Archives For Stephen Davey

You Can Defeat Procrastination! Part One

June 5, 2013 — Leave a comment

ProcrastinationDid you know there’s actually a Procrastinators Club of America? They claim 20,000 registered members, but they also affirm that 20 million more haven’t got around to joining yet. Their motto is “We’re behind you all the way!” They hold a Fourth of July party every January 6th. Do we have any members present this morning?

Why do people procrastinate? Why do people put off tasks to some future time that need to be accomplished today? Why do some drag their feet postpone breaking a habit today until some later date? Why do they take a rain check on dealing with uncomfortable circumstances until a better day?

Here are some myths about procrastination?

Myth # 1: I can’t today because I might fail!

People who succeed don’t succeed because they never failed but because they learned from their failures. John Maxwell’s book Failing Forward is all about learning from inevitable failures.

Myth # 2: This task is just too hard. I don’t have the energy!

We usually have the energy to do what is important. It is like high school or college students who are just too tired to complete an assignment. But a buddy calls up and says, “Hey, man, lets go shoot some hoops.” An amazing burst of energy suddenly rushes through the student’s just a second ago exhausted body.

Myth # 3: I can’t do this job perfectly. 

We are dillydallying when we say, “I’ve got to prepare some more. There are to many flaws.” Chuck R. Swindoll wrote:

The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind–jump in.

It is like most Christmas plays. If you have directed one you know you can’t just keep practicing until it is perfected. At the last practice before the actual play, you know the play is going to be a disaster. You have practiced, you have done you best, and guess what? The play is a success. Perfection is the mother of procrastination.

Myth # 4: I have other things to do (things usually not as important).

Procrastinators are not always lazy. Some are very busy doing things that are not the most important. They are doing the urgent instead of the most important. They are like the deck hands on the sinking Titanic straightening the deck chairs when the ship is taking on water and people are frantically loading lifeboats on ships.

Let’s look first at some Bible characters that were defeated by procrastination and then later at a Bible character that defeated procrastination.

1. Procrastinators who say, ”Tomorrow, I Will Get Saved”

Pharaoh the Procrastinator

God is pouring out His ten plagues in Exodus 7-12 because of Pharaoh’s rejection of God’s invitation to get right with Him. Each plague is directed toward an Egyptian false god.

Stephen Davey describes the frog god:

The Egyptians had a key god called Heka. Heka was known as the frog god. This god was actually a goddess whose body was shaped like a woman, but whose head was shaped and fashioned like a frog. It was not a very attractive god. So the frogs, although they were considered unclean, were revered. This goddess was considered the goddess of fertility. She was supposedly the one that would aid women in childbirth.

God attacked this frog god in the second plague in Exodus 8. Egypt was flooded with green, slimy, croaking frogs. Frogs were in their beds, between the cushions on the couch, in the cabinets, in the oven, in their pots and pans.

It was like Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie, Birds, except in this horrible nightmare there were frogs everywhere.

Pharaoh finally calls for Moses and said, “In treat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord” (8:8). Moses asked Pharaoh, “When do you want me to ask the  Lord to take away the plague of frogs?” Pharaoh’s unbelievable answer was, “Tomorrow.” What? Why did not Pharaoh shout, “Today” or “Right Now.” Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God. So his procrastination was really a postponement of repenting of his sin and turning to God (Exodus 8:15).

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. For some this is easy. They put off Christ as their Savior yesterday and they will do it again today.

In my next posts we will look at other procrastinators.

