Sermon Illustrations - I'm going to Jail!

Have you ever been standing right there when your sin was discovered? What do you do? I suppose many people would still try to lie, because that is just human nature. However, just because something is the natural thing to do, doesn't make it right nor does it excuse it. Of course the best thing to do is to be honest.

Back when I was about eight or so my older brother was upstairs in the attic where he was not supposed to be. My father was replacing the ceiling and in some places the only thing that separated the attic and the downstairs was a bout one inch of tongue in grove Styrofoam. Not counting the studs of course.

I'm not sure why my brother was in the attic, but there he was walking from stud to stud. Oftentimes I think my brother did what he wasn't supposed to do, because he wanted to see if he could get away with it. This would not turn out to be one of those times.

I don't know why, but trouble oftentimes seems to sneak up on you, and all of the sudden, surprise, your in trouble? With my children, I believe they would get into a lot less trouble if they would just think about it for a while. Probably, what happens a lot is that they want to stay out of trouble and without giving it much thought at all they lie, and whamo their in trouble!

This Hub is the sequel to (Sermon Illustrations - Don't Shoot the Dog! - "Be sure your sins will find you out.")

I'm going to come back to my story in just a minute, but I'm reminded about a friend of mine (let's call him Ben) that told me about getting into trouble suddenly.

Ben was slouched down in his beautiful sports car watching a drug deal go down across the street. This wasn't just any drug deal, this was his drug deal. Can you tell he's in trouble already?

To often we tend to think that we are not in trouble until we get caught, but that is a lie of the Devil. Some people even believe that it isn't wrong until you get caught, but once again that is a lie from the Devil. If a person honestly believes that lie, they are in trouble already.

Ben's drug deal (by the way this event happened before I ever met him) seemed to be going smoothly. One of the men across the street had a bag of Ben's money, about $10,000 in cash, and just as he made the purchase my friend got caught. You see what Ben did not know was that the guy holding his money had all ready been arrested by the police and in order to get a deal from the D.A. he agreed to become part of a sting operation. That operation that was designed to capture Ben.

Ben's “partner” had told the police where to find him, and while Ben was focused on the drug deal the police had surrounded his car. Ben described the scene to me like this. I was watching the deal go down, when all out of the sudden there were guns aimed at me from every direction. Ben said to himself as he looked in amazement at all the guns, “I' m going to jail.”

The Devil will entice you, and then indite you.

I hope and pray that when you get caught in sin, that you will not just acknowledge the consequences that are coming your way. Ben should have said to himself, “what I've been doing is sin and I'm going to try and stop it.

A few days later as Ben sat in jail the D.A. came to him and showed him a map of where all the police were just before they arrested him. Ben told me that there was no way that he could have gotten away. Please remember that there is no way that you cam get away with your sin, because God is everywhere.

When I was in my early twenties, I spent one summer cleaning carpets. One day I was parked on the side of the road eating my lunch in the company van. It was the north side of Milwaukee and right across the street from me was a couple of vacant lots. As I sat there, the house on the other side of the vacant lots was raided by the police.

I don't know if they were part of a SWAT team, but they hit that house fast a furious! To tell you the truth, I never noticed any police until the raid had already started. I kept thinking, where did they all come from?

There must have been about twenty police or more, and they all charged the house at once, or so it seemed. The people in the house didn't have a chance! The police hit that house so fast even air didn't have time to escape.

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:1, He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

This could have been the theme verse for this police raid! If the police can move this fast imagine how fast God can judge someone. The next section will give you a glimpse of how God handles judgement.

There is alot that we can learn from those people in the Bible who got caught in sin:

1. Sin: Cain killed Abel Judgment: Cain became a marked man Lesson: God's sees everything Sin: Joseph's brother's sold him into slavery Judgment: They lived in fear while they were in Egypt Lesson : Guilt that is not dealt with never leaves
2. Sin: Achan stole from the tithe city of Jericho and got his whole family involved Judgment: He and his entire family were executed Lesson: Our sin can dramatically effect others
3. Sin: Miriam murmured against Moses Judgment: She had leprosy for seven days Lesson: The Lord will judge you no matter who you are
4. Sin: Korah's rebellion against Moses Judgment: The earth swallowed him and his followers up alive Lesson: God passes great judgment on those who try to hurt God's anointed
5. Sin: The High Priest Eli did not make his son's live morally Judgment: Eli and his sons died on the same day Lesson: God holds parents responsible for their children's actions
6. Sin: David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed Judgment: David paid fourfold Lesson: Confession does not remove all the consequences
7. Sin: Joab, David's Capitan of the Host, killed Abner and Absalom Judgment: David had Solomon kill him Lesson: God's judgment may be delayed
8. Sin: Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Ghost about the land they sold Judgment: They died immediately upon being confronted Lesson: God's judgment may be immediate

...this list could be a lot longer.

Now, let's get back to my brother. The last time we saw him he was walking on the studs in the attic, and the only thing that was separating him from the down stairs was the Styrofoam. Well you might have guessed it, he fell through.

My brother should have been very thankful, because during his fall he could have been seriously hurt in many ways, but it seemed that the only thing broken was the Styrofoam. Have you ever dropped a Cornell dish before? If a Cornell dish does break when it is dropped it shatters into about 1.63 million pieces (ok, slight exaggeration). I could not believe how many pieces the Styrofoam were all over the floor!

What were we to do? Well I should have had nothing to do with it, but my brother must have been holding something over my head, because once again, there I was trying to help get my older brother out of trouble. The truth is, I did not like to see my brother get into trouble, and I certainly wanted him to help me when I was got into trouble.

