BE SURE YOU
KNOW WHY YOU BELIEVE
MIKE
CUNNINGHAM
January 13,
2008
A few weeks ago in my Christmas message I
spoke about a bad experience I had back in the seventies. As a spiritually
young Christian with little more than a saving knowledge of the bible, I
allowed myself to become convinced that I was living in the end times and
that the return of Christ and the end of the world was fairly imminent.
Obviously, I shared my belief with anyone willing to listen, and obviously I
was mistaken. I was unaware of the fact that, along with perhaps millions of
other Christians, I was being deceived big time by so called prophecy experts
and their followers in the Burlington area; so much so, that I unknowingly
attempted to and did indeed deceive others.
At that time millions of Christians viewed
current events as being so bleak, especially in the
You and I have been deceived many times in the
past and if we’re honest with ourselves, we must admit that we also have
deceived other people. In the financial sector alone; the recent collapse of
Enron and the current debacle plaguing huge financial institutions are prime
examples of corporate greed and mega deceit. Closer to home, the memory of the
deceptive accounting practices concerning construction costs of the newly renovated
Fletcher Allen Health Care will stay with us for a while. Folks have been led
to believe someone was their friend only to discover later on that the person
actually couldn’t stand their guts. And in some cases that startling revelation
only surfaced with a suit for divorce. The victims of sexual predators and
serial killers each experienced the horrible consequences of deceit. And every
one of you folks could add lots of other examples, couldn’t you? On a scale of
one to ten; what do you believe is the greatest and most devastating deception any
human being could possibly be led to believe? I know I answered that question
in my New Year’s message which prompted the following Email.
“Mike, I
appreciate your sermon; it addresses a very sensitive issue fueled with human
emotion and mankind's warped sense of "fairness," and our propensity
to create a god of our own making, according to our fallen nature. Most often
when we ask someone the question, do you think you will go to heaven?' the
response is: "I hope so," or "yes." When you follow up with
the question, "Why do you think you will go to heaven," the answer is
usually "Because I am a good person," or "I try to do what is
right"" etc. Rarely will you hear someone say, "because Jesus
Christ died for me and I trust completely in His sacrificial death on the cross
to pay the penalty for my sins." In other words, "I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one comes to the
Father except through Him." We want to think that somehow just being good
will get us in to heaven. Repent and Believe is not even on the radar screen,
certainly repentance is not even understood. Whether a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim,
or agnostic, the reality is the same, without faith in Jesus Christ as risen
Lord and Savior, sins penalty remains. In His service, Guy.” And as I pointed
out in my New Year’s message; there are churches which teach and millions of
people who have deceived themselves into believing that God will come up with a
way to let real nice people into His heaven apart from a belief in His Son
and being washed in His precious Blood, which is always manifested by the
forgiven sinners sincere struggle to lead a godly life.
Romans 1:18-25 (ESV) 18 For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the
truth. 19 For
what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For
his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did
not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became
fools, 23 and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and
birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts
to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they
exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
There’s a lot more in
these passages besides the absurdity of Atheism, God’s hatred of homosexually,
and that, unless forgiven, His punishment for sin is in God allowing human
beings to continue to sin and worship themselves eternally. I could leave it at
that, but if I did, and although each of you would probably leave here this
morning feeling pretty good; I would be deceiving each of you as well as all
those who may read this message later on. The reason being is that I would be
shortchanging you. Allow me to explain.
Romans 1:18 (ESV) 18
For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth.
We might wonder why
anyone in their right mind would not want to escape the wrath of God. Well;
they either don’t believe there is any such thing, or, if they do, they are
convinced they will not experience it because they really try hard to be a good
person. Once when Jesus found Himself in the midst of certain Sadducees who had
locked horns with each other concerning whether or not there was life after
death, an unnamed scribe approached Him.
Mark
12:28-34 (ESV) 28 And one of the scribes
came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered
them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of
all?" 29 Jesus
answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O
Luke 10:25-28 (ESV) 25
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put
him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?" 26 He
said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" 27 And he answered,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as
yourself." 28 And
he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will
live."
Christ then went on
to tell the lawyer His famous “Parable of the Good Samaritan,” and how we are to love our
neighbors in need; folks who are unable to help themselves. That’s always been
my favorite parable and it’s the one which inspired me and a wonderful friend
named Genevieve to come up with the idea of creating what became known as “The
Samaritan Connection.” But I can assure you our almost three hundred Good
Samaritan volunteers didn’t have a corner on the neighbor helping neighbor
market. On the contrary, many decent men and women have often excelled in doing
for others that which they couldn’t do for themselves. A great case in point
was in an article in yesterdays’
We all know churches
in our community some of whose members stand out in doing outstanding works of
benevolence for needy people. They have helped found and staff soup kitchens,
emergency shelters, free health care clinics, respite houses, substance abuse
treatment programs and a myriad of other wonderful things which greatly enhance
the quality of life of their less fortunate neighbors. These good people are
wonderful assets to the folks in communities in which they live. And it isn’t
just Church goers who engage in such acts of love. Some of the nicest, most
caring, most giving and most compassionate people are those who never set foot
in a church except for an occasional wedding or funeral. They want nothing to
do with churches, but they like helping people, and often a great personal
sacrifice, they do help the best they can. What a tremendous blessing these
folks are, and perhaps continue to be, to some needy followers of the Risen
Savior.
Finally, let’s not
forget the men and women in our military, the police, firefighters, and others
who put their lives on the line daily so that the rest of us can enjoy freedom
and safety. If as Guy said in his Email you were to ask all these folks I just
spoke about if they thought they would go to heaven, assuming they believed
there was such a place, they would no doubt answer, “yes.” The reason being is
because “I am a good person or “I try to do what is right.”
Romans 1:18 (ESV) 18
For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men,
On the authority of
God’s Holy Word I can say it’s entirely possible that, unless they accept the
free gift of forgiveness of their sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ, His
wrath will be poured out upon most of them. Where do I get off making such a
statement? How about “The Parable of the Good Samaritan,” and all that loving
your neighbor as you do yourself stuff? Surely these works of righteousness
count for something, don’t they?
Isaiah 64:6 (AMP) 6
For we have all become like one who is
unclean [ceremonially, like a leper], and all
our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags
or a polluted garment; we
all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from
God’s favor, hurrying us toward destruction]. WOW! Take a moment and think about that statement. Doesn’t
it seem as though there’s something wrong with this picture? Are you having
difficulty in connecting the dots?
Mark 12:28-30 (AMP) 28
Then one of the scribes came up and
listened to them disputing with one another, and, noticing that Jesus answered
them fitly and admirably, he asked Him, Which commandment is first and
most important of all [in its nature]? 29 Jesus answered, The first and
principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is
one Lord; 30 And
you shall love the Lord your God out
of and with your whole heart
and out of and with all your
soul (your life) and out of and
with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding)
and out of and with all your
strength. This is the first
and principal commandment.
Now let me ask this
question. If all these good people I have been speaking about were tried in a
court of law and accused of obeying this commandment; would there be enough
evidence to convict them? Perhaps some of them would be, but not most of them.
Think of the ones you know personally, those who want little or nothing to do
with the One who taught, “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6 ESV). The sad fact is that
perhaps most of these folks have deceived themselves into believing they are
not all that bad and that each of them is a good person. And it’s equally sad
that there are churches which encourage that terrible deception. After all,
they don’t steal, or engage in sex outside of marriage or do drugs or booze and
the like as some of their neighbors traveling on the fast lane to Hell are
doing. These so called good people do not believe that God views them as being
sinners deserving of eternal punishment and many churches foster that self
deception. Speaking of such deceived folks and God’s wrath and mans ungodliness
and unrighteousness, Lloyd-Jones writes: “they have never seen that the first
sin-the very essence of sin-is ungodliness. There is no greater sin than to
feel that as you are, unaided, you are fit to stand in the presence of God,
because it means that you have no conception of the glory and the majesty and
the holiness of God, and that in itself is sin of the deepest dye. It means you
have a little god of your own which you have conjured up in your own mind, a
god who is more or less like yourself.”[ii]
"You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And you and I know many of those so-called good people who
have brushed aside being godly as described in this first great commandment.
They have little or no interest in diligently searching the Scriptures to learn
how they can love Him with all of their mind, and with all of their heart, and
with all of their soul, and with all of their strength, ; nor do they want to
discover how they can glorify God in his or her every thought, word and deed in
their daily walk. They have deceived themselves into believing that by trying
to be a nice person and doing good things makes them righteous in God’s sight
and that sincerely struggling to be godly is irrelevant. Each of us needs to be certain WHY
we believe what we do. Is it because it’s what we want to believe or because
it’s the truth as revealed in the Bible? My prayer for every one of you folks who have
heard my message this morning and for those who may read it later, that
everyone’s answer is the latter. We
believe because it’s the truth.
[i] The Day And The Hour: Christianity’s
Perennial Fascination with Predicting the End of the World, by Francis X.
Gumerlock, back cover.
[ii] Romans, The Gospel of God, Exposition of
Chapter 1: 1-31, © 1985,D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones Zondervan Publishing House, Grand
Rapids Michigan 49530, page 358.
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