Cecil Hutson Sermon Archive

May 9, 2004 AM

THOUGHTS ON CURRENT MORAL ISSUES (2)

GAL 5:19-21

INTRO: A few weeks ago I talked about some current moral issues in view of the behavior of well known public figures. In just a few minutes I want to continue that discussion with the mention of other moral or integrity issues. The compromising of moral values is devastating in its personal effects. But the scale of the compromising (or absence) of moral values in our society is having devastating effects of epidemic, national proportions. I cannot help but remember this passage from Prov 14:34 - Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. And for Christian people I recall this excellent admonition: Abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thes 5:22). I want to make this loving assertion ... too much of the worlds moral misbehavior is having its influence on members of the Lords body.

I WHAT ABOUT THE PERVERSION OF PRIDE?

A. This is the Michael Jackson behavior

1. for years he has been the center of attention - commanding attention

2. his stage and personal life antics have been bizarre, often vulgar

3. he has convinced himself he can do no wrong

4. he apparently thinks of himself as above the law

B. Pride has a way of perverting the way we see ourselves

1. Deut 8:11-14,17 - ...thine heart be lifted up... - apt description of pride

2. thence, Look what Ive done - pride changes realities

3. behavior changes as ones realities begin to change - one begins to determine his own right and wrong

4. Prov 8:13 - notice how arrogance and the evil way follow pride!

C. Here is something important to remember ...

1. Prov 29:23 - ...honour shall uphold the humble in spirit

2. a humble spirit does not lose sight of the reality of self

3. a humble spirit recognizes the rules, the laws and willingly lives within them

4. few people are more pathetic than those who have given themselves to the delusions of pride ... few lives are really more useless than those which have lifted themselves and made themselves gods to themselves!

II WHAT ABOUT THE USE OF DRUGS & NARCOTICS?

A. This was the Daryl Strawberry behavior

1. one of the baseball greats - 8 time all star - talent & opportunity

2. but cocaine ruled his life ... and ruined his life ... a life of promise

3. illicit use of narcotics is epidemic in proportions - from junior high school to the rich and famous in every realm

4. there are no happy stories of people under narcotic influence ... and there are many, many stories like that of Daryl Strawberry ... ruin

B. How are Christians to respond to illicit drug use?

1. Mk 14:38 - Christians must be watchful people - watching for temptation

2. 1 Pet 5:8 - Christians must be vigilant people - watching for the Devil

3. how can we drug our minds with narcotics and be watchful? the answer is simple ... we cannot

4. under the influence of drugs people do every sort of ridiculous, immoral, hurtful thing ... temptation has its way with them

C. A thought ...

1. Gal 5:19,20 - witchcraft - from a word referring to drugs (from which we get our word pharmacy

2. drugs, narcotics have been around for a very long time - and God has recognized their damage; the problem of them

3. Christians cannot have any part with illicit drugs and drug culture

4. yes, the availability and the pressure are great - but we cannot yield!

III WHAT ABOUT THE USE OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES?

A. The dead cheerleader behavior

1. a young, eighteen year old girl to Hawaii for cheerleading competition

2. nude body found after falling eighty feet to her death

3. alcohol content in her blood twice the limit to judge intoxication

4. just one of hundreds or horror stories involving alcohol

B. Consider the following texts:

1. 1 Pet 5:8 - sober - to abstain from wine

2. Eph 5:18 - be not drunk - inceptive verb ... what is the inception of drunkenness?

3. Gal 5:21 - drunkenness - in original language intoxicants

4. 1 Thes 5:6 - watch - spiritual alertness ... the use of anything (drugs or alcoholic beverages) which affects spiritual alertness negatively must be avoided

C. This is not an exhaustive study, but ...

1. it is enough for me to know that the use of alcohol is forbidden for us

2. over and again right here in Katy the tragic accidents often involving our children are caused by the use of alcohol

3. in all honesty, I have not doubt at all that the use of alcohol is sin!

4. I beg you to think about these things with a view to holiness

CLOSE: Returning to Eph 5:19 I read, But be filled with the spirit. The influence which must govern our lives is the Spirit of God. I would remind, then, of Col 3:16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. The rule for our lives should be this: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thes 5:22,22).

