JESUS IS OUR NORTH STAR
Ps. 119:89
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. There was a husband that died. He left his wife $20,000. After the funeral, his wife told her friend that she was totally broke. She said, “I thought you said he left you $20,000?”
2. “I did, but I spent $5,000 on the funeral and $15,000 on the memorial stone. The friend said, “Wow! That must be some kind of stone! How big was it?” She held up her finger and said, “3 ½ carats!”
B. MIDDLE OF THE BIBLE
1. QUES.: Can anybody tell me what the MIDDLE VERSE OF THE BIBLE is? It’s Psalm 118:8, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.”
2. There are 595 chapters before it and 595 chapters after it. It is the center verse of the Bible tells us to “trust in the Lord.”
3. Tonight we’re talking about trusting in Jesus. He is our WISDOM, our REDEEMER, our GUIDE, our best FRIEND! We’re going to see that Jesus is OUR NORTH STAR! He’s our COMPASS! He points us in the direction we need to go.
4. The title of this message is “Jesus is Our North Star!”
I. WE LIVE IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD
A. CHANGES OVER THE LAST 200 YEARS
1. It was the last 200 years that changed the world. In the early 1800s, most people in the world had a life expectancy of under 40 years. 80% of people lived in extreme poverty – making less than $1.90/day; now only 10% are that poor.
2. In 1820 only 15% could read, now it’s 85%. 40% of children died before their 5th birthday; now it’s only 4%. Today half the world live in a democracy; earlier almost no one. In 1790 90% made their living by farming! Now less than 2% are in farming (98% are doing non-farming jobs!)
3. The world has clearly changed. Every day brings new startling news. But, thank God, one thing HAS NOT CHANGED – God & our faith in God! In Malachi 3:6 God speaks, “I am the Lord, I change not.”
B. CHANGING MORALS/ COMPROMISE
1. Twila Paris wrote a song called “True North” which sums up our need for Jesus as our guide: “We lost our bearings, Following our own mind. We left conviction behind . . .How did we ever wander so far? And where do we go from here? How will we know where it is?”
2. “True North. There’s a strong steady light that is guiding us home....We need an absolute Compass now more than ever before.” (1999, Ariose Music/Mountain Spring Music, admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
3. What we believe affects how we think, what we say, how we plan our lives, and our behavior. When we leave God & the Bible out, we no longer have a basis for our convictions nor any restraints on our actions. That’s why we need our North Star!
II. FINDING OUR DIRECTION
A. METHODS OF FINDING OUR WAY
1. Today we travel by using apps that connect us to Global Positioning Satellites. You punch in your destination and the app – knowing where you are, plots a course to your destination.
2. I used to use big maps. I had maps of Texas & other places I wanted to visit. When I made a trip, I’d get out my maps and decide which road I would take and take note of the towns I’d pass through on the way.
3. Today you can hardly find maps anymore. Now we travel by GPS and mapping programs (in our phones) that map your route based on traffic flows.
4. Now in ancient times, mariners and explorers traveled by using certain fixed lights in the sky to guide them as they traversed the great expanses of oceans or lands.
5. In the northern hemisphere, the most common star to navigate by was the North Star, also known as Polaris. In the southern hemisphere the most common direction marker is the Southern Cross. For millennia, these two lights were the unvarying guides for travelers.
6. Today, GPS can get you to your final EARTHLY destination, but only the Lord Jesus can get you to your final HEAVENLY destination!
7. In the spiritual realm, Jesus is like the North Star – He guides us upward to God. If we don’t follow Jesus, and if we refuse His gracious salvation, we will find ourselves lost, wandering forever in the darkest spiritual night.
B. THE NORTH STAR OF TRUTH
1. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” John 14:6.
2. Christians believe the True God has revealed Himself in Jesus and in the Bible, which tells us about Him. God has spoken in the Bible and the Bible is authoritative because God is the ultimate authority. Because God is truth, the Bible must be truthful.
