101 Collected Sermons by Richard Chapman Volume 2 of 3: 101 Collected Sermons by Richard Chapman, #2

By Debbie Phillips

This is a collection of sermons spoken by Richard Chapman. They are encouraging for people seeking Christ, new Christians, and Christians who are growing and learning to mature. These are short 3 to 5 page sermons, but are thought provoking and inspirational.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Debbie Phillips
• Release date: Dec 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223609179

Debbie Phillips

Debbie Phillips enjoys photography, travel, camping, walking on trails, and watching animals and people. She usually travels with three of her dogs and tries to catch her phots with her dog's leashes on her arm.

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Edited by Debbie Phillips

101 Collected Sermons by Richard Chapman Volume 2 of 3

Copyright © 2023 by Deborah Phillips

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold, but may be freely shared. Any other reproduction, distribution, or transmission in any form or by any means, including recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, must obtain the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Edited by Debbie Phillips

Cover Photo by Ginger Chapman

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Preface

My dad, Richard Chapman, was a devoted man of God. His mission in life, as expressed in these sermons, was to obey the Great Commission. He spoke as a lay pastor whenever he got the opportunity. Fortunately for us, he wrote a lot of his sermons out in preparation for speaking them. Many of these sermons were spoken at a halfway house for homeless people. He led devotions there once a week for several years. There were 200 sermons in that folder. I wound up with just over 300 sermons in the computer files, thanks to my sister who scanned all his notebook of printed out sermons into the computer. The original document was over 900 pages long. I decided it would be unwieldy as an e-book or print book so I split it into three volumes. I did not organize them in any way. I just left them in the order I opened them up on the computer. On some of the sermons, I added an italicized note at the beginning when they reminded me of another sermon. But with over 300 sermons, I have probably missed connections and similarities you will notice. I kept all of his wording the same. I only edited to make the format generally readable. There are some sermons in outline form that I left in that format. Dad used many quotes and referred to the Bible often. He had the Bible passages he used written out completely in his sermons. Most of them do not indicate which translation he used, so I cannot attribute proper copyright information. Enjoy the sermons, most of them are 3 to 5 pages long. Look up the Bible passages he refers to, and go out and live the Great Commission, tell and show others Christ, and grow into the person God created you to become.

Jesus Paid It All (04/29/2014)

The guards have just left after beating me with sticks and I’m hanging here chained to this prison wall.  This is not what I thought would become of my life.  I believe what has happened to me may be of interest to you, and hopefully you can use my experience to avoid something like this in your life.  The situation leading to this predicament started just a short time back.  Before that I had a good life.  I had money, a good master and the future looked good.  For some of my investments, since I was good standing with my master, I had borrowed funds from the master. It had become a fairly large amount, about ten thousand talents.  I did not see it coming but one day the master called me in and asked me to repay all that I had borrowed.  Well, I didn’t have it.  I was aware that the master was a good man and had a good heart.  So I thought maybe I could convince him not to be hard on me.  But to make it look good I pleaded and begged with him to forgo the debt.  Guess what.  He did.  He wiped the whole debt off the books.  HALLELUAH I was a man free from debt.  That was a great feeling.  You can’t believe how big a burden was lifted from my shoulders.  I was jumping around Scott free and happy. 

A few days later I ran into James.  He worked for the same master I did.  James owed me a hundred denarii.  You know if I could get James to pay me what he owed I could start accumulating some money.  Since I didn’t owe anyone, I could start buying some of the nice things of life.  Do you know when I asked for the money, he didn’t have it.  Can you beat that?  Well he wasn’t going to get away with it.  No Sir.  When it was time to pay the debt, it is time to pay the debt.  Since he couldn’t pay, the only thing I knew to do was put him in debtor’s prison until he or someone in his family could pay the debt.  I didn’t think much about it, but somewhere along the line, someone told the master that I had put James in debtor’s prison.

