We all know a great deal about REJECTION and rejection can be very painful. We normally learn about rejection when we are a child, but if we do not learn anything about it as a child, we probably learned something about it when we began dating.
Illus: I read this list of the top rejection lines given by men (and what they really mean).
• I think of you as a sister - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• There's a slight difference in our ages - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• My life is too complicated right now - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• I've got a girlfriend - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• I don't date women where I work - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• It's not you, it's me - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
• I'm concentrating on my career - (what he really means is - You're ugly.)
•(Number one) Let's be friends - (what he really means is - You're the ugliest person that has ever existed on this planet.)
Illus: A woman also has her rejection lines when a young man wants to date her but she does not want to date him, such as:
• I don't date men where I work - (What she really means is - Hey, bud, I wouldn't date you if you were in the same solar system, much less the same building.)
• It's not you, it's me - (What she really means is - It's not me, it's you.)
• I'm concentrating on my career - (What she really means is - Even something as boring as my job is better than dating you.)
• Let's be friends - (What she really means is - I want you to stay around because I might need my car washed!)
We all know something about rejection, but the Lord Jesus knows more about rejection than anyone. Why? Because He has been rejected by millions.
In fact, the Word of God says, in John 1:11, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
The next time you are rejected, remember the Lord knows all about the pain of REJECTION you feel.
• As Christians, we can not REJECT Him because we have received Him.
• As Christians who have this wonderful salvation, we can NEGLECT HIM.
HOW CAN WE BE NEGLECTFUL IN OUR SALVATION?
We can neglect our salvation:
I. BY NEGLECTING TO BE THANKFUL
If there is one sin that is most prevalent in our society, it is the sin of ingratitude. Our indebtedness to Him is enormous and yet we rarely or at least infrequently offer thanks for what He has done.
Illus: We are a lot like the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy thought, and handed the orange back and said, “Peel it.”
We have Christians today who will not even bow their heads and says THANKS for the food God provides for them and their family.
It is a wonder that God does not withdraw His blessings and bring some things into our life to make us appreciate His blessings.
Illus: The story is told of two men who were walking through a field one day, when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn’t make it. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We’re in for it!" John answered, "I can’t. I’ve never made a public prayer in my life." "But you must! The bull is catching up to us." "All right," panted John, "I’ll say the only prayer I know; the one my father used to repeat at the table: ’O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.’"
For a child of God, gratitude is not confined to a day or a season, it is an attitude that we should have every day and every hour.
• In Psalm 100:4, we read, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
• In Psalm 147:7, we read, “Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:”
Many enjoy the blessings God has bestowed on their life and never look up to say, THANKS! God has been so good to all of us! How dare any of us go through life just complaining when there is so much to be thankful for?
WHO ARE THESE UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE? Many times it is those who come to Christ having lived a good moral life before they got saved. Because they were not saved from the miry clay of sin, they feel they do not have a lot to be grateful for.
Illus: People like this remind me of the man that was bald headed. He went to get a haircut. The fellow before him had a head full of hair, and when the barber got through he charged him $5.00.
The bald man told the barber that he really should not charge him as much as he charged the man with a full head of hair because he did not have that much to cut.
The Barber said, “I charge you the same price I charge him because I have to spend my time looking for hairs to cut on your head.”
Many times, the good moral person does not feel that God saved them from the miry clay of sin. God did not have to do that much to save them and they do not feel they have a lot to be grateful for.
LISTEN, GOD HAS SAVED THE GOOD MORAL PERSON FROM A DEVIL’S HELL AS MUCH AS GOD HAS SAVED THE WORST SINNER FROM A DEVIL’S HELL. We all have a lot to be THANKFUL for!!!
The Bible gives us a LESSON OF GRATITUDE CONCERNING THE 10 LEPERS that applies to every one of us; the good moral person and the sinner in sin’s miry clay. Let me briefly show you three things about the ten lepers.
