What will you do with Jesus?
Turn to Him Acts 3:17-22
Focus: Hearing the good news of Jesus demands a response¡K will it be to turn to him?
Function: To call hearers to turn their lives away from sin and back towards Him.
Sunday mornings at our house are crazy¡Xas you might imagine! I have to hand it to my wife, though. She orchestrates all the things which have to be done with amazing grace and efficiency as she does everything else¡K but its crazy nonetheless! She gets up first and begins getting herself ready. The boys and I usually get up about the same time and while I¡¦m getting myself ready, she fixes breakfast, dresses the boys, helps them eat, brushes their teeth, combs their hair ¡V usually has a couple of suggestions as to what I should wear (or NOT wear), fixes the coffee and finishes getting herself ready. Well, when I began thinking about an illustration to begin this morning¡¦s lesson, I didn¡¦t have to look any farther than last Sunday morning. It was a typical Sunday morning and since I had gotten ready a little early I was given the task of dressing one of the boys. That¡¦s all I had to do! While Andy was finishing breakfast, I had left the room for just a second¡XI promise, that¡¦s all it was! Suddenly, I heard a crash and the sound of breaking glass! I ran into the kitchen where Andy was standing screaming over a broken glass candle stick. The cabinet it came from was off limits- and he knew that. That¡¦s probably why he was screaming. He had been caught and knew he was in trouble. The floor of our kitchen is tile, so glass doesn¡¦t just break¡Xit shatters all over the place! I picked him up, as lovingly as I could told him that¡¦s why he wasn¡¦t to play in that cabinet, and began cleaning up the mess. Well, Celeste came down¡Xall ready herself¡Xand bailed me out. After it was all cleaned up, Andy looked at me and said, ¡§I¡¦m sorry I broke your thing, I¡¦ll never do it again.¡¨
The Bible says that God rejoices at one sinner who repents! Luke 15:7
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. NIV
„X There was a party going on in Heaven; the angels were rejoicing with Andy last week¡K (& he hasn¡¦t done it again!)
„X ¡§I¡¦m sorry, I¡¦ll never do it again!¡¨
How many times had I heard that one? How many times have I used that one?
How many times have YOU told that one to God?
„X ¡§God, I¡¦m sorry¡K I won¡¦t ever do it again!¡¨
„X Then inevitably we find ourselves right back there, saying the same prayer because we¡¦ve done it again.
Of course, I don¡¦t mean to make light of it¡K we know the truth of the matter is that we have ¡§all sinned and fallen short of God¡¦s glory.¡¨ (Rom. 3:23)
„X We have all messed up in much bigger ways than breaking Mom¡¦s candle stick!
„X We have ALL literally ¡¥missed the mark¡¦ haven¡¦t we? The very definition of sin is that God has set his standard and we have failed to hit it¡Xwe¡¦ve ¡¥missed the mark¡¦!
„X Part of what it means to be human is to struggle with sin¡K the Apostle Paul did. In Romans 7 he talks about his own inner struggle and describes it as a war going on inside him.
Romans 7:15-23
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God¡¦s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. NIV
„X It gives me encouragement to know that I¡¦m not the only one who has ever wrestled with this.
„X One thing that strikes me about this text, is that Paul seems to demonstrate a genuine sorrow over his sin and a desire to overcome it.
Sorrow over our sin ought to be a natural response to the grace & goodness of God and to His good news.
„X Just like when we flip that light switch on in our bathroom in the morning it all of our blemishes and imperfections are brought out into the light¡K So the light of God --when put up against our lives-- exposes all of our sins; makes us keenly aware of our imperfection before God.
„X Back in the O.T. when Isaiah encountered the glory of God, he was instantly aware of his own sin.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isa 6:5NIV
„X In the parable Jesus told in Luke 18 of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, in an interesting turn of the story it is the Tax Collector rather than the religious Pharisee who demonstrates this spirit of penitence before God.
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Luke 18:13NIV
„X It is that contrite spirit; that penitent heart that God is looking for in his people!
The Psalmist says 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51:15-17 NIV
„X Worship is NOTHING if it doesn¡¦t involve a broken & contrite heart¡K a sorrowful spirit over one¡¦s own sin!
Two weeks ago, I posed to you the question that we¡¦ve been considering: What will you do with Jesus?
„X The point has been that just knowing about Jesus is not enough¡K we are called to DO something about it.
„X The love of God invites a response! The good news demands a decision! We cannot stay ¡¥neutral¡¦ on Jesus. To not decide is to decide!
„X Maybe you decided long ago what you were going to do about Jesus and you¡¦ve been a disciple ever since¡K maybe you need to renew that decision this morning¡K or maybe you are wrestling this morning with this Jesus. You don¡¦t know exactly what you¡¦re going to DO about him.
