Sermon by Bobby Deason Maricamp Road Church of

Sermon, by Bobby Deason Maricamp Road Church of Christ 07 -18 -2010

That Our World is Messed Up Cannot Be Denied by the Facts. • We look at our broken world through our tear filled eyes. Evil is all around us. Murder, rape, lies, theft, hatred, sexual abuse, even by public officials, teachers and religious leaders. • TV news reporting 24/7 the gruesome details of terrorism, genocide, war and the many other horrors facing us in our world. 2

“Everything is Broken, ” sings Bob Dylan. He names thirty broken things in his song. Broken strings, broken threads, Streets are filled with broken hearts, broken words never meant to be spoken. Broken Laws, broken bodies. Broken treaties, broken Vows, people bending broken Rules. Hound dog howlin', bullfrog croakin‘ Everything is broken 3

Rom. 1: 22 -32 - Reads Like Our Daily News 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen. 4

Romans 1: 26 -28 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 5

Romans 1: 29 -32 “Our Broken World” 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. 6

Evil in the Mind of Man • “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? ” Alexandr Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago) 7

God’s Assessment of our Broken Sinfulness Matthew 15: 19 -20 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jer. 17: 9 We’ve Got Heart Trouble! 8

God Says that All of Us are Sinners! Rom: 3: 9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. “ 9

HELP! WON’T SOMEONE RESCUE US? • We desperately need help for our human dilemma – we are broken and dead in sin. • We cannot help ourselves. We cannot rescue ourselves. • Edward Fudge writes in, The Divine Rescue: we are dirty, diseased, disabled and dead. • Our God knows our every thought; hears our every word and sees our every deed. We cannot claim pure hearts and pure deeds. 10

God’s Eternal Purpose and Plan was and is to Rescue Us From This Evil World. • This is the story of the Bible from the beginning to the end. • Creation story – Genesis 1 -2 • The story of man and woman – Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. • This is our story. We often say or hear it said, “It is not about us, me, or you. It is all about God. ” Not so, it is all about God and You/me. 11

Jesus is the Answer for our Sinful Messed up and Broken world. 12

JESUS FOCUSED • The Focal and Pivotal Point Of God’s Revealed Word, The Bible, To Man Is: • • 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Jesus Jesus Genesis 3: 15, 22: 18 cf Galatians 3: 16 Matthew 17: 4 -8 cf 2 Peter 1: 16 ff Luke 24: 27 ff John 12: 21 1 Corinthians 15: 1 -4 Hebrews 12: 1 -4 cf 1: 3, 8; 3: 1 Revelation 1: 8; 22: 16 • In 1226 Verses In The New Testament Jesus’ Name Is Mentioned 1275 Times. 13

Jesus Focused Hebrews 12: 1 -2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ” 14

Jesus Focused Heb. 12: 1 -2 What does it mean to be focused? 1. To have a clear image. 2. Coaches say over and over again - “stay focused. ” Keep your eye on the ball’ 3. Dominant Eye Illustrates this point. 15

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The Anticipation Of Both Angels And Prophets: “The Fullness Of The Times” Summarized. 1. The Law was focused on Jesus Christ. 2. The Psalms were focused on Jesus Christ. 3. The Prophets were focused on Jesus Christ. 17

The Entire Biblical Testimony Focuses On Jesus Christ, Cont’d. 4. The angels were focused on Jesus Christ. 5. God, the Father, was focused on Christ. Jesus 6. The Holy Spirit’s focus was on Jesus Christ. 7. The Apostle’s/N. T. Writer’s focus on Jesus Christ. was 18

Jesus Focused Do you see Him? Is He in Focus? Bible Examples of being Jesus Focused. 1. Matt. 17: 1 -8 – “saw no one but Jesus” 2. I Cor. 2: 1 -4 – “Jesus Crucified” 3. John 12: 21 – “We want to see Jesus” 4. I Cor. 15: 1 -4 –“first importance” 19

HAVE WE SEEN JESUS, AS HE REALLY IS? • Gospel of John 1: 17 -18 – exegeomai : exegete; to show the way; explained; “…has made him know. ” • “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father” John 14: 8 -9. • “Transformed into His Likeness, ” 2 Cor. 3: 18. • Have You Seen Jesus My Lord? 20

Jesus As He Really Is! • We must see Jesus as He really is! Don’t Let Anything Block Your Vision of Jesus. • The Bible tells us who He really is. • God, Creator, Baby, Boy, Man, Teacher, Healer, Lover of People, Shepherd, The Way, Friend, The Truth, The Door, The Vine, The Judge, Savior, Lord. 21

Jesus Name Above All Names Phil. 2: 5 -11 Jesus, Name above all Names, Beautiful Savior, Glorious Lord…. Emmanuel, God is with us, Blessed Redeemer, Living Word. 22

There’s Something About That Name Song by the Gaither’s, page 222. Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain; Jesus, Let all heaven and earth proclaim; Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that name. Acts 4: 12 23

My Motto, - A Short Phrase With A Guiding Principle, A Goal - Is To Be: • “Jesus Focused, • Grace Oriented and • Love Motivated”. 24

On What Or Whom Are You Focused? • To what or whom are you looking? “Doctrinal” fixation? “Problems of the church” fixation? “Issues” fixation? “Traditions of men” fixation? “A fixation of a ‘famous’ person”? “A fixation of Self”? • Do you see Him? Are your thoughts and eyes fixed on Him? 25

Why Grace and Love Are Minimized? • Until Jesus is in focus GRACE will not be understood, appreciated, properly received and administrated. • Only when Jesus is one’s focus will it be possible to LOVE, that is “to love as he loves. ” (John 13: 34 -35) 26

FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS! • All human problems, within and without the Body of Christ, the Church are due to a blurred and distorted view; • a cock-eyed view, a wrong focus. 27

WITH JESUS IN FOCUS WE WILL BE: • Firmly rooted in God’s Word in our hearts. • Solidly founded on “God’s righteousness. ” • Joyful recipients of His grace. • Desiring to be obedient to His will. • Thankfully humble and grateful. • Gracious, kind, long-suffering and accepting of all fellow-believers. • Non-judgmental, not contentious but forgiving to all. 28

BEING JESUS FOCUSED… …We Shall Be Like Him, Our Lord and Master, Truly “Salt and Light”… • Seeing one another as Jesus sees us. • Seeing ourselves as Jesus sees us. • Being and becoming more like Jesus. 29

“JESUS FOCUSED. ” Concluding Thoughts • Let Christ remain what He is, namely the center, while various circles surround Him. • “Do not infect that heavenly philosophy of Christ with human decrees. • Do not remove the target from its position. ” 30

CONCLUSION A. If we are to keep our eyes on Jesus, we have to keep our eyes on each other too. To receive His grace we must give it. To be loved we must love. B. So, let us fix our eyes clearly on Jesus, receiving His grace and passing it on to others as we love and minister the grace of God in its various forms, I Pet. 4: 8 -10 31

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12: 2) 32

JESUS FOCUSED GRACE ORIENTED LOVE MOTIVATED If we will apply the meaning of these six words, WHILE LIVING IN THE DAILY PRESENCES OF THE LORD, Our hearts, our families, our businesses, our work places, our churches and our communities will be more likely transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. 33

Thank You Jesus We Love You So Much! 34

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"JESUS LOVES ME" "Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, We are weak but he is strong. . . YES, JESUS LOVES ME, THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO. 36

JESUS FOCUSED… GRACE ORIENTED… LOVE MOTIVATED. A Motto For Obtaining The Love and Grace Of The Unity Of The Spirit Among All Believers In Christ Jesus. Larry Deason