Resources:

C. J. Mahaney’s series

Hugh Pyle’s sermon One More Night with the Frogs

The Battle between the Gods by Stephen Davey on Pharoah’s procrastination

Felix, Later, Lord by Stephen Davey on Felix’s procrastination

Come before Winter by Dr. Clarence E. Macartney (some background of the sermon)

Come before Winter (The Sermon)

 

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Illustration of Pushing Important People Out of Your Life

November 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

Several years ago a Christian journal published a heartbreaking story about an event that occurred in the life of one of Chicago’s most well known surgeons. Doctor Lee Winters was awakened one morning around one o’clock in the morning. He was told there had been an accident and a young boy was in the hospital near death. It would take doctor Leo Winters’ skill to save this boy’s life. So when he received the call, without any hesitation Doctor Winners rushed out of bed and dressed. He grabbed his car keys and ran to his car. As he made his way through downtown Chicago he decided to take a short cut through a rather dangerous area. In fact it was known for its rough gangs. He knew it would be worthwhile to him because there was precious seconds standing between him and the young boy’s death. Something happened as he stopped at the  stoplight. While there waiting for the light to turn a man wearing an old green flannel shirt and a gray hat suddenly rushed from the shadows. The stranger opened the car door grabbed the doctor and threw them out of the car all the while screaming I’ve got to have your car. The doctor tried to plea the situation with the man but the man was gone before he could even uttered two words.

It took Doctor Winners at least forty-five minutes to get the hospital and more than an hour had passed. The nurses shook their heads sadly. They wondered why he delayed.

They told him, “You’re too late Doctor Winners the boy died thirty minutes ago.” Dr. Winners was devastated. Thirty minutes had been that length of time that he’d spent looking for a ride because his car had been taken away. He asked about the family. The nurses told him,  “You’ll find his father grieving is in the chapel.”

“He’s very confused. He doesn’t understand why you didn’t come.” Without taking any time to explain to the staff, Doctor Winners hurried down the hallway and found that grieving father in the chapel with his head in his hands. The father was wearing that old green flannel shirt with his gray hat in his hands. In his desperation to get to the hospital he had pushed from his life the man who could have saved his son.

You can make the application of this illustration to different life situations. I planned to use it in warning parents not to be nick picking with their pastors in front of their children and push this person out of the lives of their children. God could use these doctors of the soul to save their children.

This illustration is told by Stephen Davey on Youtube and is titled “The Cure.” Davey has a number of other Youtube stories: The Call, The Window, The Aisle Seat, etc.

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A Funny Sermon Illustration on Foolishness

July 26, 2012 — 1 Comment

It is a story about a fairly foolish fellow from Los Angeles named Larry Waters. I cannot help but believe that his family is still in shock and a little embarrassed. Larry’s boyhood dream was to fly. So, when he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. When he was finally discharged, he had to satisfy himself by watching jets fly over his back yard.

One day, Larry had a bright idea – he decided to fly. He went to the local Army/Navy Surplus Store and purchase forty-five weather balloons and several tanks of helium. The weather balloons, when fully inflated, each measured more than four feet across. At home, Larry securely strapped the weather balloons to his “sturdy” lawn chair. He anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with the helium. He climbed on for a test, while it was still only a few feet above the ground. Satisfied it would work, Larry packed several sandwiches and a six-pack of Miller Lite, loaded his pellet gun, figuring he could pop a few balloons when it was time to descend, and went to his lawn chair. He tied himself in, along with his pellet gun and provisions.

Larry’s plan was to lazily float up to a height of about thirty feet above his back yard, after severing the anchor, and in a few hours, come back down. Things did not quite work out that way. When he cut the cord anchoring the lawn chair to his jeep, he did not float lazily up to thirty or so feet, but instead, he streaked into the LA skies as if shot from a canon. He did not level off at thirty feet, but instead, leveled off at 11,000 feet. At this height, he could not risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the lawn chair. He stayed there drifting for more than fourteen hours.

Then, Larry really got into trouble. He found himself drifting into the primary approach quarter of the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). A United Airlines pilot first spotted Larry. He radioed the tower and described passing a guy in a lawn chair with a gun. Radar confirmed the existence of an object floating 11,000 feet above the airport.

LAX emergency procedures swung into full alert and a helicopter was dispatched to investigate. Night was falling and the off shore breeze was beginning to flow. It began to carry Larry out over the ocean with the helicopter in hot pursuit. Several miles out, the helicopter caught up with Larry. Once the crew determined that Larry was not dangerous, they attempted to close in for a rescue. However, the draft from the blades would push Larry away whenever they neared.

