OPEN: Three military recruiters showed up to address high school seniors. Each recruiter - representing the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps - was to have fifteen minutes. But the Army and Navy recruiters got carried away, and so when it came time for the Marine to speak, he had just two minutes.
He walked up and stood utterly silent for a full sixty seconds, half of his time. Then he said this: "I doubt whether there are two or three of you in this room who could even cut it in the Marine Corps. But I want to see those two or three immediately in the dining hall when we are dismissed."
He turned smartly and sat down.
When he arrived in the dining hall, those students interested in the Marines were a mob.
APPLY: One of the most powerful images, for the US military, has got to be the Poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger and saying “I want you.” (show “Uncle Sam” image).
In times of war or conflict, those posters are practically everywhere: the Post Office, Grocery Stores, etc., with Uncle Sam telling everyone everywhere “I want you.”
In the same way, throughout the entire Bible God is saying to everyone, everywhere: I WANT YOU!
In one of his letters, Peter declares: “The Lord…is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9
God wants you.
He wants you so badly that He paid a high price to recruit you.
In fact, years before Jesus came to earth in mortal form, Isaiah 52:10 prophesied that “The LORD (would) lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”
Centuries before Jesus came, God told His people that He would spare no expense in bringing salvation.
ILLUS: Several years ago, there was 14 year-old girl (Laura Montero) whose appendix burst while she and her family vacationed on a cruise ship off the Baja Coast. The ship was hundreds of miles from help, and the crew sent out a distress call looking for the nearest surgical unit.
The USS Ronald Reagan was about 500 miles away – and they answered the call. The Carrier was in the midst of training exercises – but the crew of 6000 stopped and turned its ship around and steamed 250 miles through the night to get within helicopter transport range.
Laura was airlifted on board and doctors performed the life-saving surgery.
The cost: 2.5 million dollars per day. (from an article by Lisa Mikitarian)
Two and half million dollars! That’s a lot of money.
How’s that family ever going to pay for that?
They’re not.
The cost way is too high.
But the US government believed this little girl was worth saving, so gave her a FREE gift of life.
Two and half million dollars!
That’s a lot of money, but God paid a much higher price to obtain our allegiance:
"For God so loved the World that He... (gave His only begotten Son)."
God loved us so much that He sacrificed the most important thing in the world to Him. How are we ever going to pay for that?
We’re not.
As Ephesians tells us: “…because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” Eph 2:4-5 & 8
You couldn’t pay for that if you wanted to, the price was too high. But God thought you and I were worth saving.
He wants you!
So, He gave you and I the free gift of life.
So, we’re saved by Grace.
It’s a free gift.
God’s done everything to redeem us.
But, if that’s true, does that mean there’s nothing for us to do to accept His gift?
There are people who teach that once God decides to save you you’re saved – and you don’t have to do anything to be accepted. You’re saved whether you want to be or not.
ILLUS: The US used to have a process like that. It was called the Draft. Back during the Viet Nam War they had a kind of “lottery” where 366 blue plastic capsules, containing birth dates, were placed in a large glass container and drawn by hand and assigned "order-of-call" numbers to all men within the 18-26 age range as specified in Selective Service law.
For example, if they pulled October 11th first… that date was designated as #1. And if you were born on that day of the year, you may as well pack your bags, because you were in the army now.
But if you were born on (say) Oct. 12th and that date was pulled out toward the end – say #323 - then you weren’t likely to be drafted. You could enlist if you wanted to… but otherwise you could stay home.
Now, one of the weaknesses of the draft was - a lot of people who were selected didn’t really want to go. There was no commitment on their part to do anything other than survive the ordeal. Frankly – that’s not a good way to build a efficient army. In fact, the draft was eventually so hated that it was discarded… and I doubt seriously that it will ever be used again in my lifetime.
So, does God draft us?
Does God "pick our number" and declare us saved - whether we want to be or not?
Well, no.
In fact, John 1:12-13 explains that you and I could never be part of Christ’s Kingdom without making a conscious and deliberate decision for ourselves.
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13
In other words according to verse 13…
1. You couldn’t become a Christian by “natural descent” you couldn’t be born of a Christian and become a Christian
2. You couldn’t become a Christian by “human decision” - you couldn’t just decide “Hey, I’m good enough to be accepted by God”
3. AND you couldn’t become a Christian by “a husband’s will” - a husband can’t decide his wife can be saved, nor can a wife decide that for her husband, nor can a parent make that decision for their child.
According to verse 12 the only way you could be come a Christian was to have received him and believed in His name.
In other words – you’ve got to “sign up”
You have to “receive Jesus”.
But now, how do you do that? How do you “receive Him?”
There are those who tell people you can “receive” Jesus by praying a sinner’s prayer. They teach people who want to be Christians to pray “Jesus come into my heart” (or something like that). Now this seems to have the advantage of being a quick and easy way to bring people into Christ’s Kingdom.
But… there is one small problem with this “sinner’s prayer”.
It’s NOT in the Bible ANYWHERE.
The Book of Acts gives us examples of people who became Christians in that day, and not one of those peopel ever became a Christian by praying “Jesus come into my heart.”
It’s just not in the Bible. This is a man-made doctrine.
Well, if the Bible doesn’t teach a “sinner’s prayer”… what does it teach?
Well, 1st it teaches that we need to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The most famous Scripture that tells us this is John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER SHOULD BELIEVE in him shall not perish but have everlasting life”
There are a vast number of verses in the Bible that say this same thing in the one form or another.
