Introduction:
A. Diane was an average Christian who grew up in a Christian home, was taken to church every time the doors opened and was taught all the do’s and don’ts of the Christian faith.
1. As she got older, church became less exciting and sometimes she even wondered if she was saved.
2. She finally went to a counselor, telling him God felt so far away and how it feels God hates her when she sins. She felt God’s love depended on her behavior.
3. When feeling this way, she hides from God by not reading her Bible, praying, going to church and by avoiding her Christian friends.
4. The counselor asked her a very important question; “Diane, has your Christianity ever been enjoyable or a source of comfort?”
5. Her answer, “No, never!”
B. Do you enjoy your Christianity? If not, it is possible you have succumbed to religious lies.
C. It is possible to tell religious lies, and it happens all the time in the most unlikely places. They come from parents, pastors, teachers and fellow church members. They don’t do it on purpose, but they pass on the misinterpretations and traditions they were taught. And while these may be the means, the source is Satan himself.
D. In our passage, Jesus has a discussion with the religious elite-those who should have known the truth about who he was and who they were.
1. Discipleship involves obedience, and he was the truth.
2. They claim heritage from Abraham and thinks this makes them secure and acceptable to God.
3. Jesus disputes their claim because they are not following him as Abraham did. He accuses them of being illegitimate children to which they maintain they are not born out of wedlock.
4. Jesus reminds them if God was their Father, they would love him because he comes from God. They on the other hand follow their father the Devil who is a liar and the father of lies-religious ones included.
5. You could not have been any more religious than these people Jesus talked with, but they were deceived by religious lies; we can be too.
E. When we live by religious lies, we will live defeated spiritual lives and Christianity will lose its joy.
F. Doug Moo said; “Our minds are stuck in a rut, a pattern of thinking that is antagonistic to the will of God. Successful Christian living depends on getting out of that rut and establishing another one that is characterized by biblical values and ways of thinking.”
G. Religious lies are difficult to dispel because of their source (they come from people we trust) and because they are taught as God’s standards.
H. Our spiritual well being depends on believing God’s truth instead of religious lies.
I. I Must Or Can Earn God’s Love (Ephesians 2:8-10)
A. Not only do some believe they must earn God’s love, the greater deception is thinking it’s even possible.
B. Grace by its very nature cannot be earned; it is a free gift of God.
C. We cannot earn what we don’t deserve and what by its very nature must be freely given.
D. Yet our world is filled with people who truly believe they must earn God’s love by their actions. When they stand before him, he is going to bring out the grand scales and weigh their good works beside their bad works and wherever the balance is heaviest will determine their eternity.
E. But if I cannot earn God’s love by my good works, then of what value are they?
F. They are proof of the pudding. While Paul says works without faith are useless, James maintains faith without works is useless as well.
G. They go hand in hand and one is a product of the other, but it is the faith that appropriates God’s love in a personal way resulting in salvation.
H. God may love all people, but he only enters a relationship with those who come through his Son by faith.
I. God’s love by its very nature is unconditional like a parent’s should be. His love is consistent and doesn’t waver based on our actions- good or bad.
J. I can be bad and he won’t love me less, but he also won’t love me more if I’m good. But the relationship is based on faith. Nor does this mean we shouldn’t strive for the good. Jesus says we prove the reality of the relationship by our obedience.
K. Failure to understand this can lead believers to feel God is angry at them all the time because they are not living a sinless life. God’s attitude is based on our acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice not our behavior.
L. God doesn’t throw us away for mistakes any more than a parent does a child because they are not behaving as they should or were taught.
M. So if you’ve been trying to earn God’s love or even think you can or have, stop.
II. God Will Protect Me From Pain And Suffering (Job 1 and 2)
A. Job’s misfortunes:
1. Foreigners raided his land killing his farmhands and stealing his oxen and donkeys.
2. Fire from heaven fell and burned up his sheep and shepherds.
3. Raiders stole his camels and killed his servants.
4. A strong wind collapsed the house where his children were partying and all were killed.
5. Then to top it off Job was afflicted with a terrible case of boils.
6. In reply to his wife who told him to curse God and die, Job said, “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
B. Suffering is the great misassumption when it comes to a loving God.
C. Bad things happening to innocent or good people are the reason many chose not to believe in a loving God. The conclusion: If God is good, why does he allow such things?
D. But why must we assign blame to God? Why can’t it be placed where it belongs? Not only does sin affect us individually, it also taints God’s creation. Paul says creation groans for deliverance just as we do.
E. If God is sovereign and in total control, then obviously he allows-not causes, bad things to happen to good people. To a degree, he allows sin to run its ugly course.
F. Believing God will not allow anything bad into your life simply because you have chosen to follow him sets you up for a life of confusion and even bitterness toward God.
G. We may not know specifically why God allows it, but we do have the promise he will take what appears or is bad and bring good from it when we are his children and following him in obedience.
H. Yes God gives joy and peace beyond our comprehension, but these are in the midst of the problems and the pain not a result of their absence.
I. Faith makes life less difficult but it doesn’t take away the difficulties.
J. Giving people free will-as God has done to a degree, means allowing things to happen without stepping in every time we think he should.
K. James reminds us to count it all joy when we face difficulties believing the trying of our faith will result in patience.
L. Aristotle said, “We cannot learn without pain.”
M. Nor are all our problems caused by sin. Job is an example.
N. Job’s fair weather friends insinuated this. He had committed some horrendous sin. Perhaps he was unaware of it, but if he confessed all his problems would go away.
O. Let me challenge you: confess all your known and unknown sins and see if all your problems disappear.
P. Sin has consequences, and God uses problems to discipline us, but problems and trials are not automatic detectors we have committed a particular sin.
III. God Can Only Use The Spiritually Strong (Luke 22:54-65)
A. We think of Peter as the strong disciple, but when the chips were down he denied even knowing Jesus.
B. We think of the disciples as strong but when they were in the middle of the lake in a storm and it appeared the boat would sink, they were at their wits end. On one occasion Jesus came to them walking on the water and on another he was asleep and they awoke him out of fear.
C. Yet Jesus told his disciples they would do greater works than him and in fact they turned the world upside down for him, taking the gospel to the entire known world.
D. Had Jesus only wanted to use spiritually strong individuals, he would not have chosen the disciples but the religious elite. But he rejected the hypocrites and chose the willing whose hearts were in the right place.
E. God can use you even if you have a sordid past and don’t have your act completely together at present.
F. God doesn’t require perfection to use us. If we did he wouldn’t use any of us.
G. Our heart’s desire is what’s important. This is why God could term David a man after his own heart even though he was guilty of adultery and murder.
H. And why he told Peter he would build the church on his confession and the gates of hell would not prevent the successful assault of the church even though he denied being associated with him.
I. Portraying the picture God uses only the spiritually strong turns off the lost rather than encourages them.
J. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for spiritual excellence but God is not dependent on it to use us. He wants clean vessels but he recognizes walking in the world gets us dirty from time to time.
K. And when he accomplishes great things through us in spite of our mistakes, faults and failures, the results focus on his power and bring glory to his name which is the desired result anyway.
L. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus commands us to let our light shine so people can see our good deeds and glorify the Father in heaven, not us.
Conclusion:
A. Have you believed the lies of Satan; lies that will keep you in emotional and spiritual knots?
B. God’s love cannot be earned, following him will not eliminate pain and suffering, and God can use you in spite of your faults.
