Living Above the Line
Living Above the Line - Who Are We “We Are Delivered”
Saved What Now? Nothing is happening!
You may have gone forward at a revival or rally and accepted Christ, or responded to an invitation at the end of a morning service, or prayed with a Sunday school teacher or parent years ago. …You may have listened to a TV evangelist's appeal or read a tract such as the "Four Spiritual Laws" and prayed the sinner's prayer.
You may have made a decision at a summer camp, or Jesus may have met you in a desperate hour as you cried out to him Jesus help me. But what exactly happened at that moment? …Let me tell you; you were delivered from Satan's kingdom and delivered into the kingdom of God.
At the time this occurred, you probably had no idea that this was what was actually happening. It might even sound foreign to you now. Often, the gospel is presented simply as asking Jesus into our hearts, having our sins forgiven and receiving the assurance that were we to die tonight, we would "go to heaven." The Christian life is then spelled out as reading our Bible, learning to pray, finding a church where Christ is preached and sharing our faith with others. But …conversion includes much more than this. The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians that they had been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Beloved Son. Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
When Jesus began his public ministry, he announced that the kingdom of God was within reach and called his listeners to repent and believe in the good news Mark 1:15 "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
Later, he said that the kingdom of God was in their midst Luke 11:20 the kingdom of God has come upon you. He was the King and He had come to bring God's reign into their history and into their hearts. He does the same thing today. When we submit to him, he enters in by his Spirit. Our conversion immediately depletes the population of Satan's kingdom by one as our little stories become a part of Jesus' big story, and we now participate in his purpose to re-establish God's reign throughout the universe.
Now, two huge problems must be solved for us to become Christians. First, we must be delivered from Satan's kingdom. Second, we must be delivered from God's wrath. But for many people today, these two problems are almost incomprehensible. Let me help you picture it.
1)Deliverance from Satan's Kingdom
The whole world system is under the rule of a powerful, supernatural being that hates God, hates all goodness, hates all absolutes (apart from his absolute evil) and hates you and me (1 John 5:19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.) He is God's unequivocal enemy. Once a great heavenly angel, Satan rebelled against God's kingdom in order to establish his own. He now hides behind our perceptions of reality (that is our worldviews), our assumptions, values and the political and religious systems of this fallen world order.
He lies to us about our value and our worth, the meaning and purpose of our life, and our ultimate destiny. Often, he uses the arts and the media to warp our sense of reality and to turn us away from God. He thrusts other, false gods (idols) before us and seduces us into worshiping them, even to the point of addiction. He disguises himself as an "angel of light" 2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He manipulates our instincts—and our insecurities in order to market his false ideology and the promises and products of his kingdom.
The deepest emptiness in our lives—the hole in our souls—is the absence of God. Satan promises that we can fill that hole with substances, activities, products, ideologies and people. Yet the truth is that we are made for God, and without his life in us, we will remain spiritually dead and eternally lonely. (Is that where you are this morning…)
In all creation, those beings closest to God are people. We have been created to love God and to love each other as ourselves. But apart from God, people become idols, too. We become codependent and addicted to each other, which ultimately perverts every relationship.
In turn, our twisted relationships become an inroad for demonic assault, which ends up in death. Satan deceives us in order to kill us. He wants us to share in his doom, because he hates us and the God who loves us and made us in his image.
I have read that over the entry gate to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, a sign in wrought iron letters reads, "Arbeit Macht Frei," which translates, "Work Makes You Free." …Millions of Jews and others saw this promise as they entered the camp, only to find it was a complete lie. There was no freedom there, only death in the gas chambers. Likewise, Satan lifts up his signs over the gates of our prison as we roll into his gas chambers: "You can be your own god" or
"Go ahead and have some fun now—you can worry about God later" or
"Put yourself first! Who else is going to look after your interests?"
