MARK'S SERMONS IN PROGRESS

TEN COMMANDMENTS REVEALED

In today’s message we are going to talk about sin and how it affects our relationship with God.

Our churches are full of the kindest, nicest people who have never known the despair of guilt or the breathless wonder of forgiveness. (P.T. Forsyth)

We have alter calls, but I see no Godley sorrow or tears of repentance, I see laughter and jovial moods and actions. Where is the weeping, where are the broken and contrite hearts, where is the fear of God.

I see so much apathy and complacency, even in my own heart.

You must be broken before God.

I see every body going to the alters, but where is their heart before God.

For years the ministers have not preached about the sins of the people and how that they are lost, or how their sin causes Gods wrath against them. All we hear about is the love of God…

Where is repentance, where is Godley sorrow, why are the alters empty, or if any body does go up, why do they empty as soon as the minister closes the service, any repentance that may have come forth has a clock and a time restraint..

The gospel that they hear about has no Law before it, they are not made to tremble before the throne of a Holy God.

All that they hear about are the fruits of the Spirit, peace and joy etc. They are told about the assurance that they are going to heaven, they think that their righteousness assures them of going to heaven. They do not understand God’s righteousness or how Holy, God is. We have a corrupted view of God.

They think that because they walked down to the alter and said a prayer, that they are saved.

But without the Law to convict them, how will they ever know what sin is.

With out repentance, you will perish and die, it really does not matter if you go forward or not, God has an order and we are not doing it or following it.

The churches are full of people who think that they have the assurance of going to heaven, but it is not from the Holy Ghost. They had the bait of heaven and eternal life hung in front of them, but their was never Godley sorrow or repentance. They keep sinning the same sins, over and over, never getting their hearts right before a Holy and righteous God.

They need to see their sins next to God’s Holiness and not compared to their friends or neighbors or even the person sitting next to them in the pew at church.

We are all as filthy rags before God. There is nothing righteous about us. The Devil lies to us constantly and we believe Him, that we are good enough for heaven and that God will overlook our sins and that God will just forgive us, even if we don’t repent or have Godley sorrow before Him.

Romans 8:13 for if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you, through the power of the Holy Ghost do kill and destroy your fleshly thoughts and desires that do not glorify the Lord you shall live.

:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

2^nd Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Jesus Christ used the Ten Commandments to show sinners the righteous standard of God.

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;

Adultery: sex out side of marriage if one of the people is married.

Fornication: sex before marriage.

Sexual Impurities: homosexuals, lesbians, pedophiles, rapists

Have you ever looked at someone with lust in your heart, Jesus said if you simply lust, you have committed adultery in your heart.

Uncleanness: to be impure or obscene.

Lasciviousness: to have lustful desires.

Immorality: wicked or improper sexual behavior.

:20

Idolatry: putting anything ahead, or, of more importance than God.

Witchcraft: rebellion, fortune telling, astrology, sorcery, white magic, black magic, Wicca, Satanism.

Hatred: strong dislike or ill will.

Variance: quarreling or disputing.

Emulations: rivalry.

Wrath: great uncontrollable anger.

Strife: fighting or quarreling.

Seditions: discontent or rebellion, including un-forgiveness, murmuring, complaining, griping,

Whining sniveling, etc…

Heresies: going against the teachings of God

:21

Envyings: being discontent.

Murder: if you hate your brother it is as murder.

Drunkenness: any alcohol abuse.

Reveling: out of control celebration.

And such like: of which I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

While we are here why don’t we look at the Ten Commandments?

Exodus 20: 3-17

1. Have you always put God first in your life?

God says that He is supposed to be the primary love of our life. Jesus said that our love for God should be so great, that our love for our parents, kids, friends, even our own lives should seem like hatred, by comparison to our love for God.

Matt 10:37 He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves sons or daughters more than me, is not worthy of me.

2. Have you ever made a graven image, this is called idolatry.

Have you ever pursued money more than God? Then you have made money an idol. How many of us put others, or material possessions such as cars, bikes, clothes, even our homes, jobs, ministries, careers above God, The king of the universe.

3. Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain?

So instead of using a four letter filth word to express disgust, you have taken the name of the One who gave you life and everything that is precious and Holy to you, and have dragged it through the mud?

Wow, most people don’t even use Sadaam Hussein or Buddha or even Hitler’s name to swear and you use Almighty God’s name? That is called blasphemy and God promises He will not hold him blameless who takes His name in vain.

(I have to say that this is one of the hardest battles for me to get victory over). How about using His name as in “Oh- my-GOD”, not in reverence and holiness, but almost like a curse word or in frivolity or jesting.

4. Have you kept the Sabbath Day Holy or gone to church every Sunday?

God requires one day out of seven and you have failed to give Him what He has demanded.

May I ask how many times have you failed or forgotten to bow your head before your meal and ask Him to bless your food or to thank Him for what He has provided? How many times have you just dug in like a greedy pig, with out thanking your Lord and Provider? We need to thank the Lord all day long, we are so self centered, we act like we did every thing to provide on our own

Forgetting that it is the “Lord of Lords” who provides and makes our every breath possible.