The master must not have liked that.  He seemed to take it personally.  He called me in and was somewhat angry.  You know what he did?  Remember the debt he had forgiven me?  He turned right around and put it back on the books.  I guess maybe he was thinking that if he was able to forgive the debt I had with him, I should be able to forgive the debt others owed me.  Maybe I was supposed to follow my master’s example.  Well, I couldn’t pay the debt.  This time he was in no mood to forgive it.  The next thing I know these two guys were hauling me off to debtors’ prison.  It looks like I’ll hang here on this prison wall until someone has enough compassion and enough love to pay my debt for me.  I certainly deserve this hell hole of a prison.  I’ll never be able to pay the debt I owe the master without someone paying my debts for me. (Matthew 18:23 the ungrateful servant).

The majority of us owe money, either on a car or a home or a student loan, or something of the sort. Although it can be burdensome, most of us can at least see a light at the end of the tunnel.  We are energized by the hope that one day it will be paid in full and we will receive from our creditors a piece of paper releasing us from any further obligation.

But to be burdened with a debt from which we will never be set free is too much to comprehend. To owe a debt that we know we can never pay is psychologically devastating. Extend that indebtedness, and the penalty it incurs, into eternity and it becomes beyond words.

As God’s image bearers, we are obligated to God to keep his commandments. However, our failure incurs debt. This is not a debt that can be paid in installments. This is not a debt like credit card bills. It is an impossible debt that could not be paid.

Such was the reality of our spiritual indebtedness to God . . . until Jesus paid it all!

Colossians 2: 13 - 15 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

The truth that Jesus paid all of the consequence of our sin is the most thrilling, freeing, impacting truth.

The words ‘written code’ can be translated as record of debt which reflects terminology used with reference to an IOU a signed acknowledgment of indebtedness. It is similar to our promissory note in which the debtor affixes his signature to a document that binds the individual to pay the full amount by a certain date.

What was this spiritual promissory note? Was it the Mosaic Law with its commandments and ordinances (Ephesians 2:15)? If so it would be that the Jewish people were debtors to obey it in full. In the case of Gentiles, their conscience bound them to keep the moral law (cf. Romans 2:14-16).

Unfortunately, there is a penalty that we incur for failing to pay the debt in full. What was the penalty for nonpayment? Not just a bad credit record. Not the repossession of our property. Not merely imprisonment. The penalty was death!

OBSERVATIONS OF HOW JESUS PAID IT ALL

We have all done sinful things. They are not sinful things because of a majority view that they are sinful but because they contradict the character of God. Lying is a sin because God is true. Murder is a sin because God gives life. This is not some sort of arbitrary list or bag of morals but a reflection of the character of God.

We do not start out in life positive or neutral. Our very nature is an offense to God. We are bent in the wrong direction. We are dead, meaning there is no spiritual life in us. There is no inclination towards God or truth apart from our own selfish, sinful impulses.

Every time we lie, cheat, cuss, lose our temper, gossip, get drunk or abuse drugs, say something unkind, break a promise,  fail to support a friend,  fail to give generously, fail to forgive someone,  we fail to love God with all our heart, and fail to love our neighbor  – we accumulate spiritual debt.  This spiritual debt usually does not feel as burdensome and oppressive to us as our financial debt Because God doesn’t send us a monthly statement. Nevertheless, one day we will give an accounting to Him.

Here is the good news of the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ. The way God forgave us all our trespasses was by canceling our indebtedness to him. The word canceling has the sense of blotting out or erasing. God has wiped clean the slate!

I am he, declares the Lord, who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

But note God didn't simply tear up the note and throw it away. He didn't say, Don't worry folks. We'll just let bygones be bygones. The infinitely righteous One cannot pretend that our indebtedness never existed.  Instead, he canceled the IOU of our spiritual obligation by nailing it to the cross!

We can see a reference to the ancient practice of affixing to the cross an inscription of the crimes for which the person was being executed. If so, then God nails the accusation against us to the cross of Christ.

It is critical that we know there was no magic wand that waved off our guilt and made it disappear.

God's justice and holiness and our eternal destiny are at stake. That is why the payment must be made in full. We were under a mountain of spiritual bankruptcy. But God took that indebtedness against us and canceled it in the death of Christ.

How did Jesus pay what we owed? He became a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, sin was passed ceremonially to the offering for sin. Jesus paid what we owed by dying in our place.

