I got pulled over about a week ago. I was pushing it a little too hard through an intersection to try to make it, and it was not even yellow not even orange. It was red the whole way through. I felt really bad about that. But I also wanted to make sure we got to Jonathan‘s band concert in plenty of time and not miss it. Which I explained to the very nice police officer when he pulled me over, I know people who have spoken about police officers behind their back and have been very judgmental and bitter, and to be honest very sinful in those comments. The Bible actually backs up those police officers for doing their job. And when the police officer brought back my license and registration. He explained to me again what I did wrong and what I should do right. And I confess to him that he was right and pulling me over and that I did except that I was doing wrong and then I thanked him for doing his job And the last thing he said to me was, I hope you make it to your son’s program on time.
When the Bible gives people correction, they pretty much deal with it in the same way they do with the police officer.
Why isn’t the preacher preaching about THIS topic –why is the Good Lord making me hear this again; Why doesn’t he leave me alone and go arrest some criminals and leave me be?
The reason is because He loves you and He wants you to hear it so that you might draw near to him and be the vessel of honor in this world that he has for you to be. Without holiness, that process of Jesus making you more like HIM, to restore the blessed humanity you were created to have, so you might love God with your all and your neighbor as yourself.
There was a book I had to read my senior year of College, one that took colleges by storm back in 1989. It became a global best –selling over 20 million copies. You can readily find it on the shelf of any Goodwill Store. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Some of you may remember STEP#2 Begin with the End in Mind.
That principle is what John writes the 2nd church about. What kind of life do you want to end with when you leave it? When you leave this life and enter the next one, what do you want to have to show Christ for it?
NLT-REV 2:8-11
I can take you right to where John tells us what the second death is, Rev 21:1-8!
Rev 20:12-15 - And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
What happens in the lane of fire? Is that it? Is it just seem to exist? Am I just annihilated?
Did any of you have an older sibling who tormented you? Did any of you have a younger sibling who was a torment to you? How?
20:10 torment. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
That’s what happens. And it never lets up.
But if that is the 2nd Death, then what is the first death?
Well, did you know that everyone has died already? I can take right where we know this to be true–you’ve already read it this morning. 2 Cor 5: 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So many people want to live a life of comfort, of RELIEF NOW with no thoughts of obtaining a CROWN OF LIFE with Jesus.
The discipline of living a life of deferred gratification is nearly non-existent in this world. Why DENY ourselves anything? We are blessed people, so we must enjoy everything! SO many people live a life of pleasure at all costs, and avoid pain at all costs. That philosophy of life isn’t new - the Greeks called it Epicureanism - Epicureanism is a philosophical system (340 years before Jesus) emphasizing the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain as the highest good.
If you take that philosophy even further, you get Hedonism which suggests that pleasure is the only intrinsic good and pleasure IS happiness and life without suffering is the goal. Hedonism seeks to gratify every desire and disregard any values that get in the way of that pursuit. Sound familiar at all?
But if we are wise we must take into consideration how we must begin with the end in mind. And if we want to be a church that pleases Jesus, that is going to overcome and conquer Babylon the way Jesus did, we have to make the decision NOW to BE FAITHFUL in all things of life including suffering!
Remember what Paul told those Galatian believers, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9-NIV
BUT if we deny Jesus, he WILL deny us. You must BELIEVE! The only sin Jesus condemned was UNBELIEF.
Cast out all FEAR! F.E.A.R. is False. Evidence. Appearing. Real. And it must be battled by BELIEF.
Who were the first in the list to be condemned outside of the kingdom of God? Rev 21:8 - The COWARDS!
So are you a coward or an overcome? To be an overcomer you must be A Filled Believer Overcomer
You can’t allow yourself to be deceived by the Devil to think you are a believer just because your parents were, or just because you have always been in church, or just because your grand-parents built a church building, or any of that! You have to come to a point in your life when you claim the name of Jesus Christ for yourself! That you are a believer in your own right.
As NLT John 1:12-13 tells us, “12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”
Listen, Babylon uses marketing and propaganda to train society to repeat his lies over and over again so all of your life your brain hears the false messages, ”You are not enough. You will never be good enough. You don’t have what it takes!”
Have you ever heard that message before? Well it didn’t come from your heavenly Father! He has given you ALL you need to live a life of purpose - He has given you the end to keep in mind!