3. SCRIPTURES ABOUT THE BIBLE
a. Ps. 119:89, “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.”
b. John 17:17, Jesus prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.”
c. Mark 13:31, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
d. Jer. 30:2, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.’” That’s the Bible. Others were told to write it down; Ex. 24:4; 34:27; Ezek. 42:11; Hab. 2:2; Jer. 30:2; Rev. 1:19; 1 Cor. 4:6; 10:11; Rom. 15:4.
4. Today our society uses “situation ethics” to determine right & wrong, not God’s unchanging standard of the Bible. Society thinks that it is the arbiter of Truth, which is evolving. But they are wrong. The North Star of Truth is still the unchanging Word of God – the Bible!
5. In 2 Tim. 3:16-17, Paul said, “All Scripture [the Hebrew scriptures] is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
6. God says, “Check [their]...words against the Word of God! If their messages are different than Mine, it is because I have not sent them; for they have no light or truth in them.” Isa. 8:20, TLB.
III. JESUS IS OUR NORTH STAR
A. JESUS’ TRUTH IS UNCHANGING
1. When we say that Jesus is our true north, we mean that He is the constant, unchanging source of Truth and Life. He is “the same yesterday and today and forever,” Hebrews 13:8. The philosophies, theories, concepts, and schemes of mankind are constantly shifting. “But the Word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25; cf. Isaiah 40:8).
2. We live in danger of being “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming,” Eph. 4:14. In such a world, we need solid direction to guide our lives. We can avoid making shipwreck of our lives by “fixing our eyes on Jesus,” Heb. 12:2.
B. IS OUR HOUSE BUILT ON THE ROCK?
1. Jesus told a parable (Matt. 7:24-27) about two houses being built. One was built on a rock and the other was built on sand. Both experienced storms but only the house built of rock remained standing.
2. Jesus indicated that these 2 houses represented 2 kinds of Christians – one who reads and DOES the Word of God, and a second who only reads it but doesn’t practice it.
3. Jesus intends that as we grow our faith (by reading the Bible), that we begin to walk, talk, and behave like Jesus. It should be reflected in our possessing Christlike character, persevering thru trials, walking in obedience, loving Him and others, and sharing our faith.
C. MISPLACING THE STANDARD
1. Darren Middleton told how he built a picket fence around his front yard. He was very proud of it and bragged about it to his family.
2. A few days later his father showed up. He went to Darren’s garage and got Darren’s level. He went out and checked the fence and came back to say that one section of it wasn’t level.
3. Darren said, “Now I had two options: I could take down the unleveled section and rebuild it, or I could conveniently misplace the level, which seemed the easiest solution.”
4. The scriptures are God’s level, by which we can test our actions, our thoughts, and our desires. God expects us to renew our minds by His Word and transform our behavior. But many people think it’s easier to just misplace the standard, but that won’t ultimately work.
5. I’m reminded of the little Zulu girl, who had given her life to Christ, and prayed this prayer; “O Great Chief, light a candle in my heart that you may see the rubbish and sweep it out!”
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: The Infallible Chart
1. An assistant Captain once challenged a chaplain with the question, "How is it that you are always talking to my men about Jesus Christ? Did you ever see Him?" "No, I never did." "Then how can you tell men to trust in someone you have never seen?"
2. "Well," replied the chaplain, "when you head into a port (avoiding a storm) and tell your men to let go the anchor, how can expect them to drop it when they can’t see the ground below? You’ve never seen the bottom there and never will see it."
3. "Oh," said the assistant Captain, "we go by our charts" and pointed to a book of charts. The Chaplain said, "That’s exactly what I do!" Holding up his Bible he said, "I go by this chart; it’s an infallible one. It tells me that the only sure ground of salvation is the atoning work of Christ upon the cross. My faith, like your anchor, takes hold of this unseen but real ground, and so I can ride out the storms of life in peace and safety." [Unknown]
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you want direction in some area of your life? If we have a Bible but don’t read it, it won’t do us any good.
2. How many of you want your lives built on the Rock so that when the storms of life come all you’ve built won’t crumble away?
3. Let’s pray for our church, city, families, and personal lives that God and His Word will be our stronghold and the source of our Truth. PRAYER
