How many of you today have heard of the ministry of Ray Comfort or have read his book entitled, “The Devil’s Nightmare?” Much of that which I am sharing with you this morning finds it’s seed in Ray’s book, which I would highly recommend as being a much better rendering of the subject matter than you are about to hear.
There are some statistics available that show that up to 80% of those who accept Christ as their Saviour, subsequently fall away or at least live at a subsistence level as far as the impact of their faith on day to day living. Why is it that so many in today’s Christian church – dare I say – in this church, live so far below their potential in Christ? It implores us to examine why this tragedy is occurring, - and that is part of my purpose this morning. Today I want us to see that the gospel is not ALL GRACE, and no law. Jesus said that He did not come to do away with the law but to fulfil it. We live in a day of greasy grace, no healthy fear of God, complacency and spiritual lethargy.
One day as the pastor stood to preach, there were a couple of smart-alec teens who seldom paid any attention at all sitting in the back row. The pastor began: “Do you know what the two greatest problems are facing the church today?” One kid just couldn’t resist a smart answer and he shouted out, “I don’t know and I don’t care!” “That’s exactly right,” right said the pastor, “Ignorance and apathy are our two greatest problems.”
Let me ask you a question this morning - What is it that brings a person to the point of conversion? Ps. 19:7 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
Suppose I were to say to brother Richard Dorsch, the chairman of our board, “I’ve got some wonderful news for you today Richard; someone has just stepped in and paid a $25,000 dollar speeding fine in your behalf.” He would probably respond, “What on earth are you talking about? I don’t have a $25,000 speeding fine and just what have you been drinking or smokin’?” That reaction would be entirely understandable. The news of the fine would be a mystery to you, …you would not understand it and you might even be offended by because I’m suggesting you did something wrong and you don’t think you did.
If however, I took a different approach and I said to you, “On your way from your home in Waterloo to the service here today, you passed through a school zone temporarily set aside for a blind and deaf children’s convention. You were doing 80 Kil./hour, but there were ten signs that you missed because you really weren’t awake yet. Those signs clearly indicated that you were to slow to 15 kil./hr. They not only caught you on regular radar but have a clear radar video of your violation. The fine for that is $25,000 dollars and you owed that, except someone stepped forward and paid the fine on your behalf, SO… you are free of your debt.
Having heard it explained that way, all of a sudden Richard’s lights go on and he understands much better what I’m talking about and he responds in gratitude toward the one who stepped in and paid his fine. Until he had it clearly explained, it made no sense to him, but now knowing the gravity of his transgression - the penalty, and the judgement all make sense, and Richard is very grateful to the one who stepped in to pay his fine.
What you have just heard is an illustration of why when you approach an unchurched, pre-Christian and share the good news of the gospel with him or her it often does not make any sense. Terms like, being lost, or needing to be saved, have little or no impact if you don’t know you are lost and in need of a Saviour. That’s why the apostle Paul calls the preaching of the cross foolishness to them that are perishing. It may also be offensive to them because you are insinuating they are sinners, when they know right well that there are lots of people who are worse than them.
Over the past 205 years this congregation has attempted to follow the pattern set by Jesus Christ himself and clearly demonstrated by the Apostle Paul in his preaching, and this morning I want to encourage you to continue to make it abundantly clear that repentance is necessary, because, in fact, we have each broken God’s law.
In his first great sermon, the one on the mount, Jesus did not remove the law, on the contrary, He raised the standard of the law. He said, “You have heard it said, You shall not commit adultery, but I say, He who looks on a woman with lust has committed adultery in his heart already.” The Apostle Paul in his great sermon to the Athenians at the areopagus, often referred to as Mars Hill, said, “…God commands men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.”
Romans 3:19 says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God.” You see, God’s law was given to stop sinners from justifying themselves, and to leave the whole world guilty before God. Verse 20 goes on, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law cannot justify anyone but it leaves everyone aware of their guilt before God. Today we have blurred the laws of God and driven them into obscurity with our zeal to be politically correct and to protect our children’s self esteem. We move in a malaise of greys where once there was the clarity of black and white. It used to be either right or wrong, now it may be right or it may be wrong depending on the circumstances and the people involved! And we wonder why we are reaping a whirlwind of lawlessness and rebellion against what we see very clearly in the law of God – the bible.
D.L. Moody said, “God’s law can only chase a man to Calvary, and no further.” We see in Romans 7:7 that the law tells us what sin is. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness except that the law said, `Thou shalt not covet’.” Galatians 3:24 says, “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” So, do you see it? The law does not justify us, but it has its place in pointing us to the one who can. It is God’s law that clearly tells us what is right and wrong.
Around the turn of the century, sadly, the Christian church and her preachers gave up the law as an instrument to bring people to Christ. The “schoolmaster” retired from many pulpits. People were being encouraged to come to Christ not because he could save them from their sin and its penalty, but because in Him they would find peace, joy, fulfilment, happiness and help with the problems of life. The church began to substitute JESUS THE SAVIOUR, for JESUS THE LIFE-IMPROVER, and the issue of sin was sidelined in favour of the issue of happiness.
Instead of, “How can I serve God best,” it became, “What will make me happy?” How many of you know that God is the only one who knows what will bring lasting joy to our lives, along with peace, contentment and hope for the future.
Now, to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this type of wimpy, compromised, politically correct teaching and preaching. I would ask you to give your careful attention to this story. In fact, if you don’t catch the significance of this illustration you won’t get the point I’m endeavouring to make here this morning, and you might as well have stayed at home in bed. I recently read a research paper that was examining how many people actually sleep in church on a Sunday morning during the sermon. They determined that if all the people who sleep during the sermon on a Sunday morning were laid out on the floor in a line head to toe …. they would be … more comfortable. Please listen carefully!
Two men were seated on a plane. The first man is told to put on his parachute because it will improve his flight. He can’t possibly see how it will improve his flight, but he decides to experiment, and see if it is true so he straps on the parachute. He finds that now he cannot sit quite upright in his seat and he is not as comfortable as he was before. He decides though to give it some time, because, after all, He was told that it would improve his flight. He notices that other passengers around him have not put on their parachutes and as a matter of fact, they are looking at him and laughing, whispering to each other and shaking their heads. He begins to feel humiliated and embarrassed and soon he just can’t stand it any longer. He stands, unstraps the parachute and throws it to the floor in disillusionment. As far as he is concerned, he was told an outright lie. His flight did not improve, and it will certainly be a very cold day in a very warm place before he’ll put on one of those things again.
The second man is given a parachute and told to put it on because at any moment the door will open and he will be forced to jump 25,000′ out of the plane. He quickly and gratefully straps the parachute on, not noticing the weight, or the fact that it is not as comfortable sitting in the plane with it on. His mind is consumed with only one thought. What would happen if he jumped 25,000′ without the parachute.
Now, lets take another look at these two men and examine the motives each of them had for putting the parachute on. The first man put it on solely because he was assured it would improve his flight and he decided to experiment. The result however was persecution, some discomfort, and disillusionment waltzed in and even a little bitterness toward those who had told him his flight would improve.
The second man put it on solely to prepare for the jump to come. Now because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep rooted peace and joy knowing that he is safe from the sure and certain death that would follow if he did not have it on. This also enables him to withstand the ridicule and humiliation directed at him from other passengers. His attitude toward those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude.
Now listen to what some current presentations of the gospel say. “Just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will give you love, joy, peace, fulfilment, and lasting happiness.” In other words, Jesus will improve your flight. So what does the sinner do? He experimentally puts on Christ to see if these claims are really true and what does he get? He receives the biblical promises reserved for all who would be godly in Christ Jesus. Tribulation, test, trials, and persecution. He becomes disillusioned and bitter and his latter end is worse than his first, because now he is an inoculated backslider, who has no use for the gospel because it did not improve his flight.
Friends, instead of preaching that Jesus will improve the flight we must tell people about the jump. “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement.” People need to know that horrific consequences of breaking God’s law and that on judgement day we will face the wrath of a holy God who hates sin. When a sinner understands that he flees to the Saviour from sin, in order to escape the wrath to come. That is what we should be preaching, - there is wrath to come. The apostle Paul said, “God has commanded all men, everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness.” The issue is not one of happiness and although peace and joy are legitimate fruits of genuine salvation, they should not be used as drawing cards to entice someone to embrace salvation. Otherwise people will turn to Christ with the wrong understanding and motive, lacking genuine repentance - without which Jesus said, “No man can be saved.” (Lk.13:3)
Let’s look at another illustration from our plane flight. The new stewardess is coming down the aisle carefully with a tray of hot, steaming, freshly poured coffee. She wants so badly to make an impression on this, her first day on the job and she certainly does. As she approaches our second passenger the plane lurches in an air pocket and she upsets the boiling hot coffee all over passenger number two. Now, what is his reaction? Does he go - “Whoa that is hot!!!” Yes he certainly does!! Does he then stand and rip his parachute off and throw it to the ground, saying, “This stupid parachute certainly has not done me any good.”
No, he does not! Why would he? He did not put the parachute on to improve his flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. If anything, the pain of the hot coffee causes him to cling tighter to the parachute, and perhaps even look forward to the jump to come!! If you and I have put on Christ with the right motive, knowing we were sinners and in deep need of forgiveness and redemption, then when trials, tests and tribulation come into our lives we will only draw closer to the Saviour.
One of the greatest revivals to sweep across America was the revival spearheaded by the evangelist, Johnathan Edwards. In 1741 he began to preach his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He spoke clearly of how people had offended God by breaking His commandments and that God was going to judge them for that. Then he shared how Jesus intervened and bore the curse of the law, and God’s wrath for them, and literally tens of thousands of people knelt in repentance and brokenness to receive Christ. Once they knew the law and could see their sin they repented and this came to be known as “The Great Awakening.” Do we need a great awakening in Canada today? Can it come if we emphasise the mercy and grace of God, and stay silent about the wrath of God against sin?
