In the Seventh-day Adventist church we like to uplift Jesus Christ, our Saviour. That’s what we’re all about here. Uplifting the scriptures. Uplifting eternal life. And how to get there.
I was invited to somebody’s house one time. They were having a party and as we came in the door they gave us a ticket. I wondered what the ticket was for. It had a number on it, and later on as the meal was over, they had a little girl come up and she drew a ticket stub out of a container and she started to read the number. And the more she read, I thought, you know, she’s reading my number. This is getting right down and she was ready to read the last number and I thought one more and I’ve got it. And it was the wrong number. I was only one number from being the winner. And I thought, uunh that’s kind of disappointing. One single little bitty number made all the difference. And they said does anybody here have that number? Yes, the person had that number. They were there. Well, they got the prize and I didn’t.
I will tell you as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, we want the prize. What is the prize? The prize is Jesus. And eternal life with Jesus in heaven, right? Imagine missing heaven by just 15 inches! You know, a lot of people miss heaven by 15 inches! You would be amazed. It happens every day. Hundreds of people every day come within 15 inches of being saved. And they never make it. You might say, how can anybody be so close to winning the biggest "doorprize" in the history of the universe and yet be totally lost. Well, this is the largest single reason that people are lost to this day. And many Seventh-day Adventists will be lost because of that. Not every Seventh-day Adventist is going to be saved, of course. And the reason? Because they miss it by 15 inches.
Now here it is: You are going to miss heaven by 15 inches if you have only a mental knowledge of Jesus Christ. Only an acceptance of the doctrines of Christ. A head knowledge only. The distance between the head and the heart, I measured it, I think it’s right about there. It’s 15 inches. Fifteen inches! You have to invite the Lord to move from here into here. He’s knocking, right? Are there some amens for that? He wants into your heart. He wants to live in your heart. You will be lost if the only place Jesus is is in your head. He needs to be in your heart. And so that’s what this sermon is about today. An intellectual knowledge of the doctrines and the beliefs of the Bible without a HEART experience will shut you out of eternal life. It is the personal everyday relationship with Jesus that’s going to save you. You could have the entire Bible memorized and that’s not going to save you. You need Jesus Christ in your heart. Of course, you need to memorize the Bible too, but you need Jesus in your heart.
Look at the Pharisees. They had the best behavior of all people. They were really good people. They gave to the poor. They tithed of the mint and the annis and the cumin. But they did not have a heart relationship with Jesus Christ. They gave money to the poor but they didn’t give themselves to Jesus. They kept the rules but they didn’t love the Rule-giver. You go to your Bible this afternoon, and you look at all those run-ins that the Pharisees had with Jesus, and there were a lot of them. And in almost every run-in that there is the Pharisees emphasized behavior and Jesus emphasized relationship. That’s just the way it is.
Come over here to Romans in your Bible. I hope you have your Bible with you. We have the NIV here that we feel is the very closest to the Greek and Hebrew.
ROMANS 10 look at verse 2- It speaks here about the Israelites, and it says, the Israelites, "I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." Not based on knowledge. They didn’t really know Jesus. They didn’t really know him, and His righteousness. And friend, if you have a heart knowledge of Jesus, an experience with Jesus, you can be saved. Do you really know Jesus? Do you really know Him?
One time there was a lady who came up to her pastor, and she said, "You know, I’ve never converted anybody , I’ve never had a chance to lead anybody to Jesus. I have memorized all the beliefs of the Bible. I’ve memorized a lot of the texts of the Bible. I know the Bible backward and forward. I can find any text. But why hasn’t God used me?" The pastor detected that she was one of these legalists. She had an experience with the rules, but not with the Ruler. And so he helped her to find a true and meaningful relationship with Jesus. Once she found that she was a changed person. She was born again.
And she went out to her sister’s house, her sister was not a Christian and she went into her sister’s house, and she said, “you know, I have failed you. I’ve tried to be a good Christian here, and I have not. I apologize.” And pretty soon she was weeping and crying and the sister wept, and to make a long story short, her sister joined the church. Became a Christian herself. Because her sister was a brand-new person. And that’s what having Jesus in your heart really means.
Look at ROMANS 3:23 says ALL are justified freely by His Grace. All have sinned. All fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace. If you’re going to be saved, you’re going to be saved by the grace of Jesus. You will not be saved by works. You have to be connected with Jesus. And you have to utilize Jesus in your life.
I live in Collegedale and right outside my house, there in the front yard, is a big, green box provided by the Electric Power Board. It’s got a big transformer in there. At least I think it does, there’s a humming sound in there. It could be something else, but I think it’s a transformer. There are several big wires that come to my house. I have abundant power provided to me by the utility company. But I want you to know that I will receive no benefit from that power unless I use it.