Hebrews 9:11-14 When Christ appeared as a high priest...he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls...sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Jesus paid our debt by absorbing the wrath of God on our behalf. We are no longer in default on the debt because Jesus paid it all! Whatever we owed, he paid. Whatever penalty we incurred, he endured.

What was the effect of Jesus paying what we owed? Jesus reconciled us to God. As the sacrifice put forth on our behalf, God’s wrath was poured out on another. We do not necessarily love someone because we are not angry with them. However, in Christ, through his payment, we were transferred from enemies to objects of love.

Romans 5:10 says, For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Jesus redeemed us. Redeemed implies a captivity or bondage and a ransom paid. That is exactly what Jesus did. When we were in captivity, Jesus bought our freedom.

How does this become ours? It is through faith. It is by believing in Jesus and all that he accomplished for us by paying our debt through his death and resurrection.

How would we react if someone paid all our credit card debts and promised to pay them for the rest of our life? We would be pretty grateful. Well, how much more has Christ paid? He took our bill and stamped in blood paid in full.

When we see the cross, when we see the cost of our sins and the grace of God, let us thank him with our lives. Show love instead of anger. Use words that are worthy of children of God instead of gossip and cursing. Be faithful in all we do to the glory of God be witnesses to that love.

The debt of our sins is paid in full. Appreciate what those words mean. Give thanks to God in everything.

Faith (10/11/2011)

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 always be cheerful! As long as we are in these bodies, we are away from the Lord. But we live by faith, not by what we see. We should be cheerful, because we would rather leave these bodies and be at home with the Lord. But whether we are at home with the Lord or away from him, we still try our best to please him. After all, Christ will judge each of us for the good or the bad that we do while living in these bodies.

We often hear the term faith. However, when such a word is used frequently, it can become familiar, and then we sometimes grow immune to its great depth of meaning. All people have faith. For example, it takes a measure of confidence to sit down in a kitchen chair without first testing its strength. Yet belief in the fact that furniture will hold our weight is quite different from entrusting God with our lives. A wrong judgment concerning the first may result in a physical bruise, whereas the latter determines not only our success in this life but also our eternal existence.

So what, exactly, is a biblical definition of faith? Hebrews 11:1 tells us that it is . . .

the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

And we know that it is impossible to please the Lord without faith.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that he rewards everyone who searches for him.

In fact, there is nothing we can do that will earn salvation; the only way to heaven is by believing in Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, which paid the penalty we owed for our sin. What's more, faith is nothing we can create within ourselves; Scripture is clear that it is a gift of God Romans 12:3 Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you.

We can be always confident, even in hard times, if we do what Paul says in Colossians 3:1-4:  You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God's right side. Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God. Christ gives meaning to your life.

That is the way to maintain peace. The way is never to be elated by prosperity without or within, and not to be unduly depressed by adversity or by doubts and fears. We must learn to live not upon the things without nor within, but upon things above, which are the true food for a newborn spirit.

To walk by faith, not by sight is one of the great – and difficult - principles of Christian living. We live for, serve, and are willing to die for a God we have never seen. Yet we love Him, and live for Him, living by faith, not by sight.

To walk by faith means to make faith part of every daily activity. Walking is nothing remarkable in itself. But God wants us to walk by faith. Can we perform the common actions of the household, and the daily duties that fall to our lot, in the spirit of faith?  The day will come when we will no longer be absent from the Lord. On that day, we will not have to walk by faith, but we will see the glory and the presence of God by sight.

Really trusting God is the foundation of faith. Without complete trust and surrender of control, we will never experience the full power and blessings of God. So how do we know that we can truly Trust God? Well, scripture is full of verses and examples to convince us.

Let us hold firmly to the hope that we have confessed, because we can trust God to do what he promised.  ~ Hebrews 10:23

Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.  ~ John 14:1

Faith may be defined as trust. It consists of putting our trust in the promises of God.

GOD REQUIRES FAITH

Throughout the entire Scripture we find God requiring humankind to exercise faith. Faith is necessary to please God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Faith in Christ is the key to living a Christian life.

