Fall Week of Prayer 2012

Sebastien Braxton

Great Lakes Adventist Academy

Why People Don’t Do Right

Father in heaven, we are so thankful that your Spirit is here.

And it is true That you have laid upon yourself a charge to protect and care for every precious child.

And we know that as our days, so shall our strength be.

And so, Father, for this moment, we pray for strength.

And so we pray that you would revive the wearied frame, the tired brain.

And we ask, Lord, that just this 1 time, you would awaken us, revive us through the presence of your Holy Spirit so that we may see Jesus in His Word And that we may not resist Him as He draws us.

And we trust that you will help this to be our experience.

If you have your Bibles, we're gonna be going from the gospel of Luke 23rd chapter, if you'll turn there with me, in your Bible, Luke 23.

If you're not there you can say have mercy.

Luke 23, verse 1, the Bible says, Then the whole multitude of them arose and led him, capital H, that's Jesus, to Pilate.

And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king.

Then Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews?

He answered him and said, It is as you say.

So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no fault in this man.

But they were the more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.

And when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a Galilean and as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, you have brought this man to me as 1 who misleads the people and indeed having examined him in your presence I have found how much fault no fault where in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him you know the greatest question of life the greatest question in the universe is what will you do with Jesus What will you do with Jesus and So pilot in this circumstance has at His disposal the Lord of life, His own creator.

And as this question comes up of, hey we accuse this man Jesus, Pilate says, many individuals have not decided to follow Jesus because they have not examined Him.

People have not seriously looked at the evidence of Christianity.

It'd be different if you say, I've examined the evidence, I've looked at The facts that you can present that Jesus is alive.

When you can go to Buddha's tomb, you can go to Muhammad's tomb, you can't go to Jesus' tomb.

So you come up with all kind of fairy tale stories as to where he could possibly be except for the 1 that the people who were his witnesses tell you.

So the question of Pilate right now the issue on Pilate's mind is what will I do with Jesus?

And as he comes forward, he says, listen, I've examined this man, and I ask you the question, Those of you who have not decided to make a wholehearted commitment to Jesus, have you examined Him?

Have you seriously sat down and analyzed the life of Christ and His teachings?

Have you seriously looked at the evidence to see if the things that we're talking about is so, or are they cunningly devised fables.

And I want to speak to you under this topic, why People don't do what's right.

The Bible says Pilate had examined him and he says, I find no fault.

In verse 16, Pilate says, I will therefore chastise him and release him.

The first thing that we can suggest here about Pilate is that Pilate was convinced of Jesus' innocence.

You see, if we continue reading in Luke 23, the Bible says in verse 20, Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them, but they shouted, saying, Crucify Him, Crucify Him.

He has come to this crowd twice before and here he is the third time, the Bible says, why?

I will therefore chastise him and let him go." What this convinces us is that Pilate knew what was the right thing to do.

When a man is accused and you find no basis for the accusations, the right thing to do is what?

Is there anyone in this room that doesn't think it is right to release an innocent man?

As a result of that, Pilate looks down and he says, you know what?

I know, I'm convinced that this man is innocent and I know what the right thing to do is.

But let me suggest to you tonight that there are many people in the world that don't do what's right because they don't know what's right.

You see, the Bible tells us in Acts 17 that God, at the times of this ignorance, he winks.

He says there's some people that aren't keeping the Sabbath because they don't know about the Sabbath.

There are some individuals who are not eating a healthy lifestyle because they don't know.

There are some people who are sleeping around, There are some people who are sleeping around, there are some people who are taking out their anger in unhealthy ways because they don't know what's right.

And as a basis for this, why is it that people don't do what's right?

You can say some people, they just don't know.

This is why, you know, when you sit down and you play with a little baby, and as you're playing with the little baby, the baby slaps you in the face, you don't say, hey, don't be disrespecting me.

Even though I do tell my daughter that sometimes.

And the reason why is because I know in my daughter's mind she's not thinking, this is my dad, let me give him a nice good slap, You know, for the way he changed my diaper last time.

And as a result of that, I can say she doesn't know.

But if my daughter was not 4 months But 14 then we have a different discussion Because now you know in Some cultures they call it the age of accountability.

And in some places in America, even under 18, you can be tried as adult on the basis of knowledge.

Did you understand that you were bringing pain to these people at Columbine.

Did you understand when you went into this movie theater in Colorado that you were gonna take human life with the bullets in your gun?

And because a person understands, they know what's right and they don't do what's right, we hold them accountable to that.

