“I’ll never fit through that small hole!” I thought while climbing the ladder that disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. But I came too far to turn back. Somehow I squeezed through the narrow opening and was now standing in the dome of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse.
The panoramic view was astounding. The clear blue sky faded into the deep blue sea. I have stood on the platforms and in the domes of many lighthouses and am still impressed by the view and the romance of old lighthouses. Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, a beautiful old octagonal lighthouse with a brick façade, is one of my favorites. While the lighthouse is not as tall as others, it served faithfully for years warning sailors of the danger of the shore.
Standing in the empty dome of the lighthouse and looking at the newer Cape Henry Lighthouse across the street brought a touch of sadness. This once functioning lighthouse was now nothing more than a museum, a memory of a time long gone that will never return. The light was gone. The majestic building was no more than an empty shell.
Why was this stately old lighthouse decommissioned? Why was a new lighthouse built to replace it? The answer is there are dangerous cracks in six of the eight walls. The lighthouse was decommissioned because it was in danger of crumbling. Cracks in the wall are evidence of a weak or deteriorating foundation. Because of a weak foundation, the light no longer shines from Old Cape Henry. A new lighthouse was built to replace the old one.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:20-22 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The Christian is the light of the world, a lighthouse built on the foundation of the Lord Jesus. He is the foundation upon which we must build our lives, our families and our churches. But if we allow cracks in the walls that building is in danger of crumbling. The light will fade and go out, a decommissioned light of days gone by, a museum.
The lighthouse is needed now more than ever so more will not perish in the dark and stormy seas of the world. We must stand stronger against the storms than we have ever stood. We must shine the light brighter and farther than we ever have. And we must care for the foundation and building itself. The world needs your light to shine.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Challenge: Coeburn - Our Jerusalem
This is the first sermon in a series entitled The Challenge, I preached this sermon at the July 27 service at First Baptist Church. Our church has adopted the "Acts 1:8 challenge" and this sermon series has come from that challenge.
Text: Acts 1:8
Introduction: We have a God given mission to go make disciples. Jesus spoke these last words to his disciples before his ascension to Heaven. These words are the mission for each disciple of the Lord, for us today. We must apply this challenge then to where we are at here in Coeburn. Jesus told his disciples to be witnesses of him in Jerusalem. Since we are not living in Jerusalem, the principle for us is that we are to begin the mission in Coeburn. Coeburn is our Jerusalem. I have been sharing something with some of most of the mission teams that have been coming to Coeburn through our church. In 2004 I preached a message at the Guest River Rally about the great mission we have to make disciples of all nations. At the end of that sermon I invited every Christian who was willing to pray to come forward and pray for a move of God in our town. For the light of Christ to penetrate the intense darkness of the world around us. I believe God heard our prayers, but I could not forsee how he would answer. I believe God is answering that prayer and not in a way that I expected. What I have been sharing with these teams is that I believe that each mission team that comes into our town is part of God’s answer to penetrate the darkness with his marvelous light. Thursday and Friday a mission group was here from Bowling Green KY. They distributed food, school supplies, washing detergent to over 180 families. But more importantly they shown the light of Christ to these peoples. They distributed over 60 Bibles, they shared the gospel with some, they prayed with many. They demonstrated the compassion and concern of Christ. And I see similar things time and again with each mission team that comes. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they are being witnesses of God. Witnesses of the love and grace of Christ, witnesses of the mercy and forgiveness, witnesses that there is room at the cross for all. I have heard the criticism that we don’t want these teams coming in, all they want to do is mock us in the Appalachian mountains. But that is not what I am seeing, sure some of them have some inaccurate views of the folks in the Appalachians, but they come because they love God and the want to show the love of God to others. I think it is sad if we are more concerned about our image than whether or not our neighbor is going to hell. God is answering prayer for our town!
Jerusalem was a challenge! Coeburn is a challenge! Why is it challenging? For several reasons. One is the false assumption that the need to be Christ’s witness in Jerusalem was unnecessary. The second reason that Jerusalem and Coeburn are challenging is that it is familiar. The third reason is that we think we will have time to witness tomorrow. Jerusalem, Coeburn, will always be there. I ‘ll get around to it. But the problem is that we don’t get around to it. We must make witnessing in our own community a priority.