5. Have you always treated your parents in a way that is pleasing to God?

God does not forget the sins of our youth, like when we lie to them or break our curfew or disobey them etc. How many of us even love our parents, some of us came from abusive families and it has taken years to learn how to forgive.

6. Have you ever murdered anyone?

Have you ever called some one a jerk, moron, or idiot? Like when they cut you off in traffic…Jesus said if you merely call your brother a fool, you have committed murder in your heart, because God

does not simply judge action, He knows the intentions of the heart.

(I know that this one causes me a great deal of grief, look at the rotten drivers that we have to deal with every day).

7. Have you ever committed adultery?

Have you ever looked at someone with lust in your heart? Jesus said if you simply lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. I know that we all fight this sin; it is in front of us constantly, life in general, movies, and television, provocative clothing styles etc… pornography at the movies on our TV’s even at the newsstands, I know, I fought this sin for well into thirty years, it destroyed my ministries, relationships, friend’s, marriages, it nearly destroyed my life, until my Lord set me free in deliverance and healing.

8. Have you ever stolen anything?

Have you ever taken anything regardless of value that did not belong to you…anything, even a postage stamp is theft, even a candy bar as a kid, how about shoplifting clothes or make-up…? God does not forget the sins of our youth and sees you as a thief.

Before I started, living for God, I was a thief, “Breaking and entering” to steal pornography from my neighbors, who I knew, had it hidden from their wives…stealing from my family, just a couple of quarters or dollars from their wallets, I was totally oblivious to sin, and was sin-seared and serving the enemy.

9. Have you born false witness against someone or lied about them or lied about something that you have done?

Have you talked bad about someone, or gossiped about some one, or lied about something, or someone wrongly, and hoe about those who exaggerate constantly?

I am sure that we all fight this one, how many of us exalt ourselves, while we put down or criticize or belittle someone else, so we get the glory.

I know that as a child that I was a horrible liar, I never got away with it, I was so bad at it and always getting caught, I finally quit telling lies.

10. Have you ever coveted or desired something that belongs to someone else?

Have you ever wanted something so bad that it controls you to the point of being in sin?

Look at TV commercials; they cause us to covet and to want what we cannot afford to buy. We covet and go into debt, now we have so many bills, we even start to rob God, and not tithe like He wants, now we are so in debt that when God calls us forth in ministry, we cannot go…we are too far in debt, a total trap of the enemy…

Rev 21: 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death.

Will you be found innocent or guilty?

The Bible tells us that some day you will die and your soul will be with the Lord (Heb.9) and He will judge you for every thought, word and deed (Rom.2) When that day comes, will you be innocent or guilty before God?

How much time do we spend in glorifying God, or sad to say, giving glory to the devil, how much

time do we spend in prayer or lifting one another in prayer or in praise and worship to the Lord?

How much TV do we watch, that is totally un-Christian, we honor and idolize the movie stars, and the music stars, or the sports stars and the idols,

This is called idolatry, look at the so called Christian music that we listen too, we are supposed to lift up the name of Jesus Christ, not charging outlandish prices for concerts and C.D’s. most of this is appalling, it does not give glory to God, but definitely glorifies the devil. This should concern all of us.

Look at the clothes that we wear, even what we wear to church, sometimes is wrong, how many of us cause our brothers and sisters to take their minds off of glorifying the Lord, and they start thinking about how we are improperly dressed, how many times have we copied the world,

what has happened to following the Lord and seeking His will for our lives.

We must crucify our flesh daily, striving and reaching for perfection, striving for Holiness.

Does what we do cause us to fall more in love with Jesus Christ or do we live for ourselves and our selfish desires and pleasures. How many of us laugh about the things that God hates like course jestings or dirty jokes or may-be off color stories.

How many of us talk like the world, walk in the world, love the music of the world, or just plain out love the world more than we love Jesus Christ…

We as Christians must be so very careful in our day to day lives.

All of our lives must bring honor and glory to the Lord.

Sad to say that some of us walk in apathy and complacency, we have gotten lukewarm, not even realizing that we are sepperated from God, because of unrepentant sins that we have fallen into, some of it deliberate, some of it totally innocent, but sin can still cause us to lose our salvation.

Another problem is how the world has glamorized Hell, all the people that think that Hell is a big party and all their friends will be there.

Hollywood will be damned for making people believe that hell is wonderful…

We never hear about how horrid Hell is, gnashing of teeth, eternity with out God, knowing that forever that you will be lost without God, that you have made the one mistake that can never be forgiven or forgotten, it is too late…

Where will you spend eternity?

GAL 5:24 And they that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with the affection and lusts

:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us all walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

This is a hard road; we need to bear one another’s burdens, praying for each other, lifting each other up,

helping each other, keeping each other in check biblically. I would hate to think that in my life that I had gotten sin-seared and no body cared enough to keep me in check.

We serve a Holy and righteous God who does not look at sin the way that we do, if we repent and turn from our wicked ways, He will forgive us, but we are too proud and stubborn to repent and ask His forgiveness.

