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Sabbath, April 30, 2005 Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Pastor Tom Hughes

“ACCEPT GOD’S LOVE”

“If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

Isaiah 55:6, 7…

I want to expand a little bit on this gift of God through Jesus Christ and what it means to us. And here in this passage it says,

6Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will…”

…in a stingy way, pardon them? He will (if you really twist His arm and force him to) pardon?

“…for he will abundantly pardon.”

Do you believe that? I want you to think about that word, “abundant.” If you have an abundance of food, do you have a little or a lot?

If you have an abundance of money, do you have a little or a lot?

If you have abundance of pardon, do you have a little or a lot?

Is it enough to pardon even your secret sins?

Is it enough to pardon even the ones you’re wrestling with and struggling with? The secret ones nobody else knows about; that, deep down, you fear that the battle going on may be won or lost depending on what happens and you’re not sure if God’s going to bring you through it. You’re wavering a bit, you’re worried, and maybe that’s the sin that you’re struggling with. Your secret sin – the one nobody else may even know about but you know about it. And it’s just tearing you up because you don’t really want it deep down, but there’s something about it that keeps drawing at you and pulling at you. There’s a battle going on for your soul, and that secret sin is there and it’s going back and forth – the carnal nature wrestling against the Spirit and the Sprit against the carnal nature. And you’re crying out to God for deliverance (!). And it says that if wicked man will forsake his way, and forsake his thoughts – our God will abundantly pardon!

How do you forsake your way? How do you forsake your thoughts? Well this text recognizes that there is no victory apart from your mind being changed. Your heart and your mind have to be converted. God has to place His Spirit in your heart.

Now the evil thing about sin is that sin will not occupy any place in your life except on the throne of your heart! If you give sin an inch, it will take your heart! Sin will not peacefully coexist with you and God. It is only satisfied with one place. It wants to reign in your body on the throne of your heart.

Now the Bible says, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.” Do not let it on your throne.

Now it doesn’t say, you have to change your heart.

It doesn’t say, you have to stop yourself from doing the things you’re doing.

It says, you have to forsake your ways and forsake your thoughts.

Now you obviously are having thoughts that are not pleasing to God. You are obviously having thoughts that are evil. Some people have mistakenly thought that Christians have thoughts that are always pure, and holy, and righteous, and they don’t make any acknowledgement that there is evil going on in the heart of a Christian. But I’ve got news for you, the Bible says that in every Christian there is a battle every day whether sin will reign over your carnal nature or whether the Holy Spirit through God will reign over your carnal nature.

There is the battle going on within you. Paul said, “I’m a wretched man. Who’s going to deliver me?” Paul said the spirit and the flesh battle each other so that you cannot do the things you want to do. You cannot help your thoughts! You cannot help your feelings. That’s why the Bible says “be angry and sin not.”

Men aren’t really in touch with their feelings very well. Now some men are, they’re the exception, but most men are not that quick to be in touch with their feelings. Ladies are. They usually know how they feel about everything. If you ask a woman how she’s feeling, she can tell you, trust me! If you say, “Honey, how are you feeling today?” you’d better pull up a chair and have a seat!
Now if you say to a man, “How are you feeling today?”

He’ll go, “Come back in about ten minutes and I’ll let you know. I need to go and pull my suitcase out of the closet, open it up, the one that says “Feelings.” I need to do a test to determine exactly which feelings I’m having, and then I will get back to you. Is that okay?”

Now wives think their husbands are just being distant, or withdrawn, or they don’t want to talk, etc. They’re not, ladies! When you ask a guy, “How do you feel about this?” and he says, “Duh,…” and he give you that look, like (I don’t know.) Don’t get mad. He really doesn’t know! He really does not know! He has to go check it out.

That’s why you’ll do a lot better if you say, “Look, I’m just wondering about how you’re feeling about this. Would you think about it and get back to me in a little while?”

“Sure, honey. How do I feel about that? J I’m not really sure.” - because we have a habit of burying things very deeply.

