Amazing Grace

Scripture: Psalm 146

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD ; listen to my plea! Answer me because you are faithful and righteous. 

2 Don’t put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you. 

3 My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave. 

4 I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear. 

5 I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. 

6 I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Interlude 

7 Come quickly, LORD, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die. 

8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. 

9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD ; I run to you to hide me. 

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. 

11 For the glory of your name, O LORD, preserve my life. Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress. 

12 In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies and destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.

Introduction

This is a Psalm of David, written while he was hiding from Saul in either the cave at Adullam or the one at En Gedi. David is being forced to live like a fugitive, like a criminal who has broken the law. He is in a dark place. He feels lonely, depressed and at times paralyzed with fear. Our of the darkness of this experience, he writes this beautiful Psalm that has blessed millions. I am absolutely amazed at the incredible things God did through this flawed man. What a Psalm!

Transition

We have divided the Psalm into four sections:

I. DAVID’S CONFESSION

[v.1-2] Hear my prayer, O LORD ; listen to my plea! Answer me because you are faithful and righteous. Don’t put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you. 

• This is the seventh and last of the penitential psalms [6,32,38,51,102,130]
• David’s confession here is brief [v.2] Don’t put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you. It is an acknowledgement that David, like all men, has fallen short of the glory of God. David was a sinner and he knew it.
• The GOOD NEWS is that God loves sinners and He uses them. Elisebeth Elliot says, “Who else does he have, since all are sinners.”
• Secondly, David confesses the basis of his faith, of his relationship with God. David prayed, “Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.” The priviledge of prayer come via the righteousness of Christ. Paul said in Epheisans 2… But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ…For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 
   
  • Prayer is based on the righteousness of Christ
  • Salavation is based on the righteousness of Christ

II. DAVID’S CIRCUMSTANCES

David’s circumstances were not ideal to say the least. He is was living in a dark musty damp cave.

 [v.3] My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.  I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear. 

I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. 

• David was in a fix due to Saul’s anger and hatred: David was innocent. He had not done anything deserving of death.
• David had been knocked down to the ground: Saul had taken his rank and his riches. David had nothing. 
• Saul forced David to live this way: this is not a choice for David. If David does not hide from Saul, he will be killed.
• God uses difficult situation and people to hone and polish us. God uses people. He has always used people: [1] Imperfect people [2] Hateful people [Saul] [3] Crazy people [Saul] and [4] obedient people.
• One way are the other, God is going to use you for His glory but it is best for you to be obedient. God will get glory either way but you will benefit more by being obedient. Your happiness is directly linked to your obedience.

III. DAVID’S CRY

6 I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. 

7 Come quickly, LORD, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die. 

• Desperate circumstances call for desperate prayer. David is crying out to God like a dry thirsty land cries out for rain.
• David feels like he is in a life threatening situation. If God does not come through for David, he is history.
• David is depressed and he feels that his depression is getting worse: he cries out for help and hope.
• All of God’s servants get depressed from time to time. Job, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah and even John the Baptist all got depressed. The only people who do not get depressed are those who never do anything. We have an entire population of professing believers who have never fired a shot. Like Saul, they are hiding among the baggage. They are passive, do-nothing Christians who live in the saftey of their comfort zone. There is not much danger of getting wounded when you stay in retreat mode.

 IV. DAVID’S CONCLUSION

8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. 

9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD ; I run to you to hide me. 

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. 

11 For the glory of your name, O LORD, preserve my life. Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress. 

12 In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies and destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.

• The thing that kept David going was God’s grace, [v.8] His unconditional love. God’s love is based on His character, who He is not what we are or what we have done. God’s love is 100% Grace.
• These dark and desperate moments force us to put our trust in God. David was in a jam, a tight place, a pickle, between a rock and a hard place and he could see no way out. Thus he prays, “Show me where to walk.” [these situations are a time for us to learn. They teach us that God is our refuge and our hope]
• David believed that God would vindicate him because he was God’s servant. David was right. I don’t worry about my enemies, God will take care of them in due time.

Advertisement

The Baptism Of Shame

SCRIPTURE: Luke 12:1-3, NLT

1 So many thousands of people had gathered that they were stepping on each other. Jesus spoke first to his followers, saying, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, because they are hypocrites.

2 Everything that is hidden will be shown, and everything that is secret will be made known.

3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an inner room will be shouted from the housetops.”

INTRODUCTION

I want to make several observations in introducing this message. Actually, the introduction will be the message.

1. I would feel more comfortable if this verse and others like it were not in the bible. It is a disconcerting verse to me personally.

   • By disconcerting, I mean this verse makes me worry and wonder. Will all my thoughts, words, and deeds be played back before me and a watching world or believing church on the day of judgment?
   • I have not only done a lot of dumb, stupid, sorry, low down things, I continue to say and do things that I should not. I don’t even want last week played back, let alone my entire life.
   • Lets face it, we all have a secret life and according to Jesus, we have no right to privacy. He is going to hold us accountable for every impure thought, every unkind word and every devilish deed. 
   • I cannot get excited about my secret life being made public. What about you? Do you have anything in your life or past in which you are ashamed? So, this is a jolting verse, a sobering thought.

2. It is not an isolated thought or principle, it is taught in Old and New Testament and repeated again and again.

   • Eccl. 12:14–God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.
   • Luke 8:17–“For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.”
   • Matt. 10:26–“But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.”
   • Mark 4:22–“For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.”
   • Romans 2:16–And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.
   • 1 Cor. 4:5–So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.
   • 2 Cor. 5:10–For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

3. How do we explain this verse or How do we reconcile it with the doctrine of GRACE?

   • Is it a bad translation? No, same message in all translations. Luke 12:2, KJV–For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. I have checked every English translation available and they all state the same exact principle.
   • Is it in the original manuscripts? Yes, Jesus actually said this. It is not something that a Scribe inserted later.
   • There is no cut and dried explanation of this verse. It is one of those verses that remains a mystery. I do not believe, actually, I know that we humans with a finite mind cannot reconcile everything that is taught in the bible which was inspired by the Infinite.
   • In all my research and study, the only explanation that has ever given me any satisfaction is the idea proposed by C. S. Lewis in the GREAT DIVORCE. Lewis views this judgment before Christ as a BAPTISM OF SHAME were we for a moment are immersed in the shame of our earthy conduct and totally humiliated before God and man. This baptism of shame has nothing to do with the forgiveness of our sins, that has already been taken care of by Christ. It is merely an initiation rite for heaven. I think Lewis is on to something. We know that there will be no pride in heaven. This baptism of shame would be our final act of cleansing. After are evil deeds are made public, we will have no strut in us, none. We will crawl into heaven on our face. We will be like the woman caught in adultery, we will not look up until Jesus touches us on the shoulder and speaks gently to us. I don’t look forward to this baptism, but I see its necessity. It will be a refining fire that will purge us from all pride which is the very thing that got Satan kicked out. We must keep in mind, our security is not in the heaven the place but Christ the person. The devil was in heaven but he got expelled because of pride. I am glad that God will not allow our pride into heaven: if would not be a safe and secure place if pride were there.

CONCLUSION

This verse or verses– Everything that is hidden will be shown, and everything that is secret will be made known.  What you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an inner room will be shouted from the housetops.” [Luke 12:2-3] do not nullify grace, they substantiate the need for Grace. In light of our sin and evil, we must have grace.

NOTICE:

The warning Jesus gives is about hypocrisy…“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, because they are hypocrites.” The Pharisees were play actors, pretenders. The word hypocrite means to act, to play a part, to dissimulate, to deceive, to impersonate. The word was used in reference to actor on the stage. We have the same thing in today’s culture. Remember Sylvester Stallone in FIRST BLOOD where he played John Rambow, Vietnam vet. Stallone was a draft dodger who fled to Canada during the Vietnam war.

What if the movie people had shown a 30 minute documentary on Stallone’s real life prior to the movie, how well would that have gone over? Do you think any real Vietnam vets would have watched or their families. To a child or someone who is ignorant of Hollywood’s hypocrisy, Stallone would be very convincing as a real Vietnam vet. So the warning given here by Jesus is to be as REAL as possible. When was the last time you told some one how sorry you really are? I know, you can’t give details without hurting others but just as a reminder, you can confess that you deserve death and hell. You don’t dare name the women, but you can confess lust or you can pretend to be pure and holy. This is the point: for all pretenders, let it be known, “The truth will come out.”

The BOTTOM LINE: Jesus doesn’t want us to be pretentious period. Stop pretending to be better than you actually are and begin working on being real. Really, your play acting is in vain and the longer you pretend, the more your stock goes down. We are not prefect and we should pretend that we are. In time, actually eternity, Jesus will make us perfect and a part of that process will be our baptism of shame.

 

 

From The Inside Out

Scripture: Luke 11:37-44, NLT

37 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table.

38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom.

39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness!

40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside?

41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

43 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.

44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

Introduction

The Pharisees were very devoted people. When it came to externals like tithing, giving alms, attending synagogue, practicing the traditional rituals like hand washing they were front and center and were admired by most people. There is a sharp contrast between a Pharisee and a Sadducee and not just in doctrine. The Sadducees were the upper class filthy rich Jews who were nominal believers in Yahweh. They accepted only the first five books of the bible [Torah] and they interpreted them in light of priestly tradition. The Pharisees accepted the law and the prophets and interpreted the law through Moses. During the time of the incarnation, Josephus estimated the total Pharisee population before the fall of the Temple to be around 6,000. The Pharisees were the middle class. The Sadducees were the elite ruling class and they were not so concerned with public opinion as were the Pharisees.

We know there were some good Pharisees: Paul, Nicodemus, Joseph and Gamaliel but you cannot find a good Sadducee: they were evil and corrupt. Where the Sadducees were invested heavily in politics, the Pharisees were focused on Judaism or religion. Somewhere along the way, the Pharisee’s lost their original focus and evolved into a very sectarian and legalistic group who had very little to no compassion on those they deemed beneath them.

To set tonight story: Jesus is invited into the home of a Pharisee and Jesus did not wash His hands before He ate {ceremonial hand washing}. The Pharisees were on that like ugly on an ape. I don’t know if anything was said, but Jesus knew their thoughts and He unloads of these religious frauds…“You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness!  Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside?  So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

He pronounces three “woes” on the Pharisees and each is an indictment on a an inverted religious faith.

I. THE FIRST IS IN VERSE 42–WOE TO THOSE WHO MAJOR ON MINORS

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

There are things, good things and then there are more important things. Some things are more important than others, would you not agree?  Our LCBS lesson dealt with this today. Life is about choosing between what matters most and what is optional. Some things have major significance and some minor. We would be wise to know which is which. The Pharisee’s were into the external things: rituals, ceremonies, alms, customs, traditions. They were obsessed with these things. The goal of Judaism should have been inward purity but the Pharisee’s neglected the inward and the spiritual. Jesus said they were fools full of greed and evil. Their religion wasn’t working: instead of becoming better, they were becoming more depraved by the day. Washing our hands in front of a group does nothing about the problem of the heart.

There is nothing wrong with tithing or doing alms but there are more important things such as loving God and treating your fellowman with kindness. The Pharisees were hung up on the externals, especially things you touch. You couldn’t touch anything related to death, a tomb or a corpse. They would not touch certain foods. They refused to touch certain people, those who were ritually unclean. They would not eat until they had washed their hands. They were more concerned about germs on the finger than sin in the heart. They were obsessed with performance not purity. They had it backward. They needed to be worrying about their hearts not their hands.

II. SECOND WOE, VERSE 43–WOE TO THOSE WHO LIVE FOR MAN’S APPROVAL WHO PUT REPUTATION BEFORE CHARACTER

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.

We live to please others when possible, but when there is a conflict between pleasing God and others, we must please God. When Peter and John were forbidden to speak any more in Jesus name, they said, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?  We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

How much have things changed since Jesus ate with this Pharisee? Not much, we are still performers just like the Pharisees. We crave recognition just like they did and we love the point system because it makes us feel entitled, like we deserved this or that. Every denomination out there has an advantage over Baptist because we don’t have a point system. You can’t earn salvation, you cannot merit God’s forgiveness. The only way for you to relate to God is by grace or to each other. The only thing we deserves is death and hell. This kind of rhetoric does not play well in this world where everyone admires an achiever. 

The Pharisees had a point system and the person with the most points sat in the set of honor and from that point, they were ranked. This is contrary to everything Jesus taught. Matter of fact, He said, “Many that are first will be last.” At some point, we have to stop caring what others think and begin to focus on what God thinks. When we get to craving recognition and honor each other’s achievement, we becomes slaves to a point system that invariably produces pride. Pride leads to arrogance and contempt for others.

III. THIRD WOE V.44–WOE TO THOSE WHO ARE SELF-DECEIVED

Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

Jesus told the Pharisees, “You are like unmarked graves, you defile people without them or you realizing what you have done.” Jesus said, “You are like dead men’s graves.” You are the source of defilement. You defile others. Ironic, that the Pharisees avoided others who they deemed unclean and yet they were defiling others without even knowing what was going on. The Pharisees who prided themselves on doing good where actually doing harm by their bad example. The sad thing is: they were totally unaware of their guilt.

Jesus was hard on the Pharisees because they refused to acknowledge their sin. The sins of others grieved them but not their own sins. One sure way to know if you are a child of God is your attitude toward sin. If your sin does not grieve, bother or burden you, something is wrong.

This morning LIFE CHANGING BIBLE STUDY had a couple of brilliant illustrations. One was about the inverted funnel and the other about sand castles. How many of you have spent hours constructing a sand castle only to have one wave destroy it and it you went to the same spot the next day, you would find no evidence that a sand castle ever existed.

The Pharisees spent their entire life building sand castles. Surely, you do not want to waste your life on trivial pursuits.

Sin In The Streets and Seats

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard He was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Then she knelt behind Him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on His feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing His feet and putting perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

⁴¹ Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. ⁴² But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

⁴⁷ I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

⁵⁰ And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I think I could preach a series from this passage but due to the time, I simply want to share some simple statements of truth and then draw a couple of conclusion. Primarily today, we will be thinking about sin, our own personal sin. With that in mind, please listen to the following statements…

1. There is a danger in getting close to Jesus: you may find out more about yourself than you want to know. The flip side is: if your are curious to know the real you–Jesus, and only Jesus can help. It is a terrible waste to live a life time and not know who you really are.
2. Simon the Pharisee saw the woman as a “Sinner” but he did not see himself as a “Sinner.” Our pride makes us prone to see the sins of others while ignoring our own.
3. It is not the amount of sin in your life; it is your awareness of the sin in your life that counts. The woman knew she was a sinner, Simon was not aware of his. Because the woman knew who she was, she understood who Jesus was and she worshipped. Simon didn’t worship Jesus, He didn’t even show common courtesy. He may have admired HIM as a teacher but that is all. It makes you feel sympathy for the Simons of this world.
4. Simon’s sin was arrogant pride–the woman’s sin was prostitution. Which of these two sins does God word condemn the most? Some times our sin of pride, contempt and despising other is greater than the sin we despise in them.
5. Simons sins were private–the woman’s sins were public. Simon had the Eastern mind set: if you don’t get caught, it is not sin. This makes a difference with man but with God all sin is black and ugly.
6. How much sin do we have to commit to be a sinner? If you break one law, doesn’t that make you a law breaker?

CONCLUSION

Have you ever ran up a tab or credit card bill that you couldn’t believe when the bill came due. “Something is not right about this,” you uttered but the more you check, the more you realize the bill is correct. This is what makes credit cards dangerous. It makes spending too easy.

Something similar has happened with our sin. Since there is pleasure in sin and it is first nature, we sin without realizing how much we sin. What I am saying is that we sin more than we realize. Simon didn’t think of himself as a sinner but Jesus knew his heart: [1] He had contempt for others [2] He measured men but he refused to minister  to men[3] He jumped to a reckless conclusion: the woman’s sins were much worst than his own. [4] Though he thought of himself as spiritually superior to others; Jesus reveals otherwise.

God’s word often refers to judgment as a “His Cup of wrath,” each time we sin, another drop goes in the cup. So here is the bottom line. There is more in our cup than we can deal with. We have a sin debt that we can not possibly pay. Some may owe a billion, some ten billion some a hundred. The amount of the debt is insignificant–The point is: none of us have the ability to reconcile the debt. This is where Jesus comes in: He paid our sin debt.

I believe that his woman had heard Jesus before and she repented of her sins: she came to the banquet to express her love and gratitude. I think  Jesus was giving her assurance…If Jesus says “Your sins are forgiven”–your sins are forgiven. If Jesus says, “ your faith has saved you–you are saved. If He says go in peace–you can go in peace.

If Jesus says “It’s so, then is so because He said so. It may not appear to be so, the devil may declare it not to be so… but it is still so because Jesus said so.” Our Salvation is based on the integrity of Jesus.

I know I am a sinner. I know that I have committed a lot of sin but I am not aware of all my sin and neither are you. I don’t know exactly how judgment is going to work. I have a feeling our sins will be recognized and perhaps displayed. I do believe we will be pardoned by the blood of Christ but I have no doubt that we will be held accountable.

One way or the other, we all need Jesus.