Return
Winning our town for Christ begins when we return to Jesus! We must return to our first love – The church at Ephesus Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
We must return to our first works – The church at Ephesus again and do the first works; What are the first works? Remember how it was when you were first saved? You couldn’t wait to tell others about it. When a church is planted that is the most important thing, not programs, buildings, etc. Souls are most important. But all churches eventually lose their direction and get bogged down in things of less importance than souls.
Revelation
Our town needs a fresh revelation of Christ. How is it that people see Jesus in us? Do they see Jesus because we sit quietly in church? (they do that in the library). Do they see Jesus because we may sing or shout in a service? (they do that at ball games). Do they see Jesus in the gifts of the Holy Spirit? (the gifts are meant to edify the church, not to win the lost!) How do they see Jesus? Is it because I can quote bible verses, is it because I am such a good person. The answer is no! They need a revelation of Jesus Christ! Jesus is revealed by the fruit of the Spirit! A changed, a transformed life! A life where there was once hate, now there is the fruit of love…despair/joy…wrecked life/peace…short temper/longsuffering…coarse living/gentleness…evil/goodness….hopeless/faith…arrogance/meekness….indulgence/temperance. As people witness the power of the transformed life that only comes through the power of Jesus, that revelation will speak volumes. How is God seen in Coeburn? He is seen when you are out in the community. He is seen when you are at the store, when you are at work and so on.
Refuge
As we return to our first love, our first works, as Christ is revealed in the lives of his children, the church then becomes a place of refuge! A place people want to come. The church should be a place where the hurting come to find help, they don’t need to come here to be hurt anymore. As we fight and fuss, and fail to live in peace in harmony, we wonder why people don’t want to come to church. The church is not to be a battlefield, but a refuge!
Isaiah 25:4 4: For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Are you making our church a refuge? Make the church a refuge, not a battlefield! Most of experiencing enough battles during the week, we should be able to come to church as refuge!
Rescue
If we see the church as a place of refuge, then we should go to the rescue of those who are persishing. Jude 20: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21: Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22: And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Church, we are on a mission to rescue Coeburn. Let’s not let the familiarity of our town, the wrong assumptions, or procrastination hinder us from rescuing the perishing. Let us return to our first love and our first works, lets pray and work for a revelation of God, lets make this a place of refuge, rather than a battlefield, and lets renew our commitment today to rescue the perishing in Coeburn!
Text: Acts 1:8
Introduction: We have a God given mission to go make disciples. Jesus spoke these last words to his disciples before his ascension to Heaven. These words are the mission for each disciple of the Lord, for us today. We must apply this challenge then to where we are at here in Coeburn. Jesus told his disciples to be witnesses of him in Jerusalem. Since we are not living in Jerusalem, the principle for us is that we are to begin the mission in Coeburn. Coeburn is our Jerusalem. I have been sharing something with some of most of the mission teams that have been coming to Coeburn through our church. In 2004 I preached a message at the Guest River Rally about the great mission we have to make disciples of all nations. At the end of that sermon I invited every Christian who was willing to pray to come forward and pray for a move of God in our town. For the light of Christ to penetrate the intense darkness of the world around us. I believe God heard our prayers, but I could not forsee how he would answer. I believe God is answering that prayer and not in a way that I expected. What I have been sharing with these teams is that I believe that each mission team that comes into our town is part of God’s answer to penetrate the darkness with his marvelous light. Thursday and Friday a mission group was here from Bowling Green KY. They distributed food, school supplies, washing detergent to over 180 families. But more importantly they shown the light of Christ to these peoples. They distributed over 60 Bibles, they shared the gospel with some, they prayed with many. They demonstrated the compassion and concern of Christ. And I see similar things time and again with each mission team that comes. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they are being witnesses of God. Witnesses of the love and grace of Christ, witnesses of the mercy and forgiveness, witnesses that there is room at the cross for all. I have heard the criticism that we don’t want these teams coming in, all they want to do is mock us in the Appalachian mountains. But that is not what I am seeing, sure some of them have some inaccurate views of the folks in the Appalachians, but they come because they love God and the want to show the love of God to others. I think it is sad if we are more concerned about our image than whether or not our neighbor is going to hell. God is answering prayer for our town!
Jerusalem was a challenge! Coeburn is a challenge! Why is it challenging? For several reasons. One is the false assumption that the need to be Christ’s witness in Jerusalem was unnecessary. The second reason that Jerusalem and Coeburn are challenging is that it is familiar. The third reason is that we think we will have time to witness tomorrow. Jerusalem, Coeburn, will always be there. I ‘ll get around to it. But the problem is that we don’t get around to it. We must make witnessing in our own community a priority.
