The WINDOW
Bible Teaching Ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
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November 7, 2004
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Faith is not an easy thing! Trusting something that you don’t understand, or haven’t seen with your own eyes is tough – especially if the stakes are high. Eternity is a high stake. George and his wife take the wife’s mother to Jerusalem for the once-in-a-lifetime Holy Land Tour. The relationship hasn’t been that good between George and his mother-in-law. However, for the sake of the trip they kept the arguing down to five or six hours on the plane...then two or three out of four days. (It was a vacation spirit after all)!
On the fifth day George’s mother-in-law has a heart attack and dies. Wading through the international paperwork required to transport the body back to the U.S. one of the Israeli officials pulls the son-in-law off to one side, out of earshot of George’s wife. He offers: "Mister, burial is really inexpensive here. You can get her planted for less than $150. Just transporting your mother-in-law back to the United States will cost over $15,000. Then there is the burial."
George looks at the official and says, "No way!"
The official is stunned, "How come? That’s a lot of money!"
George replies, "I know, I know; but you don’t understand. I can’t have her buried here. Two thousand years ago they buried a man here in Jerusalem, and three days later he got out again. Mister, I just can’t take that risk!"
Salvation is a word that finds its way into most religions. It is in the definition of that word that Christianity separates itself from all other so-called attempts to know God.
The reigning popular religions of the day are really non religions. In a current swell of skepticism, cynicism and individualism, people have turned to a kind of personalized iconoclastic idolatry – you choose a personal god or system that suits. The key is, "Whatever you think is right must be okay, because everybody has a right to his own opinion. You find God your way, and I’ll find Him my way. Don’t impose your thinking on anyone else."
We live in an age of political correctness, which is the offspring of pluralistic-thinking. You cannot say, do or even think anything for fear of offending someone! In this age of "New Age" it is inconceivable to the Baby Boomer or Baby Buster (educated in schools where God has been ruled out of order) that faith and spiritual life are anything more than one’s personal philosophy of life.
Tina Turner is a perfect example; she has sold 30 million records, and talks freely about her “faith”. She says:
"I’m a Buddhist-Baptist. My training is Baptist. And I can still relate to the Ten Commandments. It’s all very close, as long as you contact the subconscious mind. That’s where the coin of the Almighty is. I don’t care what they feel about me and my tight pants on-stage, and my lips and my hair. I am a chanter. And everyone who knows anything about chanting knows you correct everything in your life by chanting every day." [1]
The Bible speaks a word to that kind of thinking:
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 16:25
We can think anything we want to about how to find God, know God, be right with God...but the bottom line is that God Himself makes the rules about how He may be known. He says the only way is by faith:
But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Heb 11:6
Everyone exhibits faith -- operates his whole life by faith. We do so when we turn the key to start the car, open the pantry to find our corn flakes. Every breath is an act of faith that the air won’t be poisoned.
All the major world religions have valuable insights into living good and valuable, moral lives. But that is not to say that living a good and moral life will ultimately bring you to a right relationship with God. The Bible tells us only Jesus can do that:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12
There are many things Christians can share with people of other faith in this world community. We can work with Muslims and Buddhists and Jews – even Unitarians and Atheists for righteous causes like peace and ending poverty and world hunger. We can do that…until they begin to ask us, in the name of tolerance or unity, to give up proclaiming Jesus as the only way to be right with God.
Friends, there are those who would say we are all serving the same God, and that all religions are more or less seeking the same thing, same God. What’s the difference – one has Mohammed, another Buddha, and another worships nature or prays to a squirrel; Christians have their Jesus, others choose what’s right for them.
To that I say you cannot be wrong and right at the same time. Jesus is either right or He is wrong. He claimed to be the only way to God. If that isn’t right, then its wrong.
That is like the old expression, all roads lead to Rome. They don’t! I can show you one; it runs right outside my front door. Cedar Circle is a circle….you can say you’re going to Rome, and since all roads lead to Rome, you’ll take Cedar Circle to get to Rome. Friends, all you’ll get is dizzy…my street is a 360o square circle! You can’t get to Rome like that…you can only get leg cramps walking up and down the 45-degree hill, round and round and round! There is plenty of activity, but you wind-up no closer to Rome than when you started.
Religion without Jesus is like that – just like going to town in a rocking chair – making pretty good time, but you’ll never get to where you’re going!
My friends, when you choose Jesus, you choose Him exclusively; you rest your entire faith and eternity on Him, and His power to save to the uttermost your sin sick soul.
