Sermon 6-1-08

Heavenly Father we thank and praise You that we can worship You this day. We thank You that we can be in Your House. We thank You that You have given us a reason to rejoice by giving us a Savior, Jesus Christ. And we thank You, Lord, that You have not only saved us, but that You speak to us and address our situations in life. And, Heavenly Father, now as we hear You speaking to us through the words of the Bible, may Your Holy Spirit touch our lives and give us wisdom and understanding. All we pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture Readings-

Our first reading is a Psalm of David. He is waiting for God’s deliverance and he’s getting just a little on the impatient side. I think we can all identify with that.

Old Testament – Psalm 13:1-3 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.

The second reading from the third chapter of Romans is usually used on Reformation Sunday in October. It also comes up for this Sunday in Pentecost in the church year. In this reading God lays out exactly how we are saved; sinners saved by God’s grace, declared “not guilty” through the blood of Jesus Christ. But there is more in this reading and that will be the subject of our sermon today.

Epistle –Romans 3:21-29 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

This Gospel Lesson is one that shakes people up. It tells us that not everyone who calls upon Jesus will be saved. Because not everyone has the right concept of who Jesus is. Some think He was just a great prophet, or a great man, or a great rabbi, or a great teacher; a God of a lesser order than God the Father. In this reading Jesus addresses those people who do not see Him as the second person of the Trinity, those who do not see Him as the Savior from sin, the Messiah, those who do not believe on Him as the only One who reconciles you to God. And if you’re not reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, there is no other way to be reconciled. You need to see Jesus as Lord and Savior; apart from Him there is no salvation. People will say they believe in God, but what do they believe about God, who do they believe God is? Have they confessed their sins and believed on Jesus as Lord and Savior? Just believing in God is not enough. The whole world, with very few exceptions, believes in God. But the whole world will not be saved. It’s believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Understanding that, then, this reading makes sense. These are the words of Jesus.

Gospel – Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Sermon –

I wanted to make a call on a cell phone the other day and I asked Jimmy, my son, how the thing worked. He told me, “To begin, you press end”. I said, “What???” He said, “Dad, that’s just the way it works, trust me!” And I said, “But that’s not right, if you want to begin you don’t press end. That’s just not right.” He told me, “Dad, it IS right, trust me!” Well, lo and behold I pressed end and the thing went on and was all set for me to make a call. It just doesn’t seem right, but it is right. And our challenge for today is to have enough faith in God as we have in the manufacturers of cell phones. Do you think we can do that? If we can believe that to begin you press end then we can really have some peace with God. A lot of times God does things that, let’s just face it, simply do not seem right.

This past morning as you got up and heard about the 8,000 people in China that were killed in an earthquake, and we know that God controls all things, God can do anything, God could have certainly prevented that earthquake, we say, “All those people died. God, are you sure you did what’s right?” Or you look at disappointments that come into your life - big disappointment - and you say, “God, I’m not sure you’re doing what’s right here.” Or what about when God says “No” in answer to our prayer. You really need something and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and ultimately God says “No”. In our mind we think, “How could that be right? I prayed for something very good, something that would extend God’s kingdom, something that would help people. I don’t understand. God, are You sure You’re doing what’s right?” And when we doubt whether God is doing what’s right, do we have peace? No, there’s no peace at all because we don’t know if God is dealing with us correctly.

When we’re not so sure that God is doing what’s right it begins to tear us down. It begins to tear down our faith. That’s happened to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 18. If you remember, Sodom and Gomorrah were two very wicked places and God decided that He was going to punish those cities by destroying them. Abraham was concerned because his nephew, Lot, lived there. Notice Abraham’s words in verse 23. He begins bargaining with God and says to Him, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Look at the hesitation in his words. Abraham is saying “You are going to do what’s right, aren’t you God? You won’t kill the righteous and the wicked together – will you God? That wouldn’t be right! I’m thinking you’re about to do something that isn’t right!” Or how about Psalm 13, the Old Testament lesson for today. What David is really saying is, “How long are the bad guys going to win? God, You’re not doing what’s right! You should have acted by now. This is not right!” And we look at the empty seats here this morning and notice that over the past three or four years some people have drifted off. There are many reasons for it, but when you talk to them and find out what’s going on in their life, you hear that they are dissatisfied with God, they’re angry with God, they feel that God permitted a situation to come into their life that just wasn’t right. They feel that He could have done something about their situation, but didn’t and they’re thinking, “God, You didn’t do right!” Therefore they feel no need, no desire, no hunger to come in and worship and praise God. In their minds, God did not do what was right.

