Check Engine Light
Notes
Transcript
When the check engine light comes on …
I. Remember That Experiencing God’s Love and Pleasing God Are Not the Same (vv. 1-5)
I. Remember That Experiencing God’s Love and Pleasing God Are Not the Same (vv. 1-5)
Experiencing God’s Love
All of Israel experienced the profound love and miraculous works of God.
They were led by a pillar of cloud and fire
They passed through the sea
They were united with new spiritual leadership
They enjoyed spiritual food from heaven
They received spiritual drink in the desert
NEVERTHELESS
Out of the two million people who God rescued from Egypt, how many entered the promised land?
Two: Joshua and Caleb (and some of the children)
Did God love all of Israel?
Yes!
Was God pleased with all of Israel?
No.
A Flawed Response to Our Spiritual Check Engine Light:
Question:
Will God still love me if I __________? YES!
The challenge is we make statements with it:
God will always love me even if I __________? Yes, but …
Then we make a principle out of it:
Therefore, I will (continue to) __________ because God always loves me anyways! No.
A Correct Response to Our Spiritual Check Engine Light:
A Better Question:
Will __________ bring God the most glory?
So I make this statement:
Even though God will love me, I refuse to __________ because I want to honor Him!
And the principle becomes this:
Therefore, I will always choose to honor God over __________!
The Reason for Monitoring the Dashboard of Your Faith
You don’t just monitor the health of your car because you want it to survive.
You monitor the health of your car because you want it to thrive.
You want your care to get you to your destination.
You want it to last long enough for you to get a good investment.
So when your check engine light comes on, you don’t ignore it.
Paul is not saying we should try to please God so we can keep Him off our back.
Don’t get complacent.
Experiencing the love of God won’t save you.
Going to church won’t save you.
Being baptized in water won’t save you.
Taking communion won’t save you.
Experiencing the wonderful provision of God won’t save you.
A relationship with Jesus Christ is what saves you.
God is telling us as Christians if we monitor and address the condition, health, and warning signs of our walk with Christ, it will allow us to thrive.
Isn’t that good news?
Every one of us, Christian or not, daily experiences the love of God.
And God supplies a spiritual dashboard in our lives because He wants us to thrive, because He wants us to succeed.
And because of what He has done for us, we strive to please Him, because it renews us:
It fills our gas tank with the joy and love of God.
It lubricates our gears and wheels so that we may be used on mission for Him.
It clears our windshield so that we may clearly see where He directs.
Why does pleasing God accomplish all those things?
Because you will ultimately please someone:
Someone sits on the throne of your life, and it’s either you or Jesus.
You either live to please yourself, or you live to please Jesus.
Everyone experiences the passive love of God, but when Christians do, it should drive us to purposefully pursue pleasing the One who first loved us.
Amen?
When the check engine light comes on …
II. With Humility, Look Back and Learn (vv. 6-11)
II. With Humility, Look Back and Learn (vv. 6-11)
Look Back and Learn From:
These things happened as examples for us (v. 6):
What does Paul want us to learn from?
Craving the pleasures of Egypt — Longing for bondage and death
4 The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 “We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, 6 but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”
18 “Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. 19 ‘You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”
33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague. 34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.
Idolatry — Giving ultimate worship to that which is not ultimate
3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
Sexual Immorality — Living for pleasure and convenience
1 While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. 2 For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry against Israel.
9 Those who died by the plague were 24,000.
Testing the Lord — Verbalizing frustration and disdain for God’s plan
5 The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”
6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
Grumbling — Specifically attacking or complaining about God-given authority
3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
31 As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
The Wrong Question:
How could a loving God kill people?
The Right Question:
How could a holy God patiently and lovingly endure with sinful humanity?
When the check engine light comes on …
III. With Perseverance, Look Forward and Live (vv. 12-13)
III. With Perseverance, Look Forward and Live (vv. 12-13)
A True, Present, & Serious Warning Light
In v. 12, in light of the OT passages, Paul can be speaking of nothing other than a warning against forfeiting your salvation.
I thought it was “once saved always saved”?
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Apostasy — abandonment, desertion, total departure from
Paul believes Jesus Christ will complete the work He began in you when you surrendered your life to Him.
Paul believes nothing (seen or unseen) can force you to apostatize.
Paul obviously believes sin, no matter how grievous, does not automatically result in apostasy, which is why he constantly urges repentance.
But for Paul, other apostles, and even Jesus (Luke 8:11-15 — Parable of the Sower), apostasy is a very real possibility.
The only force, power, or person that can separate a believer from fellowship with Christ is that believer themself, and only then after blatant, ongoing, unrepentant sin and a long, drawn out struggle.
Why does Paul mention this here?
Don’t become complacent!
Don’t ignore your sin.
Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy.
Don’t harden your heart to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Instead, address your sin.
Better yet, heed the warning light before sin even becomes a problem.
Notice what Paul says next:
The Power of God’s Promises
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man
In other words, you’re not special! The temptations you have experienced, everyone else has too. You’re not especially bad because you’re tempted. You’re not especially good because you’re tempted. You are simply human.
Temptation is not sinful. Giving into temptation is sinful.
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able
In other words, when satan tempts you, it happens under God’s authority.
This is where we get the phrase, “God will not give you more than you can bear.”
I don’t know who came up with that idea, but it’s not biblical. 100% God will give you more than you can bear.
Then how will I ever succeed?
That’s why Jesus left you with the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and the moment you surrendered your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit now lives inside of you and gives you the power to endure what you can’t on your own.
But will with the temptation provide a way of escape
The Bible never tells you to resist temptation.
The Bible tells you to flee from temptation.
Because when you try to resist temptation, you might endure for a time, but eventually in a moment of weakness you will give in.
Johnny “resisting temptation” in the pantry.
Don’t flirt with temptation. Flee temptation.
So that you will be able to endure it
Remember the account of Joseph in Genesis? What happens because of his morality?
Joseph fled temptation.
Potiphar’s wife lied.
Joseph was thrown in prison for years.
God gave Joseph a way of escape, Joseph ran to that way of escape, it seemed to backfire, and yet God gave him the ability to endure it so that God could use that situation for His greater plan.
God is faithful to provide a way of escape, but when we give into temptation in a moment of weakness …
God is also faithful to forgive our sins if we confess to Him
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