Finally, the helicopter ascended to a position several hundred feet above Larry and lowered a rescue line. Larry snagged the line and was hauled back to shore. As soon as Larry was brought back to earth, he was arrested for violating air space. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue, asked him why he had done it. Larry stopped, turned, and replied, “Well, a man just can’t sit around.”

Stephen Davey told this story as the introduction to his sermon The God of Lost Causes at Wisdom for the Heart

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Who Will Replace You in the Ministry? (Matthew 10:1-4)

March 14, 2012 — Leave a comment

David Jeremiah told the following incident.

A pastor was teaching a class of Sunday School children, and he asked them, “Who broke down the wall of Jericho?”

A boy answered, “I didn’t do it!”

The pastor turned to the Sunday School teacher and asked, “Is this typical?”

She replied, “Pastor this boy is an honest child – I really don’t think he did it.”

Such a response really upset the pastor and he went straight to the Sunday School superintendent and told him what happened. The superintendent said “Well now, I’ve known the boy and his teacher for a number of years and just can’t picture either one of them doing such a terrible thing.”

In total disbelief, the pastor called an emergency deacons’ meeting and reported the entire story. After a moment of awkward silence, the chairman spoke up and said, “Listen, Pastor, just find out how much it cost and we’ll pay the damages.”

Perhaps, Jesus felt this way at this point in His ministry in Matthew 10.

Jesus has been ministering alone for awhile in His public ministry, especially after John the Baptist was imprisoned.

But now Jesus started training others not only to help Him but to replace Him. He chose 12 men who would be the first leaders of the early church. Eventually Jesus’ replacements died. But thankfully they trained replacements as well. What Jesus did the early church practiced. In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul passed this practiced on to his replacement, Timothy.

This ministry is just as necessary today. Are we training our replacements? To whom are we passing the baton? Who will be the next generation of leaders in our church? Who will replace our current Sunday school teachers? Or Deacons? Or AWANA workers? OR choir members?

How did Jesus train His replacements?

1. He Prayed for Them (Matthew 10:1)

Matthew 10:1 begins with “and.” The calling of the 12 replacements follows Jesus command to His disciples to pray for more workers. But His call also follows His praying all night (Luke 6:12).

The early church followed this example in Acts 13. Before they sent out the first full-time missionaries they prayed and fasted. Are we as a church praying for replacements or just the sick?

A. Jesus first calls us to salvation (2 Thess 2:14 “He called you by our gospel”).

B. Then, He calls us to service (Acts 13:2; 16:10).

C. Finally, He calls us to training. Jesus calls us to training or to be disciples on learners.

In order to make disciples as Jesus commanded in the Great Commission we win people to Christ, baptize them and “teach them to observe all things.”

Leaders are readers. Readers of God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15) and other books (2 Timothy 4:13). Before these disciples could be apostles or sent ones they had to be trained. For 3 ½ years Jesus trained these future leaders.

This is true of all believers (Matthew 11:29). What books are you reading that will help train you to grow in your ability to serve the Lord?

2. He Trained Them (Matthew 10:2)     

Peter, James and John were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector. Simon was former political activist. We don’t know the occupations of the nine. But there were no Ph.Ds, CEOs or military generals. Jesus doesn’t choose us for what we are now but for who we can become.

Jesus saw great potential in these men who would be the future leaders in the church.

Stephen Davey shared a fictitious memo from “The Jordan Management Consultants”.  This story that gives the response of a imagined consulting firm if. Jesus had sent the resumes of the 12 apostles who were applying for management positions in Jesus’ corporation today.

Thank you for submitting the resumés of the twelve men you have selected for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests and the results have been run through our computer. It is our staff’s opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of work you are now undertaking. They do not demonstrate a team concept. We would recommend that you search for persons of experience, managerial ability, and proven capability. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to an offensive temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership and he will remain anonymous. Brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Frankly, they are mama’s boys. Thomas demonstrates a questioning, doubting attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by our greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus have definite leanings toward the radical scale. One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, has a keen business mind, is good with finances, and is highly motivated and ambitious. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right hand man.