The devil continually pounds on us to grab more, consume more and collect more. He promises to satisfy us with quick and bogus fixes that will feed our egos, our insecurities and the ache inside. But when those fixes wear off, there is always the morning after. As we go through withdrawals, loss and grief, we sink into depression, anger turned inward, and "buyer's remorse"—the pain of realizing that the new hookup, the new car, the new job or whatever it is never satisfies us for long.
Again and again, Satan lifts up signs along the road to his gas chamber—signs that promise us freedom from the cycle of pain and shame. But there is only one true banner: "Freedom IN Christ” (John 8:31-32 abide in the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free!). The devil wants to block this truth from our minds so that we remain docile, drugged, obedient, fantasy-fed, fantasy-led and fantasy addicted subjects of his doomed kingdom. (Is that where you are this morning..)
In fact if either of these 2 descriptions are true of you…. If you are spiritually dead and eternally lonely, or you are a drugged, obedient, fantasy-fed, fantasy-led and fantasy addicted subjects of his doomed kingdom you have come to the right place this morning. …
2)Deliverance from God's Wrath
If it is hard for some of us to believe in Satan's kingdom; it is even harder to believe in God's kingdom,… a kingdom of justice ruled by a just King. God is just. He judges our moral failure—which he calls "sin"—and will separate himself and his people from unrepentant sinners for eternity. One day, he will clean house and totally rule his universe again.
But why does this seem to be so far off in the distant future?
First of all, in our postmodern world, few people believe in moral absolutes anymore. We are told that these absolutes make us narrow, judgmental and intolerant of others, their religious convictions and their lifestyles. Our inherited philosophy is to live and let live. We are told that each person has his or her own truth and that the ultimate goal for everyone ought to be open-mindedness.
While many in our culture champion moral relativism, none of us can actually live that way. Very few people could tolerate living in a society without rules. Without absolutes, there would be no Constitution or Bill of Rights, no laws, no justice, no police, no contracts, no partnerships, no corporations, no marriages. We would live the law of the jungle.
Without absolutes, we could lie, steal and murder without consequences. We could be racists, fascists or anarchists. Our courts would collapse due to the lack of any absolute standard of justice, and we would collapse along with them—our identities fragmented and our mental health shattered. Without absolutes, we would be ravaged by addictions, trying to fill the holes in our souls, with our passions controlling us rather than us controlling them.
Without absolutes, we would have no personal boundaries or moral structure for life. We would have no way to tell our children what is right or wrong. Did you beat up your sister? That's your "truth." Did you have sex with a man, your own child? That's your "truth." The absence of absolutes leads logically to insanity and suicide. It is undisguised insanity.
Without an absolute standard of justice, democracy would be impossible. Truth, accountability and public trust would all go down the drain. There would be no basis for moral outrage over Third World debt, poverty or the AIDS pandemic. Growing opium in Afghanistan or cocaine in Columbia? No problem! That's your "truth." …Building reactors for nuclear bombs? No problem. That's an internal matter, not a matter for the United Nations or the community of nations. Polluting the atmosphere? Increasing global warming? No big deal. No absolutes means no commitment to the next generation or to the preservation of the earth.
God's moral law is written on our hearts, despite how relative our cultural morals have become. God is completely just, and not only do his laws reveal his just character, but also living by them makes life possible in a sick and fallen world.
The second reason why we are asleep to the reality of God's justice and judgment is because we've been told that if God exists, he is merely a benign spirit who would never judge anyone or send him or her to hell. He is the Great Therapist, committed to rebuilding our low self-esteem. But however reassuring this image may be, the life and death question is not, "Is our concept of God pleasant, agreeable or comforting?" but, "Is it true?"
It has often been said that we expect more justice from the police than we do from God. We are offended when criminals go free because we believe that crimes must be punished and justice must be served. When the police officers accused of assaulting Rodney King were acquitted by a mostly white jury in 1992, many people felt justice had not been done, especially since the brutal beating of King was captured on videotape for the world to see.