But for Pilate, it doesn't just stop there because I can say many people in the world do not do what's right because they don't know But The second reason why people don't do what's right is because even though they may have the knowledge, they do not have the desire.

You see, if you look back again in Luke 23, The Bible says in verse 20, Pilate therefore wishing to release Jesus.

That means Pilate did not only know what was right, the right thing to do was to release Jesus, but Pilate was desiring to do what was right.

I used to be mind-boggled as I looked around and I thought to myself when I worked at a hospital, right after I became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, And as I worked at this hospital, I was always confused.

That as you're working in this medical facility, patients come in and out every day, and the doctor's like, listen, if you don't get off the pork, If you don't stop smoking and drinking, you're gonna die.

You need to cut down on the high protein, high fats, high oil, all that stuff.

You need to start getting some vegetables into your diet.

Then after the patient leaves, super dejected, man, I gotta give up my ham hocks.

And he's walking out of the office talking to his wife.

Then the doctor and I go downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch and what does the doctor order?

Yeah, Can I get the pork this and the Philly cheesesteak with a super large coke and the super oily fries?

With the extra chili sauce on top of the fries, and I'm sitting there looking like didn't you just tell someone not to eat this But then you say okay Sebastian that's forgivable everybody's growing in health reform, okay, I'll give you that But what about the fact that after he's done eating his Philly cheesesteak and his chili cheese fries and his super large Coke, he goes outside to smoke a cigarette.

If there's anyone that understands the power of what cigarettes can do to your lungs, it is a medical doctor.

So therefore his knowledge that smoking causes cancer does not deter him.

His issue is not knowledge at that point in time.

And so just like in this room, there are many of you that know that the seventh day is the Sabbath.

You know you ought not to do certain things with the opposite sex before you are married to them.

Reality Check

Not a day goes by that we are not depending on something outside of ourselves.

Today is no different, but yet you are the same as well.

Your love is more constant than the sun and your presence more than the air that we breathe.

We pray today that you would speak to us in a very special way.

We don't want the blessing of yesterday, we want the blessing of today.

And we pray that this man who is but dust in your sight, that you would use him, and that you would breathe upon him breath of God and you would fill him with new life.

So that the words that come out of his mouth would show us Christ, and as we see Jesus, we would not resist as we are drawn to him and he is lifted up.

This is our prayer, and we trust That you will help this to be our experience, but we ask in Jesus name Amen Genesis 1 if you have your Bibles turn there with me I'm gonna be looking at that again a little more closely Genesis chapter 1 Dealing with lessons from creation much to learn so the Bible says that the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved in the midst of chaos.

And we went on to see in verse 3 that the Bible says, Then God said, Let there be light.

So we pick up from this very notion that though the earth is in chaos it is without form and void.

This thing is at the very height, at the very edge of nothingness.

This is like the worst scenario, the worst situation.

On top of the fact that it's in darkness and Yet we find that this young Hebrew boys.

He's learning Hebrew Reading Genesis for the first time he learns that his God is not afraid of chaos.

There is no situation that stumps God There is no problem.

There is no crisis in your life that God says I can't handle this I might have to step back from this situation I don't know if I can get my hands dirty to help you out of this situation that you are in You could not have gone to such depths of darkness and chaos and maybe even utter oblivion as the earth was in that God feels that he can do nothing.

And so this God is not afraid of your chaos He's not afraid of your problem.

He's not afraid of your crisis But the Bible says not only does the Spirit of God move But there are many times that as we go through the various crises of life.

We don't want to just see God move We want to hear him This is why most of us struggle to pray is because we cannot bear the silence of God How many times as I've prayed to you for my parents to get back together?

How many times have I prayed that you would help me overcome this temptation and yet I fall time and time again?

As I told you yesterday or last night, I went to speak at an academy several years ago, and after I'd spoken a message on the grace of God and the power of the grace of God, not this fluffy grace we talk about, unmerited favor.

So after we finished discussing and studying on the grace of God, the principal and the chaplain and the pastor pulled me aside and they said, Sebastian, we need to talk to you.

And I thought I'd spoken some sort of heresy or something.

And I was thinking, well, maybe that's the end of my week of prayer.

But they said, no, no, no, no, we're not concerned with their messages.

And they said well we have a student he's 15 and he has Been struggling with the issue of masturbation He's been caught several times by staff He's been caught several times by staff.

He's been caught several times by other students.

And as we've sat him down, we haven't told his parents.

And we said, listen, you know, Do you want to get over this?

I don't want to deal with masturbation He says I'm trying but I just don't know how to stop So they said listen, we're just wondering, you know, would you be willing to sit down and talk to him and give us some counsel?

He says he wants to quit, but he's just struggling.

We tell him, study the Bible, read the Bible, pray, you know, claim these promises, and it does not work.

And some of us may wonder like this young man, how many times do I have to pray before you move God?

As if you're not interested in helping me in my situation and This is why many of us cease to pray Because nothing changes and we cannot bear the silence or the indifference of God.

And so the Bible says that yes, the spirit of God moves, but God also speaks.

And It's unique to hear God speak because God is not like your mom.

He's not gonna come and speak and you say, honey, I know that it's a rough situation and she can rub your shoulder and try to console you and comfort you and say it's gonna be all right.

That's all nice and well and good, but that doesn't change the situation God's not like that.

God's not like your dad who can come and say listen son.

We're gonna get through this I'll do what I can on my side to try to help this thing reconcile, but here again even your dad is limited But it is unique for a person who believes in the Bible.

For God to speak something is very significant according to creation.

For God to answer, to open his mouth is a serious divine act.

In verse 3, the Bible says, God said, let there be light, and what are those next 4 words and There was light Now in this situation you say when God spoke let there be light was he on a drafting table And he took out some photons or whatever matter he had or nothing and in just in thin air God just started cutting out pieces of light and sharpening this thing and say let there be light or when God said let there be light was it like a slow dim in the distance of the darkness in the abyss of the earth and it just slowly kind of warmed up over the horizon.

The Bible says when God said let there be light there was light.

But you see in different days of creation they put it a little differently.

Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and what are those next 4 words?

So, now if anybody is a big word person like I am, I think words are significant.

There's a lot of depth to language that we lose, especially in this generation of texting and cutting everything short.

Now people start talking like that out loud.

What in the world just laugh But there's a power in words And so in English when you see the word so s o the word so means in like manner Can you say that in?

Like manner or if you wanted to be a little more less technical in the same way according to something else so when the bible says god said let there be a firmament eventually the statement is made it was so what do you mean so it was according to what God said but let's go again to another verse verse 9 the Bible says then God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in 1 place and let the dry land appear and what does it say?

Verse 11, then God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind whose seed is in itself, on the earth.

It seems, we continue on in this pattern, verse 15, we could go on and on.

When God says something, the person who's giving us the creation account, which we believe is Moses, he's giving us the historical perspective.

He's saying, okay, God said, past tense, let there be light, and there was light.

God said, let there be these trees and plants and food and it was so but if we were speaking presently right now in the present tense Moses would say God said you are accepted in the Beloved it is so It is so not because you saw it, not because you felt it, but because God said it.

That means reality, listen to what I'm about to say, reality is determined by the Word of God.

You see, before there was darkness upon the face of the deep.

So there was darkness and God said, let there be what?

Is it because the darkness felt like there was light is it because the darkness just has the ability to produce light in and of itself no so what are we saying here what we're saying is here you have a situation of chaos.

Without form and void, God comes to the chaos and he says, listen to me.

When I speak to this chaos, my spirit moves first.

And as the Spirit moves in this situation, God says, now I'm about to speak.

And when I open my mouth, reality conforms to my words.

That means this as our lesson for creation today.

It's 1 thing for us to be in a situation of chaos, crisis, tragedy, problem, emptiness, whatever it is today.

Your question must never be, how do I feel?

Your question must be, what does God say?

Because reality is based on the word of God, it's not based on your feelings.

The Heartless, the Spineless, and the Nameless

And so Father, because you have thought of this moment from the beginning of time, we pray that you would give us the blessing that you have chosen.

That somehow Lord, you would use this man who stands before us to preach your word, you would use him in spite of himself.

And we pray for the spirit of God to be moving in our hearts, in our ears, and in our minds, that you may awaken us to the reality of God and of eternity.

And We pray, Lord, that as he speaks, that you may help us to see Jesus.

I heard that there was an incident, people couldn't get into their dorm to get their Bibles.

I guess tomorrow you just carry it with you all day.

Luke, chapter 23, if you have your Bibles.

We're going to be beginning a series of messages tonight answering the question, Why did Jesus die?

Most of you, your immediate answer is Jesus died to pay for our sins That's your first question But I want to ask the question from a very practical standpoint How did Jesus go from ministering in Galilee and in Judea to ending up nailed to a piece of wood?

