Prisonchaplain's latest teaching: Doing what is right

[prisonchaplain]

I tried to post this as a blog, but the formatting is bad...so we'll see if it looks better here:

DOING WHAT’S RIGHT

Introduction:

· I need to lose weight. What should I do?

o Diet

o Exercise!

o Cool—that was easy!

· I need more money in the bank. What should I do?

o Spend less

o Earn more

o Save more

o Don’t eat out much

o Find entertainment and recreation that don’t cost money

o Well…those are pretty easy to understand.

· I want to be a millionaire when I retire. So, what should I do? If I invest

o $5000 in an IRA at the age of 25, compounding interest means I should have a million by age 65.

o 30=10K

o 35=20K

o 40=40K

o 45=80K

o 50=160K

o 55=320K

o 60=640K

o 65=1.2 million

Scripture: Romans 7: 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. . … 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

I. We cannot control ourselves in a world that is out of control!

a. Sin and corruption have entered the world.

Gen 3: 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.

18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground,

For out of it you were taken;

For dust you are,

And to dust you shall return.”

i. Because of Adam’s sin nature is corrupted. Thorns and thistles are the first mutations. Eventually there would be natural disasters diseases.

ii. Because of his rebellion death enters the world.

iii. We have sin, trouble, and yes, “bad things that happen to good people,” because our world is under a curse.

b. How does this translate into our inability to control ourselves?

i. Look at how we eat.

1. The majority of the world doesn’t get enough—and faces diseases because of it.

2. The richest 1/3rd of the world has too much food, and we suffer diseases because of it.

ii. Look at the product of the land.

1. Grapes and other fruit can easily produce juice—which is healthy.

2. We produce high-alcohol content liquors that lead to addiction, abuse, disease, and death.

3. Many communities, and even some nations, are corrupted by the turning of natural crops into drugs.

iii. Individuals are born pre-disposed to ungodly behavior.

1. 10% of Americans are born predisposed to alcoholism.

2. Roughly 3% of Americans say they are attracted to the same gender. Remember that prior to Adam’s rebellion, the order God established was thus:

Gen 2: 23 And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

iv. Then consider the actions of very young children—those that are not yet able to fully understand right from wrong.

a. They will be caught with their hand in the cookie jar—crumbs on their face—saying that no, of course they did not have a cookie, because mommy said they could not.

b. Preschool girls will create clubs so they can exclude a peer they are angry with.

c. The first word many toddlers speak is not mommy, but “No!” Where else did we get the term “Terrible Twos?”

Transition: Nobody’s perfect, so why does it matter?

II. Sinners—those who remain out-of –control—will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

a. Instead, Hell awaits them!

1 Cor 6: 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Transition: You may say you are not that bad—that there are many worse.

Galations 5: 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Transition: Maybe there are those worse than you—worse than me.

I know from experience that some in jail have done worse crimes than others. Nevertheless, and this day, they are all in there—together.

The worse sins of others will not mitigate in your favor. You still must answer for what you have done before a holy God.

Mark 9: 42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 where

‘Their worm does not die

And the fire is not quenched.’

45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where

‘Their worm does not die,

And the fire is not quenched.’

47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 48 where

‘Their worm does not die

And the fire is not quenched.’

Transition: You believe God is mean. You say it can’t be. Yet here it is—three times we are told hell is a fiery torment—one that does not end.

b. One famous minister explained it this way:

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Enfield, Connecticut

July 8, 1741

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.

Transition: So…how do I gain control of my life?

III. Footnotes:We must surrender to God.

a. We must forever reject the notion that we are “Talking to the Old Man Upstairs. Consider how the Bible describes our encounters with God:

Gen 12: 1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

God spoke and Abram obeyed. Command and response! All former military folks said…Amen!

In Exodus 3 Moses sees God as a firy bush that does not burn out. He must remove his shoes before a holy God. He is afraid to look at God.

Isaiah 6 : Isaiah, the holiest prophet in the Old Testament, declares that he--and the Chosen People--are unclean. He says that he is personally UNDONE!

Indeed, the scripture declares in James 4: 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

In John 20 Doubting Thomas worships Jesus, calling him his Lord and his God. His response matches that of every soul, whether saved or loss according to Philippians 2. that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

b. And yet we come with faith, because the promise of salvation to the lost—that they can have eternal life—is a reminder to the redeemed—that we shall be with God forever!

John 3: 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Our confidence before God is because Jesus understands our struggles—and He speaks on our behalf to the Father.

Hebrews 4: 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Transition: So we come, first humbly, then with courage. What can we expect will happen as a result?

IV. We shall become godly!

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Even after Paul’s lament in Romans 7—about sinning when he doesn’t want to, and failing to do good when he wants to, his conclusion is one of hope.

Romans 7: 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Instead of condemnation, in Jesus’ there is empowerment to righteousness, through the Holy Spirit.

Galations 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Conclusions

ü We live in a sin-sick world—one in which it is hard to do right.

ü Nevertheless, giving up, or becoming complacent, is not an option.

ü Hell is real, it’s hot—and it’s eternal.

ü And so…I come to God.

o With humility

o With courage and hope

ü The result is that I am empowered by the Holy Spirit—and can please God.

o The Spirit leads me away from sin

o The Spirit leads me towards righteousness

ü What shall we do?

o If you are tired—if you feel like you’ve been trying so hard, but with meager results—call out to God!

o Be filled with God’s Spirit.

o Let Him empower you to flee from sin and to embrace his righteousness!