This is a dangerous teaching!
Why?
God has given us the gospel of Christ to take into the homes of lost people and show them what the Lord can do for them if they will accept Him as their Lords and Savior.
The gospel of Christ is the only gospel God has given to the church to reach a lost world.
It is not one of many ways, it is the ONLY GOSPEL that will save us from our sins.
But there are some who feel that this is not enough today for the age in which we live so they have come up with this EASY BELIEVISM GOSPEL!
All you have to do is go to church when it is convenient and simply say those magic words, YES, I BELIEVE IN CHRIST, and I AM A CHRISTIAN.
Illus: They say the distance to hell is eighteen inches…FROM THE MIND TO THE HEART!
What is EASY BELIEVISM?
(1) Easy Believism produces false converts.
Matthew 7:22-24 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.
The reason God uses the Word “Many” in the New Testament is because there are many churches today that are packed with people who think they are save and they are as LOST AS A GOOSE!
Why?
Because a lost person can only believe in the GOSPEL OF CHRIST TO BE BORN AGAIN.
Illus: Have you noticed you can ask some people are they saved, and they will say…
(1) I believe that Christ died for my sins.
(2) I go to church
(3) I tithe
(4) I pray
(5) I read my Bible
(6) I do good deeds
Did you know you can do all these things and die and go to a devil’s hell.
We are not saved by works!!!
Easy Believism produce false converts.
• They cuss like the Lost world does.
• They drink like the lost world does.
• They lie like the lost world does.
• They go to movies and watch things on television of people filled with cursing and nudity like the lost world.
• They shack up instead of getting married like the lost world.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE WHO PROFESS TO BESAVED?
We are not saved by WORKS but if you are Born again, it means you are born again and no longer live like others who are not born again.
What are they saved from? It certainly is not from sin.
I will tell you there is only ONE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, but they have come up with this EASY BELIEVISM THAT PRODUCE FALSE CONVERTS.
God’s Word talks about them in Matthew 7:22-23 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Easy Believeism if you will say these magic words…I BELIEVE JESUS DIED FOR MY SINS YOU WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN.
Illus: Suppose someone say, I believe I am as smart as Elon Musk but that want make him as smart as Elon Musk!!! Just saying something does not make it so.
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
In other words, those who believe in EASY BELIEVISM has about as much religion as the devil.
The devil believe that Jesus died for our sins!
Who are these who think they are save but aren’t.
The Lord tells us.
• Easy Believism produces false converts.
• Easy Believism tells people what they want to hear instead of what God wants them to hear.
• Easy Believism is dangerous because it convinces a person he is saved when IN REALITY HE IS ETERNALLY LOST.
Some Christians in order to win converts to the Lord, they paint a picture of the Christian life as a fairy tale. That is, you say those magic words I believe Christ died for my sins and you will live happily ever after.
It is true when you accept the Lord you have a happiness and a peace that the lost world does not have.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger said before he was saved by the grace of God and was living in sin and he would be going to some sinful place on Sunday night, and he would drive by a church and see the car lot filled with cars, and he would think I feel sorry for them.
Why?
Because he believed church people were old people who drove around in old black fords and had nothing better to do in life then attend a church service.
What I did not know is those church people had a joy, contentment and happiness in life he did not know anything about!!!
Now I am not trying to paint a pretty picture and tell you that Christians do not have any problems.
Everybody in this life, SAINTS AND SINNERS have problems.
• We Christians may not suffer for the same reasons they suffer, but we suffer also in this life!!
• However, many times for the SAINTS and the SINNERS the reason they suffer for the same reasons is due to the fact they suffer from bad decisions they have made.
It does not matter if you be a saint or a sinner when you make bad decisions you are going to suffer.
• David made some bad decisions, and in Psalm 38, he is suffering for those bad decisions.
• This Psalm is similar to Psalms 51 in that it is referred to as one of the Penitential Psalms.
The word “Penitential” is where we get the word “Penitentiary” which is a place of sorrow.
There are seven penitential psalms: Psalms 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; and 143. In each, the author acknowledges or confesses his trespass before the Lord and recognizes his need for forgiveness of sin.
In this Psalm, David is going through a place of sorrow. He doesn’t know how long he will be in this place of sorrow; all he knows he is there due to his sins.
Any time we choose to sin, it is like buying something and not knowing the price until later.