At the parenting seminar, we were talking about domestic violence and parental abuse. And I remember that when I was a child, I was hit by a ceramic deer by my mother and given 90 stitches in my leg. I’ve done parenting seminars four or five times. I’ve been helping and counseling people all my life but I had so buried that, that I never really felt it until about a week ago. And for some reason as I was talking about it, I felt it for the first time, deeply, and realized how horrible that experience was and the way it affected me. Now I’m 54 years old. Can men bury things or what! I had to dig for a long time to get all the way down to that!

Inside of all of us, there is a battle going on for our souls and it goes on every day. I don’t care whether you’re 8 years old or 80, the devil wants you. He’s trying to hurt you. His angels are trying to destroy you, and God is trying to save you. And that great controversy is raging in every heart every single day.

Now you can’t change your nature,
you can’t change your heart,
you can’t help your feelings,
you can’t help your thoughts.

If somebody gets you to be angry because of something they do, you’re going to get angry. You don’t sit down and decide, “I think I’ll get really mad because they’re going to say something I don’t like.” No, you just get mad. That’s why the Bible says, “Be angry and sin not.”

It’s okay to have emotions. How do you use them? Do you use them in a destructive way or in a positive way? Do you let the Holy Spirit control you?

It’s okay to be upset.
It’s okay to be angry.
It’s okay to feel bad and feel sad or angry, or whatever you’re feeling.

You don’t sit down and choose to feel a certain way, but you can control your thoughts this way: When an evil thought comes into your mind, you can forsake it. Now you can’t make it leave but you can forsake it.

Martin Luther put it like this: He said,

“A bird can land in your hair, but you don’t have to let him build a nest there.”

He said, “you can shoo him away.”

Now if you had evil thoughts come and land in your hair and you’ve allowed them to build a nest there, and you’ve cherished them, and kept them to think about and ponder, that’s where the evil really takes over your life. And that’s when the Bible says, “Forsake your thoughts.” If you forsake your thoughts and choose God and say, “By my will, God, I choose You. I forsake my evil ways, my evil thoughts. I forsake them. Please, God, take my mind. Let the mind of Christ be in me, and help me, God. I forsake my way.”

Repent means literally, “To stop walking in one direction, turn around and go the opposite direction.” God, I repent of my sins, I forsake my evil way, and I’m going to turn and go the opposite way.”

We don’t have the power to change our heart. We don’t have the power to do these things in our own strength. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can be victorious. And it’s not by what we do that we’re victorious. Christ won the victory for us on the Cross and he works that victory out in us.

The Bible says this is the victory that gives us the victory: “even our faith” is what gives us the victory. So it’s kind of an odd dichotomy here, when it says that, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up (to die) for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.” Romans 8:32, 33

Even your secret sins. Even the ones you wrestle with. Even the ones where the battle is going on. If you forsake those sins, repent of your sins, and turn to Christ, He will abundantly pardon you! And abundant means He’s got tons of it! J He’s got enough pardon. No man has fallen so low, no sinner has sinned so much and become so evil that God’s grace cannot abundantly pardon them (!).

So no matter who you are today,

no matter how low you’ve sunk,

no matter how low you’ve fallen,

no matter how sad your loss of self-respect and self-esteem is because you have done things that are so wrong –

If you will forsake those things, and come to God, He will abundantly pardon you today!

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?”

Now I said I was going to give you a “Smile test” and put a “Smile meter” on you and make sure your smiles and your hugs are still working, because God is in control. If you could have seen the smile that Virgil had on his face yesterday – he’s suffering, he’s crying, he’s fighting for his life – but he smiled (!) because Jesus touched his heart.

Jesus is where it’s at. He’s the one that puts a smile on our face. He gives us a reason for living. If we’re not enjoying God, and if we’re not having the kind of relationship where we’re enjoying our prayer life, we’re emjoying reading our Bible, we’re enjoying being with God in church here today – we sense His presence and we enjoy being in His company – beloved there is something wrong with our Christian experience. If it’s all drudgery and work, and beating ourself up because we’re not good enough, let’s just admit it: We’re not good enough! But it says here, nobody can lay a thing to the charge of God’s elect if God has justified you through Jesus Christ!

