It was a funny line when it came out of that elderly woman’s mouth years ago, the one who lived in Austin, TX at the time, if I remember correctly. She was on the phone with ‘Ellen’ during her TV talk show when she fired it off and everyone just lost it. It was one of those hilarious lines that was destined to become a popular saying that would be emblazoned across T-shirts:

“I love Jesus but I cuss a little.”

Of course we all laughed; we got it! It describes us to a...’T’. The only problem is, that it quickly became a ‘doctrine’ of sorts for many in the church world; a doctrine I might add, that does not line up with God’s word. We just put our own spin or personal version to it:

“I love Jesus, but I fornicate a little; or I gossip a little, or I murder a little, or I dabble in witchcraft a little, or I harbor resentment a little, or I’m a little racists at times, or break out in fits of rage occasionally...or I.... (Need I go on?) But I really do love Jesus.

There’s just one problem with this false premise: “These things should not even be named among us.” (Eph. 5:3)

On the contrary...”brethren...having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in...the fear of God”. (2 Cor. 7:1).

I know, not a popular theme these days. Some probably feel I need to ‘lighten up’, maybe ‘back off a little bit’ and share more ‘smooth and pleasant things’ from our Bible. (Isa. 30:8-11)

...sigh...I’m just sharing with you what I believe with all my heart... what God is putting on my heart to share these days ; and I gave up giving Him advice long ago.

I would like to think, hope, and pray that most sincere believers today would have a problem hearing someone claim to be a: “Christian murderer”, or a “Christian adulterer”, or ...”He’s a Christian warlock/witch”, or maybe: “I’m a lying Christian”. I think we see quickly how oxymoronic that comes across as sounding, do we not? And yet, not to beat a dead horse here, but this pretty much falls in line with not only how we live out the ‘gospel’ these days, but how we teach/preach it as well.

“Of course you will remain a sinner because Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” We are simply ‘saints who sin’, maybe not as often or as ‘bad’ as we used to, but we still sin cause a ‘sinner is gonna sin’. And week after week we are falsely indoctrinated with that silly line of: “I’m a sinner saved by grace”. Yet how often are we reminded in scripture that we ‘used...to live this way’, but we don’t anymore? (1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 2:1-2; Col. 3:7)

In yesterday’s message, I closed out with some pretty sobering truths straight out of God’s word; truths that we rarely hear much of anymore, and if we do, it comes with a ‘twist’ or ‘spin’ to convince you why it does not really mean what it says. And that is a huge problem.

It had never dawned on me before, prior to yesterday, how what I have been doing here the past few years, or attempting to do, is to deliver some ‘bad news’ to us all. Sort of like how when the doctor comes in to share the results of the tests we took...and we insist that he/she ‘tell it to us straight!”.

There simply is no purpose in discussing possible ‘remedies’ to our illness if we don’t have all the facts laid out before us. This is not a time for sugar-coating things to make us feel more comfortable and ‘good about ourselves’. We have been sick, as in ‘really sick’; sicker than any of us would have imagined possible. And guess who Jesus came to save, heal and deliver? – The sick.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17)

And the cure, or remedy.... begins with ‘repentance’.

How many people in the church today remain unclear as to what they are actually ‘repenting from’? I mean, the word means to ‘turn from’ or to ‘think differently’ or ‘go in another direction’. Do you know what it is that we are actually supposed to be turning from? It is our old, carnal, selfish-sinful ways. Paul gives us a pretty exhaustive list there in Rom. 1:29-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-6; 1 Cor. 6:9-11) And in case he missed any, Jesus also chimes in listing some of these things that defile us there in Mark 7:21-23. John makes mention of a few as well in the Revelation- 21:7-8 and 22:14-15.