That should give all of us hope as Paul reminded the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 1:26.

3. He Molded Into A Powerful Team (Matthew 10:2-4)

One preacher called this group “A Ragtag Band of Misfits” that Jesus molded into a very successful ministry team. The list of the apostles is found 4 times (Mt 10; Mk 3; Luke 6; Acts 1). Matthew is unique in that he puts the Twelve into 6 pairs.

A.  Peter is always first in all four lists

He was first among his equals because Jesus was the leader. But Peter is the leader under Jesus.

1. Peter is paired with his brother Andrew who brought him to Jesus. These two brothers were very different and yet God used both of them.

2. James is paired with his brother John. Both were sons of Zebedee. At one point they had been sons of thunder. James died as the church’s first martyr. John lived a long life and later wrote 5 New Testament books.

3. Philip and Bartholomew or Nathanael. Philip introduced Nathanael to the Lord.

4. Thomas and Matthew. Only Matthew reminds us that he was a dishonorable supporter of the Roman government at the expense of his own people. The Jews considered Jewish tax collectors traitors. Thomas of course was the skeptic.

5. James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus. About these two we know little.

6. Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

The Zealots were a radical party who hated Rome. The Zealots carried on guerrilla warfare from a retreat called Masada. When Rome discovered Masada, they attacked and ended the Zealots in A.D. 70. Judas Iscariot is always listed last and as the one who betrayed Jesus.

B. The 12 are always divided into three smaller groups of four disciples.

Peter is always the first, Philip is always 5th and James is always 9th. Jesus was able to spend more time with the first group. The first group wrote the most Scripture. Under Peter were other leaders. Leaders need leaders.

C. The 12 had very different personalities and temperament

1) Peter was impulsive sometimes even rebuking Jesus. John was the opposite. He was contemplative leaning on Jesus heart.

2) Nathanael was believing (John 1:49) and Thomas was skeptical (John 20:25).

3) Matthew was a tax collector for the Roman government. Simon the Zealot was a radical revolutionary for overthrowing the Roman government.

4) Peter is always first and Judas is always last.

Peter was the closest to Jesus. Judas was unconverted and the farthest away.

5) How did Jesus unite such a diverse and strong willed group?

Jesus called these men to “Follow Me and I will make you to become fishers of men.” As long as the disciples focus was not on each other, but on Christ they were good. In the Gospels, they struggled with this. In Acts after the filling of the Holy Spirit they succeeded. Perhaps Matthew gives us another clue. Matthew humbly admitted what he was before Jesus saved him and transformed him into this new person. Instead of focusing on the weaknesses in others he focused on his own weaknesses and sins from which that God had saved him.

Like Jesus, let’s start praying and working toward training our replacements in the ministry. Remember you will not start out with mature, skilled workers but more likely with immature but potential leaders. Just we were years ago.

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Worshiping with Mary’s Heart and Serving with Martha’s Hands, Part 1

February 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

An elementary teacher was helping one of her kindergarten students get his cowboy boots on before leaving for home. He had asked her for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and pushing, the boots just did not want to fit all the way – they seemed too small. She persisted and by the time she got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, “These are on the wrong feet.”

You know how boots can sometimes be hard to tell – so she looked closely and sure enough, they were. She tugged and pulled and finally pulled the boots off. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on the right feet. Finally, just as she was finished, he said, “You know, these aren’t my boots.”

She bit her tongue rather than scream. Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off, he said, “See, they’re my brother’s boots, but my mom said I could wear ‘em.”

She did not know if she should laugh or cry, but she mustered up what patience she had left to wrestle the boots back on his feet one more time. Finally, she finished. Helping him into his coat, she asked, “Now, where are your gloves?”

He said, “I stuffed ‘em in the toes of my boots.”

In two years, she will be eligible for parole (Stephen Davey’s sermon True Love Part III).

Sometimes our love is tested. In Luke 10:38-42, Mary and Martha, sisters, were getting annoyed with each other, or more accurately Martha was self-righteously ticked with her younger sister, Mary.

Some think this sibling rivalry was the result of a difference of temperaments:

1. Martha was an extrovert, the talker. Mary was the introvert, the thinker.

2. Martha was always busy. Mary was contemplative and analytical.

3. Martha was a Type A with her Things To Do list always in hand. Mary was a Type B, more laid back, always with a book in hand.

4. Martha was the worker. She invites or at least receives Jesus in her home. Mary was the worshipper.

You can see this contrast in personalities again when the two are contrasted at the death of their brother Lazarus in John 11:20-32. When Martha learns Jesus is coming to Bethany, she runs to meet Him while Mary sits and ponders the death of her brother.

The conflict between these two sisters, however, is much more than a clash of personalities. Mary was balanced in her service and worship of God. Martha was not.

First of all in this next event in the Life of Christ we see

I. Laboring and Learning Out of Balance (verses 38-40a)

A. Martha is frantically laboring to prepare a meal for Jesus (v. 38)

When Martha learns that Jesus is coming for dinner, she downs a Five Hour Energy drink and tops it with a Red Bull. She goes into command mode barking orders. She dispatches a servant to the market to purchase the freshest meat and veggies. She Spring cleans her house in a matter of minutes. Martha is the Queen of Multi-tasking. Just as soon as the servant returns she starts chopping food while micromanaging every one else in the house.

Jesus shows up early, about halfway through the preparations, which only added more pressure.

I read that at one time in our nation Americans bought more tonnage of aspirin for headaches than fertilizer. Not more in price but tonnage of aspirin for headaches that in most cases are stress related and not physically caused.

Jim Elliot, modern martyred missionary, said, “I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds…. Satan is quite aware of the power of silence” (Donald S. Whitney. Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991, 187).

B. Mary who was helping in the kitchen goes and sits at Jesus’ feet (v. 39)

Mary was ready to get out of the same kitchen Martha Stewart was in.

To sit at Jesus’ feet was an official position of a student. Pupils did not enroll in colleges and universities, they hired tutors. In Acts 22:3, Paul’s parents employed the most famous of Jewish rabbis, Gamaliel. Mary was honored to be among a select few to have Jesus as her teacher. Three times Mary is seen at Jesus’ feet (Mark Driscoll’s sermon).

Mary was a serious student at the feet of Jesus’ feet learning His Word and her life reflected it.

Some call this spiritual exercise the Spiritual Discipline of Silence and Solitude. There is virtually a Who’s Who List of Men and Women of God in Church history who valued their time alone with God’s Word:

David Branerd, American missionary to native Americans, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon who said, “I commend solitude.” J. Hudson Taylor, Jim Elliot, A. W. Tozer, the great devotional writher, who recommended, “Retire from the world each day to some private spot, even if it be only the bedroom (for a while I retreated to the furnace room for want of a better place). Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles, had a very large family of 19 children and for many years times of physical isolation were scarce. It is well known that when she needed silence and solitude she would bring her apron up over her head and read her Bible and pray underneath it. Obviously that did not block out all noise, but it was a sign to her children that for those minutes she was not to be bothered and the older ones were to care for the younger” (Whitney, 189).

C. Martha was distracted in her busyness (v. 40a)

Martha was so busy serving Jesus she neglected Jesus. Martha could have prepared a much simpler meal and joined Mary at Jesus’ feet. This is what the writer of Proverbs recommended: Proverbs 15:16, “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” It is better to have a vegetable plate with less stress in preparation than a seven course meal that took half a day to prepare resulting in everyone mad because of all the pressure.

In Part 2, we will consider the results and the correction of laboring and learning out of balance.


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The New Jerusalem or Heaven on Earth (Revelation 21-22) Part One

January 24, 2012 — Leave a comment

When a Sunday school teacher quizzed her fifth-graders about how one gets to heaven, she got all correct answers: One doesn’t get there by being good, giving away money, or being a nice person. “Well, then,” she asked, “how does one get heaven?” Before any of the regular students could answer, a boy who was visiting the class that week shouted out, “You gotta be dead!” (David Jeremiah. What You Always Wanted to Know about Heaven, 100).

The visitor was correct. “It is appointed to man to die.” If you are a believer when you die or are raptured, the last two chapters of God’s Word describes Heaven your future eternal home.

John ends his prophecy of end time events in the book of Revelation with two chapters devoted to Heaven. God reveals to John that there will be a New Heaven, a New Earth and a New Jerusalem. The New Heaven is the really the first and second heaven with the curse removed and the New Earth is our planet that has been renovated with fire (2 Peter 3:7). The New Jerusalem is the third Heaven, where God dwells now, but in eternity will be on earth in the New Jerusalem according to 21:2-3.

So literally, Heaven will be on earth in the New Jerusalem. An angel gives John a guided tour. The guided tour begins from a distance from an aerial view where the architecture of the City is described. Then the angel proceeds inside to admire the interior decorations of the New Jerusalem.

The point of the tour is not for us to be awestruck with the beauty of the City. The New Jerusalem is a literal city with symbolic meanings so we will be awestruck with God and His Lamb.

I. The New Jerusalem Described Externally (21:10-20) This is the aerial view.

A. The City is brilliantly illuminated with all the outward manifestation of all of God’s attributes i.e., His glory (21:11).

The City is crystal clear so nothing blocks God’s glory. The City is not the center of attention but God and Christ who light it up.

The City reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:14 and 16: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” God lets His light shine for eternity for His glory.

B. A Great and High Wall (21:12).

When the walls of Jerusalem were down in the OT, God’s people were vulnerable to attack and thus God’s name was in reproach (Nehemiah 2:17). The enemy would taunt God’s people, “Can’t your god keep the walls up around His city?” This reproach on God fired Nehemiah to rebuild the walls.

When we see these massive walls around the New Jerusalem we will want to sing with great Reformation warrior for justification by faith, Martin Luther, “A mighty fortress is our God a bulwark never failing.”

C. Twelve Gates guarded by angels (21:12-13). Robert Thomas says these are large gate towers of which smaller gates were a part. On these gates are the names of the 12 Tribes of Israel who represent the Old Testament people of God.

The Old Testament people of God will be living in the New Jerusalem protected in this gated community with angels as security guards. These OT believers would remember that one angel in the OT killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night and was not even winded at the end.

We will be forever reminded of our eternal security in Christ.

D. Twelve Foundations (21:14) are visible unlike most foundations and bear the names of the 12 apostles who represent the New Testament people of God or the Church. Israel has not replaced the Church in this age nor the age to come.

Also in Ephesians 2:20, Paul says that the church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles.”

Those massive foundations will not let us forget that we are in Heaven because our lives are founded on the Word of God.

E. The City is 1400 miles square (21:15-16).

This is the city Abraham looked for according to Hebrews 11:8-10. If this city were to land on America instead of Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem would cover the USA from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian mountains to California. That is 2 million square miles of land area just on the bottom floor.

Randy Alcorn in his book on Heaven estimated if there are 12 feet between each floor there could be 600,000 floors which equal 1.2 billion square miles. There be will room enough for all the believers of all the ages and all the babies who have died or been aborted since Roe vs Wade in 1973 which is about 1 million each year.

The city is an eternal object lesson of the greatness of God’s grace.

F. Walls of Jasper are 216 feet thick (21:17-18).

John will now return and give additional information about the previously mentioned sections of the city. It is as though, John could not tell us everything at once about the glorious city. It would overload our circuit and blow all our fuses.

The wall is measured by an angel. A. T. Robertson interprets this phrase, “Though measured by an angel, a human standard was employed” (Word Pictures in the New Testament, VI, 474). The New Jerusalem is not a state of mind.

J. Oswald Sanders denies the literalness of John’s description: “Gates of pearl and streets of gold are plainly figurative and should be so interpreted. So, to the question, Is heaven a place? The answer is, Yes and no. It is not a place in the material since in which, say, Jerusalem is a place while heaven is not an actual city, it is like a city.”

Millard Erickson says the New Jerusalem is both a state of mind and a literal city. To which Wayne Grudem responds: “Something either is a place or it is not a place” (Systematic Theology, 1159). Jesus promised his discourage disciples in John 14:3, “I go to prepare place.” End of argument.

The walls like the city are crystal clear so again they will not filter the glory of God.

G. The Twelve Foundations are twelve different jewels which allow the glory of God to shine through like a giant prism of beauty (21:19-20).

While the wall is crystal clear each of the 12 foundations is a different color such as deep blue, bright green, red and white, deep red, gold, pale-green, sea-green, yellow-green, violet, and purple. The glory of God shines through these foundations like a spectacular prism reflecting the glory of God for all to behold.

H. The Gates are Pearls (21:21).

These pearls are not the size of peas strung together to make a necklace. These pearls are as big as large tower gates in a wall nearly as thick as a football field.

Pearls speak of beauty out of pain. The little oyster receives an irritation or a wound, and around this offending article that may be has penetrated and hurt it, the oyster layers over it and over it, again and again until it builds a pearl (Stephen Davey’s sermon).

As we go in and out of the City we will be prompted over and over again of the gigantic sufferings of Christ. “Those pearls, hung eternally at the access routes to glory will remind us forever of One who hung upon a tree (John Phillips, Exploring Revelation, 254).

These last two chapters are the climax to the Revelation of Jesus Christ so we are not surprised that Christ will be fully unveiled in the New Jerusalem.

In my next post we continue on our guided tour of the interior of the New Jerusalem.

 

        

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Sermon: God’s Love in John 3:16, Part 4

December 21, 2011 — Leave a comment

Glen Beck is very popular among many of us conservatives. I sometimes listen to his radio program when I am on the road. I read his on-line newsletter The Blaze. I watched one special Christmas program on his new GBTV. In that program, he said that “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” That does not sound like a Mormon. Because Glenn Beck is the new Mormonism that w evangelicals to think they are non-traditional Christians. See the debate by Al Mohler  on the topic “Are Mormons Christians?” on Beliefnet.com with Orson Scott Card, a prominent Mormon author.

But Mormonism has not changed it’s doctrines from its inception. It is only marketing its tenets differently.

In 1820, founder of Mormonism Joseph Smith experienced, what he called, the “First Vision”. In that vision, he was told,

All existing churches are wrong . . . all Christian doctrine is an abomination . . . all Christian leaders are corrupt.

The reason for the beginning of Mormonism is the belief that it is radically different from Christianity.

After Glen Beck said, Jesus is the way, truth, and life, he sat down at the Jewish Menorah or candelabra and started celebrating Hanukkah. Of course, Judaism rejects Jesus as the Messiah or “the way, the truth, and the life” and salvation by grace through faith. But so does Mormonism. But Beck talks like an evangelical which masks his Mormonism which rejects Christ as God and is based on works for salvation.

The 5th president of the Mormon Church, Lorenzo Smith reduced the doctrine of the Mormon church to one statement: “As man now is God once was; as God now is, man may be.” In other words, God the Father (and His Son) was once a man before he became God. Man if he is a faithful Mormon can become God the Father. For a good summary of Mormonism’s belief that God the Father nor Jesus is eternal see Stephen Davey’s sermon on Mormonism (Masquerade – Selected Scripture).

John’s message in John 3:16 is that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and that faith in Him is necessary for salvation not works.

1. The Source of Love ”God” (See Part 1 and 2)

2. The Object of Love ”The World” (See Part 3)

3. The Proof of Love “That He Gave His Son”

The proof of God’s love is always giving for the benefit of others. Someone can give and not love, such as those attempting to buy their way into heaven through charitable contributions, but no one can love and not give. The opposite of love is selfishness and taking.

A. God so loved that He gave or as the next verse (3:17)says “sent his Son.” God had only one Son and He was a missionary to the lost planet earth.  ”Sent” comes from the same Greek word that is translated “apostle” who was a sent one by Jesus. Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus “The Apostle.”

B. Jesus loved and gave Himself for our sins. In John 10:11, Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” In 10:17, 18, Jesus added, “I lay down my life. . . . No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.”