Illus: Dr. Jack Hyles, who has gone to be with the Lord, was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana. He was telling a group of preachers at a MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE that his church downtown needed some more room due to church growth.
They bought a building nearby, and he sent a wrecking crew out to tear the building down.
But they made a mistake and tore the wrong building down.
He said sadly, “We also bought that building but we do not know yet how much we have got to pay for it!”
That is how sin is. A person can choose to sin, but only the future will tell what outrageous price they may have to pay for it.
Illus: When I go into my favorite store, J.C. Penny’s store looking for some clothing I want to buy I find what I want to buy, and I look for a price tag to see how much it is going to cost me.
But many times, in this electronic age the item does not have a price tag, it has an electronic bar code.
You can only know what it is going to cost you until you go to the cashier, and he/she will scan the electronic bar code, and the bar code will tell you what it will cost you.
Sin is that way, we can choose to sin in this life, but we can only find out the price of sin later!!!
Illus: But I can guarantee you every lost person in hell today if they could come back and live their life over again, they would not choose to live a life of sin since because they have discovered the price of sin is everlasting hell.
They would not before but they will now acknowledge no sin the devil has is worth the price of eternal hell.
In the past, this great man of God David had made some bad decisions, and he was suffering because of those decisions.
WHAT DID HE DO?
1) He lusted for the opposite sex.
2) He had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
3) He murdered Bathsheba husband.
As a result of him making these bad decisions, some bad things began to happen in his life that would not have happened had he not made those bad decisions.
• His baby died
• Amnon raped Tamar (Tamar was an Israelite princess and the full sister of Absalom. She was raped by her half-brother Amnon.)
• Absalom killed Amnon.
• Absalom led an insurrection against his father King David which led to a civil war in Israel.
• Absalom was killed by Joab
What a tremendous price he paid for his sins.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was in his car recently when this middle-aged man walked before him at a red light. He appeared to be homeless and Dr. Belger said a word of prayer for him.
And as he saw him in his ragged, dirty, smelly clothes he wondered what he could have been with his life had he not chose a life of sin.
WHAT A GREAT PRICE HE WAS PAYING FOR HIS SINS!!!
David had he known the tremendous price he would have to pay for those sins, he would have never made these sinful decisions.
David made some bad decisions, but he was paying a tremendous price for them.
Let’s look at:
I. HIS CONDITION
In Psalm 38 He is crying his heart out before God.
Some say a real man does not cry.
They are mistaken!
Illus: Any ordinary man who will stand against an almost ten-foot giant called Goliath is a REAL MAN.
But due to his sin his child had died.
• In Samuel 12:16, we read David cried out before God for his child to be spared because of his sin.
• His family is suffering. Isn’t it tragic today that some families are suffering because of the sin of a dad or a mom.
• He is suffering mental anguish, physical agony, social pressure, emotional distress, and spiritual guilt.
David is really being put through the ringer for his sins.
He does what we often do when we are being put through the ringer, ---HE CRIED OUT TO GOD.
He recognized these bad things that has HAPPENED TO HIM that has destroyed his life OF HAPPINESS is not due to BAD LUCK…IT IS DUE TO SIN!!!
He knew he had sinned against GOD ALMIGHTY HIS CREATOR and this is what sin has done to him!
Look at verses 1-3, we read, “O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand preset me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.”
David is saying:
• Like Peter - “Lord save me".
• Like the Leper - "If Thou wilt, thou canst make me whole.”
• Like the Publican - "God be merciful to me a sinner.”
• Like blind Bartimaeus - "Jesus Thou Son of David, Have mercy on me."
As he cries out to God, he is suffering greatly.
Notice-
A. HE CONFESSES BEFORE GOD
Look at verses 4-9, we read, “For mine iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the Dis quietness of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hidden from thee.”
Notice, he is confessing his sins, but look at verse 4, he said, “…mine iniquities are gone over mine head ….”
• He is saying, “I jumped into some deep water, and I cannot swim out of this mess I have gotten myself into.”
• In other words, “When I chose to sin, I bit off more than I could chew.”
• He is saying, “When I bought into sin, I did not know what I was doing.”
Many folks would not have committed the sins they committed; had they not been blinded by sin.
Illus: Dr. O’dell Belger had a good neighbor. He would often meet with him in their back yard, and they would stand and talk.