Likewise, many people found it hard to believe that O. J. Simpson walked on a double-murder charge. It is hard to forget the TV images we saw of him fleeing the law in a Ford Bronco with his passport, thousands of dollars in cash, and a false beard.
If we demand human justice in this life, how much more should we demand divine justice? Will history's mass murderers escape God's justice? The answer is no. Even if they commit suicide like Hitler in his bunker or die of old age like Stalin, they must face the bar of God. There is a Day of Judgment coming in which divine justice and the human cry for justice will meet and be satisfied.
While most of us are not murderous tyrants like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot or Osama bin Laden, we are all sinners. Despite all our rationalizations and excuses, we too deserve God's judgment, his divine wrath. Not only have we failed to measure up to his absolute standard—in intention if not in action (just read Matt. 5)—but we have failed to measure up to our own standard. Every time we lie, gossip, withhold the truth, shade the facts or tell people what they want to hear rather than what we know or believe to be the truth, we violate our own conscience. We violate the law of God written on our hearts.
Therefore, because God is perfect in his moral character and righteous in his judgments, we stand condemned both before him and our own consciences. We deserve his wrath for our sin—our fundamental failure to worship, honor and serve him as God. We have substituted ourselves for him, making our needs, wants, lusts, philosophies, and fantasies and what drives the worship center of our lives. We either worship God or we worship idols, and the most available and pervasive idol is ourselves. Our basic question is, "What's in it for me?" instead of, "What's in it for God and others?"
If we need deliverance from Satan's kingdom, then we also need deliverance from God's wrath. His holy anger is the consequence of his justice, which stands against our sin and finds us guilty of rebellion, selfishness and idolatry. We desperately need deliverance, because life is short and we will soon appear before God's judgment seat on the other side of death.
Deliverance into God's Kingdom
Now we are ready for the most outrageous and surprising good news of all: Our deliverance into the kingdom of God is within reach! God is establishing his justice and sovereign rule in this world to uphold his law and forgive, receive and transform sinners. His kingdom comes, however, not as a result of a divine ego trip, but rather through humble sacrifice and self-giving love. It turns our values upside down.
For the kingdom of God to fully come, Jesus had to become the suffering servant of the Lord. According to Isaiah, he took the place of sinners, satisfied divine justice, and died the death we all deserved for our sins. As the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, Jesus went freely and resolutely to Jerusalem to sacrifice Himself on the cross. Because he was both human and divine, as a human he died a real and bloody death, while as a divine being he paid an immeasurable price for the garbage pile of sin dumped on Him by the human race.
In the death of Jesus, God's justice was satisfied (upheld), the moral and legal debt of all our sin was paid in full, and God's mercy was extended to each of us. He didn't quit being a God of wrath and suddenly became a God of love; he has loved us continually from all eternity. But the ground on which he could accept us was dramatically changed. The penalty for sin was paid, and all who have faith in Jesus are freely and fully justified (Rom. 3:26).
At the cross, God lifted his wrath from us and placed it upon himself through his Son. The death we deserve to die, he died for us in our place. All we can do in response is to lay down our arms, humble ourselves and receive his acceptance by faith alone.
To become a Christian is like what being married should be. When we are wed to Christ by faith, we give him all we have and he gives us all he has. We give him all our sins, and he gives us all his righteousness. We are now righteous before God through the righteousness of his Son.
When we ask Jesus to forgive us, we enter God's kingdom through the gate marked "Justice Satisfied, Mercy Granted." God's reign is set up in our hearts. But there is more! …When we come to Christ, we are not only delivered from Satan's kingdom but are also delivered into God's Kingdom. Far too many Christian live as though they were delivered from Satan's kingdom, and are waiting to be delivered into God’s Kingdom when it has already happened. See, when we come to Christ, he zips us open and jumps inside.
We are raised to a new life, a LIFE IN Christ Jesus. A LIFE ABOVE THE LINE