A. THE POSITION OF ALL
Look at verses 11-12. “And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:”
WHY WERE THEY STANDING AFAR OFF? The disease of leprosy would be equivalent to AIDS today. It was incurable!
• It was a painful death, the flesh rotted off their bodies.
• It was a smelly disease that produces sores where fluids leaked through their clothing.
• It was a contagious disease.
• It was a disease that had robbed them of their families by isolating them. No one knows how long it had been since these ten lepers had felt the touch of their wife or the kiss of their children.
• It was a disease that had robbed them of their friends. They no longer came over or invited them to go somewhere with them.
• They were shut out from the Fellowship of the temple.
It was this deadly, dreadful disease that kept them afar off from the Lord when he came to town.
BUT NOTICE SOMETHING ELSE, IT WAS THE LAW OF MOSES THAT KEPT THEM AWAY. The law set forth the requirements for lepers.
The law said that when you pass one, pass on the other side and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” And when others saw them coming they would also cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!”
Leprosy is a type of sin. Sin has put all of us in an awful position, and all ten of them were in an awful position.
• While sinners stand afar off from Him, He does not stand afar from us.
• When they could not get to Jesus, Jesus got to them.
• When they could not come to Him, He came to them.
B. THE PRAYER OF ALL
Now look at verses 13 -14. “And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”
All ten utter the same prayer. Notice two things here quickly.
(1) THEIR OBSERVATION
Notice the words in verse 13, “Their voices.” This implies that when they OBSERVED He was coming, all ten of them began to cry out for mercy. You don’t pray and call out for help unless you feel your need of help.
Illus: It is when a man knows he is drowning that he screams for help.
The reason sinners don’t come to Christ for salvation is that they do not know they are ONLY ONE HEART BEAT AWAY from an eternal hell.
These lepers ALL KNEW the Lord did not owe them anything, so they cry out for mercy.
(2) THEIR OBEDIENCE
The Lord tells them to go to the priest. Notice that they were not healed immediately, but they were healed as they went. As they obeyed the command of the Lord they were healed. God always honor obedience.
Not only did they all pray to Jesus, but Jesus healed ALL OF THEM OF LEPROSY.
C. THE PRAISE OF ONE
In Verses 15-19, we read, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Notice, the one who returned, saw that he was healed, and turned back to show his gratitude.
I don’t know how it happened, we are not told here. But as they walked toward the priest’s house -
• Maybe they began to notice their skin losing that scaly white appearance.
• Maybe they passed by some people and they expected that they would run to the other side and yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” But it never happened as it did before.
I don’t know how he came to the conclusion, but when he saw that he was healed, he stopped going in one direction and went in another direction - to find the Lord to let Him know he was grateful for what He had done for him. He had a reason to praise God. They all had reason to praise God, but only one returned to give thanks!
The Lord Jesus, who had done a marvelous work in the 10 lepers who were helpless and hopeless, wanted to know, “WHERE ARE THE NINE?”
You can lay out of church if you want to as Christians, but I have a question. If God has saved you from a burning Hell, WHY AREN’T YOU HERE PRAISING HIM FOR SAVING YOU FROM A BURNING HELL?
• WHAT MUST HE DO FOR YOU BEFORE YOU WILL BE GRATEFUL?
• HOW CAN YOU NEGLECT HIM LIKE THIS?
• WHERE IS THE GRATITUDE FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE?
Illus: The father and mother of a young man who was killed in the military attended a little church. One day they came to the pastor and told him they wanted to give a monetary gift in memory of their son who died in battle. The pastor said, "That’s a wonderful gesture on your part.” He asked if it was OK to tell the congregation, and they said that it was. So the next Sunday he told the congregation of the gift given in memory of the dead son.
On the way home from church, another couple was driving down the highway when the man said to his wife, "Why don’t we give a gift because of our son?" His wife said, "But our son didn’t die in any conflict! Our son is still alive!" Her husband replied, "That’s exactly my point! That’s all the more reason we ought to give in thanks to God.”
