My Heart’s Desire 1. Twenty years ago in Chicago a young man was greatly concerned How can it take place? Paul discusses three aspects involved in coming to salvation. I. Salvation involves the preaching of the good news.14-15 This verse should lead us to think of several things. 1. preaching is necessary. This means the simple straight forward
act of telling someone about something they do not know. The other
night I called up a lady from our church at Emporia and told her
that a nominating committee meeting would take place on Thursday.
Before I hung up, she asked me if we were bargain hunters. I
said yes, She said that Davids was have a big sale on kitchen
wares and that everything was for 10 cents. We jumped into the
car and went out and looked over everything. Oven thermometers
selling for 250 were 10cents. Knives selling for 2.50 were 10cents. Ice cream dippers selling for 250 were 10cents~ We bought a bag of items that saved us several dollars--at least 10. Now it turns out
that there was an ad in the newspaper. I didn't read it. I could
have found it out myself. But someone told me and I was grateful.
Now the Bible is available at the library, most homes have one,
but people are not going to do much on their own unless they have 2. Example is not enough. Somehow we have dreamed up the idea that being a good example is sufficient to make people want the Gospel. Being a good example may be like playing charades. People may guess all kinds of things about our lives, and it may be too late for them to wait around and guess the right thing. Jesus never commissioned us to go play gospel charades for people, but to declare the gospel out of concern and love. For the good news is something specific, that it cannot be made into an example. II. In Salvation involves confessing that Jesus is Lord. 9-13 A. The Gospel is not some vague notion about the existence of God. B. Instead, the Gospel is the good news that Jesus is Lord. This little phrase Jesus is Lord sums up a whole story.(1) Lord means supreme, or ruler. Jesus is ruler, lord of life. but we must progress to the second understanding of it. (2) When the Hebrews translated their Hebrew Old Testament into the language of the Greeks in the translation called the Septuagint, they adopted a word for translating the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh. and that word was Lord. So that Paul declares the identification of Jesus with the Yahweh of the Old Testament, and the resulting idea is this: Yahweh or Jehovah of the Old Testament has come down to sojourn among men in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. (3) So, when Jesus was crucified, because he was of the nature of deity, he came forth from the grave, or arose from the dead, and now lives. So that when one confesses Jesus is Lord, he is also confessing that the was raised from the death. You cannot confess or believe that Jesus is Lord without believing in the resurrection, and believing in the resurrection also means believing in Jesus as Lord. 2.Condemn anti-doctrinal attitude. You can see that Paul was very deliberate and specific about the nature of the Gospel. Some writers believe that "Jesus is Lord" is the first confession of faith that circulated among believers. One looks in vain however, for the lax attitude coming upon this age that doctrine is unimportant as long as you believe something. Or, doctrine is not important as long as you live right. Paul never divorces doctrine from life. nor life from doctrine. We must not do either of these. 111. Salvation involves commitment, not zeal. 2,3,21. 1. The tragedy of the Jews of Paul's day was not their hearing and knowing, but was in two things: (1) they sought to establish their own righteousness and (2) they were disobedient. The attempt to establish one's own righteousness is an out growth of pride which is another way of talking about disobedience. Part of the religious psychology of people around the world is the quid pro quo--this for that--attitude of making bargain deals with God. But making your own way or approach to God is to humanize God in the wrong way. It is to make yourself into an equal with God. Making your own way is like rejecting the sovereignty of God. Making your own way to God is to reject the gospel that God has come and freely given salvation to all who receive it. 2. The obstacle to commitment is pride concealed. in zeal. 3. Let's suppose that you are talking with someone who
says, I don't have faith, I can't believe. You say, "You must
listen to the word as it is spoken to you in the sermon and
in the Bible. He says, "I do, but I cannot get anything out of
it, it just falls on deaf ears as far as I'm concerned.
You reply, "maybe you don't want to listen." He, "on the contrary,
I do." and here you come to a stalemate of the conversation. 4. When I got married, I walked down the aisle. That didn't make
me married, but it was the first step toward getting
married that day. When I reached the front of the church with
the preacher standing there not half as scared as I was, that didn't
make me married, but it was a step in that direction.
When I was met in the front by a beautiful girl in a snow white
gown, that didn't make me married, either. I was not legally Concl . : 1. Have you wedded your life to Christ? Is he Lord of your life ? 2. Have you lost your concern for the unbelieving. People who are not seeking God judge themselves so little worthy of their own care, that they are not worthy of the care of others and it needs all the chari ty of the religion which they despise not to despise them even to the point of leaving them to their folly. But we must do for them what we would they should do for us if we were in their place, and call upon them to have pity upon themselves, and to take at least some steps in the endeavor to come to obedience and faith in Jesus. (Pensee 194) 3 D. L. Moody suggested a method which I propose for your use. Pick a man who is not a Christian and one for whom you have been praying. Put together 4 men who have the same concern for that man. The first man will go fairly early in the day and say, "Joe, I am concerned about you. You need Christ as Saviour. More than not, Joe will laugh it off and say, "I’ve been doing fairly well so far The next person comes in a ltttle later and says in the same sineere manner, “Joe I have been praying for you. You need Chris . What sbout accepting Jesus as your Saviour? At this point Joe will probably think about it a little. The third person comes and talks with Joe. He tells Joe about the terror of dying without Christ. About this time Joe starts to think. The last man goes at the end of the day and tells his concern for the life of Joe. He tells Joe about the wonderful savior. He asks if Joe would like to receive Him. In all probability, Joe will receive Jesus. If he doesn't he wont sleep much that night thinking about his welfare. |
---|