Romans 10:9-10

Brigade Service

When someone was allocating rooms in a building in Thredbo they probably didn't think they were deciding who would live and who would die. And yet on one level they were .

Sometimes the things that we consider are important, the decisions which take up a lot of our time and worry, the decisions that we think will change the very course of our live - these ones sometimes end up having little effect - or something that we didn't expect happens and so our decision is ruled invalid.

How many people do you reckon must have decided, without much concern, to take a trip in a car which ended in their death - I'm sure they didn't have any idea that the choice they were about to make was a choice between life and death.

Can we ever know the difference - most of the time we can't.

Tonight we heard from 2 people who have made a decision. They made a decision to follow Jesus - they decided that they would trust that the death of a man two thousand years ago would put them right with God when they die.

This is the one decision where you know for sure that what you are deciding is very important and will effect your whole life and your death.

The skit spoke about who you decide to give your heart to. Another look at the same idea. Do you give it to the devil - and your sinful nature - or to God - and freedom from sin. We saw in the skit how the devil - the father of lies - once he has convinced us not to trust God then sets about to treat you carelessly, not to care for - and the freedom he offers - freedom from God is in fact slavery to sin.

But once the devil entices us from God what does he do? What does he give us? The answer is nothing. The answer is not good things but bad things. The devil is the father of all lies.

His promises are empty. He entices you to follow your sinful nature to live a life full of impurity, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, factions and envy.

And having turned you away from God he leaves you with nothing - he breaks your heart.

And so we try to run our own lives but we fail. We fail to rule ourselves, our society or the world. The devil tells us that we can be God - that we can get by without God. But we can not be God - other people, other events BEYOND OUR CONTROL stop us getting our own way, stop us from running our own lives.

We fail to control our own lives.

But even worse the devil lies to us about God's influence over us when we have died.

Instead of the truth the devil feeds us rubbish about reincarnation, or just decaying to nothing, or that as long as we do a few good things [you know help people, give to charity, keep away from really major bad things like murder and stealing and rape] then God will accept us with open arms.

And this is the greatest lie of the devil - that our good deeds will make up for our rejection of God.

If anyone claims to be a Christian and ever suggests to you that by doing good then you are right with God they ARE lying - this book says something different. God says something different.

Please listen carefully - if you hear nothing else hear these two things:

1. we are destined to die once and after that face judgment
2. Grace - God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

Firstly we are destined to die once and after that face judgment
And we will be found wanting. God is God - a perfect, honest God, you can't slip through with a good behaviour bond or community service.

If you reject God and that is what sin is - the bad things we do are a consequence of rebelling against God. If you reject God either actively or just by ignoring him and hoping he will go away. Then be sure of this one thing - you will be punished. It is a part of Gods' character to punish those of us who, for their whole lives, reject his authority over them.

Our legal system is imperfectly based upon the same idea - that if you rebel against authority then you should be punished. Why don't we think God, who is far more perfect than we are, would not have the same standard. And we aren't talking about shop lifting or swearing - we are talking about rejecting the ruler, the creator the sustainer of the whole universes.

So we are destined to die once and after that face judgment the bible says that in Hebrews 9:27. And we will be found guilty.
BUT don't forget Grace - God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

G - Gods.
The riches I will talk about are no one elses to give and not ours to take, they are a gift given freely to us by God.

R - Riches.
What does God offer us when we give our heart to Him?
eternal life - in a place with no crying, or mourning, or pain, or loss; forgiveness; cleansing; perfect acceptance; to always be their for you holding you up, carrying you through the tough times and rejoicing with you in the good; setting us free from the control of sin; working things out for our good; never letting us down; never rejecting us; healing us; filling the emptiness inside; removing our fear of death.

A - At.
There is cost - these things are given freely to us but someone still has to pay the price of our rebellion.

C - Christ.
Jesus, the one us Christians always go on about; the one our calender revolves around; the one person we must all decide about - a decision that changes everything about our life and death.

The man who was, and is, God. Someone who always lived under God's rule; who never believed the lies of the devil - but instead resisted the devil and followed God; someone who could therefore die in our place; someone who died and rose again.

E - Expense.
We will be judged and found guilty of rejecting God as God.
WE will be sentenced to eternal punishment - being cut off from God, and every good thing comes from God so we are cut off from every good thing.
We will be punished - unless someone else takes the punishment on our behalf, unless upon sentencing someone stands up and speaks in our defence saying 'I was punished for them - they have nothing left to pay, they are forgiven, let them be with us in heaven."

Jesus is that person.

That's what the dying on the cross was all about - the expense. Jesus was punished on the cross for each one of us. He took upon himself the total punishment each one of US should receive for rebelling against God.

And so in the death of Jesus on the cross we see God's punishing our sin - our rebellion. But we also see His great love for us, as He shows the great lengths to which he will go to forgive us. To do for us what we can not do for ourselves because of our sin - Jesus makes us right with God.

So if Jesus has died for our sins, does that mean that we can ignore God all our lives and then after dying get forgiven.

No.

Let's hear what the Bible has to say about this....

1 Peter 3:18
Christ died for sins once for all the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Acts 16:30,31
What must I do to be saved?
believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

1 Corinthians 15:3,4
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures
he was buried
he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures

Roman 10:8,9
[this is] the word of faith we are proclaiming:
That if you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

So what are you going to do?

Tonight you have heard the truth.

Are you going to believe it, or reject it again - who will get your heart?

And what will they do with it?

If you want to become a Christian - if for the first time you believe that Jesus died for your sins - then I am going to pray a prayer that you can copy.

Prayer is talking to God and if you do believe that Jesus died for your sins your first act of confessing this should be to God. And then your family and friends and then everyone you meet.

Just pray it with me to God - he will hear you - you will be saved - the bible says so.

Let's pray.

God, I know that I am not worthy to be accepted by you......
I don't deserve your gift of forgiveness......
I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you......
I need forgiveness......
Thank you for sending your son to die for me that I may be forgiven......
Thank you that he rose from the dead to give me new life.......
I have decided tonight that I want to give you my heart......
Please forgive me and change me that I may live with Jesus as my ruler......

Father you are the greatest - you provide for all our needs, you never let us go or reject us. Thank you for your great love for us. We ask that you would protect those who for the first time decided to give their heart to you. Especially protect them from the lies of the devil as he tries to win them back and take back their heart. Father thank you so much that you are more powerful than the devil, that in fact we can resist the devil and he will leave us alone, but thank you most that you will never let us go, thank you that we can never be taken from you by anything or anyone.

And for those who still refuse to give you their hearts we pray that they would be softened to see the truth of your offer so that they too may know what it is to have you as their Father and not as their Judge.

In the name of Jesus - the name by which we are saved - AMEN.

When it comes to giving your heart to God it is all or nothing. Not that it's easy but God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us, to guide us as we live as Christians.

If you prayed that prayer earlier, or you want to know more, or if for some reason you just feel you should talk about tonight with someone, then I will stay here if you wish to come out. Or talk to someone else who you know is serious about giving their heart to God. And if you did pray that prayer for the first time tonight then please tell someone - your life has totally changed and there is alot of great stuff to learn.