„X I challenged you to Listen to Him¡Xto hear his advice for our lives and put it into practice; see where it gets you.
„X I challenged you last week to Trust in Him¡Xlet go of the trust you¡¦ve placed in worldy things or self and put it in Jesus.
„X So, what will you do? I want you to consider this morning¡K have you Turned to Him?
The Bible word for it is REPENTANCE and it has been a part of the gospel message from the very beginning!
Jesus came proclaiming it. Mark 1:14-15
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" NIV
It was a part of Paul¡¦s message in the text that was read earlier.
„X Peter has been speaking to a crowd of Jews at a place called Solomon¡¦s Colonnade and he¡¦s explained to them that it was THEIR God (the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob) who had sent Jesus¡K
„X And it was THEM that handed him over to be crucified! They had disowned him, their Messiah!
Acts 3:17-22
17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.
„X And what should they do?
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ’The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. NIV
He told another crowd the same thing over in Acts 26:20.
20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. NIV
„X He says, REPENT & TURN TO GOD and then prove this repentance by your actions!
I¡¦m afraid that we misunderstand Repentance today¡K its not a word you typically hear outside of religious circles.
„X I can¡¦t ever remember watching Peter Jennings or Dan Rather come on t.v. with a late breaking news.. ¡§Janet Jackson/ Pete Rose repented today.¡¨
„X Instead, in those rare occasions where someone does come out, it is usually stated something like, ¡§I¡¦m sorry if you took it that way.¡¨ Or ¡§I¡¦m sorry if YOU were offended, but I didn¡¦t mean anything by it.¡¨
„X This week CBS has been apologizing all over the place for their super-bowl half-time show¡Xbut as far as I can tell nobody is taking responsibility for it. The NFL is blaming CBS. CBS has blamed MTV (which it owns). MTV has blamed the performers. Justin Timberlake has chalked it up to a ¡¥garment malfunction¡¦ (that¡¦s a new one!)
Our society simply misunderstands repentance
„X It is turning away from Sin; Turning your back on it¡K leaving it¡K walking away!
„X And back to God¡K Saying, God I¡¦m sorry for what I¡¦ve done, please forgive me and I then proving it by my deeds.
And we can absolutely rejoice in the fact that we have a loving God who wants nothing more than to forgive us when we fail him and to help us to not let that happen again!
„X Are there things in your life that you need to get OUT of your life? Are there sins that you keep coming back to time and time again?
„X Have you truly repented of them? Have you truly turned your back on your sin and turned towards God.. putting the past behind you?
My guess is, our main problem with repentance isn¡¦t an intellectual understanding of it, but rather truly demonstrating it in our lives. That is, we WANT not to sin again, we are truly sorry over our sin, but we find ourselves going back to it time and time again¡K like the proverb says, ¡§a dog returning to its vomit. Or a pig which has been washed going back to wallow in the mud.¡¨ Why would anyone want to do that?
Let me offer some simple, very practical advice from God¡¦s Word on how we might demonstrate true repentance by.
1) Own up to sin
a) Admit it when it happens! Don¡¦t rationalize it, redefine it or redistribute it!
i) We tend to want to rationalize it away¡K ¡§oh, it wasn¡¦t really THAT bad, anyway¡K nothing like what so-and-so did.¡¨
ii) We tend to want to redefine it¡K ¡§murder becomes a ¡¥choice¡¦; a deviant lifestyle becomes an ¡¥alternative¡¦ lifestyle; theft becomes ¡¥evasion¡¦, etc.¡¨ and we re-frame sin into something more palatable.
iii) Or we redistribute it¡K not wanting to take any of the responsibility for it ourselves, we blame anybody but ourselves. We blame our parents for not raising us right, or our genetics for predisposing us to it, or our costume designers and on & on.
b) In Alcoholics Anonymous, I am told that the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. THAT¡¦S the key to repentance, too.
c) If we¡¦re going to demonstrate true repentance and ask God to forgive us of our sin with a broken and contrite spirit, then we¡¦ve got to FIRST admit our sin.
d) I think that¡¦s the point in John¡¦s admonition to his readers in 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. NIV
i) The point he¡¦s making is that we must acknowledge our sin; we must confess that it is there
ii) But the good news is that he is faithful and just in forgiving us! That¡¦s his promise to us!
