<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

Brian Hindman

In Christ Alone

Well, the message this morning is entitled, In Christ Alone.

In Christ Alone is where we find our hope, our strength, our salvation, many, many things.

And in fact, I feel like it's kind of a broad topic this morning, and if you took classes in school, they tell you that you really wanna drill down and get more specific so that it's more clear what you're trying to say.

But I'm hoping the Holy Spirit will help do that in your own life and your mind this morning as we study the importance of what I believe is so foundational for all of us and for myself as well in Christ alone.

The Bible says Jesus was speaking to a group of people and he actually has some strong words for them.

He says, oh generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?

And then he makes this telling statement, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

The abundance of what is in your heart, that's what you talk about.

That's what you speak about because that's what's there.

And so he goes on and says, a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

But I really want to draw our attention to what is the abundance of our hearts this morning?

Abundantly, what is it that's there more than anything else that we enjoy and just naturally love to talk about?

I hope and pray that it is, that Jesus is abundantly in your heart and in mine.

Not secular and worldly themes, but that Jesus is so much a part of your heart that the things of this world have grown strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

You know, we're told in the book Christ Object Lessons that our first work is with the what?

So this morning, I want Jesus to work on my heart, and I know I believe you're here because you want Jesus to work on your heart, and to change us, and continue to change us to desire the things that are really best for us which is what He wants for us.

You know I think many times I wind up my preaching style is that I preach at the heads of people intellectually But oftentimes I think I overlook the importance of preaching to the heart.

Now don't misunderstand, I'm not here to preach an emotional message.

People can pull on your heart strings without a reason for doing so that just gives you an emotional response.

An emotional response is not really Christianity, it's not a really changing experience.

Even though our emotions, we all have emotions, God gave them to us, but our emotions should be led and directed by the things that we know and understand about God.

You know it says in John 17 verse 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

Eternal life is knowing Jesus, but what you know about Jesus should soften and warm your hearts to such a degree that you are so changed by it.

So this morning, we want to speak to our hearts and our helplessness.

The fact that we are utterly and completely helpless, Is it good for us to realize that and to recognize the complete helplessness that we have?

Why is it important to realize our spiritual helplessness?

Well, because I believe it leads us to love and appreciate Jesus more.

To love and appreciate Jesus more as I realize my utter, complete need and dependence on Him.

Jesus says in John 15, verse 5, "'I am the vine, ye are the branches.

"'He that abideth in me and I in him, "'the same bringeth forth much fruit, "'for without me, ' without a connection with me, "'ye can do how much?

"'Ye can do nothing.'" That vital connection, abiding with Him, and I believe the connection is the Word of God.

What connects us with God is the words that He's given to us, the message, the principles that He's given to us.

As we receive those and abide in His word, we abide in Him because He is the word.

And then he goes on and says, well, this is actually some other places in Scripture, this idea, Jeremiah 13, 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?

And then it says, then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.

Without a change from within, I cannot do anything good from without.

And then Job actually puts it this way, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

A clean thing out of an unclean heart, not 1.

It is all heart work that Jesus wants to do with us.

And with that in mind, I heard a story recently of a mother bear and 2 cubs that were trying to cross a large lake in Russia.

This mother bear, depending on what she was thinking or not thinking, either overestimated the abilities of her 2 cubs, young cubs, to follow her or she just forgot them in a sense.

Because as they were crossing this lake, the cubs got so tired that they began to sink and drown evidently.

And there were some fishermen in the area that saw this and noticed what was happening and began to make their way over to, at first they couldn't tell what was going on, they couldn't tell if it was people or is it something else, there's something big in the water swimming around.

Now evidently, and I looked this up, bears can swim very well.

And the mother evidently just continued on, thinking either her kids would make it, her bear cubs, or just said, I can't stay and help them, I'm just gonna save myself.

And so here are these 2 cubs, brown bear cubs, that are struggling in the middle of this vast lake in Russia.

And so some fishermen come along and begin to see what's going on, but they're worried.

Bears have sharp teeth and sharp claws, and if we try to rescue them and bring them in the boat, well, they might bite us, and they might somehow hurt us.

But as they began to get closer and closer, they realized that the little cubs were so desperate that they were gonna drown.

Unexpected help from fishermen who just happened to be in the area.

2 fishermen who came near and after debating and talking to each other, should we do it, Should we not, this could be bad, and we have a small boat, and we get bears in the boat, and how are we gonna do this?

And so, yes, you can imagine those scenarios.

But as they realized, the bear was just looking at them and crying out as in a sense of help me.

And so they came alongside, they even used their fishing nets to try to scoop the bear up into the boat and both of the cubs.

And the cubs were so exhausted, they actually crossed the lake.

And so they took the bear cubs to the mother, which they said, that could be a bad idea as well.

Because she might not realize we're trying to help and here we show up and get out with her cubs and she comes running out of the trees, the woods, whatever, and we could be in a bad way.

But the bear cubs were so tired they couldn't even stand.

So they had to carry them out of the boat and just set them up in the woods and then get back in the boat quickly and hope that the mother would come back and rescue her cubs, which They waited out in the water and believed that she did come back and see her cubs.

So unexpected help for those precious little bear cubs reminds me of how Jesus says, can a woman forget her sucking child or nursing child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb that she gave birth to.

God promises I will not forget you no matter what happens, even it's possible, It's possible that your earthly mother could forget you or abandon you in some way.

I will not forget you." And then he adds to that in Isaiah, he says, "'Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands a picture of the fact that he would sacrifice his life in order to rescue the sheep, the lost sheep, the lost child, the prodigal child, son or daughter, which represents all of us.

And so what a wonderful promise to realize that our Savior will never forget us and to begin to comprehend the greatness of our need of Jesus.

This morning, we have a couple of statements here that I want to share with you.

It says, we must ever be learning our great need.

Well, I used to be a teacher, and so learning conveys the idea that there's an education, there's a development, there's continuing work and comprehension that can be done.

We must ever be learning our great need, and here's why, in order to appreciate who?

Our Savior, and to make Him known to others, a desire to want to make Him known as we learn and realize our need, we realize how much we appreciate Him.

And then also in the book Desire of Ages, in 1 of the stories there was the centurion that came to Jesus and the Jews that were commending the centurion to Jesus because he had done these things for the Jewish nation.

She says, they did not recognize that what is most important before God is really our great need of Him.

And our great need of Him is really our only claim on God's mercy.

The fact that we are so utterly and entirely and completely helpless without Him.

That actually commends us to Him, the need that we have, giving us a claim on God's mercy.

Well let me ask you a question this morning, do you need Jesus?

You know several years ago I was preparing a sermon and when my father was still alive, my father was a pastor, to me he'll always be the real Pastor Heinemann.

I'm just a fill-in substitute in the meantime.

But I was talking with my dad, and I was trying to get some advice, and trying to explain something, and some point that I was wanting to make in my sermon, and I was really trying to break things down, and my dad ever so gently interrupted me and said, Brian, don't forget to lift up Jesus before the people.

And I'll never forget those words, don't forget to lift up Jesus before the people.

And I wish you could have heard my dad preach.

I mean, he preached Jesus like very few others that I've ever heard, always keeping that as the central focus of every subject.

Yes, we have wonderful doctrines and truths that Jesus Himself has given to us, but the center of all of that is Jesus and our great need of Him.

Back to Menu

In Christ Alone

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine