I don't know about you, but if I had a doctor like Dr. Kraft in this morning's skit, I would find a new physician too. Friends, very few people want to go to a doctor who lies to them. We want to know the truth, even if it is unpleasant, so we can maybe take some action to keep the bad news from becoming even worse news. Yet, when it comes to spiritual things, a lot of folks don't seem anxious to hear the truth. If someone tells us, "You are OK. You are a good person. If there is a heaven, I'm sure you will be there," we often think, "Hey, that sounds good to me," and we don't bother to check it out and see if what the person said is true. If a doctor said, "Your blood pressure is very high, 180/110. I want you to take this medication," it would be foolish to say, "What are you talking about? I'm not taking any pills. I'm just fine the way I am." Yet, if someone suggests to us that our soul may not be in such great shape, that God may not be pleased with our life, we often respond by saying, "What are you talking about? I'm not listening to you. I'm just fine the way I am."
Friends, I would suggest that all of us need to be concerned about our spiritual health at least as much as we are about our physical well-being. Today we are going to explore some very basic facts, three essential truths which most of us have heard before, but that we sometimes forget. My hope is that God would use His Word to help us see how we can find true spiritual health so that our soul, not just our body, can really be OK. Let's pause and pray that would happen.
Basic fact #1 is this: God alone is our judge. I want to read a Bible passage which I think is very interesting. It is 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. In recent weeks we have been exploring this Book and these verses tell us about the experience of the Apostle Paul on this topic. 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. God has given each of us an assignment. As an apostle, Paul had been given a special task by the Lord. It was his job to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ and present it to people all over the Roman Empire. He knew that God would judge him, evaluate his life, on the basis of whether or not he was faithful in doing what the Lord had called him to do. Now, none of us in this room have received the type of commission Paul did, but all of us have been called by God to live a certain way. The details vary for each of us, but the general outline is that we are to love God and love the people around us. Being kind to others in our family, being diligent in our responsibilities at work or school, reading the Bible, praying, giving money to those less fortunate than we are, going to church, these are all some ways that most of us have been called to express that love for God and for others. As I said, the specific details are different for each of us, but God has called everyone to live in a way that honors Him. That is our job.
How are we doing this? God alone is our judge. The grade He gives us is the only one that counts. That's why Paul says to the Corinthians, "I don't care what you or anyone else think about me and what I am doing. I'm only concerned about what God thinks. If He thinks I'm doing OK, then I am doing OK. The opinions of everyone else do not really matter." Now, that makes sense to many of us and it is a very freeing thought. We need to focus on pleasing only one person, God, and not worry about how we are going to please everyone. But, then Paul says something which is a little harder to swallow. 4:3b,4 ...I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. The conscience is a very important tool, an important gift that God has given to every human being. Maybe someday we will do a more detailed study of "conscience" because it is a very fascinating topic. I suspect, though, that most of us have a bit too much confidence in our conscience. Many folks I know, anyway, figure that if they have a clear conscience, then whatever they are doing must be OK. People are often encouraged to simply follow their conscience, with the assumption that if everyone were to do that, things would work out well. Paul reminds us that our conscience is not infallible.
Let's look at two ways a conscience can be mistaken. There are folks who have what I call an over-sensitive conscience. They are harder on themselves than they should be, and in reality are harder on themselves than God is. I remember one gal a few years ago who felt guilty about the fact that children were dying of starvation in Ethiopia. She just didn't feel bad about it, she felt guilty; felt that it was somehow her fault. Now, she did not have an extravagant lifestyle, she drove a beat-up, old Rambler, and I certainly don't think God blames her for what was happening on the other side of the world, but she blamed herself. Her conscience was mistaken because it made her feel guilt when none was there. However, a far more common problem than an over-sensitive conscience is an under-sensitive conscience. In other words, most folks tend to be easier on themselves than they should be; easier on themselves than God is. Someone said, "Mother Nature could not make us perfect, so she did the next best thing -- made us blind to our faults." Well, I don't think it quite worked that way, but many folks are able to shape their conscience so that it always gives them the benefit of the doubt. For example, if we think someone has wronged us and taken advantage of us, many of us can in very good conscience try to get back at that person. God, however, says vengeance is His job and that people who try to get revenge are guilty of doing wrong themselves.
Our conscience can mislead, and making it our only guide would be like going to a school where we got to choose our own assignments and then got to give ourself the grade we thought we deserved. Kids, that maybe sounds great, but how much do you think you would really learn? I don't think that would work at school, and it certainly doesn't work that way in life. It is God, not me, who makes the assignment and decides how I should be living. It is God, not me, who gets to evaluate what type of job I am doing. Paul reminds us that we don't get to fill out our own report card on life. God does that. He alone is the judge.
Basic fact #2: On our own, none of us are "doing OK." Some of you know this all too well. Guilt and shame saturate your soul, and you need relief. You don't need someone else telling you that you're not doing OK. If that's how you feel, I want you to bear with me because, believe it or not, everyone feels that way. God says, however, that when it comes to life, none of us are getting a passing grade. Why? Because we fail to always do what is right and good. Mark Twain said, "We are all like the moon; we all have a dark side." And he noted that the only perfect people around are the bachelor's wife and the old maid's children. The Bible teaches this in many different places, but most clearly in Romans Chapter 3. Romans 3:10-12; 23 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,... Now, I'm fairly certain at least some of you are thinking, "Pastor, I don't buy that. You are being much too negative. There are a lot of good people out there." This is one point where there is clear disagreement between what the Bible says and what the common attitude is in our culture. In the United States today, most folks believe that people are basically good. Surveys indicate that even at evangelical Christian colleges, most students are convinced that people are basically good. But the Bible teaches the opposite. It says that all of us are sinners, all of us are morally defective, none of us are OK. So who is right? The culture which says we are good, or the Bible which says we are not? Well, I really think that an honest look around us, and in the mirror, will show that the Bible is correct. Someone has said that human depravity is the one biblical teaching that we don't have to accept by faith. There is plenty of proof. Fred Turner, age 53, set out from his home in Beaufort, South Carolina, on a walk across America to, he said, "prove that most people are good." A week later while in Georgia, he was robbed and pushed over a bridge. After spending a few days in the hospital, he got a ride back to South Carolina.
This tendency to do evil starts with young children. Oh, yes, they are as cute as can be, but they are also very selfish. Have you noticed how hard it is for kids to learn to share. As one first-grader said, "Sharing is what you do when you have only one of something and the teacher is looking." Things don't get any better when we get to be adults. As John Corry observed, "Our capacity for wickedness is constant; only the ways in which we practice it change." The dream of having humanity move into an age where there is nothing but peace and harmony just is not happening. The dark side of our nature, the evil which lies within each of our souls, what theologians describe as total depravity, continues to plague us as individuals and as a society.
Now, this doesn't mean that people don't do good things. They often do. But, even the good things are not always that good. Sometimes selfish motives cause us to do what we call that good action. Josh Billings said, "Mules are like some men, very corrupt at heart. I have known them to be good mules for six months, just to get a good chance to kick somebody." Now, we may not be looking for a good chance to kick someone, but sometimes we do a good thing because we believe we are going to gain from it. I maybe think, "Well, if I help my neighbor paint his fence this week, then I can get him to help me paint my house this summer." Or perhaps I think, "If I make a gift to this group they will publish my name on the list of donors and everyone will think I am a very generous person." Sometimes our motives stink, but even if we do something for basically the right reason, there is almost always still a little bit of selfishness that seeps in and pollutes our motivation. Oh, we can try blaming circumstances for our less than perfect attitudes and actions. We can continue to point the finger and blame someone else for our mistakes, but it doesn't change the fact that we are failing to live up to God's standard. Even if we are not doing anything that we should not be doing, there is still a long list of things that we should be doing, but are not.
You might be thinking, "Pastor Dan, I really don't think things are that bad. Yes, we all make mistakes, we all sin sometimes, but as a whole most of us are pretty good." Friends, I know a lot of people think that, but God does not. I'm afraid our perspective on what is good and what is OK is a bit distorted. J. C. Ryle, an Anglican Bishop, wrote this many years ago, and I think it is very accurate, "The very animals whose smell is most offensive to us have no idea that they are offensive, and they are not offensive to each other. And man, fallen man, has no idea what a vile thing sin is in the sight of God." When we realize who God really is, when we begin to understand His holiness and become aware of our lack of holiness, we start to realize what a vile thing our sin is in the sight of God. So, whether we realize it or not, on our own, none of us are doing OK.
Now, I realize I have painted a pretty grim picture, but that is necessary. It is against the very dark backdrop of human sinfulness that the glory of God's Gospel shines most brightly. In Romans 6:23 we read that the wages of sin, the results of our not making the grade, is death. That means both physical death and spiritual death. Spiritual death is eternal separation from God in hell. We are not doing OK! Yet, the verse continues..even though the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That brings us to the third truth.
