What Jesus is After
I know in the beginning, things can be awkward, but let me encouarge you, walking with God is the most eternal decision you can ever make.
I remember awhile back, when my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, went to church and it was just hard for me to understand. It was one of those Sundays, that we went to church, but both Laura and I just weren’t there. How many of you know what I’m talking about? I’m gonna be watching you guys today!
We were just kinda phasing in and out, and I looked at my wife. She was so much more spiritual than I. I was looking at the windows and she was taking notes. So I looked at what she was writing. She was drawing these pictures of flowers, so I knew we were there, but we just weren’t there. So there we are, and I thought, you know, beign the romantical guy that I am, I’ll give her a scripture that would woo her while we are in church. I look up a love book. If you want a romantic book in the bible to read, it is the Song of Solomon. So I turn there and read a verse that says…
“Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly destroyed.” Song of Solomon, 7:7
You know. Romance. Impress Laura. So she looks at the verse. She looks at me. At the verse. At me. Gives me a weird look. I smile at her. Remember we are not married yet. She points out the verse to me. I actually read Song of Solomon 8:7, not 7:7. Chapter 7:7 says…
“The stature of yours is like a palm tree, and your breasts its clusters. I said, ‘I will go up to the palm tree…”
I don’t know if they should put that kind of stuff in the bible. It gets people like me in trouble.
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If you have a bible, turn to Matthew 11:28-29
Sometimes, its awkward as we start in our walk with God, but we are laying our foundations today to make sure our foundations are pact tight.
I remember awhile ago when a mall that is open today, was first built. I remember how immaculate it looked, but over the next few years, the parking lot quickly got large potholes, and the parking lot began to fall apart.
I remember asking my dad what happened. Now he is not the authority in laying pavement for parking lots, but here is what he said and I always remebered it. He said, “Ty, when they get ready to lay the pavement, they need to pack the foundation in tight, because if they don’t, when the pressure comes, the road is going to crack.” That is what you are doing today. Laying your foundation tight, so that when the pressure comes, you don’t crack.
Today I wanted help lay some foundation for you. I’ll be talking to you about Salvation. What does it mean to be saved? How am I saved? So what do you say? Let’s pray and we will get into it.
“Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. The teaching I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light” Matthew 11:28–29.
You might say, “I’ve tried that. I’ve read the Bible, I’ve sat in on church, but I’ve never received relief. I’ve never really changed all that much.”
If that is the case, could I ask a question? I don’t want to be insensitive, but could it be that you went to religion and didn’t go to God? Could it be that you went to a church, but never saw the Christ?
“Come to me,” the verse reads.
It’s easy to go to the wrong place. I did when my family and I first went to the Water Park. I was in Kapolei heading east to the park when it was actually further west. One wrong turn. We ended up in Waipahu and my wife had to force me to go where NO MAN GOES! Ask for directions.
Went to a nearby gas station, and after struggling with my pride, I went up to an attendant and admitted that we were… LOST, and asked how to find the water park. The attendant was very gracious, looked at me and said, “You went the wrong way in Kapolei.”
Now, I had several options I could take. First, I could have pouted and sighed, “Well, there must not be a Water Park to go to. Looks like I’m stuck.”
You would have said to me, “You’re not stuck. You just made a wrong turn. Go down to the right road and try again.”
I could have thrown my hands in the air and cancelled the whole trip and said, “There’s no way that we can find the park now.”
You would have said to me, “You’re not totally lost. You just made a wrong turn. Go down to the right road and try again.”
I could have gotten angry with God asked Him how He could allow such a tragedy to occur to me.
You would have said to me, “God didn’t make you get lost. You just made a wrong turn. Go down to the right road and try again.”
It’s not that you haven’t tried—you’ve tried for a long time to deal with your past and your burdens to carry. We turn to our friends, to whatever we can find that makes us feel better, to alcohol, or even to religion. Maybe somewhere along the way, you just made a wrong turn and need to go down to the right road and try again.
It is not about coming to your friends, or even your church. It is all about coming to Jesus and that is what we are going to talk about tonight.
How many of you watch that tv show HEROES?
Did you just watch the season finale of season 3? How many of you think that Sylar is a really good bad guy. I mean the guy is bad. Psychotic killer that takes peoples powers whether they are men, women, children, or whatever! When they kill Sylar (I don’t know how many times they have killed him already), I find myself at the egde of my seat and almost cheering because (and this will show my nature) he deserves it! He is the bad guy!