THANKLESSNESS CAUSES YOU TO TAKE YOUR SALVATION FOR GRANTED!
• We forget to be thankful for being saved
• We forget to be thankful for the blessings of God
• We forget to be thankful for our families
• We forget to be thankful for our jobs
• We forget to be thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ
• We forget to be thankful for our health
• We forget to be thankful for the basic things in life
• We forget to be thankful for the great country we live in
In Eph. 5:20, we read, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”
The unthankful are like many in our society that live their life as if everybody owed them something. God doesn’t OWE us anything, we OWE Him EVERYTHING!!
We, who are fortunate to live in the United States, have so much to be thankful for. All around the world there are people who DREAM of coming to this wonderful country. We should be thankful to the Lord for the privilege of living here and raising our families in a country like this.
Illus: One soldier was and wrote home and said:
Dear Dad,
A funny thing happened to me yesterday at Camp Bondsteel (Bosnia): A French army officer walked up to me in the PX, and told me he thought we (Americans) were a bunch of cowboys and were going to provoke a war in Iraq. He said if such a thing happens, we wouldn't be able to count on the support of France.
I told him I knew we couldn’t count on them, never have and never will. But I also told him that when the terrorists came to American and bombed the Trade Towers and the Pentagon and killed almost three thousand Americans, we were not about to tuck our tail between our legs and run, we were going to take it to them.
This Frenchman began to get belligerent at that point, and I told him if he did not like it, I would meet him outside in the parking lot and whip him in front of everyone.
He called me a barbarian cowboy and walked away in a huff. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Dad, tell Mom I love her,
Your loving daughter,
Mary Beth Johnson, LtCol., USMC
We can neglect our great salvation BY NEGLECTING TO BE THANKFUL and ...
II. BY NEGLECTING TO BE FAITHFUL
Suppose the Lord treated us the way we treated Him. WE WOULD BE IN A MESS! Many folks serve God out of convenience, not out of love.
Illus: The Junior Sunday School Teacher asked her eight eager 10 year olds:
• “If you had a million dollars would you give it to the missionaries?” "YES!" they all screamed!!
• "Would you give $1,000?" Again they shouted "YES!"
• "How about $100?" "Oh, YES we would!" they all agreed!!
• "Would you give just a dollar to the missionaries?" she asked.
The boys exclaimed "YES!" just as before except for Johnny. The teacher said, "Johnny, why didn't you say 'YES' this time?" He said, "Because I HAVE a dollar."
Some Christians say they want to ...
• Support missionaries
• Give the pastor a raise
• Take good care of the church building and property
• Help the less fortunate in the church
The problem is not that they are against all these things, the problem comes when you ask them to FAITHFULLY GIVE to accomplish all these things!
Prov. 3:9, says, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:”
Illus: Notice, it says honor God with our SUBSTANCE not our SURPLUS!
• Some people pay all their bills, buy everything they want to buy, and then give God something IF there is anything left over.
• Some people spend all the time they want watching television, eating out, talking with family and friends and if they have a few hours they do not mind going to church.
We can NEGLECT HIM BY NOT BEING FAITHFUL
• In our Church attendance
• In our witnessing
• In our Bible study
• In our giving
• In our Prayer life
Conclusion:
Heb. 2:3a, says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;....”
Lost person you can not escape if you NEGLECT THIS GREAT SALVATION. Do not REJECT THIS SALVATION. He does not want you to be lost.
Christian you can not REJECT this salvation because you have already received it. BUT YOU CAN NEGLECT IT. Do not NEGLECT THIS SALVATION. He wants to bless you if you will allow Him to do so!
Don’t NEGLECT YOUR salvation ....
I. BY NEGLECTING TO BE THANKFUL
II. BY NEGLECTING TO BE FAITHFUL