NOT BLIND FAITH

Christian faith is not a blind leap into the dark. It is intelligent faith based upon the testimony of God's Word. The Bible commands believers to know what they believe and why they believe it.

Faith in the Bible is not 'blind faith', it is trust based on evidence! God expects us to use our minds - Matthew 22:36-38; John 8:32

We do not have to commit 'intellectual suicide' in order to have faith. Our heart cannot rejoice in what our mind rejects!"  Indeed, a weak faith is the result of the heart trying to believe what the mind rejects.

Is there enough evidence to warrant making a 100% commitment to Christ?

Faith (conviction, trust) is based on evidence, the evidence of eyewitness testimony - Acts 10:39-41; 13:31; 1Jn 1:1-4; 2 Peter 1:16-18.  It is the same sort of evidence used in a court of law.  Basing convictions on the credibility of witnesses. And evidence based on fulfilled prophecy - Acts 17:2-3; 18:28; 26:22-23 and the improbability of over 300 fulfilled prophecies being coincidence. Such faith is not blind.  There is solid evidence for faith, which in turn leads us to trust in things not seen. 

Faith, or trust in God, is a necessary ingredient of the Christian life. However, the faith that God wants us to exercise not in blind faith, but rather intelligent faith.

KNOW WHY WE BELIEVE

One of the best ways someone can increase their faith is to know why they believe in Jesus. A person can only trust someone as much as they know them.

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

The evidence for the truth of Christianity is overwhelming. Once a person recognizes this, their faith will naturally increase. The more we learn about God and the world that He has made, the more we will learn to trust Him.

It is not enough to know intellectually that God exists and that He has a plan for our lives. We need to experience it. When we are tested, our faith will increase because we will discover that He is faithful.  We are to know what we believe about God and why we believe it. The more we know these two things, the more our faith will increase.

There are some people who teach that a person can do anything if they have enough faith? Jesus said,

He replied, Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20).

GREATER THINGS

He also promised that we would do greater works than He did.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. They will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12).

In what sense are they greater? No one could do greater works than Jesus. However, He was limited to being in one place at a time. Now His people, the church, can do the work of God literally around the world. In that sense we can do greater works.

ACCORDING TO HIS WILL

Faith is not a magic formula. God honors our acts of faith as long as it conforms to His will and plan. The goal is that God may be glorified.

And this is the boldness we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him (1 John 5:14,15).

SUMMARY

All things are possible for a believer who exercises faith, but these all things need to be qualified.

Prayer, in order to be effective, has to be made in accordance with the will of God. If what we’re praying is contrary to what’s in the word don’t waste the breath. We’re out of order. We’re asking something that God has specifically forbidden. We’re praying that which is in agreement with the word, when we come to pray and wait on the Lord and get in line with His plan.

We need to know the will of God in a situation and be in tune to hear His voice.  We’ve got to be in tune with the Spirit of God to be able to hear His voice to know, to walk in step with Him, to get His perfect timing.

The Scripture says Without faith it is impossible to please Him. He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

God is moved by faith. Faith is a way of life. It is trusting and believing in our Lord Jesus and the promises of God the Father. Faith is not a way of understanding, but a way of living. Faith is how we can embrace life despite the power of evil, despite times of despair, despite the knowledge of our certain death.

Heat (1018/2011)

It looks like he used part of his Patience sermon for part of this sermon. But this is mostly about how to live in times of trial.

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The Message reads, Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when test and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.  So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work, so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

The pilot was trying to go around a hurricane. It was amazing at the beauty of the black, spinning clouds from above.  But from down below people saw no beauty in it.  Most were probably experiencing fear.  It is a matter of perspective.

Consider it all joy when you fall into various trials: James regards trials as inevitable. He says when, not if you fall into various trials.  We all go through stormy, dark times in our lives.  Some of the storms come in the form of physical illness: cancer, stroke, leukemia, the list goes on and on.  Some of the storms come in our finances through unexpected bills or loss of income.  Some of the storms might come in relationships.  Every area of our lives can and probably will experience at least one storm during our lives.

God allows us into the heat or storms of life.  Heat burns away the chaff – the stuff in us that keeps us separated from God.  As the chaff is burned, the beauty of God is released in us.