This morning I would like to look at some of the places that people put their faith. Our investigation will be aided by the excellent Biblical doctrine contained in Hymn #380, "My Faith Has Found A Resting Place." Notice, some people have their faith rest in:
ESTABLISHMENTS
For a large number of good, moral, wonderful people in this world, the church (or some representative ecclesiastical body) represents salvation. At an appropriate time, either in childhood or as a penitent adult, the person joins an institution that preaches salvation. The problem is one of accepting a creed without a Christ. The Bible declares that Jesus would build His church – but nowhere does it suggest that the church issues forth the salvation of God.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12
Friend, you can get saved in this church, but not by this church. One of the reasons there is so much trouble in churches across the land is that so many people joined churches instead of trusting in Christ. They aren’t children of God, and they act like it. Where does your faith rest -- in establishments or the Ever living One?
My faith has found a resting place, Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever living One, His wounds for me shall plead.
And then, some people have their faith resting in:
EXPERIENCES
We read of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, attempting to contact their god. They cried out loudly, leaped on the altar, cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed freely. They did this all day long. (Now, this is quite different from the average church service these days – over in 58 minutes and three commercials if the preacher knows what’s good for him. Just thinking about that makes me thankful for our church; we worship until we have worshipped!)
Today people worship at the altar of the "experience of excitement." For some, church is too boring – movies, professional sporting events, or travel replaces worship. Unfortunately, enough of the world has gotten into the church so that even Christian people demand more hype than holiness. Somehow, it doesn’t seem good enough unless the media would approve.
When you come to church it is not the "quality" of the choir’s anthem that determines the quality of worship. It is neither the oratory of the Pastor, nor the programs offered that are the main focus of worship. You come to worship because He is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and you are His creation. Beloved, there is only one qualification for worship -- coming as a sinner to Jesus. He said so:
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37 (KJV)
When is the church going to learn that quality worship is not to be found in more professionally orchestrated "performances" by church staff professionals. Is your faith resting in experience or that Jesus saves?
Enough for me that Jesus saves; This ends my fear and doubt;
A sinful soul I come to him, He’ll never cast me out.
Then, please notice that some people’s faith rests in:
EARNINGS
Some people still have the mistaken impression that if somehow you can balance the cosmic scales between good and bad in your life, you may then be acceptable to God. Tina Turner thinks that. Chanting "corrects" the wrong in her life. I am most grateful to God that I do not have to depend on endless chanting, I’ve got His promises written with the precious blood of Jesus Christ:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 1 Pet 1:18, 19
Gerald Mann said, "God’s grace means that our standing with Him does not depend on who we are and what we’ve done. It depends on who He is and what He’s done." [2]
No one has to earn salvation. No one could earn salvation. Our faith rests in the inspired written Word of God:
My heart is leaning on the Word, The written Word of God,
Salvation by my Savior’s name, Salvation thro’ his blood.
If trusting in the establishment (church), experiences, or trying to earn our right standing, are all empty attempts to know God, what else is there?
Is there any way to have peace with God? I’m glad you asked. My faith has found a resting place in:
EMMANUEL
Emmanuel is the name Mary was instructed to give to her son. It means "God with us." The root words from which the name springs are actually "Overshadowing" and "almighty." Is there one you can trust with your faith this morning? Is there one to which you can entrust your life, your soul? The answer is:
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom 10:13
Your normal question is, "If trusting in church, experiences, or trying to earn my way into God’s favor by doing good things have all failed, what makes faith in Jesus any different? Is this going to wind up just being another empty exercise in religious time-wasting?"
This morning I cannot give you fancy, detailed, politically correct rhetoric. I simply give you the truth.
I was a sinner -- God knows that.
• I needed a Savior -- God sent Him
• I trusted Jesus -- God saved me.
• I have found His promises to be true:
" for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5b
The promise to you is no less than for me.
My great Physician heals the sick, The lost he came to save;
For me his precious blood he shed, For me his life he gave.
If you would receive that promise, simply tell God what He has been waiting to hear from you...you are tired of trusting in all else, establishments, experiences, earning -- your desire is Emmanuel.
Pray:
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died, And that he died for me.
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Footnotes
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1] Bible Illustrator (Hiawatha, Ia, Parson’s Technology), Idx 2988-2988 9/1993.24
2] Gerald Mann "When the Bad Times Are Over For Good, 12