Instead of spending the afternoon playing, I spent the afternoon trying to put our new Styrofoam puzzle back together. This puzzle did not have those corner or side pieces like a real puzzle does because some of the Styrofoam was still stuck to the ceiling. Well after a few hours and a lot of duck tape we put it all back together. Duck tape is so versatile isn't it?

If you were down stairs looking up, all the cracks looked like a spider web that had no design to it. However, our efforts seemed to pay off. My parents came home and neither one of them noticed it. Think about it, how often do you look up when your in the house? And isn't it amazing how good children can sweep when they are trying to hid something. In fact, our parents did not notice it the next day, or the next.

It wasn't until about six weeks later when my mother and I were waiting to use the bathroom one night that the puzzle in the ceiling was noticed. You see the accident happened in the hallway right in front of the bathroom door, and most or all of the lights down stairs were off and some of the attic lights were on.

Note to self: cover all the cracks with duck tape the next time this happens. The real sad thing is that when some people get into trouble, instead of getting things right they just use the experience to cover up their future sin better. If you are that kind of person, then you will indeed be in greater trouble in the future.

I've been told that many con artists, will actually hone their trade while their in the slammer. They will not only practice their crime on other inmates, but they actually get advice and learn from other criminal's mistakes! Just one question, shouldn't this practice be considered a conspiracy to commit a crime? These people are actually preparing themselves to get caught again!

All of that light from upstairs was filtering through any crack that we had not covered with the duck tape! My mother and I stared at the ceiling and I remarked, “wow, will you look at that.” I was pretending as if that was the first time I had ever seen it. My mother somehow knew better.

So, back to the question I asked at the beginning of this Hub, how do you respond when you get caught? May I make three suggestions, Honesty, humility, and plead for mercy.

Isaiah 55:6-7 are good verses to help you through getting caught. These verses say, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Please notice that there is a specific time when you can find the Lord. “While he may be found,” can end at any time, and there is no guarantee that God will bail you out when you make Him your last choice. Sense nobody knows when, “while he may be found,” will end, the time to seek Him is right now.

When is the Lord near is the next question. James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

So if your trying to just get out of trouble, and not really trying to develop a closer relationship with Christ, then this is not a promise that you can claim. God will not be treated like a “get out of jail free” card.

Now the next step to getting the wonderful mercy that Isaiah 55:6-7 speaks of, requires the individual to recognize that their ways are evil and their thoughts are unrighteous. If you have gotten this far, you're almost their. The last step you must take is to return unto the Lord. That means you will need to forsake what got you into trouble and begin to do the Lord's will.

Some of you might ask, what is the Lord's will for me? I certainly do not pretend to know what God's specific will is for you life as far as a vocation is concerned, but I do know exactly how you can find it. The starting point to finding God's will for your life can be summarized in Psalms 1:1-3 and Romans 12:1-3. These passages apply to everyone. My friend if you follow these to passages in your life, then I am positive that God will show you more specific instructions to follow.

Let's look at these two passages. First, Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The first verse says that the blessed (happy) man does not do three things.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, in other words don't get advice from ungodly people.

Nor standeth in the way of sinners, or don't hang around the wrong crowd.

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, or don't be critical.

The second verse in Psalms 1 tells us what the blessed (happy) person does do. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. It's really a simple recipe. Spend your time thinking about the Word of God, and apply it to your personal situation.

The third verse in this passage tells us what happens to the man that practices verse one and two. He will prosper! Does that mean you will be rich? Does that mean you will be healthy? I don't know, but I do know this. One, many of God's servants were rich, but not Jesus. Two, many of God servants lived a long time, but not Jesus. Thirdly, God's idea of prosperity is not the same as the world's.

If you do as the Lord's commands then you may not be rich on earth, but in heaven you will enjoy untold riches for eternity. Streets of gold, mansions, etc...

Read this verse, 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. No matter how big your dreams are, if you practice Psalms 1:1-3 He will exceed your expectations.

If you do not live long or if you do not enjoy good health here on earth you will in heaven, if you practice Psalms 1:1-3. The Bible is clear that the child of God will enjoy eternal life and life in heaven is with out pain.

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

The second passage that fits into God's will for everyone is Romans 12:1-3 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

There are four things that I want to quickly point out to you in these there verses.

First, we must devote our bodies to serve God. - present your bodies a living sacrifice

Second, we must not pattern our lives like the worlds - be not conformed to this world

Thirdly, we must develop a new way of thinking - be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind

Fourthly, we must be humble - every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think

Hint: A very different way for a sinner to think, is to think like Christ. Now how do we do this? God gives us the answer in Philippians 2:5-9

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

In this passage the Apostle Paul says that we should have the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

If you continue reading the passage you will find that Jesus was a humble (he humbled himself), obedient (and became obedient unto death), servant (and took upon him the form of a servant). I summit to you that if you become a humble, obedient servant of Christ you will think like Him.

Now wouldn't that be a different way of thinking, wouldn't everyone around you agree that your thinking was transformed?

If you follow these passages then no matter what situation you are in,God will give you specific instructions.

In this next section I will show you how God can help you in some very specific ways.

Perhaps you know someone who seems to be at the end of their rope. Have they lost all hope? Has everyone else lost hope in them? Have they driven away everyone who has ever tried to help them?

Here are some links that can be a great help. Yes, God is the answer to all of our problems, but usually God uses people to provide those answers.

Most churches do not have the resources to give money to people who are just going through town. As a result of their limited funds, churches oftentimes have to limit their help to church members.

If you need help from a church, you have a much better chance to get it if:

1. You are willing to attend the church
2. You are willing to follow the advice that they give you personally and through the sermons
3. You are willing to work
4. You show them you are responsible (or at least are showing progress)
5. You are grateful