Storms do the same; blow away the chaff.  They also build up our spiritual muscles and hopefully cause us to look to God. Is it fun?  No.  Is exercise fun?  Not always.  Is the word joy descriptive as used in the NIV Bible or the word gift from the Message translation the better description?  The heat does hurt.  Sometimes we have been given gifts that we weren’t sure we wanted but they can turn out to be most helpful.

WHAT SHOULD WE NOT DO? 

Lamentations 3:39-42 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?  Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say:  We have sinned and rebelled.

James 5: 10-11, the Message reads, "Take the old prophets as your mentors.  They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God.  What a gift life is to those who stay the course! 

We know of Job’s staying power, and how God brought it all together for him at the end.  That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.  And since we know that He cares, let us show it. "

Notice in Job it says, "1:6.

One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.  The LORD said to Satan, Where have you come from? Satan answered the LORD, From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.  Then the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.

God does not cause our trials.  He allows them for our growth and maturity.  The heat and trials are good for us.  What do we do?  Do we just sit and wait for the trial to end?  No.  Through Bible study and prayer, God will give us discernment of what we should do. 

First, we must allow God to reveal to us the reason for the present trial?  Is there active sin in our life?  Are we following His laws?  Much of the time, if we are honest with ourselves, we will find the trial is due to an action or inaction on our part.  Even at our senior age, we make mistakes. There is more to learn: learn about living according to God’s laws, learn about our God, learn about ourselves and learn about others around us.

When we are tempted to complain or even just murmur under our breath to ourselves, let’s make an active decision to shut our mouths from the complaints and turn our eyes, minds and ears to the One Who loves us best and knows best.

When we feel the heat and storms of life applied rejoice for God is at work.

James 1: 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Trials are occasions for joy, not discouragement or resignation. We can consider it all joy in the midst of trials, because they are used to produce patience.

Trials don’t produce faith, but when trials are received with faith, it produces patience. But patience is not inevitably produced in times of trial. If difficulties are received in unbelief and grumbling, trials can produce bitterness and discouragement. This is why James exhorts us to count it all joy. Counting it all joy is faith’s response to a time of trial.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing: The work of patient endurance comes slowly, and must be allowed to have full bloom. Patient endurance is a mark of the person who is perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Why test the faith with trials. You say you believe God? Big deal. The devil does, too. The proving of faith is not for God's benefit. God knows the truth about us the whole while. We can’t disappoint God. God already knows where our faith is. Usually, we think we are further along than we really are.

Through trials we are able to exercise our faith and it shows us areas where we are week and need to grow.

WHAT KIND OF TRIALS

Some of our own doing

Smoking

Addictions

Misjudgment

Wrong decisions

Reap what we sow and learn from it

House in Huntsville

Some just from living in a sinful world

Crime

Accidents

Illness

Medical mistakes

Some from the spiritual world

Job 1:8

Faith works patience – endurance

Running a race   Chinese lady up the mountain.

What a needed quality, patience. So often our failure is not waiting on God. That is shown throughout the Bible. So many within the Scriptures got into trouble because they didn't wait upon God. They failed in the test of faith in areas of their life.

Abraham and Sara didn’t wait – used handmaid to have child.  But, like Abraham, whenever we do not wait upon God, we are always botching things up. Creating problems for our self. So it's not important that we are tested it is that we learn to wait upon God. Knowing that the trying of your faith works patience we must let patience have her complete work that we might be fully mature (James 1:4),

Wait is a word of action.  Not like in a doctor’s waiting room.  We wait by actively seeking God through prayer and Bible study.  Checking each door of a solution as it presents itself and asking God which door to open.

The whole purpose of God is to bring us into maturity so that we quit acting and responding like little children to the disappointments of life. We need maturity to quit throwing our little tantrums at God, stomping our foot and walking away and saying, we are not going to talk to Him anymore. But that we grow up and become mature.