2) Be Deliberate in Avoiding Sin
a) Too many Christians want to walk the fine line between sin and righteousness¡K as if we want to get as close as we might possibly can without crossing the line.
i) Teenagers used to ask me, ¡§How far is too far on a date?¡¨ You see, rather than asking, ¡§How can I pursue Godly purity in my relationship with my boyfriend/ girlfriend?¡¨ the question was a pushing of the envelope. ¡§How far can I go before it becomes sin?¡¨
b) Folks, don¡¦t flirt with temptation! If we¡¦re going to demonstrate true repentance, then we¡¦ve got to get serious about the power of sin!
c) Paul¡¦s advice to Timothy on at least two occasions was to RUN from it!
i) In 1 Timothy 6, Paul lists a number of sins, from teaching false doctrines to stirring up unhealthy controversies, to the love of money¡K and he warns him saying, ¡§But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.¡¨ (1 Tim 6:11)NIV
ii) Again, in 2 Tim 2:22 similar advice, ¡§22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.¡¨ NIV
iii) He says, ¡§RUN! FLEE! In the opposite direction from sin!¡¨
iv) Can¡¦t you just picture Joseph running out of Potiphar¡¦s house when Potiphar¡¦s wife comes after him seductively? That¡¦s the picture I get in my mind of fleeing from evil! Certainly not standing around to see what¡¦s going to happen or how far you might go without sinning.
d) It seems to me that this means we ought to try to identify our own vulnerabilities, because this is where Satan is going to tempt us. For example, if you¡¦re struggle is with alcohol, you don¡¦t put yourself in a situation where you¡¦ll be pressured to take a drink. That goes for other weaknesses as well.
i) I¡¦m a little different than some Christians. I have no problem accepting the notion that some people may be ¡¥predisposed¡¦ to certain sins- be it alcoholism or homosexuality-- because I believe that we are ALL predisposed to sin of some sort. How else do you account for the 100% sin rate in America. ¡§We¡¦ve ALL sinned and fallen short!¡¨
ii) That in no way excuses our sin¡K rather it should caution us to identify our weaknesses and work to avoid those temptations!
3) Work to Cultivate God¡¦s Spirit within You
a) If Paul¡¦s inner struggle with sin is indicative of all of us (as I believe it is) then it seems to me that the more ¡§full of the Spirit¡¨ we are, the more we are controlled by the Spirit and the less we are controlled by the flesh.
b) So, we work to ¡¥grow¡¦ that Spirit within us. You say, well, how do we DO that?
i) We do things like worship, we pray, we meditate on God¡¦s Word¡K things that sound so simple, yet through those spiritual disciplines God molds us into the people He wants us to become.
ii) He changes us from the inside out, by growing His Spirit within us.
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. NIV
c) Why does Paul tell the Christians at Philippi to ¡¥think about such things?¡¦
i) We¡¦ve all heard the expression: Garbage IN/ Garbage OUT
ii) If we work to avoid temptation and the input of garbage into our systems
iii) AND work to fill our souls with the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God
iv) Then, I believe, God¡¦s Spirit has more room to work; more room to grow inside of us!
d) And so, we work to grow that Spirit so that more and more when temptation comes, the decisions we make will be Spirit-led and not led by our personal, selfish, sinful desires.
4) Finally, Understanding what God has Done for Us Should Motivate Us!
a) Folks, ¡§But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.¡¨ Rom 5:7-8 NIV
b) What greater motivation do we need?
i) What motivates you to do the will of God?
ii) Fear of punishment? Fearful the preacher will call and ask you what you¡¦ve been up to? Fear of Hell?
iii) Those aren¡¦t horrible motivations, but fear doesn¡¦t last very long as a motivator.
c) But¡K LOVE! Now, that¡¦s a motivator! That¡¦s what drove God to send his one and only Son to this Earth to die¡K he loved us.
d) I believe that when we seriously think about what God has done for us¡K I mean meditate about it; think about, ..then motivation to avoid sin won¡¦t be a problem!
i) The God who created the Heavens and Earth with a word wants a relationship with me.
ii) And he came to this Earth, lived as a man, was rejected and beaten, and ultimately suffered the cruelest of deaths.
iii) But not only that, the Bible says that he took on the sin of the world¡Xincluding mine and yours¡Xso that we could live in eternity with Him.
e) If THAT is what love motivated God to do¡K what will it motivate YOU to do?
Its OUR call¡K what will we do?
„X Will you Listen to Him; what he has to say for your life?
„X Will you Trust in Him? Letting go of the trust that we put in ourselves and trust him with your life?
„X Will you Turn to Him and away from your sin this morning?
Maybe you realize that you¡¦ve not truly demonstrated repentance by turning your back on sin and turning to Him, let us encourage you to make this right with God¡K not let another day go by!
If you¡¦ve never committed your life to Christ, let us encourage you to do so.
