INTRO.- We live in a stressful or stress-filled society.
ILL.- A Tahoma, Washington newspaper carried the story of Tattoo the basset hound some time ago. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog’s leash in the car door and took off for a drive – with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice. Motorcycle officer Terry Filbert noticed a passing vehicle with something dragging behind it. He commented that the poor basset hound was, “picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could.” He chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was rescued. But not before the dog had reached a top speed of 25 miles per hour, falling down and rolling over several times.
Many of us are living our lives like Tattoo, picking them up and putting them down as fast as we can – rolling around and feeling dragged through life. Life is tough.
What causes our stress and despair?
ILL.- Someone said to me recently, “I don’t watch the TV news. It’s so depressing.” That’s one of the things that causes so much despair. Most of the TV news is either bad or sad. You don’t hear much good stuff that lifts you up.
For example, every time you turn around you hear about the war in Iraq and it’s not even supposed to be a war. Not now, but it is. Every time you hear of more boys getting killed it does something to you. It pulls at your heartstrings. Or it’s the news about the economy.
ILL.- I just read that the cost of living adjustment intended to help more than 47 million Social Security recipients keep up with inflation is expected to be a tad larger in 2005 than it was this year, BUT THE BAD NEWS is that much of the increase will be eaten up by higher Medicare premiums. Oh joy!
ILL.- And every time we go to the gas pump, the prices are higher. I’m not sure what the average price is in Arkansas, but you certainly don’t want to move to California! I have read that unleaded regular costs around $2.40 a gallon and is as high as $2.73 in San Francisco. Of course, we all believe we haven’t seen the end of this thing yet.
Then there is the lack of morality and spirituality in our country that leads to even more despair. It’s so bad that many people are pushing to legalize same sex marriages and they also want to kick the Ten Commandments out of the courthouse!
ILL.- One preacher wrote, “There was a time when we basically considered ourselves a ‘Christian’ nation in that we generally identified with the Christian faith. There was a feeling that the principles on which our country was founded (freedom, democracy, law and morality) were principles that came from the Scriptures. We did not see a problem with the fact that the laws of the land came from the laws of the Bible. The Ten Commandments were seen as a good thing. Prayer, even at public events, was welcomed and deemed important. The Bible was seen as ‘the good Book’ rather than a dangerous document.
“Things have radically changed. It should be clear that our culture has rejected Christianity as a part of what defines us as a nation. We no longer welcome it as the primary religious influence on the nation. And in its place has come a confusing array of belief systems and religions from other parts of the world. Eastern mysticism, Islam, the Kabbala, and Satan worship are all seen as equal to, and as relevant as Christianity.”
It’s depressing to think where our country has been and where it is now, spiritually speaking!
LL.- Recently, I had a man write me via e-mail, saying, “pray for my two daughters. They are going through some tough times. “Dad can do only so much. WE NEED GOD.” He said a mouthful, did he not? Our only hope is in God!
Ps. 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Ps. 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
We believe that God our Father and Creator is our only safe and sure help in life. We believe that Jesus is His Son and our Savior. We also believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It’s a blueprint for life, a roadmap for where we are going, and a divine prescription for all of life.
PROP.- Our only hope in this world of despair is the gospel of Jesus, which is as simple as ABC.
1- A - All have sinned
2- B - Behold the Lamb of God
3- C - Come unto me
I. A - ALL HAVE SINNED
Rom. 3:23 “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
ILL.- Barry Riggs and I have some things in common and some differences. Barry is an Arkansas boy. I’m a Missouri boy. He’s 30 something years old and I’ll soon be 60. He lives in the country and I live in town. He likes to put out fires and I run from fires. He’s got two small children and I’ve got two big children. He drives a pickup truck and I drive a car. He has short hair and I have long hair. His hair is dark brown and mine is quite gray. He is thin and I am not so thin.
BUT BARRY AND I DO HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON. We both love to torment and tease the daylights out of Paula in various ways: her cooking ability, just to name one.
Truthfully, Barry and I do have something in common. It’s actually something that we all have in common. WE’RE ALL SINNERS IN NEED OF DIVINE MERCY!
ILL.- In preparation for a big revival meeting in a large city, the famous evangelist Billy Sunday wrote a letter to the mayor and asked for the names of individuals he knew who had spiritual problems and needed help and prayer. How surprised the evangelist was when he received from the mayor a city phone directory.