A.B. Earle, who led over 150,000 people to faith in Christ said, “I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the law of God, have a prominent place in leading people to Christ. They must see themselves as lost before they will cry for mercy. They will not escape the danger until they see it.”
John Wycliffe: The highest service to which a man may aspire on earth is to preach the law of God.
Martin Luther: The first duty of the Christian preacher is to declare God’s law and show the nature of sin. Why? Because it will act as a schoolmaster to bring people to Christ.
- John Wesley: suggested we preach 90% law and 10% grace. When speaking of those who did not use the law as a schoolmaster to bring people to Christ, Wesley said of them, “All this speaks of the deepest ignorance of the spiritual properties of the law, and proves that those who teach thus have not known Christ, or at least are unskilled in the word of righteousness and are then as yet babes in Christ.”
Charles Spurgeon: They will never accept grace until they tremble before a holy and righteous God.
D. L.Moody: God gives us the law to show us ourselves and our true colours.
John Bunyan: He who does not know the nature of the law, can not know the nature of sin, and he who does not know the nature of sin, can not know the Saviour.
- Charles Finney: Evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel. To neglect this in the instruction of souls is almost certain to result in filling people with false hope, and the introduction of a false standard, and to fill the church with false converts.
Let’s look at the ministry of Jesus Christ. In Luke 10:25 when the educated lawyer came to Jesus, testing him, Jesus gave him the law. He cited the law, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and strength and thy neighbour as thyself.
When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, Jesus gave him five horizontal commandments and then one vertical one. At first the rich young ruler justified himself, but Jesus skilfully showed him how he had broken the first commandment, and that his money was his God.
What has gone wrong folks? Somewhere, somehow the devil has whispered in the ear of far too many Christians, “Don’t talk about sin, or judgement, or especially hell. You’ll offend them. If you must tell them about Jesus, just tell them he’ll make them happy!”
What did Finney say, “If we neglect the law as a schoolmaster we will have an eroded standard in the church and a lot of false converts.” Friends, there are all kinds of people in the church today, maybe some of you sitting here this morning, who are relying very heavily on the grace of God. You are choosing regularly to live by a standard that does not reflect a desire to obey God or to walk in the power of His purity and holiness. I fear that there has perhaps never been a solid basis of repentance for sin and genuine grief and sorrow for having broken God’s law. Salvation is not an experiment in life improvement, it is genuine sorrow for sins, turning and walking 180 Degrees the opposite direction, and receiving the gift of forgiveness, freedom from guilt and eternal life. Jesus said, “Without repentance, you shall also likewise perish.”
Psalm 19:7a is true. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
Let’s go back to the plane for a moment. The flight is going along and you are enjoying your cookies and coffee when all of a sudden you hear. “Excuse me, this is your captain speaking. As the tail section of the plane has just fallen off, and it is now certain we are going to crash, I will have to ask you to put your parachute on and jump 25,000′ through the door we are about to open. Thank you for your attention.” You immediately reach for your parachute, grateful for the warning, and you prepare for the imminent jump.
It isn’t very long until you notice that some of those around you are continuing to sip their coffee, eat their cookies and watch the movie. You turn to one of them and say, “Didn’t you hear the announcement the captain just made? He responds to you. “I don’t really think the captain is serious and besides I’m quite happy just as I am, thanks.”
Now, please don’t turn to him in misdirected zeal and say, “Please put on the parachute, it will be better than the movie!” No! You’ll give him the wrong motive for putting it on. If you want him to put it on and never take it off, tell him about the jump. Explain what will happen if he doesn’t put it on. “Okay sir, go ahead and watch your movie but we are about to fall 25,000 feet. Without your parachute - YOU will go (whistle) SPLAT!!! His eyes grow wide and he says, “What did you just say would happen to me?” You explain once more and when he understands the consequences of breaking the law of gravity, he gratefully reaches for his parachute.
There are many folks in the Kitchener-Waterloo area enjoying the flight - the pleasures of sin for a season. You and I are called to ask them if they’ve heard the message from the Captain of our salvation to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and so be saved from the wrath to come. They may turn to you and me and say, “Oh, I really don’t think God is going to bring judgement to anyone. After all, haven’t I heard somewhere that God is love, and besides I am happy as I am thanks.
Don’t turn to that person and tell them to accept Christ only because He will give them love, joy, peace, and happiness. Or, He’ll help your marriage, bless your finances, bless your relationships, take away your anger, your loneliness, your alcoholism, and all your other problems if you only give your heart to Him. NO! That will produce the wrong motive. Those things are all gloriously true, but they are the wrong incentive for drawing someone to Christ. Rather, pray for courage and tell them, “You are going to have to pass through the door of death and face a righteous, holy, and just God whose commandments you have broken. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of that sin is death. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a mighty God.”
Can we bow for prayer?
The Bible says:
1.) I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other Gods before me.
2.) You shall not worship any graven image.
3.) You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain.
4.) Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5.) Honour your father and your mother.
6.) You shall not murder.
7.) You shall not commit adultery.
8.) You shall not steal.
9.) You shall not lie and bear false witness.
10.) You shall not covet - neighbour’s wife, house, his possessions.