There was a lady several years ago, many years ago, an old Welsh woman lived in a remote valley up in Wales and wanted to get electricity to her house. And finally at great effort, the power company got electricity up to her house, and they got to reading her meter every month and they noticed that she was not using hardly any electricity. One day the meter-reader was there and he said, “You know, the meter has hardly changed at all. Don't you use it?” and she said, “Of course I do. I use the electricity every day.” She said, “We turn it on every night so we can see how to light our lanterns and then we turn it back off."
That’s about what we do with Jesus. We have a quick prayer and then we turn the TV back on. You know what I’m talking about. We don’t really use the power of Jesus in our lives. All of God’s power is useless to you unless you utilize it. You have to use it. A head knowledge is not a saving knowledge. We must have a heart relationship with Jesus. And there is not a lack of power in the church today. There is a lack of plugging in and turning on to that power. And you need to turn on to the power of Jesus Christ.
This power is available to anybody. It’s unavailable from any other source. You can’t get it down at the mall. You can’t get it on the web. The only place to get it is through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ.
Paul, he used to be a very, very good Pharisee, remember that? Paul was great, but he was a lost Pharisee. He did not have a saving relationship with God. He had a head knowledge, but not a heart experience. And not until he became converted did He become a power-house for God. Look at the difference. The old man of Saul was tearing the church apart. The new man of Paul was building the church up. That’s just the difference of whether Jesus lives in the upstairs or in the heart. That’s the difference. Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ will dwell in our heart. That’s where He wants to live.
There was a mother with a little 3 year old daughter. They were going in a car, this was in the old days. The little girl leaned her head over and put it on her mother's chest. And the mother said, "What are you doing?" She said, "I'm listening for Jesus in your heart." And the mother said, "Well what is He saying?” And the little girl said, "Well it sounds like he's making coffee!" Or postum, or whatever.
I read about a man who had a heart transplant one time, and his body rejected the transplant. Now you can get Jesus in your heart and yet you still have that chance, I suppose, of rejection. Maybe the old man was a mean man and maybe the new heart that they put in him was a kind heart, and he rejected it, I don’t really know. But, let’s get a spiritual heart transplant. That’s really what God wants you to do, is to go down to Jesus, to come to Him, and He will give you a brand new heart. And He’ll put it in and take that stony heart out. That’s Ezekial chapter 11 verses 19 and 20. When you come to Jesus, when you repent, when you ask God for forgiveness and help and you invite Jesus into your heart instead of your head only, you will experience what is called the new birth.
JOHN 14:6 Jesus says, I am the Way, the Truth and the what? The LIFE. There is no other life in anybody else except by Jesus. And no man, Jesus says cometh unto the Father but by me. That’s the only way.
In order to be saved you need to:
Well in religion there are oxymorons, and one is that you’ve heard of a lukewarm Christian. A lukewarm Christian? There’s no such thing. You’re either hot or you’re cold. And when you get Jesus to come and live in your heart, that is on fire! That is hot. That is not cold. That is not luke-warm. That’s where you need to be. And you will be changed and you will be made into a new person.
I am planning in July I’m going to join the McDonald Road team that’s going to Tanzania. You realize we have 25 people that are going from here over to Tanzania, eastern Africa to hold evangelistic series. I’m going to go over there, I’ve never done this in my life, I’m going to go over and hold a series of meetings. Going to do it. Going to leave, going to buy the tickets, going to get the shots. Now just imagine that it’s time for me to pack up and I’m in there packing the suitcase and everything is going well and imagine that my wife can't go with me. Actually she is going with me. And she’s going to hold a full-blown series of meetings and I’m going to hold a full-blown series of meetings at the foot of mount Kilimanjaro. I hope to climb that one afternoon. I don’t know anything about it. Let’s suppose that I’m packing my suitcase, and she comes in and she says, “Donald”. Now whenever she lists my full name I know I‘m in bad trouble. She says, “you are going to be gone several weeks and I’ve got bills to pay and I’ve got a paper here from the state of Tennessee Statute Number 427 which states that you will be put in jail if you don’t support your wife and make sure the bills are paid while you are gone. And it's not very nice, Donald, behind those iron bars. I know you wouldn’t enjoy it. I know you will allow me to spend your paycheck.”
Does she have to do that? Do I have to have rules and regulations to enforce? I love my wife. I would never not support my wife. I would never allow something like that to happen. Do you really need the law to make you support your family? No you don’t! In fact, the highest law is the law of love. I do all I can because God has placed a love in my heart for my family. And therefore, I support my family. And I do all I can for the church, because God has given me a love for Jesus. And I will tell you that marriage without love in the heart is miserable. If your marriage is the joining of two heads together instead of two hearts together, you’ve missed a good marriage by 15 inches. It isn’t going to work. And our salvation is not a doctrinal issue to memorize, but a heart-experience with Jesus. That’s what it is. Jesus wants to live in your heart. John chapter 6 verse 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. John 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Jesus will not be a long distance Saviour. Jesus wants to come and live in your heart. The love of Jesus is powerful. And Seventh-day Adventists ought to be the people that when they think about us, they should say, you know, you are the people who really, really do love Jesus. You preach His word. You love to uplift the Saviour. You love to live and pattern your life after the Saviour. You love Jesus. You know, when our heart is warmed by the love of Christ, we’re never the same.