If you can appreciate a ‘doctor who tells it to your straight’, then it cannot get any more clear, or straight, when Paul writes: “People who continue to practice such things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:21)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” - Jesus. (Matt. 7:21)

Do you know what the ‘will of the Father’ is? That we be ‘holy...as He is holy’ (1 Pet. 1:15-16; Matt. 5:48), and that we be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) and ‘walk just as He walked.’ (1 John 2:6). The will of God is that we 'keep His commandments. (John 14:15; 1 John 2:5:2-4; Rev. 22:14; 1 Cor. 7:19)These are the ‘fruits of repentance’ that John said we better be producing or we will get ‘cut down and thrown in to the fire’. (Matt. 3:10)

If you still want the ‘doctor to give it to you straight’, Jesus does just that when He says: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”. (Luke 13:3)

And in case you didn’t hear Him the first time, He was kind enough to repeat it the second time: “I tell you ...unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5)

In Acts 3, we are allowed to listen in to a sermon Peter preached on that day a lame man was healed in front of the temple. You might say that Peter gave all those who could hear some very ‘bad news’ when he informs the crowd that the Prophet Moses had foretold would come someday, was Jesus, and that anyone who ‘did not hear Him in all things and do whatever He says to do ...shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” (22-23)

But Peter also included some ‘good news’ as well when he promises if we ‘repent...and be converted...so that our sins may be blotted out...then the times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord.” (19). Because that is exactly what Jesus came to do...to ‘bless us in ‘turning away’ every one of us from our iniquities.” (26)

So once again, we hear this message of ‘repentance’ again, which Jesus came preaching and now commands all men everywhere to do. (Matt. 4:17; Acts 17:30). If we fail to do what He tells us to do, then we will never see the transformation we yearn for and which He promises will come. (John 2:5 – water to wine)

And if you think you can do this on your own, you are gravely mistaken and deceived. It is only by His grace that we are empowered to become something we could never become on our own – ‘sons of God’. (John 1:12, Rom. 8:14, 29; Tit. 2:11-14; 2 Pet. 1:2-4)

This is the ‘good news’...we can be changed and transformed and actually ‘walk as He walked’ if we are willing to surrender all and begin to abide in Him so He can produce the fruit in us that brings glory to the Father. (John 15:1-8; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 John 2:6)

Do your recall the parting words Jesus offered up to those who were with Him at the end? You can read in both Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:5-8 where He told them to ‘tarry’ and wait for the ‘promise of the Holy Spirit’. This same promise remains today for ‘all who have ears to hear’; a promise I might add that comes with ‘power’. A ‘super-natural’ working power that will fill us and enable us to become ‘witnesses’ first...in Jerusalem, then in all Judea and then Samaria and eventually to all the ends of the earth’. (Acts 1:8)

You may be unaware of this morsel of insight, but that word ‘witness’ comes from the same Greek word that we get the word ‘martyr’ from. Yes, a ‘martyr’ is one who is commonly known as one who ‘dies for their faith’. Do you know what we have been called to do? Die to ourselves, so that Christ might live in us. (John 3:30; 12:24, Gal. 2:20). And that is exactly why God sends His Holy Spirit to live and rule inside of us...so He can begin to lead us to ‘die’. (Rom. 8:13-14). He did not send His Spirit to make us ‘feel good’ while we ‘shake, rock, and roll’ in an exuberant church service.

And do you know where this ‘dying’ is to take place first? In our own ‘homes’ (Jerusalem). Friends...if we cannot be a genuine ‘martyr’ or ‘witness’ in our own home, then we are nothing more than a counterfeit if we attempt to go be an effective witness in Samaria.

There is no such things as a ‘Christian husband’ who beats or berates his wife and kids with outbursts of anger. You cannot be a ‘Christian wife’ who nags and gossips and gets caught up in immoral fantasies. A ‘Christian child’ does not constantly rebel and dishonor their parents.

If this appears to be the ‘fruit’ in your own home behind closed doors, then you are nothing more than one of those people Paul warned about that would arise in these ‘perilous last days’ where we walk in a ‘form of godliness but deny the power’ of God to transform us. (2 Tim. 3:1-7).

The good news is this: Things don’t have to be that way. But you will have to ‘repent’ first. (Acts 5:32)