Don’t you find that true in the movies? If there is a convincing bad guy, by the end of the movie, you kinda hope that he gets what’s coming to him because he just deserves it. Right?
Have any of you seen the moive that came out a few months ago Taken? The main guy (Qui Gon from Star Wars) has his daughter kidnapped and he has to hunt down the bad guys. Now I didn’t see the movie, but several people have told me about it. Of course he has to track down the bad guys who have done this bad stuff to his daughter and when he catches them what does he do? He gives them what they deserve.
Everyone understands that feeling. The bad guy deserves what he gets for all the bad stuff he does. Here is the problem with that when it comes to our relationship with God…
The bad guy… that’s you and me. Let’s see what Romans 3:23 says…
“For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23)
How many of us have sinned? All. You might be thinking, “C’mon Ty. I’m not that bad. Maybe a few mistakes along the way.”
LET’S DO AN INFORMAL SURVEY AND FIND OUT. How many of you have heard of the 10 commandments? Let’s see how we fare when we hold up our own goodness in light of the 10 commandments.
How many of you have ever lied? Raise your hand.
All. What does that make you? A liar. If you are not raising your hand, you are lying right now!
How many of you have EVER stolen anything? Raise your hand. C’mon, you already admitted that you are a liar. All. What does that make you? A thief.
What about murder? I hope none of you have killed anyone. But do you know what Jesus says? 21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’[a] 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone,[b] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[c] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[d] you are in danger of the fires of hell.[e]” Matthew 5:21-22. Ever been so angry with someone that you hated them? Be honest. You, my friend, according to Jesus, are in danger of being guilty of murder.
Ever lusted over someone in your heart who is not your spouse? Jesus says that if you lust over someone in your heart, you have committed adultery with them in your heart.
By admission, we are all lying, thieving, murdurous, adulterers at heart.
NOW, IN LIGHT OF THAT, ARE WE THE GOOD GUYS OR THE BAD GUYS? ARE WE DESERVING OF HEAVEN OR HELL? LIFE OR DEATH?
We deserve DEATH .
“..For the wages of sin is death…”
(Romans 6:23)
That bad guy in the movie who gets what he deserves in the end… That’s you and that’s me.
That is the punishment we deserve by our own actions and admission.
We are spiritually HELPLESS (morally bankrupt)
But, you may say, “Ty, I’m a sincere person. I try to be good. Isn’t that enough? I’m not a criminal. I’m not Hitler or Saddam Hussein.”
In order for God to be a good and just judge, if we are guilty (which we already admitted that we are), what does he need to do with us? Can he be a good judge and say, “Nah, because you are a sincere, so I will say you are not guilty.” No in order for him to be a good judge, he MUST say GUILTY. He must pass sentence and the punishment for sin is what? THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.
What if, the judge, however, was your father? Could he give the sentence, because he is a good judge, step off the stand and say, “Because I am a good judge, I will pass the sentence, but because I love you, I am going to pay the penalty for you. I’ll take your place.”? Yes. He could do that. If he wanted to save your life, that may be the only way.
That is where Jesus Christ enters the picture. Although we deserve death and by our own admission, we deserve hell, Jesus, when he went to the cross, paid the price of our sin so that we can enter into a relationship with God.
Some of us may feel, “Well Ty, I got this. I heard this before. I grew up in the church. My parents go to church. My family is involved in the church. I go to youth group. I’m a Christian.” Are you sure?
You see, GOD CREATED YOU TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, AND HE WILL NOT SETTLE FOR A SECONDHAND RELATIONSHIP.
JESUS IS AFTER YOUR HEART AND HE WILL NOT SETTLE FOR A SECOND-HAND RELATIONSHIP
You must not and cannot settle, for a second-hand relationship. Sometimes we get the feeling that because we are so busy (how many of you are busy people?) that we will let Pastor spend time with God and then benefit from their experience. Let him tell us what God is saying. After all, isn’t that why we pay preachers? Isn’t that why we read Christian books? These folks are good at daily devotions. My youth pastor,my mom. I’ll just learn from them.
If that is your approach, if your spiritual experiences are secondhand and not firsthand, I’d like to challenge you with this thought: Do you do that with other parts of your life? I don’t think so.
You don’t do that with vacations or summer breaks. You don’t say, “Vacations are such a hassle, packing bags and traveling. I’m going to send someone on vacation for me because I am so busy at home. When he returns, I’ll hear all about it and be spared all the inconvenience of packing my bags, going through security checks at the airport, and sitting on the airplane.” Would you do that? No! If you do, come see me after service! It’s crazy! You want the experience firsthand. You want the sights firsthand, and you want to rest firsthand. Certain things no one can do for you.