The Japanese put out a magazine one time that had a picture on the front of the magazine, a gray, ugly picture of a butterfly. It was not a pretty picture. But, the caption underneath said, please touch this picture. And as you would put your hand over that picture of that butterfly and the heat of your hand would warm up whatever it was that was under there, the butterfly just turned to living color. And I thought about that. I thought, you know, that’s what Jesus does. Jesus touches our gray, dull life, and brings out the best in us. He changes us. It’s a metamorphosis. And we are changed into his image. Into His beauty. Our whole nature is different. And that’s what Jesus wants to do for you. He wants you to have a born again experience. To be changed. He wants to abide in you. John 15 verse 4, Abide in me and I in you. We’re in each other. Jesus is not a long distance Saviour. He wants to be everything to us.
I read about three chapters of the Bible this morning. And the Bible has just taken on a new meaning to me, because I discover Jesus in almost every page. And when you discover Jesus in these pages your Bible reading, your Bible study will take on a whole new dimension, because you discover Somebody in there that you love. That you appreciate. And the same Person that lives in your heart.
In our church we have 28 fundamental beliefs. We used to have 27 but now it’s 28. And I think the belief on Jesus Christ should be taken out. I don’t think that should be one of our beliefs. Now why would I say that? The belief about Christ should be taken out of the 28. And the reason I would say that is because Jesus ought to be the foundation that’s in all the beliefs. Jesus is the base of everything we do. It’s not just one of our beliefs, it’s everything. The belief in Jesus. The other 27 are the setting for the beautiful jewel of Jesus which shines out in each of all these other beliefs, you see. That’s how it ought to be, in my opinion.
And when people hear the name of Seventh-day Adventist, what do they think of? They think, oh you people eat different, you know, and your diet is different, meat-eating and this and that. They ought to think first about Jesus. You folks are honest. You love Jesus, you’re happy, you’re good Christians. And that’s what we want to be.
First John, chapter 5. Come over here to first John in your Bible, right at the end of the Bible almost. First John chapter 5 verse 11 and 12. And this is the testimony. God has given us eternal life, and this life is” where? now get this. This life is where? ”in his Son. He who has the Son has” what? ”life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Now if that’s the only section of the Bible, if all the Bibles in the whole world were burned up, and all we had were those two verses, that’s enough to get you to heaven. He who has the Son has life, and he who has not the Son of God has not life. It’s just that simple. If you’ve got Jesus right here in your heart, you’ve got life. And if you don’t, you’re going to miss heaven. You’re going to miss.
So let’s make sure we have Jesus in our lives. I read a statement the other day in a little book called Steps to Christ. It says this. 'THE SINNER MAY RESIST GOD’S LOVE, MAY REFUSE TO BE DRAWN TO CHRIST, BUT IF HE DOES NOT RESIST, HE WILL BE DRAWN TO JESUS!" SC 27.
You’re going to be saved if you don’t put on the brakes. If you don’t pull on the emergency brake lever, if you don’t stop on the brakes. If you don’t resist, you will be drawn to Jesus. That’s how it’s designed to be. If you respond in a warm, loving way to the warm, drawing power of Jesus Christ, soon you will find a relationship with Jesus, and you will be saved. If you avoid using the brakes, if you open the door to your heart and just let him, He’ll come in. All you have to do is open the door. You don’t have to lead him in. You don’t have to draw Him in. He will come in and you will be saved! And so I think our prayer ought to be, Draw me nearer, nearer to Jesus. And He will. And then we will respond and we’ll be saved. So I invite you, as a pastor, to give your life to Jesus Christ.
There was somebody here last week who is not here today. We lost a church member this morning, who died. A young man. You never know when your last Sabbath is going to be, or when your last opportunity is going to be, and I invite you right now, I give you a call right now to respond to Jesus. How many of you would like to accept Jesus as your Saviour, or re-accept Him, if you have already done that, as your Saviour, would you raise your hands please. I hope every hand is up. You’re accepting Jesus as your Saviour.
Let’s sing our closing hymn, Number 306. Draw Me Nearer.
Hymn of Praise: #88, I Sing the Mighty Power of God Scripture: Ezekiel 36:26,27 Hymn of Response: #306, Draw Me Nearer
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 3/13/07