In all trials, we look to God with joy and thanksgiving because:

God is God

Our name is recorded in His Book of Life

Nothing touches us without first passing through His hand

Romans 8:38 - 39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What should we do when we feel the heat?  We need to get into the Bible.  Use a concordance and look up words related to the situation we are facing.  Take time to pray about options.  Ask God what He is teaching us through this trial.  Write down what we hear. And praise God that He cares enough to allow us to walk through the trials for our spiritual maturity, strengthen our faith, and develop the patience to wait upon Him. We must walk out our trials and storms hand in hand with God.

Security: Romans 8:38-39 (11/01/2011)

Confidence can be a very good thing. It can also be a millstone around one’s neck. Being confident simply is not enough. The crucial issue is in whom, or in what, is our confidence. Ill-founded confidence is deadly. Well-founded confidence is proper and good.

Some Christians have no confidence at all, believing that with one slip, one sin, they are out of the faith. Agonizing their way through life, they hope no sin has gone unnoticed and unconfessed; if so, they fear they will not get to heaven. These Christians need the confidence of which Paul speaks in Romans 8:31-39.

Other Christians have great confidence but in the wrong thing. Paul gives us every reason to be confident, not in ourselves but in our salvation and in the sovereign God that offers hope in the midst of a fallen world. For everyone in Christ these are words of comfort and reassurance.

Romans 8:34-39 Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death?  It is exactly as the Scriptures say, For you we face death all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.  In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us.  I am sure that nothing can separate us from God's love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! Contemporary English version

This passage is God-centered. Paul speaks of a confidence and assurance based in God. The confidence and assurance is for Christians, for those who are in Christ. Paul is writing to Christians concerning the confidence they have in Christ. No confidence or assurance is offered to the non-believer. God’s love for us is evidenced at the cross. Our confidence is in God and in the cross of Christ.

Paul is not suggesting that we have no opposition. We all know that Christians have many adversaries. Paul’s points out the puniness of any opponent in light of the fact that God is our proponent.

In the movie, The Bear, in the final scenes a little grizzly cub being attacked by a mountain lion. The life of the little cub seems to be in great danger as the mountain lion moves in for the kill. Suddenly, the baby bear rears up on its hind legs letting out the fiercest growl it can. Amazingly, the mountain lion shrinks back! The camera then slowly draws back to reveal just behind the cub a massive grizzly, reared on his hind legs, delivering a fierce warning to the mountain lion. The cub’s enemy was great. But in the protective shadow of the great grizzly, that mountain lion was nothing. With God on our side, who could possibly be an opponent who would cause us to shrink back? The sovereignty of a God who is for us provides a new perspective on anyone or anything that threatens to oppose or destroy us.

The cross of Calvary is not the measure of our worth; it is the measure of God’s love. We are worthy because Christ died for us. Christ did not die for us because we were worthy.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:33-39).

Jesus Christ has two roles. The first is that as Savior. The second is that of Judge. All who receive Him as Savior need never fear facing His sentence of condemnation as the Judge of all the earth. Those who reject Him as Savior will be condemned by Him as their Judge. These two roles of our Lord—Savior and Judge—are both claimed by Jesus:

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him (John 3:17).

For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22).

And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man (John 5:27).

And if anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day" (John 12:47-48).

At first it seems that our Lord’s words are contradictory. He did not come to judge, and yet He will judge. This difficulty is explained in the light of Jesus’ two comings. The purpose in Jesus’ first coming was not as the Judge to condemn sinners. The purpose of His first coming was to make atonement for the sins of men. When He came the first time, He came to save. But when He comes again, He comes to judge the earth and to condemn all who have rejected God’s salvation through His shed blood. The Lord is either one’s Savior or one’s Judge. If He is your Savior, He will not be your Judge.

With God on His side, Jesus was both willing and able to face a world that would reject and persecute Him. Jesus’ confidence in God the Father that sustained Him while on earth is the same confidence that is able to sustain us.

Even when God allows adversity into our lives because of sin, it should not result in doubts concerning the love of God. Discipline is evidence of God’s love (see Hebrews 12:1-13).

Besides correction for specific sins, affliction and calamity has a constructive purpose. It is designed to also produce the advancement of the gospel.

This using negative for positive is a paradox, but true and consistent with the way God works. We save our lives by giving them up. We lead by serving others. We conquer by being conquered. Our Lord’s death at Calvary seemed to be a defeat, but in God’s wisdom it was the defeat of Satan, sin, and death.