• I Corinthians 1:21b tells us “…God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to SAVE THOSE WHO BELIEVE.”
• In Acts 16, a jailer in Philippi is told by Paul and Barnabas "BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus, and YOU WILL BE SAVED— you and your household." Acts 16:31
• And, of course Jesus said in Mark 16:16 “Whoever BELIEVES and is baptized WILL BE SAVED, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
You can’t join the Army of Jesus without believing that
1. He is the Son of God
2. and that He died on the cross to save you
3. and rose from the grave to give you hope.
If someone doesn’t believe these things they are NOT going to survive in this God’s army.
Revelation 12:11 tells us that we overcome Satan “…by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”
So, if you don’t believe Jesus shed His blood for your sins… you will not survive Satan’s attacks.
Now, is that all we do? Do we just believe?
Well, no.
The Bible tells us that part of believing in Jesus involves repenting of our sins.
• Acts 3:19 says “REPENT, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”
• In Acts 26:20 Paul said “…I preached that THEY SHOULD REPENT and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”
• And when Paul preached his sermon on Pentecost he told the believing Jews what to do to be saved: "REPENT and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
To repent means you accept the fact that you’re a sinner, and your life has to change.
Repent means to “turn around”
You’ve been living your life without God- you’ve been walking away from Him
Turn around and live for Jesus.
And that makes sense, because Ephesians 2:1-2 tells us that before we became Christians
We “…were dead in (our) transgressions and sins, in which (we) used to live when (we) followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…”
“We were by nature objects of wrath.”
In fact, Romans 5:10 says that at that time we were “God’s enemies”
So, in order to belong to God… we have to stop living like those who are His enemies
But wait there’s more…
Romans 10:9-10 declares “if you CONFESS with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
This is kind of like a “loyalty oath”.
There are people who teach that this passage means we should confess our sins… but that’s not what it says. What are we to confess? (Jesus is Lord)
When you and I confessed that Jesus was our lord, we were declaring “He owns me”
• He owns my wallet
• He owns my house
• He owns my bank account
• He owns my TV set
• He owns my car
• He owns my spouse/ children
Once you make that good confession, you’re declaring that Jesus will now own everything you have – even the shirt on your back. Now Jesus doesn’t want your shirt, or your car, or anything like that… but by making Him your Lord, you and I gave Him the deed to all of our possessions.
This confession is sometimes called the “good confession”.
In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul tells Timothy to “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your GOOD CONFESSION in the presence of many witnesses.”
When Timothy became a Christian, part of what he did was make the good confession: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” In fact this is what we ask every believer to repeat with us, just before we baptize them.
Philippians 2:9-11 tells us that sooner or later – everybody’s going to confess Jesus as Lord.
“… God exalted (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
You can either confess Him now… or confess Him later. But eventually, everyone will do so. But you don’t want to wait until He comes again, because by that time, it will be too late. You’ll still confess He is Lord, but it won’t do you any good.
Now, there’s one more thing God asks us to do to belong to His Son.
In I Peter 3, Peter talks about Noah’s flood and then says “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also— not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 3:21
Baptism is part of the salvation act.
But there’s no power in the water itself. There’s no magical incantation recited to endow the baptismal with power to change us. The power of baptism for salvation, isn’t in the water, but instead is tied to the fact that God asks us to do it.
You see, God knows we are a very visual people.
For example, communion is a very visual part of our worship. The bread reminds us that Jesus’ body was broken for our sins, and the cup reminds us that His blood was shed to forgive us.
In the same way, God made baptism a part of the salvation act because baptism helps us visualize Christ’s death burial and resurrection.
Romans 6 says “…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.”
Colossians 2:12 gives us a shortened version of Romans 6 and tells us that Baptism is outgrowth of our faith. It says we’ve received the fullness of Christ by “… having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Everyone who is baptized “dies to sin”. His dead body is “buried” in the waters of baptism. And then he/she is raised up “resurrected” from the grave to a new life in Christ.
ILLUS: Back in 2003, the Washington Post reported on the surge of baptisms among US soldiers who were preparing to go into battle.
The threat of war is having a positive impact on soldiers preparing for a possible conflict with Iraq. On a recent Sunday morning, eight young men approached the altar in a canvas church, received blessings from a chaplain, and were baptized in a freshly dug pool. They emerged to applause from their fellow Marines.
Makeshift chapels throughout Kuwait’s military camps and logistics bases have been jammed with worshippers as the threat of war grows. Many of the men have not entered a church back home in years.
Army Chaplain Keith Kilgore, a Southern Baptist minister, said, "It’s the best ministry I’ve ever had. When soldiers are about to face combat, they start getting spiritual. They want to get right with God."
Some troops say this "foxhole religion is critical to their preparation for war, saying it provides confidence that they will be protected if called upon to fight and faith that their mission is just."
Lance Corporal Matthew Haugan from California was one of those recently baptized, Haugan says, "After today, I feel more ready to cross the border. This is better armor than anything the Marine Corps could give me. I feel better about myself than I ever have, and I know God will be looking out for me."
(www.washingtonpost.com, In Kuwait, Baptism Before the Gunfire, By Jonathan Finer and Peter Baker, February 28, 2003)
CLOSE: So, are you ready to cross the border?
Have you made yourself “right with God?”
God tells us – the way to belong to Him and be saved is simple
• Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God
• Repent of your sins and turn to God
• Confess Jesus as your Lord and Owner
• Be immersed in water for the forgiveness of your sins
Have you done these things?
If not, we invite you to make that decision this morning.