Stephen Covey died in 2012 from complications due to injuries from a biking accident, but 30 years after the book’s release, his son Sean Covey stated, “I remember one time we visited a friend of my parents' who was an architect in charge of constructing a mall outside of Salt Lake City. We walked around the site, and my dad kept saying "Kids, look over there," as he described what would be there. The mall hadn't been built yet; it was still just an open field. In the construction trailer, we saw these massive sets of blueprints, probably more than 400 pages in all, and he showed us how every single part of the mall had been planned on paper. It was right there in front of us.
On the way home that night, my dad turned to us in the car and said: "You know, those blueprints you saw today are just like your lives. If you plan ahead and build blueprints for what you want to do in life, it's amazing what you can accomplish." Just like that, he was teaching us the whole idea of beginning with the end in mind.”
Your blueprints NEED to have what it takes to be a FULL-BELIEVING OVERCOMER as you life your life in exile to Babylon! You have to believe God so much you are willing to let go in faith and trust Him to catch you!
Some of you know I was raised on a farm. I was the youngest grand-child, which means I was always being watched by somebody. My cousins were bailing hay, and I was riding on the back of a hay wagon as the bails came back and my cousin George hooked and stacked each bail. In between each bail or end row, he would take a moment to teach me how to tie my shoe. And by the end of that loaded wagon, I could tie my shoes by myself. And I have been pretty good at remembering how ever since.
When you stack hay bales –and has anyone here ever baled hay on worked on the wagon? Then you would know how to stack the hay bales criss-crossed each layer so when the wagon rocked, the bales wouldn’t fall off. Well, with each layer, became less room. And as the bailer was finishing, and the wagon was full, with just enough room on the front for one person, many times you tossed bales to the very top. Or the 5 year old who could now tie his shoes!
And that’s where I was. Until the tractor and bailer parked the wagon, unhooked it, and left to hook up the next wagon. I was on the very top, and came to the back to look down … and it was a LONG way down, especially to a five year old! But George was there and he said, “Climb down! You can do it!” So I swung my feet over the top and began to climb my way down, feeling with my feet the top board of the back brace to then climb down like a ladder. But when I got my hands on the top rail, I panicked and froze and could climb down anymore. George told me, “Jump!”
MSG - 1 COR 15:30-33 And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.”
Did you hear what Paul said? If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. - That is Babylon thinking!
Babylon thinking structures life based on what you can get for yourself NOW and doesn’t concern itself with investing anything in the resurrection and life after this one!
The END you need to keep in mind is seeing CHRIST FACE TO FACE IN THE RESURRECTION! You are destined to stand before Jesus - whether you know HIM or not - because my Bible tells me, that EVERY knee will bow - no matter who! And you can either submit and surrender to Jesus now as LORD of your life here, or when it is too late and NO 2nd chances on judgment day, but you will still BOW your knee and acknowledge Him as LORD as you are banished from His sight.
We took door hangers out into the community west of here and Phil came back with a story.
I want to refer back to that article I was reading, the one about Sean Covey, the son of Stephen Covey who wrote the book, 7 HABITS, Sean testified about what it was like Growing up in his home with his author dad – “I was surrounded by this content. It wasn't until later that I recognized the gift I had been given as a child. At 19, when I finally picked up dad's book and began reading what he had to say, I thought, "Wow, my dad is really smart. He has matured a ton." It brought back all of the lessons I had learned throughout my life.”
And then he said this, “The seven habits continue to resonate today because they provide an organizing model or way of thinking that can help people reach their goals and solve problems better and faster. But it's impossible to learn them simply by talking about them. They have to be modeled. They have to be lived. That's what my parents did for me.”
And that is what JESUS DID FOR US! He modeled the life of a lamb even though he was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, He was the sacrificial lamb that took away the sins of the world.
BABYLON will take what it wants BY FORCE. Jesus gained what He could not lose by sacrificing what he could not keep. Listen, If you had a child with a terminal disease, and you found out that they could be cured through a procedure that would transfer their disease to you, would you do it? Would undergo the procedure and die for him or her. Absolutely I would. But what would you gain Pastor Kent if you did that? What would I have gained by doing so? I would have gained my child's life.And this is what God did on a cosmic scale through Jesus's sacrifice.
It's interesting that the few times Jesus commented in the gospels on the "mechanics" of his sacrifice, he characterized it as a "ransom" Which is him saying, “No, don't take them, take Me instead." Do you believe in the ransom power of Jesus Christ for you? Do you FULLY BELIEVE? Is there even 1% of you that doesn’t this morning? Then SURRENDER that 1% to Him so you are FULLY A BELIEVER in JESUS! Does JESUS deserve anything less than your ALL?
Let’s pray.
