Sermon Central
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Zero Tolerance
Contributed by Stephen E. Trail on Apr 22, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: A sermon about the exclusivity of the Gospel.
“Zero Tolerance”
Scripture Reading
Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
I. The Inclusiveness of the Gospel
a. Its operation
One of the most impressive aspects to the Gospel is its simplicity! It has often been said that the message of the Gospel is so simple that even a child can understand it and believe unto salvation. Yet the simplicity of the Gospel can prove to be a stumbling block and even an “offense” to those who do not believe. Humanly speaking it is very difficult to believe that a “look” of faith alone will bring salvation to the heart of man but this is the case. Our Lord tells us that we must be “born again” and “have the faith of a little child” in order to enter the Kingdom of God. There are a couple of passages that serve to illustrate this truth. The first involves the children of Israel in the wilderness:
Numbers 21:8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
The second is the record of the healing of a man named Namaan:
2 Kings 5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
2 Kings 5:14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
b. Its object
Faith is only as effectual as its object! If you place your faith in a stone idol that is cold and lifeless then you will get what a cold lifeless piece of hewn stone can do for you. If you place your faith in men, you will find that it is misplaced for how can those who are helpless and hopeless like yourself effect the change you seek. On the other hand if you place your trust in the sinless, spotless Son of the Living God you will get what He alone can do for you!
ILL: I heard a story about a train traveling through the night in a very violent rainstorm. The lightning flashes were almost blinding, the rain hitting the windows was deafening and the strong gust winds rocked the train from side to side. When the lightening flashed and lighted up the darkness, the passengers could see the rising water along the tracks. This created terror in the minds of the passengers. Several passengers noted that through all the noise, lightening and wind, one of the passengers, a little girl, seemed to be at perfect peace. The adult passengers couldn’t figure out why the little girl was so calm during all this excitement. Finally, one passenger asked her, “How is that you can be so calm when all the rest of us are so worried about what might or could happen?” The little passenger smiled and said, “My father is the engineer.”
c. Its opportunity
Notice the scope, the breadth, its dimensions, it circumference, it is to “all the ends of the earth!”
ILL: I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Church. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved....
The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now it is well that preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was—"LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH" (Isa. 45:22)
