True Relationship With Christ!
By: David Young
A couple months ago I was at bible study. While I was there they showed this video that I’m going to show you in a bit and as soon as the video stopped I know God wanted me to preach about it here. It is a hard sermon. Not only for me to say but for us all to hear. I know this sermon is for me and If it’s for someone else I pray that it impacts you in the way its meant to.
First I want to open with a word from Jeremiah in the 2nd chapter verse 11-13.
Jeremiah 2:11-13 11 Has any nation ever traded its Gods for new ones,even though they are not Gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God[c]
for worthless idols!
12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing
and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
says the Lord.
13 “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!
I was reading in my study bible and found this except at the bottom regarding this scripture:
“Who would set aside a sparkling spring of water for a cistern, a pit that collected rainwater? God told the Israelites they were doing that very thing when they turned from Him. Not only did they give up sparkling water but the cisterns they choose were broken and empty. Those people had built religious systems in which to store truth but those systems were worthless. Why should we cling to the broken promises of unstable cisterns (cisterns that are like money, power, religious systems, sex, drugs, alcohol, or whatever it is that you may be putting in the place of God) When God promises to constantly refresh us with Himself, the living water.
HOW IS GOD THE LIVING WATER? HOW DOES GOD REFRESH US? When we decide to trust Him, he sends the Holy Spirit to live in us. And when the Holy Spirit lives is us, He helps us find joy in every circumstance. When the Holy Spirit lives in us, He helps us understand our purpose for living. When the Holy Spirit lives in us, He comforts us when we’re lonely and gives us peace when stress and anxiety and worry and pain come our way! When the Holy Spirit lives in us, He encourages us and reminds us that we are His sons and daughters and that nothing will separate us from His love! WOW! We keep running to those broken cisterns to find peace from Sadness and loneliness and worry and fear and rejection and worthlessness! When all the time we could find them in God!
Now let’s be realistic here. Would you trade a beautiful spring of water for a cracked pot that won’t collect anything? Heck no you wouldn’t. That’s completely crazy. Fresh nice clean water for a cracked pot that would never collect anything. No we wouldn’t. BUT we do. We trade Gods living fountain of water every day for hundreds of things that are like cracked cisterns that will never help us in anyway.
We trade Gods promises for the world’s sneaky ways. We give up what is constant and good for things that are never going to last and are hurtful to our lives! How many of us really have a relationship with God? A real committed relationship to the God who created us! The almighty God who begs to have a relationship with you. The loving God who sent His son to die so that you may not perish but have the CHANCE for eternal life. Now listen to what I said there. A CHANCE for eternal life. We were given that chance when Jesus took all our sins upon him that horrible day. His sacrifice was for us, but it did not guarantee that we would CHOOSE to receive it for ourselves. I think we are deceived into thinking we are guaranteed salvation somehow through the little not so important things we DO: things like saying the sinners prayer and getting baptized and becoming members and doing nice things for others and throwing a few dollars in the offering plate. Saying the sinners’ prayer doesn’t punch your ticket to heaven! What’s in your heart? Being baptized isn’t the “Get out of hell free” card that people think it is! What’s in your heart? Doing nice things for others….good, we ought to be doing that anyway. But it doesn’t stamp our heavenly passport! WHERE IS YOUR HEART? None of these things matter if they aren’t connected to a personal relationship with Jesus. They don’t matter if your heart isn’t ALL IN! God desires that more than anything. He wants you to be close with Him. To be ALL IN, completely committed to a relationship with Him.
Not just a Sunday church goer.
Not just a dollar dropper in the offering plate.
Not just a do nice things person.
Not just a surface Christian.
He wants ALL of you ALL the time!
I want you all to see this video of a pastor named Matt Chandler who says it way better than I ever could.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXA6y4I5Vgk <——- SEE LINK FOR VIDEO.
WOW! That was intense! I told you he could say it better than me! Now, I’m not a yeller….but I think Matt has the right to yell! We ought to be yelling about the way so-called Christians treat their relationships with Him. We ought to be upset, most of all with ourselves, about the fact that we don’t fear the reality of life without Christ. That we do religious stuff and pretend we’ve “done” enough to please God! We ought to be yelling about the fact that we haven’t “pressed in” and that many are playing games with God!
That is something to yell about. He was right on. Somewhere along the way, we boiled Christianity down to systems. We do this and we do that. We do the religious stuff but never get close to the relationship that God so desperately wants with us!
We place our trust in broken cisterns and hope to find living water when we make our way to them! And we come up empty every time! Every time! It’s time for us to put aside the broken cisterns in our lives! To quit holding onto the things that are empty, and leave us longing for more, and not knowing where to find it!
There are people in this room right now who have been in church their whole life and have never had a relationship with God.
C.S. Lewis says We are like kids in the ghetto. Playing with mud pies. Not knowing whats out there! Wow. What an image. We are just content in our mud. Content in the fact we are walking down a path that leads to eternal separation from God. However you see that separation. I see it as Hell and fire and torture. The end of being comfortable. The end of any chance to receive the gift of a relationship with God!
I have said relationship with God in this sermon a hundred times. I hope it has stuck out to you that you need it!
That life without that relationship is nothing.
God wants it.
He is waiting for it.
He is begging for it.
The truth is……. this is your life. Ultimately. This is your choice. It is your chance to receive that relationship. As much as I would love to make everyone have that relationship with God,….I cant. God wants it to be genuine and sincere and from each of our hearts! So you have your choice.
There is a song by KJ-52 called “Life After Death.” As you consider your choice, I want you to hear the words of to this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MKZUVZ1BQc <——— SEE LINK FOR VIDEO.
Whatcha gonna do when there’s no time left?
Whatcha gonna do when you take your last step?
Whatcha gonna do when you breathe your last breath out your chest and find that there’s life after death?
Those are serious questions. What are YOU going to do? Now is your chance to accept that personal relationship that God wants so desperately. This is not a decision you take lightly. As I said before, saying the sinner’s prayer does not save you! Are you ready to go ALL IN….to make a commitment to God and to allow Him to take you to a whole new level? If so, then you’re ready for this! I have asked a few people to come up and to pray for you. So take your life seriously right now and take that step towards that path. Or if you want prayer for recommitment. Or prayer of forgiveness. Whatever it may be, we are going to be up here waiting to pray.
You know, Matt Chandler said one more thing that has stuck with me in all of this! It sort of rocked my world. It’s the idea that once we’ve made that commitment for ourselves, we ought to want everyone we know to share in it with us. But for some reason, we don’t talk about it! We sit and watch as people in our lives keep running back to the broken cisterns and leave feeling empty. Looking for more! We have more, and for some reason, we’re not helping them to find it!
Imagine you are driving down a street. You find out that the bridge is out up ahead. You stop and are safe on the side of the road. Whew that was close. Now you can go about your way. But you saw other cars driving towards the bridge. And you know where they’re going. Straight to their death. As you are safe on the side of the road. You don’t have to worry do you? You are safe, right. Why does it matter? You just sit by and watch others die. Your probably thinking right now that you would never do that! Your thinking “I would never let people go drive off of a bridge”. BUT you do. Not literally but you sit by and let people go down the wrong path every day. The path that leads to eternal damnation. While you’re comfortable in your salvation. Now that we know how good He is and what He means to us, don’t we want others to share in it with us? Don’t we want them to have a chance to know God before it’s too late for them?
Now go and don’t waste this time you have to be the committed follower of Christ you’re called to be. It’s time to get the relationship with God. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by to tell others about this incredible relationship you have with the God of the universe.
You never know when you’re going to take your last breathe.