Christians want to think of victory in terms of winning. We like to think that Christ’s power and purposes are most evident when we win, when we overcome our opponents. Paul underscores a principle that has always governed God’s work: God uses apparent defeat to produce ultimate victory. God uses the suffering of His saints to make them conquerors.

It is not enough to muddle through life merely enduring our adversity. God does not promise to take us out of our afflictions, but He does promise that we will emerge from them victorious. We will be victorious in the sense that we will grow in our faith, hope and love. We will conquer in that God’s purposes will be achieved through us and others will see the grace of God.

When God created, Adam and Eve, man he was created to reflect God’s image. The fall in the Garden of Eden greatly marred this image of God in man. God has purposed our salvation to restore this image. Man was originally to reflect the image of God by subduing the earth and ruling over it, in God’s name.

Paul tells us that no created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God (8:30). Creation will not overcome us. We will we endure and grow in the midst of opposition and suffering.  Verses 38 and 39 list some of the dimensions of created things that will not overcome us. The list is all-inclusive. Neither death nor life shall overcome us.

For some, death is the dreaded enemy. Christ came to deliver us from the fear of death which holds men in bondage (Hebrews 2:15). For others, life is the dreaded enemy, and death seems to be a door of escape. Those who think this way are tempted by suicidal thoughts.

The next category of created things is that of angels and principalities. Paul is attempting to encompass the spectrum of celestial beings. He would especially be referring to those angelic beings which are fallen and which seek to destroy us. Satan would be included in this category.

The next category of created things is that of events, whether present or future (things to come). It is interesting to think of events as something created, but in a very real sense they are. Since God has mapped out history from eternity past then we must say that God created history. We may say that the events we presently face, along with those we shall face in the future, have been created by God for our good. And so it is that these things cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ.

The list of created things ends with powers, height, depth, nor any other created thing. What Paul meant by the term powers may refer to mighty works of power, or miraculous works.

For I am confident that neither death nor life, neither angels nor princes, neither things present nor things to come, nor spiritual powers, whether above or below the level of the earth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is the Creator. Nothing in all creation falls outside of His control, and we can be assured that His purposes will be achieved. We can have absolute confidence that we will be more than conquerors regardless of what may come our way.

This confidence is the possession of every Christian who is the object of God’s love and manifest only in and through Jesus Christ. We cannot be assured of His love apart from faith in His Son. Jesus is the evidence of God’s love. He is the sole expression of God’s love with regard to salvation. To reject Jesus Christ is to spurn the love of God. To receive Jesus Christ, as Savior is to be confident that nothing in the entire world can separate us from His love in Christ.

CONCLUSION

First, God is the basis for our security. We dare not be confident in ourselves. To doubt that we shall be more than conquerors would be to deny His Word and to distrust God. We can be absolutely convinced that based upon God’s Word our security is rooted in God and in His unfailing love.

Second, our security and confidence in God is the basis for our service. It is not doubt, fear, or guilt that should motivate our service, but confidence in God. Because we are secure in Christ, we serve. We do not focus on ourselves but on Him.

Third, our security is not an excuse for sloppiness. Some suggest that since God is in control, it matters not what we do. This is the opposite of the truth. God’s love is the basis for diligence and obedience. When we trust in God, we know that we ultimately cannot fail.

Fourth, our salvation and our security is found in the work of Christ on the cross. Every fear, every dread, ever sin has its cure in the cross of Calvary. Here is God’s means of redemption, the measure of His love, the assurance and confidence that God’s purposes and promises will never fail.

Finally, the believer is required to respond. The security of the believer in the love of God should produce humility, gratitude, dependence, confidence, and praise. Let us stand fast, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Let us look to God. He is our refuge and strength. In Him is our confidence and security.

Everyone is Important to God (11/08/2011)

We live in an age of depersonalization. Everyone is known by an account number and not by name. Our communities are not communities anymore, but rather just a grouping of lonely castles. People don't know their neighbors and feel alone. People at work no longer stay at the same job all their lives but move every few years, thus discouraging friendships.