Everybody listed in the phone book here in Jonesboro, AR, also has the same problem. All have sinned. It’s a common problem.
ILL.- One preacher said, “I have a very good friend who recently shared with me that on one occasion, out of sincere concern over sin and desire to be what God wanted her to be, she prayed, ‘God, show me the sin in my life. Show me what I really am.’
“She said that in a couple of weeks she began to pray, ‘Lord, I’ve seen enough! Please, Lord, don’t show me any more. I can’t stand myself!’”
I suspect if we prayed that way, we’d probably get the same results. We do, however, need to be aware of our own sinfulness. But once we discover we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, what should we do?
ILL.- A Baptist preacher in Bluefield, West Virginia said, “This well-dressed woman came forward at the salvation invitation. I took her hand and prepared to give her a prayer to repeat after me. The prayer I usually give is, ‘Dear Lord, I know that I am a no-good sinner. I know I can’t save myself. I do need forgiveness for my awful sins. I can’t do without you, Jesus. Please forgive me for my many sins.’
He said, “I took this woman’s hand and began to give her the prayer to repeat after me. ‘Dear Lord, I know I’m a no-good sinner.’ She never said a word. I looked at her and said, ‘Don’t you want to be saved?’
“She said, ‘Yes, I do want to be saved, but I’m not a sinner.’ ‘Then you can’t be saved, Jesus only died for sinners.’ ‘But,’ she replied, ‘I’m a good sinner.’
“’A good sinner! Lady, there are no good sinners. You will have to take your seat. God can’t save you until you become conscious that you are a no-good sinner and need His forgiveness.’
“’But, you don’t understand. I’m really not a bad sinner.’
“I told her to go back and sit down. She held on to my hand with a vise-like grip. Finally she looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Oh, please forgive me. I know I am a no-good hell-deserving sinner. I am a proud, no-good sinner. I do need Christ to forgive me of my sins.’ “’Wonderful! Now, lady, you are ready to do business with God.’”
Brothers and sisters, the way up is still down. No one is ever going to get better until they recognize how bad off they really are. All of us are no good sinners! But that’s not the end of the story.
II. B - BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD
ILL.- It is said that one time President Lincoln was accused of being two-faced. He replied, “"If I were two faced, I wouldn’t use this one.” If I had his face I wouldn’t have wanted to use it either!
Just as there are two sides to every coin, there are generally two sides to people or two faces to every person.
ILL.- I like MEL GIBSON the actor. I find him to be a fascinating character. He was born Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson in Peekskill, New York, the sixth child of 11 on Jan. 3, 1956. When he was 12, his father won $25,000 on Jeopardy, combined it with a workman’s compensation settlement, and moved the family to Australia to keep his boys out of the Vietnam War draft. Coming of age in the land-down-under, Gibson became a heavy drinker by 16, not to mention a smoker, and a scrapper.
Without him knowing, his sister, Mary, sent an application on his behalf to the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. Gibson was invited to audition, was accepted, and traded his job at an orange juice factory for an acting career that would eventually make him one of the most recognized and respected actors in the world.
However, he continued to drink and brawl and wound up in a hospital with a broken nose and jaw in 1979. A week later and still swollen, he auditioned for the movie “Mad Max” and landed the role partly because of his messed up face.
He went on to play a diverse range of characters, including Hamlet, William Wallace in Braveheart (which he also directed), and the cocky detective, Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series. Personally, I liked him in Maverick and What Women Want and several other movies.
The world knows Mel Gibson as an actor, director, winner of two Academy Awards and The Sexiest Man Alive, according to a People Magazine poll in 1996.
His friends know him as a prankster, conservative thinker, self-deprecating humorist and staunch Roman Catholic opposed to birth control and abortion. (Gibson has seven kids with his wife of 24 years, Robyn). Alcoholics Anonymous know him as someone struggling to control his drinking and live one-day-at-a-time since joining in 1990.
He said, "My biggest weakness is that I’m excessive. Fortunately for everyone concerned, I’m not as excessive as I used to be."
Gibson admitted to Diane Sawyer on TV that he has been addicted to almost everything: cigarettes, booze, drugs, coffee, etc.
Having won an Academy Award for Best Director for his work on Braveheart, several years later, Gibson took on another project close to his heart: “The Passion of the Christ” movie.
I think there are two sides to Mel Gibson. On the one hand, he is a rough, addictive person and yet full of laughter. On the other side, I see a devout Catholic who believes strongly in the Passion of Christ, the death of Christ on the cross, which gives deeper meaning to his life. Anybody who has seen THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST can tell there is a spiritual depth to Mel Gibson.
Brothers and sisters, I think we all have two sides to us. A sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a dark side and a good side. A sinful, lazy side to us and yet a devout side that wants to honor and please God.
I also happen to believe that there is only one person who has ever been single-minded, single-faced in his approach to life. Who’s that? The Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
John 1:29 John said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
I believe that Jesus was single-minded in life. His whole purpose in putting on the human flesh was to heal, help, bless, minister, forgive, and save mankind. NEVER WAS THERE SUCH A FOCUSED PERSON!
Jesus is the only answer to our sin problem. No one can forgive our sins, take away the guilt and take us to heaven except Jesus!
John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Our Savior is not Billy Graham. Our Savior is not Mother Teresa. As great as both of these have been, neither of them can save anybody from their sins. They can only point to Him who is the Savior. And they did this in their specialized ministries, different as they were.
We must also realize that our hope and help will not arrive on Air Force One! Nor can we look to the stars, the Hollywood Stars or the astrological stars. We can only look to the star of the universe, the star of all stars, ….THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
III. C - COME UNTO ME
ILL.- When I was thinking about leaving the church in Iberia, MO, elder Ralph Riemensnider wrote me the nicest letter of recommendation, the best ever. Of course, some people believe that when someone gives you a great letter of recommendation, it’s just because they want to get rid of you! Seriously, Ralph believed in me. He believed in my preaching and all aspects of my ministry.
It’s great when someone believes in you. WHAT A GREAT FEELING! Everybody needs someone to believe in them, who they are, what they are, how they are.
But there is someone else who believed in me more, and loved me more. One word. Care to guess? MOTHER. Mother was always there for me: in my childhood days, in my wildhood days, and in my working days, etc. While mother was in the nursing home the last 10 months of her life, she continued to love me and believe in me.
Two years ago in the spring, I grew this mustache and also a beard or goatee for a social activity at our church. Mother didn’t know that I had grown the mustache and beard. I sometimes showed up in Joplin, MO, at the nursing home without letting mother know I was coming. I wanted to surprise her. I went to see her early one morning and as I walked down the hallway to her room, I met mom coming down the hall. She was walking slowly with the help of her walker. She looked up at me with her one eye (she was blind in the other) and said, “Steven, is that you?” I said, “Yes.” She looked at me, my face, my whiskered face and said, “I’D RATHER STROKE A DOG.”
But mother loved me in spite of that growth on my face. She loved me all the days of her life. She believed in me. I would send her cassette tapes of my sermons. And I was told that she was sit and listen to them and invite others to listen to them. She would laugh heartily at my funny stories. One time she said to me, “Where did you learn to preach like that?” meaning she believed in my preaching and in me.
Mother loved me more than anyone…WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ONE PERSON. The Lord Jesus. And this is true for us all.
ILL.- Tom Emmerson, General Manager of the Trees ‘n Trend stores, often quoted his mother. She would say, “Honey, I love you BUT JESUS LOVES YOU MORE.” And He does. He loves us more than anyone. More than our mamas and our daddies. More than our mates and more than our children.
ILL.- As Max Lucado has said, “If Jesus had a refrigerator your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.”
He thinks so much of you and me that He said in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus is our weary lifter and our burden bearer. He is our rest giver. Jesus can save and soothe us. There is no one else who can do for us what He has done and will do! He believes in us, but we must come to Him in faith, surrender and obedience for Him to give us rest, comfort, forgiveness, and salvation.
CONCLUSION-------------------------------------------
ILL.- Charles H. Spurgeon was England’s best-known preacher in the 1800’s. He often preached to audiences of 10,000 without a PA system. He said one time, "I would recommend you either believe God to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two."
BELIEVE GOD TO THE HILT. Believe Christ to the hilt.
In this mixed up and messed up world, full of despair, our only hope is in God and Christ. Believe to the hilt. Trust. Obey.