God has abundantly forgiven you! When are you going to finally forgive yourself for beinga sinner and accept the abundant pardon God wants to give you? Receive it!

Have you ever seen Extreme Makeover - Home Edition? They take somebodys broken down shack and build them a whole new house. And I mean they spare no expense; it’s absolutely georgous! They give them free trucks, free dishes, free diswashers, free carpeting and hand ‘em the mortgage paid for! And, boy, when they see that house they jump up and down, don’t they?

Some of you have seen it, you know what I’m talking about. Man, they scream, they shout, they’re jumpin’ up and down, and huggin’, and cryin’, and everywhere, tears! Man, watch that show one time and see how they lavish all these wonderful things on these people, and they study their life and they find out what really makes them tick and what the kids are all about. You know, if the kid’s into astronomy they’ll make a room based on astronomy. If they’re into becoming a heart surgeon they’ll build the whole room and put little hearts around so the kid and practice on ‘em, all sorts of stuff.

And when these kids see their room, oh, they just go crazy and the women start cryin’ and huggin’, and the one man, when he saw the house, they pulled the bus away, he saw the house that they gave to him – he was a big, big African-American man, and he fell to his knees (!) and then fell to the ground and just prayed and thanked God for what they were given.

And I watch it and I think to myself, “Isn’t that wonderful? These young people have found the true meaning of life which is to go out and serve others and give things to other people and to help others. That’s a wonderful thing. You know there’s so much garbage on TV, when you finally see a wonderful show, I think it’s important that we acknowledge that.

So I’m watching this and this man falls down and he gives God glory, and then I think to myself, “Man! They’re getting this happy about an earthly home! How happy should we be when we think about the New Jerusalem?” How happy should we be when we think about the fact that we’re not good enough, we never will be, we’ll never be able to earn our place in heaven. If it isn’t for Christ, we’re lost. There is no hope for us apart from Christ.

Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s goodness, Christ’s accomplishments are the only thing that can save us. None of us are good enough to be saved. None of us keep God’s law perfectly. It’s only through Christ that we can be saved. And yet God not only gives us Christ, but He gives us all the other blessings that go with it!
He gives us a new body on Resurrection Day!

He gives us eternal life!

He gives us the New Jerusalem!

He gives us the streets of gold!

He gives us the beauties of the new earth!

He gives us the nailprints in His hands and

He takes his arms when we come into heavan and He lifts the crown and He puts the crown on our heads personally! Jesus Christ personally is going to place the crown upon our head and give us a hug (!) and welcome us in to paradise!

Now when God has given us all of that, I think we oughta be cryin’! We oughta have tears runnin’ down our cheeks! We oughta be jumpin’ up and down! We oughta be happy! We oughta be enjoying God! We oughta be learning how to receive His abundant pardon!

Are you enjoying God? So many Christians I meet are so uptight, they’re so sad, they’re so worried that they’re never gonna measure up. They’re never gonna be good enough, that they’re not doing enough to make God accept them. My dear beloved brother, my sweet sister, hear the message of this text:

“Forsake your thought, forsake your evil way, admit you have evil thoughts.”

Admit you have a carnal nature.

Admit you don’t measure up.
Admit you’re not good enough.

Stop trying to bring “Brownie Points” to God by doing good works that He’ll approve of and just admit that nothing you can do can recommend you to heaven; that your only hope is the righteousness of Christ.

Forsake your thought, forsake your ways and give your heart to God. Let Him change it, let him convert it, and He will abundantly pardon you and you can forgive yourself for being human. Forgive yourself for being a sinner.

Some of my dear Seventh-Day Adventist brothers and sisters whom I treasure, when they get older and they get sick and they get in the hospital, I’ve had some of them get really angry because they’ve followed all the teachings of the health message and yet they’re still in the hospital, they’re still sick. And they feel betrayed because they did everything they were told that they were supposed to do. And I’ve had to say to them, “Dear brother, Dear sister, you’re 96! Why do you think you lived that long? J Maybe following those health practices did you some good. But someday we all run out of gas.”

Now my heart may be like Ralph’s, I might have the heart of a lion. But even Ralph has to admit he’s slowed a step or two. Maybe one. As we get older, that’s what happens. The sad truth is, the day we’re born, we begin to die. This life is not where it’s at, my brother, my sister. Thank God for Jesus. Thank God that when we receive Christ, we become joint-heirs with Christ. We become kings, we become queens, we become not just priests, but rulers. We are going to sit with Christ on His throne.

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?”

We lay it on ourselves! We’re worse on ourselves than anybody else is! We beat ourselves up, we feel bad about ourselves, we treat ourselves like we’re never going to be good enough, and we don’t even love ourselves; so that’s why we can’t love someone else.

We are never, never, never willing to say, “Okay, maybe I’m too tall,

“Maybe I’m too thin.”

“Maybe I’m too short.”

“Maybe I’m too fat.”

“Maybe I don’t like my nose.”

“Maybe I don’t like my ears.”

I don’t get this, but all the women who have straight hair want it curly, and all the women who have curly hair want it straight. I don’t get it. But when are we going to forgive ourselves for being human beings and say, “God, You’re willing to abundantly pardon me. Give it to me God, I’ll take it all! Pour it out on me, God! Whew! Yes! Oh! Wow! Thank You, God!”

My little grandson, Carter: “Carter, here’s a birthday present for you.”

“Aw, man! That’s too good, Pop Pop! I can’t take that. Take it back! Aw, man! Please! I’ll tell you what, let me work real hard for it and prove to you that I can be good. And then after I’ve been good for a month or two, then you can give me the present.”

Do you think that little kid is going to act that way? “Hey Carter, look what I’ve got for ya.”

“Whoa!” (rips open the present) Wow! Look at that! Thanks, Pop Pop!”

He runs over and throws his arms around my neck and gives me a big hug. “You like it?”
“I love it!”

He’s off to his bedroom, I don’t see him for two hours.

Shouldn’t we receive God’s abundant mercy the same way? Why do you feel like when you sin you can’t go to God right away and and just say, “I’m sorry, God, I blew it.” No, you’ve gotta avoid Him for a day or two. Remember Adam and Even when they sinned? What did they do? They went and hid. And we do the same thing, don’t we? “I blew it. Well okay I’ll be good for two days and then I’ll go pray.”

Well what if you die in those two days, or what if you never talk to the Lord about it? Don’t do that. Let God pardon you.

Now who is it that lays the charge on God’s elect? Who’s called “the accuser of the brethren?” People who are always trying to correct everybody else and who are always trying to tell everybody else how to live need to realize that “there is therefore no condemnation in Christ Jesus.”

We need to stop judging others and telling other people how to live when we can’t even live right ourselves! Let’s work on the speck of sawdust in our brother’s eye later; let’s start trying to figure out how to get those two by four’s out of our own eye.
And I think that’s what it means in verse 34 when it says, (33)“…It is God that justifies.
34Who is he that condemns?…”

Don’t let anybody condemn you. Don’t even let yourself condemn you! J When the devil says, “You’re not worthy.” Say, “You’re right.”

When your own conscience says, “You’re not worthy.” Say, “You’re right.”

Who’s worthy? Christ. He is my Savior. My hope is in the Lord; it’s not in me. It’s not in myself. I don’t get in this pulpit and preach to you on the authority of Tom Hughes. I get in this pulpit and stand on the solid Rock of God’s word. God’s word is my authority, not me.

Now I hope to be a good example and to let Christ shine through me and be an authentic Christian. Because by God’s grace there is no secret sin I’m harboring. I’m telling you right now, I don’t have any hidden agendas, or anything that I’ve got, you know, sometimes people will say one thing and do another. Oh, no. What you see is what you get. If I’ve got a problem, I’ll tell ya. I’ll be happy to. If you’ve seen me do things you don’t approve of, talk to me privately. I’ll give you a list twice as long and probably ten times worse. And I’m guilty of it all. I’m a sinner. I’m a big, fat sinner. But Jesus is a great big Savior! J One thing I’ve learned in my short time on this earth, I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Savior.

“Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
Nobody can condemn you if Christ is your righteousness and He stands at the right hand of God pleading His blood on your behalf! Who can condemn you when Christ is representing you in heaven?

“35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” because you’re dying of cancer or because you have Leukemia?

or a heart condition?

or because you fall down and break a body part?

or because you get hurt in a parade?

Who can separate you from God?
We were talking about the Resurrection Day and I was talking with Zach. And I mentioned the fact that a Christian hero named Shannon, when she comes out of the grave she’s gonna dance on her new feet (!) and praise her God! And that little boy got happy! He started giggling and laughing! And he started singin’ those praise songs like I’ve never seen him sing it before! It suddenly filled his heart and mind that he’s gonna see his Mommy again! That when Jesus comes, she’s gonna have two feet. Because “Blessed are the feet of those who preach the gospel.”(!)

Somebody dies a Christian hero, a martyr, signing people up for Bible courses, and the devil brings in an infection and takes her! Well, it’s just a temporary problem. J It won’t be long, and we’re going to be reunited with those we love. Why? Because God is the One in charge.

Peril can’t separate us from God! I was in that room. I saw the angels talking to that person! I saw the smiles and the lips moving as the unseen beings communed with her!

And I’ve been in hundreds of sick rooms like that. I’ve helped hundreds of people (be ready to) meet their Maker. And I’ve seen the angels talking with these people. I’ve felt their presence, the flutter of their wings. Nobody can mess with us if God is for us! If God is for us, who can be against us? Nakedness and peril, it can’t touch us!

“All the day long we are killed for God’s sake; like sheep to the slaughter. But even though that’s true, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us! I’m persuaded, that neither death (whether it’s by cancer, accident, whatever) nor life, nor angels (no evil angels),

“nor principalities, nor powers (no governments, no false religious system, no United States government, present or past),

“nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (would you say that’s pretty inclusive?),

“shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8

People say, “Well, Pastor, I know you want to lift up Christ, but when are we gonna get to the tough stuff? You know, the meat of the word, like prophecy and the meat of the word like this, that and the other?”

And I try to explain to my dear brethren that those things are important, but the meat of the word is Christ crucified. The meat of the word is the love of God!

Now all these other things are important and we need to teach and preach these things because these events are taking place! But at the center of every message on prophecy you have the Sabbath and the state of the dead, Jesus must reign supreme. And if God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for us, who can separate us from the love of Christ?

Let God pardon you abundantly. Let Him love you. Put away the condemnation of others and yourself. Open your arms, let Him put that great big abundant pardon Christmas present in your hands, let Him give you the mercy and grace of God. Receive His mercy today. Receive His forgiveness today. Receive all the things He wants to do to you and for you today. Let Jesus be your King, your Priest interceding for you.

And you don’t ever have to fear death by cancer, death by accident, death by the sword; peril, pestilence… you don’t have to be afraid of anything. Because in all these things you’re gonna be a conqueror through Him who loved you. That’s the message of this text.

Are you willing to receive God’s abundant mercy and pardon this morning? And like a little child just say, “Thank You, God! I’m not worthy but I’m happy to receive Your gift to me today. And I will, through Christ, be a conqueror in all these things.”

Man, does it get any better than that? Doesn’t it make you happy?

Now, can you enjoy God? When you think of your God as somebody who loves you and accepts you, you can smile and you can enjoy Him. If you think of God as some stern judge who’s watching everything you do just to see what you’re doing wrong so He can condemn you, you’re not going to enjoy God. You’re going to look at Him as a mean tyrant who makes your life difficult. Which concept of God do you think is true? I enjoy God today and I hope you’re enjoying God.

Isn’t it great to be here with Him? Do you sense His presence? He’s here this morning.

Let us pray.

All Scriptural References: King James Version

Ellen G. White References: www.whiteestate.org

Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel

This sermon is also available on cassette tape.

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