The Purpose Of God’s X-Ray

THE PURPOSE OF GOD’S

X-RAYS

2 Cor. 5:10

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Today I got a call by a man who was angry about our street signs. I asked him how HE was trying to get the Gospel out, and he said he wasn’t. “I like how I’m doing it better than how you’re NOT doing it!”

2. Reminds me of the 2 guys standing by the side of the road holding up signs. One said, "The End is Near!" The other’s sign read, "Turn back before it’s too late!"

3. The driver of a passing car yelled, "Get a job!" A second, immediately behind the first, yelled, "Leave us alone you religious freaks"!

4. Shortly afterward they heard screeching tires and a splash followed by more screeching tires and another splash.

5. One guy said to the other, "Do you think it would be better if we just said, ’The Bridge is Out’?”

B. NEED FOR X-RAY

1. One of the least favorite places for anyone to go is to the doctor. One major reason is because no one likes to get shots! Yet, doctors are there to help us in times when we are sick and need attention physically.

2. Most of our physical problems are easy for a doctor to diagnose: a scrapped knee, a bump on our head, a sprained ankle, a big cut that needs stitches.

3. But there are some injuries a doctor can’t see -- inside of us -- that causes him to use a special tool. It’s called an x-ray machine. X-Ray’s are used to take a picture of problems that are inside of us.

4. Tonight we’re going to take a quick look at the marvel of the X-ray and also notice that God invented it first! Before we get to heaven, we must go through 3 heavenly X-Rays. Title of tonight’s message is “The Purpose of God’s X-Ray.”

I. DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN X-RAYS

A. INVENTION OF X-RAYS

1. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845 – 1923) was a German physicist, who, on November 8, 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays.

2. This achievement earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. During 1895 Röntgen was investigating the external effects from the various types of vacuum tube equipment when an electrical discharge is passed through them.

3. Röntgen observed that the invisible cathode rays caused a fluorescent effect on a small cardboard screen painted with barium platinocyanide. Once he backed this up with a sheet of lead, it formed an image.

4. The very first picture he took using X-rays was of his wife Anna Bertha's hand. When she saw her skeleton she exclaimed "I have seen my death!"

B. WHAT X-RAYS CAN SEE

1. Your bones.

2. Your inner organs

3. Help eliminate possibilities

4. At Airports:

a. Can see inside your luggage.

b. Can even see unusual items, like this Chihuahua!

II. 3 ASPECTS OF GOD’S X-RAY

A. HIS OMNISCIENCE

1. God says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

2. You see, God sees inside us with His own form of X-ray. Here’s 3 things that only God can see in our x-ray that doctors can’t.

1. He sees what you think.

a. about others

b. about telling lies

c. about yourself

2. He sees what you feel.

a. happy

b. scared

c. angry

3. He sees and knows if you really love Him.

a. enough to serve Him.

b. enough to obey.

c. enough to obey your dad and mom.

B. HIS WORD

1. Heb. 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

2. Paul says that the Word of God is alive, with power to transform and change things.

3. The Word of God is like an X-ray; it exposes and diagnoses things in our lives.

4. The Holy Spirit uses the things Jesus has said to us to convict us of the things we’re doing wrong and to point us to the way out.

C. 3RD AREA OF X-RAY = AT JUDGMENT

1. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10.

2. HUMOR.

a. One old Grandma sat on her couch with her Bible in her lap, reading and praying.