CHARGE IT

Acts 7:55-60

INTRODUCTION

a. A young child sits on Santa's lap and immediately gives a long list of expensive toys - when the list has ended they promptly jump off Santa's lap and head away without any other comment - A little taken back Santa calls to the child "didn't you forget something" - O Yeah - CHARGE IT!!

b. The title of the sermon today is not the battle cry of Christmas or the Shopping networks on TV - But it is significant in our understanding of the Christian faith

c. As we focus our thoughts today on this issue I believe it will prepare us for communion.

d. So lets charge forward

I. THE DEBT

a. God is holy and righteous and cannot accept unrighteousness to Himself

b. The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God"

c. Our monthly verse says "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

d. We each have missed the mark of perfection and sinlessness

1. Because of this we have a debt to the One who created us

2. There will be an accounting done and the debt will have to be paid

II. THE ACCOUNTS

a. The Bible speaks of two accounts out of which the payment for sin will be paid

1. Your personal account

a. If you choose you can face God with your own resources and righteousness (The Bible says "there is none righteous)

b. All that fills your personal account comes from within you

2. Christ's Account

a. By faith in Christ's death and resurrection He pays the debt for us

b. He satisfied all God's demands on sin and by faith in Him we are born again to eternal life

c. HE died once for the all the sin of all mankind that we might be forgiven

III. THE EXAMPLE

a. Jesus set the example on the cross

1. Did you read the meditation passage today - It is where Jesus looks at those who were crucifying Him and says, "Father forgive them..."

a. Don't charge this to them

b. Our scripture today shows how Stephen followed Christ's example

1. Do not lay this sin to their charge

c. I read the story recently of how Louis XII of France treated his enemies after he ascended to the throne. Before coming to power, he had been cast into prison and kept in chains. Later when he did become king, he was urged to seek revenge but he refused. Instead, he prepared a scroll on which he listed all who had perpetrated crimes against him. Behind every man's name he placed a cross in red ink. When the guilty heard about this, they feared for their lives and fled. Then the king explained, "The cross which I drew beside each name was not a sign of punishment, but a pledge of forgiveness extended for the sake of the crucified Savior, who upon His cross forgave His enemies and prayed for them."

d. Near the end of Irving Stone's powerful novel, Love Is Eternal , about Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln, there is a moving conversation between Mrs. Lincoln and the President's bodyguard, Parker, who had been summoned to Mrs. Lincoln's room.

"Why were you not at the door to keep the assassin out?" she demanded.

With head bowed, Parker replied, "I have bitterly repented of it. But I did not believe that anyone would try to kill so good a man in such a public place. The belief made me careless. I was attracted by the play, and did not see the assassin enter the box."

"You should have seen him. You had no business to be careless." With this, Mrs Lincoln fell back on her pillow and covered her face with her hands, and from deep emotion, said: "Go now. It's not you I can't forgive; it's the assassin,"

Tad, who had spent that miserable night beneath his father's desk in the executive office, drawled, "If Pa had lived, he would have forgiven the man who shot him. Pa forgave everybody."

III. THE DIFFERENCE OF FORGIVENESS

a. We live in a world of paradoxes

1. We who have been forgiven hold grudges and withhold forgiveness for others

2. The Wall Street Journal once projected a striking paradox of our time when it reported: "The elms in South Park, Pittsburgh must come down because they are obstructing the monument to Joyce Kilmer. They have lifted their leafy arms so high that passer-bys can no longer read the inscription which begins: 'I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree.'"

In a world where people surrender their rights to preserve themselves, where cities are bombed to protect people, where nations wage war to preserve peace, where spending determines economy, it is tragically appropriate that trees should be sacrificed for a poem about trees.

Isn't it even more ironic that a single Christ would have to die so that we could find forgiveness of our sins?

b. Can you imagine just before you willfully sin yelling to heaven "Charge it to Jesus" - You can't do that - but many live as if you can

c. Jesus looks at you today and says, "I have paid the price of your sin, receive Me today and I will give you life"

d. Which account will you draw on to pay the debt of your sins

e. It is demonstrated in best in communion

EXPLAIN COMMUNION

PRAYER OF SALVATION

SHARE THE BREAD

HYMN # 227 "I SURRENDER ALL"

BLEST BE THE TIE - # 359