There's good news today! We individually are important to God! He values us highly!  We are important to God because he created us in his image. We are God's highest creation.

Psalms 8:4-8 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen; Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

The Bible speaks of mankind as the offspring of God.

Acts 17:26-29 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising."

Genesis 1:27- So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 9:6- Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man."

We are important to God because he cares for our everyday needs.  God providentially cares for the needs of mankind.

Matthew 5:45- that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

God has put the seasons and the rain on the earth to care for all of us.

Acts 14:17- Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

Each one of us is important to God because he loved us so much that he gave his only son to die for our sins.  We are all lost and in need of salvation.

Romans 3:23 since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory.

Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.

Jesus coming to earth to die for our sins is the expression of God's love for each one of us.

John 3:16, 17 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.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Romans 5:10- For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Ephesians 5:2- And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

1 John 4:10- In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Our importance to God is seen in the fact that he has our name and life recorded in his remembrance.  God has a record of everyone who has ever lived. He knows us all by name.

Revelation 20:12-13 "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

2 Corinthians 5:10- For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

If we are Christians, we can rest assured that God knows us personally as His children.

Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows."

2 Timothy 2:19- Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

God seeks the lost. He wants fellowship with each one of us.

Matthew 18:11-14 For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?  And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.  Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

1 Samuel 16:7b For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

When we seek God, we will find Him. Nothing can separate us from Him if we really seek Him.

Romans 8:38, 39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

CONCLUSION:

In this world it sometimes is easy for us to think that no one cares about us. Many feel alone in a crowd. But there is no need to feel all-alone. God cares about us! He wants us to accept His friendship. He sent His Son so that we might be forgiven.

Everyone is important to God.  He cares about us and doesn't see us like others see us.  It is awesome that we can walk with God and please Him, despite the many other things we cannot control.  God is faithful and loves each one of us and each one is important to Him.

We are God's highest creation - created in his image

The Bible speaks of us as the offspring of God.

He cares for our everyday needs.

Jesus died for our sins showing God's love for us

He has our name and life recorded in his remembrance.

He knows us all by name.

God knows us personally as His children.

He wants fellowship with each one of us.

Nothing can separate us from Him

Joy (11/29/2011)

Philippians 4:4-10 rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice greatly in the Lord.

In a Peanuts cartoon in which Lucy asks Charlie Brown, Did you ever know anyone who was really happy... Before she can finish the question, Snoopy comes dancing into the next frame. As only Snoopy can, he dances his merry way across the frames while Lucy and Charlie watch in amazement. In the last frame Lucy finishes her question, Did you ever know anyone who was really happy... and was still in their right mind?

We might want to ask that question of Paul. By the world's standards of happiness, anyone who was in his position and in his right mind should have been miserable. He was in prison when he wrote this epistle.

He had lost everything he valued or that gave him happiness. He is isolated from his co-workers and most intimate friends, and perhaps most difficult of all, he has no idea what the future might hold. He waits for the emperor to decide if he will live or die.  By the world's standards, he should be miserable, but when you read this letter, from first to the last, it vibrates with joy. And just in case we missed the point, he comes to the closing verses and says: Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say, Rejoice!

One of Paul's favorite words is the Greek word hilarotes, from which we get the word hilarity. It literally means laughter from the heart.  When Paul talks about joy, he doesn't mean the trivial, shallow, or mean-spirited stuff we call humor. He means bone-deep, blood-rich, exuberant laughter that comes up out of the depths of a person's soul, joy that flows from the center of our being, happiness coming from the depth of our hearts.

There is a story of the little boy who, when asked to put his hand on his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance, patted his little bottom. When his teacher asked why, he said, Because Grandma picks me up and pats me right there and says, 'Bless your little heart.' Wherever you think it comes from, it's laughter from the heart, from the depth of the human soul.

I'm not sure where we got the idea that Christianity is for serious, somber, artificially pious, self-righteous folks, but it's been around for a while, but it didn't come from the New Testament. This book vibrates with great joy.

We can identify with Paul of his not knowing what the future would hold; of his being in a transitional period during which he didn't quite know what might lie ahead.

Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken