justification is – they’d rather do it themselves.
The 2nd reason is it offends their sense of justice (they feel you ought to deserve forgiveness).
AND the 3rd reason people have problems with Biblical justification is that they’ve learned to accept men’s teachings and rather than God’s.
That’s why Martin Luther had trouble with the Catholic Church of his day.
Justification and grace and mercy didn’t make sense to them so they invented their own doctrines to make themselves more comfortable.
• Works of Penance - like what Luther did to gain forgiveness.
• Indulgences – where the church sold forgiveness for a price - sometimes in advance.
• And purgatory – a place where a person could work off the sins that they hadn’t rec’d forgiveness for in their earthly life.
But even though Martin Luther rejected many of the man-made teachings of his day, many of those who admire what he accomplished have perverted one of his greatest discoveries.
When Luther discovered that it was faith – not works – that brought justification he wrote in his Bible “FAITH ALONE”.
Those were Luther’s words... not Scripture’s.
(Paul’s statement in Romans was that the Law could never justify us because the rules and regulations of the Old Testament were only intended to bring us to an understanding of our own unworthiness. Luther rightly understood that man-made rules and regulations failed for the same reason).
But in spite of the fact that the Bible never said we’re justified by faith "alone", many have developed a doctrine they call “faith only” and have attempted to place this man-made doctrine on top of Scripture. It’s often preached as if the words are right out of Scripture… but they’re simply not there, and the Bible never actually teaches that.
What the Bible says is:
1. We are saved by grace thru the blood of Jesus
2. And we accept that salvation by believing that Jesus is the Christ/ Son of God
3. But faith alone, isn’t all that God asks of us
a. He asks that we repent (Acts 2:38)
b. He asks that we confess that Jesus is Lord and owner of our lives (Romans 10:9-10).
c. And He asks that we be buried in the waters of baptism and risen up a new creature.
TURN TO ROMANS 6:3-7
“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
These are not requests from Scripture that we need to repeat over and over each time we sin (as the works of men would have us do). Instead they were God’s way for us to appeal to Him for His gift of salvation.
CLOSE: I want to close with some observations by Lee Strobel. “As we say around here, other religions are spelled ‘D-O,’ because they teach that people have to do a bunch of religious rituals to try to please God.
But Christianity is spelled ‘D-O-N-E’ because Christ has done it all on the cross.”
Then Strobel tells about a story found in Buddhist literature. It’s much like the parable of the “Prodigal Son” that Jesus tells, but there is a dramatic difference. Both stories involve sons who became rebellious and left home, but who then saw the error of their ways and decided to come back and be reconciled with their families. However, in the Buddhist story, the errant son is required to work off the penalty for his past misdeeds by spending years in servitude.
But you know how the Christian parable of the Prodigal Son ends — with the repentant son being warmly welcomed home by his loving father and being given undeserved grace and forgiveness.
OFFER INVITATION.
Post Script:
I gratefully acknowledge the influence in preparing this sermon by the following preachers I found on Sermoncentral who preached on this specific passage: Freddy Fritz, Paul Wallace, Kevin Huggins and perhaps a couple of others I didn’t make note of in my research.
Also, I found that the best way for me to read the "tweetle beetle battle" was to put slashes after every 2nd word in the tongue twister to help me pace myself:
“What do you know about tweetle beetles?
Well… when tweetle beetles fight, it’s called a tweetle beetle battle.
And when they battle in a puddle, it’s a tweetle beetle/ puddle battle.
AND when tweetle beetles battle with paddles in a puddle,
They call it a tweetle beetle/ puddle paddle battle.
AND…when beetles battle beetles in a puddle paddle battle
And the beetle battle puddle/ is a puddle IN a bottle…
They call this a tweetle beetle/ bottle puddle/ paddle battle muddle.
AND… when beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle’s ON a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles
… they call this a muddle puddle/ tweetle poodle/ beetle noodle/ bottle paddle battle.”