Cecil A. Hutson

09 May 2004

God's Plan of Salvation

You Must Hear the Gospel

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

You Must Believe

You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You Must Repent

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)

You Must Confess

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

You Must Be Baptized for the Remission of Sins

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

You Must Be Faithful Unto Death

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)

What is the church of Christ?

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build a church. In Acts 2:47, Luke tells us that people were being added to that church. Thus, we can conclude that Jesus built His church sometime between His promise in Matthew 16 and Luke’s statement in Acts 2. Indeed, a closer study of the events in Acts 2 reveals that the Lord’s church was established on that first day of Pentecost following the Lord’s resurrection when Peter preached the first gospel sermon. That church is the church of Christ.

A common misconception about the church of Christ is that “The Church of Christ” is its name. It is not. The “church of Christ” is its description. The church of Christ is the church that belongs to Christ, that was established by Christ, that was built by Christ, and that was bought by Christ. It is not our church; it is His church, the Lord’s church. We are not voted into the church by men, and we do not join a church the way some might join a country club. Instead, God adds us to His church when we obey His gospel.

Are those in the church of Christ the only people who are going to be saved? Of course they are! God adds people to His church when they are saved. If you are not in the Lord’s church, then you are not saved. If you are saved, then you are in the Lord’s church. To be saved outside of the church of Christ is to be saved outside of the body of Christ – and that can never happen. Jesus is not just a way to the Father; he is the way to the Father. As Jesus said in John 14:6, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Thus, the real question is not what is the church of Christ, but is rather how do you become a part of the church of Christ? That question was asked in the first century as it is asked today, and the answer remains the same. We are saved and added to the Lord’s church when we obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like the Apostle Paul, we are saved when our sins are washed away at our baptism.

There is one church of Christ. If you are a member of something else or something more or something less, then you are not serving God according to His plan or according to His will. He wants you to be a Christian and only a Christian, wearing only the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the head and the savior of the church, His body.

Want to know more? Here are 10 things everyone should understand about the church, here are some common misconceptions about the church, and here is how God views the church.

What Must I Do?

What must I do? That same question was asked in Acts 2:37 at the end of the very first gospel sermon ever preached. Before we look at Peter’s answer in verse 38, let’s look at some answers Peter did NOT give.

What must I do? John Calvin answers, “Nothing!” According to Calvin, there is nothing we must do and nothing we can do. Each of us has already been personally predestined to Heaven or Hell without regard to anything we do on Earth, and so, logically, according to Calvin, the only answer to the question in Acts 2:37 is “Nothing.” But that is NOT how Peter answered that question.

What must I do? Many preachers today answer, “You must make Jesus the Lord of your life.” But that answer makes absolutely no sense then or now! Peter had just said in Acts 2:36 that “God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus was already Lord of their lives! Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, which means he is your Lord and your King whether or not you obey him or believe him. We obey Jesus because he is Lord and King – not to make him Lord and King.

What must I do? Many preachers today answer, “You must pray the sinner’s prayer and invite the Lord Jesus into you heart.” But no one in the Bible was ever told to do that. In fact, Paul prayed after he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), and yet Paul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always (Acts 10:2), and yet there remained something he still had to do after calling for Peter (Acts 10:6). If praying the sinner’s prayer was all that Paul and Cornelius needed to do, then why were Ananias and Peter needed?

What must I do? Listen as Peter answers that question: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38) That answer has not changed one bit in the intervening 2000 years. If your preacher is telling you something different, then you need a new preacher! “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16)

Want to know more? Here is God's Plan of Salvation.

Cecil Hutson

Baptism in the Bible

Matthew 28:19

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Mark 16:16

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 8:36

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

Acts 22:16

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Romans 6:3

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:4

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

1 Corinthians 12:13

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Galatians 3:27

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Ephesians 4:5

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Colossians 2:12

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

1 Peter 3:21

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Want to Know More?

Please read this lesson on baptism from our series of lessons on Thought Provoking Questions.

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