Why did he die and who decided to concede to this process?

So in Luke the 23rd chapter the Bible says in verse 13, Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, said to them, You have brought this man to me as 1 who misleads the people.

And indeed, having examined him in your presence, I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.

No, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him, and indeed Nothing deserving of death has been done by him.

I will therefore chastise him and release him.

This is interesting because we'll look at Pilate tomorrow evening.

But this is interesting because it is not just Pilate that is listening to the words that he is saying.

It is the Jews, it is the chief priests, the rulers, Peter and John who are in the audience, and also the soldiers that are there.

And Tonight we're going to focus upon the soldiers The soldiers heard their governor the man who commands them The man who holds their lives in his hands they heard him say I find no fault with this man in other words Jesus is innocent Now you have to keep this in mind when you consider the behavior of the soldiers That while you stand you hear the governor who decides justice, who decides punishment, say this man right here I find no fault, not even 1.

No cause of death and not only did I find no fault, Herod found no fault with this man.

And so the Bible says in verse 26, Now as they led him away, that's the soldiers, They laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.

Then we have a discussion with the multitude, so let's skip down to verse 32 and the Bible says there were also 2 others criminals led with him to be put to death And when they had come to the place called Calvary, or Golgotha, there they did what?

There they crucified Him, right there in the place called Calvary and The criminals 1 on the right hand and the other on the left in verse 34.

It says then Jesus said Father forgive them for they do not know what they do After pause here for a moment to make my first point about the soldiers.

You see in a very practical sense Jesus died because soldiers nailed him to a cross.

They physically held Jesus down to this piece of wood, they took the nails, held it above his physical hands, and they took a hammer and they began to hit the hammer until it not only went through his hands but into the wood, solidly into the wood.

These are not men who don't lift weights.

These are not scrawny little individuals who just enrolled because they're hyped up about being in the military.

And the first point to make about these Roman soldiers tonight is that these individuals were heartless Say why do you say heartless?

Because here You have an individual who knows from the very lips of the judge himself that this man is innocent.

So why then are you crucifying Jesus as a soldier if according to the governor, according to Herod, and according to yourself this man is innocent?

Well that's because the soldier would answer to you, why did you kill Jesus?

The soldier would say, I was just doing my job.

I was just following orders now this is interesting because these are the individuals that boggle our minds in terms of the murders that take place in history.

If you just take a moment to reflect for a second on all the tragedies that have taken place on this planet.

I've seen the people with the machete scars on their head.

I've been to the place where they lined up children and they divided them based upon their tribe, regardless of their age.

And to go there and ask yourself the question that men did not use rifles they use machetes You know what it takes to kill a person with a knife but not just a person a million of them in a hundred days.

They said the Hutu soldiers, when they would go out to kill Tutsis, they would leave like a job from 9 to 5.

And they were so used to slashing all day long that they would come home and they would continue Slashing into the night because their muscles were so cramping up all the time that they had to do this motion and just leaving corpses in the street.

And you ask the question to 1 of them individuals, why were you killing these Tutsi people?

They said, if you don't kill them, we will kill your family.

You go over to Nazi Germany, you're talking about putting babies in an oven just to see what happens.

You're talking about putting individuals on a certain diet upon which they can subsist And as they put them on this diet, they say I just want you to have enough food so that you don't die But I don't want you to have enough food to actually have strength.

And to do this for 4 years as a German soldier, and then after World War II was over, they asked them the question.

They say, why would you do this to individuals?

Why were you destroying their businesses?

Why were you kidnapping their children and putting them in ovens?

And you know what the response was in the courtroom?

It was voted by the leaders of a nation to exterminate a particular people group?

And when the judge got tired of hearing that answer, he turned to the man and he says, okay, you keep saying it was the law, now I have a question for you.

Something may be in harmony with the law, but is it ethical?

And the German soldier would respond and say, at first I didn't like it, but eventually you get used to it.

And so I want to suggest to you tonight that just like these soldiers, in terms of why did Jesus die?

Because people were just following orders.

Because people were just doing what they were told.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Why People Don’t Do Right

39m

Reality Check

35m

The Heartless, the Spineless, and the Nameless

47m

In the Midst of Chaos

25m

3. Music Overview

2h

2. Opus: Identifying the Mind’s Mark

1h 19m

1. Overture: Our Personal Journey

2h

No Regrets

46m

The Power to Finish the Work

53m

The Only Way

33m

Looking to Jesus

47m

Giving Up, Giving All

40m

Sound Doctrine