Return
Winning our town for Christ begins when we return to Jesus! We must return to our first love – The church at Ephesus Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
We must return to our first works – The church at Ephesus again and do the first works; What are the first works? Remember how it was when you were first saved? You couldn’t wait to tell others about it. When a church is planted that is the most important thing, not programs, buildings, etc. Souls are most important. But all churches eventually lose their direction and get bogged down in things of less importance than souls.
Revelation
Our town needs a fresh revelation of Christ. How is it that people see Jesus in us? Do they see Jesus because we sit quietly in church? (they do that in the library). Do they see Jesus because we may sing or shout in a service? (they do that at ball games). Do they see Jesus in the gifts of the Holy Spirit? (the gifts are meant to edify the church, not to win the lost!) How do they see Jesus? Is it because I can quote bible verses, is it because I am such a good person. The answer is no! They need a revelation of Jesus Christ! Jesus is revealed by the fruit of the Spirit! A changed, a transformed life! A life where there was once hate, now there is the fruit of love…despair/joy…wrecked life/peace…short temper/longsuffering…coarse living/gentleness…evil/goodness….hopeless/faith…arrogance/meekness….indulgence/temperance. As people witness the power of the transformed life that only comes through the power of Jesus, that revelation will speak volumes. How is God seen in Coeburn? He is seen when you are out in the community. He is seen when you are at the store, when you are at work and so on.
Refuge
As we return to our first love, our first works, as Christ is revealed in the lives of his children, the church then becomes a place of refuge! A place people want to come. The church should be a place where the hurting come to find help, they don’t need to come here to be hurt anymore. As we fight and fuss, and fail to live in peace in harmony, we wonder why people don’t want to come to church. The church is not to be a battlefield, but a refuge!
Isaiah 25:4 4: For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Are you making our church a refuge? Make the church a refuge, not a battlefield! Most of experiencing enough battles during the week, we should be able to come to church as refuge!
Rescue
If we see the church as a place of refuge, then we should go to the rescue of those who are persishing. Jude 20: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21: Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22: And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Church, we are on a mission to rescue Coeburn. Let’s not let the familiarity of our town, the wrong assumptions, or procrastination hinder us from rescuing the perishing. Let us return to our first love and our first works, lets pray and work for a revelation of God, lets make this a place of refuge, rather than a battlefield, and lets renew our commitment today to rescue the perishing in Coeburn!
The Pace of Freedom
I preached this message at the July 6 service at First Baptist Church
Text: Galatians 5:13-18
Introduction: Dear Christian, we have seen how that Jesus paid the price and set us free. And we see what a wonderful place that freedom is. We are free! But how many of us today are living as if we are still in slavery? We walk in bondage rather than walk in freedom. I want to walk in liberty, not in bondage. If you desire to walk in freedom with me today, then I encourage you to take the first step.
Step of Recognition: We must recognize freedom for what it is, and what it is not
Called to liberty - God is the one who is calling you to freedom! This freedom is not our natural, inalienable human right. God came searching for you and He is calling you for a purpose, that purpose is freedom! If you are enslaved today, I want you to understand something God is the one calling you!
What is Christian liberty? Freedom is not a license to sin! Not to be used for selfishness
Flesh is that fallen nature of humanity, the human pride and self-will, self-indulgence, self-assertion. Rudolf Bultmann said “the false assumption of receiving life not as a the gift of the Creator but procuring it by one’s own power, of living from one’s self rather from God.
-Romans 6:1-2,1: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? -living by the flesh means to take the flesh as normal life - "to trust in one’s self as being able to procure life by the use of the earthly and through one’s own strength and accomplishment." - Bultmann
Step of Responsibility
With freedom we have a responsibility and that responsibility lies square on your shoulders and my shoulders. Freedom does not mean carefree!
Freedom to love and serve Romans 6:18 & 22:Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
-free from worrying about the law, free from the destructive nature of sin. Free to do good to obey God! you have been set free to love and serve others. Actually means you have been set free from sin, law, death to be the slave of loving others. When Paul said to serve others he means we should make ourselves slaves to one another. Freedom is only realized in the slavery of love to others!
-a debt we owe - to love others! Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:
-In my freedom I have a responsibility to love others. I am free from the law so that I don’t have to judge or condemn others. I am free from sin so that I don’t need to criticize others to make myself feel better. What a relief to be free of that slavery!
Step of Revolution
Walk in the spirit
-To experience victory we must live in obedience to the work of the Holy Spirit!
At war with the flesh (revolution - you were once under the master of the flesh, and you could not help but obey, but now that you have been set free there is a revolution against the flesh, and the flesh is not going to let you off easy, it is a lifelong constant battle!)
-There is nobody too strong that can disregard this warning!
Led by the Spirit ensures our continuing freedom
-victory over sin does not come by will power, it does not come by the law, it comes when we yield to the Holy Spirit!
Romans 6:12-16 12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15: What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Text: Galatians 5:13-18
Introduction: Dear Christian, we have seen how that Jesus paid the price and set us free. And we see what a wonderful place that freedom is. We are free! But how many of us today are living as if we are still in slavery? We walk in bondage rather than walk in freedom. I want to walk in liberty, not in bondage. If you desire to walk in freedom with me today, then I encourage you to take the first step.
Step of Recognition: We must recognize freedom for what it is, and what it is not
Called to liberty - God is the one who is calling you to freedom! This freedom is not our natural, inalienable human right. God came searching for you and He is calling you for a purpose, that purpose is freedom! If you are enslaved today, I want you to understand something God is the one calling you!
What is Christian liberty? Freedom is not a license to sin! Not to be used for selfishness
Flesh is that fallen nature of humanity, the human pride and self-will, self-indulgence, self-assertion. Rudolf Bultmann said “the false assumption of receiving life not as a the gift of the Creator but procuring it by one’s own power, of living from one’s self rather from God.
-Romans 6:1-2,1: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? -living by the flesh means to take the flesh as normal life - "to trust in one’s self as being able to procure life by the use of the earthly and through one’s own strength and accomplishment." - Bultmann
Step of Responsibility
With freedom we have a responsibility and that responsibility lies square on your shoulders and my shoulders. Freedom does not mean carefree!
Freedom to love and serve Romans 6:18 & 22:Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
-free from worrying about the law, free from the destructive nature of sin. Free to do good to obey God! you have been set free to love and serve others. Actually means you have been set free from sin, law, death to be the slave of loving others. When Paul said to serve others he means we should make ourselves slaves to one another. Freedom is only realized in the slavery of love to others!
-a debt we owe - to love others! Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:
-In my freedom I have a responsibility to love others. I am free from the law so that I don’t have to judge or condemn others. I am free from sin so that I don’t need to criticize others to make myself feel better. What a relief to be free of that slavery!
Step of Revolution
Walk in the spirit
-To experience victory we must live in obedience to the work of the Holy Spirit!
At war with the flesh (revolution - you were once under the master of the flesh, and you could not help but obey, but now that you have been set free there is a revolution against the flesh, and the flesh is not going to let you off easy, it is a lifelong constant battle!)
-There is nobody too strong that can disregard this warning!
Led by the Spirit ensures our continuing freedom
-victory over sin does not come by will power, it does not come by the law, it comes when we yield to the Holy Spirit!
Romans 6:12-16 12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15: What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Price of Freedom
This is the second sermon in a series entitled Free At Last. I preached this sermon at the June 29 service at First Baptist Church.
Introduction: The price for our freedom was blood bought. The scripture tells us that we have been bought at a price, we have been purchased by his blood. That is the price of our freedom!
If you have not trusted Christ, Jesus shed his blood for you to redeem you from slavery to sin. Will you be free? Will you accept his offer?
Lets explore this price that has been paid.
I. You can't negotiate the price
Only the son can make you free!
We try to negotiate with God, we try to come to salvation on our own terms. In our own time, with our own conditions. But that is unacceptable to God! There is no negotiation. Jesus must be Lord of all. We must surrender ourselves completely to Him!
The woman caught in adultery in the first part of chapter 8. The law is clear, this woman deserved stoning! (probably betrothed but not yet married). But Jesus set her free from the power of sin. Notice in verse 11 Jesus’ statement to the woman. He doesn’t condemn, he is offering freedom, but he tells her to go and sin no more. (remember last week, be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.) If we love sin more than we love our savior we can’t be free! We can’t straddle the fence.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
These Jews were relying on their family name, their heritage for freedom. John 8:37-40. - They felt assured that since they are Abraham’s seed that they have a place in Heaven! Jesus destroys that false assurance they have. They can’t rely on Abraham’s faith to get them into heaven.John 3:3-7 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4: Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5: Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7: Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
These Jews then tried to play the trump card in vs. 41-44. Jesus showed them that being a descendent of Abraham was insufficient, that they were still in bondage. So they claim, we have God as our Father. But Jesus exposes the fact they are deceived. God is not their father, but the Devil is their father.
-They think that freedom is obtained by their good works. But it doesn’t happen that way! They are deceived.
-How many deceived into thinking they are free, living a good life, have everything they need taken care of. Good moral people. How could they possibly be in bondage? Because the only way to freedom is through Christ
Until you realize that your good works can’t save you, your morals can’t save you, your materials can’t save you, until you realize that you are a slave to sin, you will never be free. The first step is to realize that you are a slave. That Christ purchased you with his blood and that you must receive him as your savior to be free!
II. You can't negate the price
Jesus said “I am”, in referring to himself He used that holy name of God that a jew would dare not pronounce. Jesus is God in the flesh! What does this mean for you and I?
The good news is that once you have accepted freedom in Christ. Once you have been saved, you are truly free and nothing can change that!
-John 10:24-30 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25: Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. 26: But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29: My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30: I and my Father are one.
Ephesians 1:13-14 13: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
III. You can't neglect it
You can’t negotiate or negate freedom, but listen closely. Some of you don’t know Christ and you must not neglect your salvation!
Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
John 8:30 - many believed on him. Freedom’s price has been paid, your choice is to believe. Your choice is slavery or freedom. Your choice is life or death. What will you choose?
Introduction: The price for our freedom was blood bought. The scripture tells us that we have been bought at a price, we have been purchased by his blood. That is the price of our freedom!
If you have not trusted Christ, Jesus shed his blood for you to redeem you from slavery to sin. Will you be free? Will you accept his offer?
Lets explore this price that has been paid.
I. You can't negotiate the price
Only the son can make you free!
We try to negotiate with God, we try to come to salvation on our own terms. In our own time, with our own conditions. But that is unacceptable to God! There is no negotiation. Jesus must be Lord of all. We must surrender ourselves completely to Him!
The woman caught in adultery in the first part of chapter 8. The law is clear, this woman deserved stoning! (probably betrothed but not yet married). But Jesus set her free from the power of sin. Notice in verse 11 Jesus’ statement to the woman. He doesn’t condemn, he is offering freedom, but he tells her to go and sin no more. (remember last week, be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.) If we love sin more than we love our savior we can’t be free! We can’t straddle the fence.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
These Jews were relying on their family name, their heritage for freedom. John 8:37-40. - They felt assured that since they are Abraham’s seed that they have a place in Heaven! Jesus destroys that false assurance they have. They can’t rely on Abraham’s faith to get them into heaven.John 3:3-7 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4: Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5: Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7: Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
These Jews then tried to play the trump card in vs. 41-44. Jesus showed them that being a descendent of Abraham was insufficient, that they were still in bondage. So they claim, we have God as our Father. But Jesus exposes the fact they are deceived. God is not their father, but the Devil is their father.
-They think that freedom is obtained by their good works. But it doesn’t happen that way! They are deceived.
-How many deceived into thinking they are free, living a good life, have everything they need taken care of. Good moral people. How could they possibly be in bondage? Because the only way to freedom is through Christ
Until you realize that your good works can’t save you, your morals can’t save you, your materials can’t save you, until you realize that you are a slave to sin, you will never be free. The first step is to realize that you are a slave. That Christ purchased you with his blood and that you must receive him as your savior to be free!
II. You can't negate the price
Jesus said “I am”, in referring to himself He used that holy name of God that a jew would dare not pronounce. Jesus is God in the flesh! What does this mean for you and I?
The good news is that once you have accepted freedom in Christ. Once you have been saved, you are truly free and nothing can change that!
-John 10:24-30 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25: Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. 26: But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29: My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30: I and my Father are one.
Ephesians 1:13-14 13: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
III. You can't neglect it
You can’t negotiate or negate freedom, but listen closely. Some of you don’t know Christ and you must not neglect your salvation!
Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
John 8:30 - many believed on him. Freedom’s price has been paid, your choice is to believe. Your choice is slavery or freedom. Your choice is life or death. What will you choose?
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