We must trust in Him, it’s like putting on a parachute. It is not enough to just believe that the parachute will save us; we must put the parachute on and then trust Him to truly save our lives from the wrath of God. Without Jesus Christ, because of our sin’s we are at enmity from God, sepperated from Him, His wrath is upon us.

2^nd chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

We must crucify our flesh, we must hunger and thirst for righteousness sake.

We must see that our sin and self righteousness before a Holy and righteous God, is as filthy rags.

Many numbers of false converts, sit in their pews, thinking that they are friends of God, when they are still His enemies.

It is not about saying a simple prayer and asking Jesus into your heart, It is about committing your life to and surrendering your life to Jesus Christ.

The modern gospel says “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness”.

The problem is that this is a lie, what do you do when you face trials and tribulations and all hell breaks out in your life.

We should be preaching that “it’s appointed for man to die once and then face the Judgement”. Heb 9:27

When we as sinners, understand the horrific consequences of breaking the law of God,

Then we will flee to the savior, solely to escape the wrath to come.

If we are true and faithful witnesses, then this is what we will be preaching, “that there is wrath to come, that God commands all men every where to repent, and trust the Lord, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness”. Acts 17: 30&31

The issue isn’t one of happiness, but one of righteousness, it really does not matter how happy we are as sinners, or how much we are enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, without the righteousness of Christ, we will perish on the day of wrath.

Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it is not biblical, to use these fruits as a drawing card for salvation. If we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive, lacking repentance.

If we put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive, to flee from the wrath to come, when trials and tribulations strike, when all Hell breaks lose in our lives, we won’t get angry at God and we won’t get angry at God and we won’t lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn’t come to Christ for a better life style, but to flee from the wrath to come. If anything, tribulation drives us, the true believer. closer to the Savior.

Sadly, we have multitudes of professing Christians, who lose their joy and peace when their flight, their lives get bumpy.

Why?

We are the product of a man-centered gospel, we came lacking repentance, with-out which, we can not be saved. We must repent or we will die in our sins, lost from the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

It is also not enough to know that you are a sinner and that you confess your sins, let me tell you a story and see if this makes sense… Let’s say that you find your self in a court of law. Will a judge let you go simply because you say that you are sorry and won’t commit the crime again. Of course not, besides you should be sorry for breaking the law, and of course you shouldn’t commit the crime again. How ever if someone stepped in and paid your fine, then you would be free from the demands of the law. God will not forgive a sinner on the basis that he is sorry. Of course we should be sorry for sin_ we have a conscience to tell us that adultery, rape, lust, murder, hatred, lying, stealing etc are wrong. And of course we shouldn’t sin again. God will, however release us from the demands of eternal justice on the basis that someone else paid our fine. Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. His words on the cross were “It is finished!”. In other words, the dept has been paid in full. All who repent and trust in Him receive the forgiveness of sins. Your case is dismissed on the basis of His suffering death. Does this make sense to you? Can you see that sorrow for your sins and even repentance isn’t enough to save you from hell? You must trust in the savior. If you are born again, God will give you a new heart with new desires, so that you won’t continue to repeat the sins that you did before your conversion.”

It is not about saying a simple prayer and asking Jesus into your heart.

It is about committing your life to and surrendering your life to Jesus Christ.

A sample prayer

Lord Jesus, I don’t want to live my way any more, I do not want to do what I want to do, I want to do what you want me to do. Forgive me of my sins, I give you my heart and I give you my life.

“Dear God, I have sinned against You, by breaking your commandments. Despite the conscience You gave me, I have looked with lust and therefore committed adultery in my heart. I have lied, stolen, failed to love you, failed to love my neighbor as myself, and failed to keep the Sabbath holy. I have been covetous, harbored hatred in my heart and therefore been guilty of murder in Your sight.

I have used your Holy name in vain, have made a god to suit myself, and because of the nature of my sin, I have dishonored my parents.

If I stood before you in your burning Holiness on Judgement Day, if every secret sin I have committed and every idol word I have spoken, came out as evidence of my crimes against You, I would be utterly guilty, and justly deserve Hell.

I am unspeakably thankful that Jesus took my place by suffering and dying on the cross. He was bruised for my iniquities; He paid my fine so that I could leave the courtroom. He revealed how much You love me, I believe that He then rose from the dead (according to the scriptures) I now confess and forsake my sin and yield myself to Him to be my Lord and Savior. I will no longer live for myself. I present my body, soul, and spirit to you as a living sacrifice, to serve you in the furtherance of your Kingdom. I will read your Word daily and obey what I read. It is solely because of Calvary’s cross that I will live forever. I am eternally Yours. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.”

The Bible says, He will give you a new heart, with new hope and new desires, and a desire to love and please Him and to serve Him. He will give you a whole new life and you will be reconciled back to Him, you can once again have a relationship with Him, because that sin, that wall of sin will be removed from your heart and from your life.

I don’t want to tell you how to pray or what to pray.

You need to pray from your broken and repentant heart, in your own words, calling out to your heavenly Father, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ…

(This sermon was compiled and assembled from the notes of Todd Friel and WOTM, Ray Comfort and Mark Beauchamp and the Holy word of God,” My Father’s Gift Ministries”2008)