That’s why we’re preaching this sermon this morning. We’re preaching this sermon so that you will know that God does what is right all the time! Because, as with the cell phone, so many things in this world just don’t seem right! We’re preaching this sermon for all of us this morning, me included, so that we are convinced that no matter what happens in the future or has happened in the past that God has done and will do what is right. One month from now, six months from now, five years from now, we don’t want your seat to be empty. You need to have that peace, that knowledge that God does what is right all the time!

God speaks to these situations in Romans Chapter 3. It begins by saying that we are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ and that God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. But listen very carefully as verse 26 continues, “He did this to demonstrate his justice. Because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished”. You may wonder why God punished Sodom and Gomorrah and didn’t punish other cultures. We need to understand that God does what’s right all the time! Even though He let some sins go unpunished, He still needs to punish them because He does what’s right all the time! And God tells us “he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

What is God saying here? God wants to demonstrate for you and for me that He is just, that His decisions are right all the time! So He sets up a dilemma. Not a dilemma in God’s mind, but a dilemma for us to ponder: how can God be perfectly just and yet save us from our sins? So He sets up this scenario in Romans Chapter 3. There are three courses of action that God could take.

Scenario 1) He could say, “Alright you people at Trinity, including the Pastor, you’re sinners but I could just “forget” about your sins; I could just toss them aside, overlook them and take you to heaven anyway.” But would that be right? Would God be just? No, because sin needs to be punished. If He does that with us here at Trinity, then He needs to apologize to those people at Sodom and Gomorrah. So the first scenario is not going to work.

Scenario 2) God says, “I need to do it right, I need to be perfectly just. Therefore you people at Trinity, including the Pastor, I’m sorry but there is no salvation for you because, for Me to be just, you all need to suffer for your sins. Sorry, - no salvation!” That scenario would satisfy God’s justice but we wouldn’t be saved. The second scenario isn’t going to work. So what is God going to do? How is God going to do it right and be perfectly just. He cannot act in any other way but to do what’s right all the time! If there’s sin there must be punishment. So what is God going to do? How is He going punish our sins yet show His love and mercy by saving us?

Scenario 3) God is going to bring Jesus into the picture. God Himself would come and punishment would be given for your sins and my sins but it would be Jesus who would be punished. Punishment needs to be given because God does what’s right all the time! Punishment needs to be given and God punished Himself so that you and I could go free, be forgiven, be saved, be in God’s kingdom, and have a relationship with God that comes not by works but by faith in Jesus. It’s so important for God to do what is right all the time that He will die. God will do what’s right even…if it kills Him. To do what’s right, God killed His own Son as payment for our sins so that you and I could walk away free and have eternal life. What God is telling us in Romans Chapter 3, among many other things, is that you can count on Him to be perfectly just, to do what is absolutely right all the time – no exceptions!

So when you click on the news tomorrow morning and there’s another neighborhood that was destroyed by a tornado, or another earthquake, or some other disaster and in your mind you hear “How could God let that happen?”, you need to say “Because God will do what is right…even if it kills Him!” And when some disappointment comes into your life, as it will, you need to be convinced that God, in that situation did what was absolutely right. Because God will do what is right…even if it kills Him! And when you are praying, and you pray long and hard on your knees and you’re pleading with God for something you really want, something you really need and God says, “No”, you need to be convinced that the “No” answer is right because God does what is right…even if it kills Him!

When God says in Matthew Chapter 7, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”, He is saying that the will of the Father who is in heaven is that we confess our sins and believe in Jesus as our Savior from sin. The Bible tells us that God has set up a plan where everyone can be saved and everyone would be presented with the that message. And if people reject that message, God is right in sending them to Hell because God does what is right…even if it kills Him! And because Jesus said those words in Matthew Chapter 7, you can be convinced that God will do what is right all the time. If He would have said that He’ll still take us to heaven even if our idea of Him is a little fuzzy, then all of a sudden God is not being just, He would be changing the rules in mid-steam and we couldn’t trust Him to do what is right. But He didn’t change the rules in mid-stream; He said we need to know Jesus as Savior. And when we know Jesus as Savior we will be saved because God does what is right all the time…even if it kills Him.

As you go off into your week, something is going to come up and you’re going to question God. You need to be convinced that Christ on the Cross tells you and me that God does what it right all the time…even if it kills him! There’s peace in knowing that. You have a God watching over you who will always do what is right.

Prayer –

Heavenly Father, things in this world sometimes just don’t seem right to us. And Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us put as much trust in you as we do in our cell phones. Thank You for answering our questions today in Romans Chapter 3 and Matthew Chapter 7. Thank You for proving to us with Christ on the Cross that You will do what is right even if it kills You. Heavenly Father, help us to remember this. As we go off into a new week and a new month, help us to know that Your decisions are always right; and knowing that, grant us peace. We pray this in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Home Page News Contact Us