• But HIS NEIGHBOR he always smoked a cigar.
• He got sick and went to the doctor and the doctor discovered he had throat cancer. He suffered a horrible death.
• He told Dr. Belger one day before he died, “I never would have smoked these things if I knew the price of smoking them came with such a great price!”
David had made his choice to sin, and now what a tremendous price he was paying.
He is now broken and crying, he couldn’t sleep or eat. And now he is confessing his sins before God.
He is:
• Like Achan in (Josh. 7:21) - "I have sinned."
• Like Saul in (1 Sam. 15:24) - "I have sinned.
"
• Like Judas in (Matt. 27:4) - "I have sinned."
• Like the Prodigal in (Luke 15:18) - “I have sinned."
• Like Pharaoh in (Exo. 9:27) - "I have sinned."
But not only does HE CONFESS BEFORE GOD, also-
B. HE COLLAPSES BEFORE GOD
Look at verse 10, we read, “My heart Paneth, my strength failed me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.”
He told us a great deal about how this has affected him EMOTIONALLY, but notices that it also has affected him PHYSICALLY.
Illus: Recently a woman televangelist was brought before a judge for fraugh.
She had taken in millions of dollars through fraugh and had not paid taxes on the millions and the judge gave her a ten-year prison sentence.
When he sentenced her, she fainted in the court room.
She had been living years a life of luxury for years.
• She had been living in multi-million-dollar homes,
• Private 10-million-dollar airplane,
• Expensive cars,
• Expensive Jewelry.
• Designer clothes.
But when she walked into that court room cool and calm, she probably though the judge would want her autograph before she left.
But once all the evidence was presented, he looked her in the eyes, and she got the shock of her life when the Judge sentence her to ten years in prison…SHE FAINTED!
I mention that only to say…
It would be impossible for us to imagine how lost people are going to feel when they stand before the Lord one day and find out they are going to spend eternity in a burning hell for their sins forever.
And it want be because God wanted to sentence them to a burning hell, it will be because they chose to live a life of sin that put them there and would not repent of their sins.
Notice, when David is paying for the sins, he had committed, we read now…
• His heart is beating fast. He says, “My heart panted,”
• Weakness sets in. He says, “My strength faileth me”
• His sight is affected. He says, “As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.”
Many folks:
• Have died a premature death, and would not be in the graveyard today, BUT SIN PUT THEM THERE!
• There are many folks today having to go for psychiatric care because SIN PUT THEM THERE.
Notice, David told us a great deal about the EMOTIONAL problems that sin had brought to him. But now he is talking about the PHYSICAL PROBLEMS.
It has:
• Affected his heart
• Affected his strength
• Affected his eyes
When folks are in a mess EMOTIONALLY and PHYSICALLY, what do they normally do?
Notice-
C. HE CRIES OUT BEFORE GOD
Notice what he cries to God about.
Look at verses 11-12, we read, “My lovers (Family) and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off. (friends and family)
They (his enemies) also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all day long.”
Notice…
• Friends and family avoid him, he's lonely.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger asked a lady one day how her brother was doing? The reason he wanted to know how he was doing because he had been living in sin and causing a lot of problems for the family.
She told Dr. Belger, our family has given up on him and we no longer allow him around the family.
• His enemies lay traps for him. Look at verse 12, we read, “They also that seek after my life lay snares for me…”
• They speak evil of him.
Look at verse 12, we read, “…And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things…”
• They imagine bad things about him.
We have looked at HIS CONDITION but now let us look at…
II. HIS CONTROL
In this terrible condition, we see this man of God take control of his life.
• In verses 1-12 he is like an airplane out of CONTROL, he is in a tail-spin diving into the earth, and it seems there is no hope.
• In verse 13 Then we see he is able to gain control of his life just in the nick of time.
Look at verse 13, “But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.”
• He told us in verses 1-12 how his friends and family had turned against him.
• He told us how his enemies they sat around trying to imagine how they could do things to make his life even more miserable.
But once he got control of his life, notice, he says he became like a “Deaf” and “Dumb” man.
There are some real advantages of not being able to hear.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger had a neighbor, and he wore a hearing aid. When his wife got onto him or ask him to do something he did not want to do he would reach for his hearing aid, and you could see him turn his hearing aid off.
Illus: When David got CONTROL of his life, he said he became like a DEAF AND DUMB person and what they said he could no longer hear them.
God helped David to reach the place where:
• He did not listen to what they said
• He did not respond to what they were saying
People could solve many of the problems in their life, if they did not care what OTHERS said and thought of them.
WE HAVE TO TAKE THAT APPROACH AS CHRISTIANS WITH SOME PEOPLE.
WHY?
Because God’s Word says, in Romans 12:8, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
It is not always possible, that is why God’s Word says, “If it be possible…”
There are people:
• Who will walk up and kick you when you are down, because they do not want us to get back up
• Who have no life of their own, and they are envious of us, and will try to imagine WHAT THEY CAN SAY or WHAT THEY CAN DO to hurt us even more than we have already been hurting
The best thing you can do with this crowd PUT THEM OUT OF YOUR LIVES!
When we see them, we need to say to them two things:
• Hello!
• Goodbye!
Put them on that list of enemies that you pray for, the enemies that despitefully use you and persecute you. Speak to them; be nice to them BUT LEAVE THEM ALONE!
LEAVE THEM ALONE WITH THEIR EVIL THOUGHTS, AND LET GOD TAKE CARE OF THEM.
We have looked at David’s…
• His Condition
• His Control
Now let us look at…
III. HIS CONCLUSION
Look at verse 15, we read, “For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.”
We cannot live our life without HOPE.
In this sermon we find there are times where it can be difficult to hold onto a sense of hope in our lives.
• Relationships might be falling apart,
• Bills could be piling up,
• Our health could be faltering.
It is hard to have hope when life is hitting us so hard.
Every day we face things and the one thing that keeps us going is that WE HAVE HOPE that it is going to get better.
Illus: Joyce Wright tells us about her husband, Norm. She said, “Sometimes Norm can be so positive and enthusiastic about what ever he's doing, that it's disconcerting to me. I wonder if he's walking in the same world I am.
Once we were fishing in a mountain lake. We hadn't caught a thing. Norm had rowed the boat to five or six different spots, looking for the fish to bite. Finally, after about three hours, he got this big grin on his face and said, ‘Now we can really start fishing. We know where the fish aren't!’
He has a wonderful enthusiasm for life that permeates everything he does.” (Joyce Wright, about her husband, Norm Wright, in Marriage Partnership, Vol. 7, no. 3.)
We have to have a good outlook when it comes to our enemies.
For example, sometimes we have to look at some of them and say to ourselves, “I was doing good before I ever met them, and I will be doing good if I never see them again.”
David evidently HAD placed his hope that things were going to get better, He had reached the place that HIS HOPE WAS NOW IN THE LORD!
Listen, I want to say something that may shock you. There is nobody in our life that we cannot live without.
Illus: An interview was done with former president Ronald Reagan. They asked him how he would cope with a life if Nancy was to die before him. He thought for a few seconds and said, “I do not know how to answer that, because I cannot imagine life without Nancy.”
Listen, many folks have lost their lifetime mates, and by the grace of God they got through it! It was the most difficult time of their life. BUT GOD HELPED THEM!
But I want to say again; there is nobody in our life that we cannot not live without. Nobody!!!
But in saying that, let me say this, NONE OF US CAN GET ALONG WITHOUT GOD!
A lot of folks are trying, but they are making a mess of their life.
• Some think they can’t live without their pills
• Some think they can’t live without their alcohol
• Some can’t live without their god of sports or entertainment to get their mind off of the misery of their life
Listen, the only TRUE HOPE that any of us has is in God.
Our family and friends will let us down, BUT GOD WILL NEVER LET US DOWN!
David in the midst of his trouble said, “For in thee, O LORD, do I hope…”
In God we have our HOPE and TRUST!
Conclusion:
The Christian life is not a FAIRY TALE religion.
• It is a REAL LIFE when we put our trust in the GOSPEL OF CHRIST. It is the best life we can have here on earth.
The Lord said, I HAVE COME THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE AND HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY.
However, the best life will be for us Christians will be when we ALL GET TO HEAVEN!!!
God had taught David some valuable lessons in his sufferings.
God will teach us some valuable lessons from the life of David about our sufferings if we let Him.
I. HIS CONDITION
II. HIS CONTROL
III. HIS CONCLUSION
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Youtube-When We All Get to Heaven - Classic Hymn with Lyrics