#3) Through Jesus Christ, God makes us "OK." When Jesus Christ died on the cross, something that really happened almost 2000 years ago in Palestine, He paid the penalty for our sin. He experienced the death that we had earned through our rebellion against God. Because Jesus died as a substitute for us, we don't have to experience the spiritual death we deserve. Let me share the best analogy I can think of which explains how God turns sinners into saints: As God grades each of our lives, He finds we all are failing. As a holy, pure, and perfect God, He very justly demands that we score 100% on the test of life, that we don't sin, but instead live every moment for His glory. Yet, as we said, none of us are doing that. Oh, some score higher than others. There may be some in this room who are obeying God barely 30% of the time. Some are hitting 60-70%. Maybe a few are scoring in the high 80s. But it doesn't matter. As an old Negro spiritual said, "God wants 100%, 99 1/2 won't do; won't do for my Lord." Because He is holy, God does not grade on the curve. The top half, or even the top 10%, don't qualify for heaven just because they are better than others. All God asked was that human beings would continually trust, love, and obey our Creator, but none of us have done it. We deserve a failing grade. We deserve to be punished for our sin.
Because God is gracious and compassionate, however, this is not something He is willing to accept. In a magnificent plan, He sent God the Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. As Jesus lived here for 33 years, He took the test of life. And guess what, He scored 100%. Absolutely perfect. Then God makes this incredible offer to us: If you will trust in My Son Jesus, if you will put your faith in Him, I will erase your score for your life, and place His perfect score beside your name. This is what the theologians call "imputed righteousness." From God's perspective, Jesus' perfection is now ours. This is a big part of what it means to become a Christian. Yes, there are other things involved. For one thing, God helps us raise the score we are getting by our own actions; He helps us become a better person. Yet, no matter how well we do, no matter how much we avoid doing bad things and how much we succeed in doing good things, we can never afford to put our own score back. Until the day I die, I and everyone else who is a Christian, need to say it is only because of Jesus that I am OK. It is only His perfect righteousness that enables me to be free of the guilt and punishment my sin deserves.
So, how can the righteousness of Jesus become ours? There continues to be a lot of confusion at this point, but the Bible makes it clear that this salvation comes by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Going to church, getting baptized, being a nice person, are all wonderful things, but none of these are what enables one to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Believing in God, praying, reading the Bible, believing the facts about the Gospel, are all important, but someone can do all those things and still not have Jesus' perfect score beside their name. The only way to receive the righteousness of Christ, the only way to become a genuine Christian, the only way to be saved from eternal punishment is to put your faith in Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior. John 1:12 says Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -- Friends, only when you have received Jesus Christ, only when you have put your trust in Him, are you truly OK. Friends, I am afflicted with a chronic disease that only God can heal. It is called sin. Because I have trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, God provides much comfort and encouragement to me so that I'm OK, and even though I still struggle with this disease, I can live a very happy and joyful life. I look forward to the day, however, when God will give me complete healing, when He brings me to my eternal home, what we call heaven, where I will be free from sin forever.
Many of you here today are believers in Jesus Christ. Some of you have been Christians for many years, others for maybe just a few months. Whatever the case, I hope the words I have spoken today have been an encouragement to you. They should be, because what we have said is that no matter who you are, no matter what you have done, no matter how many times you have done it, no matter what other people think of you, if you are truly a believer in Jesus Christ, you are OK. You really are. Oh, I'm sure there is still some work to be done in your life, and you need to keep at that, but today I want you to go home and spend some time this afternoon or evening just thinking about how wonderful it is that Jesus' perfect score is written beside your name. Praise God for that. And in honor of Friendship Sunday, tell one of your friends this great news. Now, however, some of you are not sure you are really a believer in Jesus. Or maybe you know you are not. You have heard some hard truths today. Without Jesus Christ, you are not OK. But because it is what the Bible teaches, I am convinced it is indeed the truth. Now, I could have lied and told you that you are doing just fine the way you are, but I hope you are glad that I have told you the truth today. Because, we have also seen how each of us can become OK. No matter who you are, or what you have done, or how many times you have done it, the Lord offers free and full forgiveness, offers the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, if you will stop thinking you are OK the way you are and start trusting in Jesus Christ. With the help of God's Spirit, I pray you can do that today.
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