Compare Black Friday a month ago with Good Friday 2000 years ago. What happened in Wal-mart Stores around the planet Friday after Thanksgiving? It was not love. Two years ago a Wal-mart employee was trampled to death by shoppers. They may need to change the name from Black Friday if people keep getting killed. It’s beginning sound like the black plague. Last Black Friday one shopper pepper sprayed other shoppers because they all wanted an Xbox 360 video game for half price. She later said she did it out of self-defense and she may sue Wal-mart for not providing better security. Just look at some raw selfishness on YouTube.

Compare Black Friday where people had fist-fights to save $20 over merchandise and Good Friday where Christ was killed on the cross for our sins. Because He loved us He allowed sinners to nail Him to a wooden cross so He could “give his life a ransom for many.”

4. The Necessary Response to Love “Whosoever believes in Him.”

All religions can be divided into two groups:

1. False religions based on works for salvation.

2. The one true Christianity based on faith in Christ and not works. John will mention some form of the word believe 98 times in his Gospel.

I feel sorry for people who are not grounded in God’s Word and the deceptive messages with which they are constantly exposed. Let me give you a personal example of how deceptive religions of works can be. My wife and I visited Saltlake City and were given a tour of Temple Square. The very attractive and articulate Mormon tour guide ended her tour with the affirmation, “We are Christians.” Many in the group to gave permission for Mormon missionaries to visit their homes and deliver to them a Book of Mormon.

No one gets to heaven by being a good Mormon or Baptist or any other religion. Read Jesus’ statement to the religious Jews who wanted to kill Jesus for claiming to be God in John 5:24.

5. The Eternal Consequences of Love “should not perish but have everlasting life.”

There are only two consequences expressed by Jesus in the last line of John 3:16: “shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

A. The consequence of not believing is to “perish” for those in a religion of works.

B. The consequence of believing is to possess “everlasting life” for believers in Christianity.

Jesus expands on these two consequences in verses 17-18. Jesus did not come to earth to condemn sinners He came to seek and to save those who are lost (Luke 19:10).

But why then will sinners be condemned to perishing? Because as Jesus said in 3:18, they are already condemned because they do not believe in Jesus as their Savior.

John added his commentary on this two-fold reality in 3:36, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.”

“Perish” does not mean annihilation in hell which is growing in popularity even among evangelicals. “Perish” means eternal conscious suffering in the lake of fire. John in his last book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, proves this truth by describing the fate of two of the last Christ rejecters on earth. Those two men who refuse to believe in Jesus as Savior are identified as the Anti-Christ and his False prophets. Both of these individuals are men not demons. Their eternal destiny is detailed by John in Revelation 19:20, when they are cast into the Lake of Fire. Then 1000 years later in in 20:10, Devil, who is a fallen angel is also cast into the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:10 says, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the anti-christ and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” When the Devil is cast into the Lake of Fire, the last two Christ rejecters have been suffering  consciously for 1000 years. They were not burned up on impact.

Someone might be thinking, well the Anti-christ, false prophet, and the Devil deserve to be sentenced to the Lake of Fire. John also makes very clear that all unbelievers who do not believe in Jesus as Savior, in 20:14-15, are also cast into the Lake of Fire: “And death and hell were cast into the lake fire which is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Thank God for the alternative consequence. The consequence of believing on Jesus as your Savior is “everlasting life.” To perish is not just to live for ever but to die for ever or to experience what John called in Revelation 20:14, “the second death.”

To experience “everlasting life” is not just to live for ever either, but to enjoy eternal life for every.  We believers are not simply going to live as we are now for ever with all of our problems, pains, sorrows, and pressures.

In Revelation 21, after describing the torments of the Lake of Fire, John exults over the pleasures of eternal life in heaven: “and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are past away.” Our greatest pleasure, however, will be our unceasing worship and service to our Savior (Revelation 22:3).

Just as the Lake of Fire is indescribablly worse than any pain on earth, so is Heaven indescribablly better than any joy on earth. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

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