You don’t do that with romance. You don’t say, “I’m so in love with that cool guy or that hot chick, but romance is such a hassle. I’m going to hire someone to enjoy the romance in my place. I’ll hear all about it and be spared the inconvenience.” Who would do that? Not a chance! You want the romance firsthand. You don’t want to hire someone else to go to prom for you. You don’t want to miss a word or a date, and you certainly don’t want to miss the kiss, right? Certain things no one can do for you.
You don’t let someone eat on your behalf, do you? You don’t say, “Chewing is such a hassle. My jaws grow so tired, and the tastes are so overwhelming. I’m going to hire someone to chew my food, and I’ll just swallow whatever he gives me.” Would you do that? Yuck! Of course not! Certain things no one can do for you.
And one of those is a relationship with God.
A relationship with God is a firsthand experience. When he asks for your attention, God doesn’t want you to send a substitute. When God calls YOU to a relationship with Him, He does not want someone else in your place. HE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEND YOUR PASTOR, YOUR MOM OR DAD, FRIENDS OR ANYONE ELSE TO HIM FOR YOU! He wants you to have a relationship with Him in such a way that you would truly see and touch Him.
LET ME CLOSE WITH THIS…
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9)
It’s like the story of little Tommy who loved boats. Because he was very gifted with his hands, he decided to carve a little boat to play with at the nearby stream. He searched until he found just the right piece of wood to begin carving. When he found that special piece of wood, he spent every spare moment he had carving the details of his little boat. He put great care and love into that little boat, and even engraved his initials into the side of the miniature vessel.
Over a period of time, he completed the boat and made it his favorite pastime to go down to the stream near his home and let the little boat sail down on the water.
One day, however, while he was at the stream playing with his boat, a strong gust of wind came and swept the little vessel out further than the boy could go. He took off his shoes and ran into the water, desperately trying to get a hold of his boat. It was no use. The wind had pushed it out too far and the boy just could not get it. He ran home and called his father to help him find the ship. Unfortunately, when they returned, it was nowhere to be found. The little boy went home. Heartbroken.
Several days later, as our young friend was walking past a pawnshop in town, he looked into the window only to notice that his little boat was sitting there in the display. Quickly, he rushed into the store shouting with joy, “That’s my boat! That’s my boat!”
The pawnshop owner peered down at the little boy and coldly told him that the boat was now the property of the shop. If he wanted it, he’d have to buy it.
“But my initials are right there Mister. Don’t you see it?”, protested the youngster.
“Sorry,” replied the old store owner. “It’s mine unless you pay me $15.00.”
The little boy went home and refused to be outdone. He began to search for different jobs around the neighborhood. He would rake leaves, wash cars, cut grass, and did whatever job he could find in order to earn $15.00.
After much work, he frantically dashed back to the pawnshop and took out his coin purse to present before the store owner. He opened it and laid out all the coins and dollar bills he received. “Fifteen dollars Mister. It’s all there.” The old store owner sifted through the money, and when he was through, walked over to the shelf. Carefully, he took the boat down and handed it over to the boy.
The boy was overjoyed to be reunited with his creation. He gripped the boat tightly and held it close to his heart. He gazed at the little boat and said, “Little boat, little boat, I love you so much. Now you are twice mine. First I made you with my own two hands, and now I have bought you back.”
God created us with His own two hands, and saw us drift away because we held so tightly to the sin that ensnared us. He saw us displayed cheaply in the window and He paid the price to bring us back home. He gave of Himself that He might own us twice. For not only did He create, mold, and shape us with His own two hands, but He also bought us back.
HERE IS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS. INVITE JESUS TO BE YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR. IF YOU HAVE NEVER RESPONDED, OR IF YOU AREN’T SURE, TODAY IS YOUR DAY. THIS IS THE DAY OF YOUR SALVATION. SAY THIS PRAYER. ITS NOT A MAGIC PRAYER, BUT SAY IT AFTER ME. SAY IT OUT LOUD. MORE IMPORTANTLY, SAY IT FROM YOUR HEART.
HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK YOU FOR JESUS. LORD JESUS, THANK YOU THAT YOU CAME, TO PAY THE PRICE FOR MY SIN. I TURN FROM MY SIN TODAY. COME INTO MY HEART. LEAD ME AND GUIDE ME. BE MY LORD AND MY SAVIOR. IN JESUS’S NAME…
