Unlike you, I am not a particularly good speller. It is probably due to laziness, but even as a child I remember my mother and I working on my spelling without a great deal of success. And so I thank the Lord for the “spell checker” and “auto-correct” programs in my computer. But even with those, I still have my wife proof read everything I publish. In fact she insists on it.
When it comes to really good spellers, many have memorized thousands words. But they have also learned a number of rules which govern how a word is to be spelled. Have you ever watched the National Spelling Bee, when kids are asked to spell impossible words? Not only do they already know a great many, but they also know various rules which govern the way that letters are supposed to come together to spell unfamiliar words. You probably know one of the most common spelling rules – “I” before “E” except after “C.” Ordinarily, it is a good idea to follow that principle – that rule. “Brief,” “chief,” “sieve” “skier” and two hundred other words follow that rule. But did you know that “science” has been used to prove there exceptions to that rule? In the word “science” – “I” comes before “E” EVEN after the letter “C.” I have read that rule apples “except when your weird foreign neighbor, Keith, receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from eight feisty over-caffeinated weightlifters.”
I’ve brought this up in order to point out that there are some rules in life which are totally arbitrary. Someone has said “I” comes before “E” except after “C,” but that isn’t a good rule because of exceptions. Similarly the rule – “what goes up must come down” – is not perfect because sometimes things don’t come down. They just keep going toward the edges of the unknown. And perhaps you’ve heard “nothing is sure in this world except death and taxes.” That is attributed to a 1789 letter written by Benjamin Franklin. But there are plenty of people who pay no taxes – some who have no income and others who have huge incomes. Furthermore, there are people in history who when it came to the end of their lives – did not die.
It is that last statement which takes us to our subject for this morning. The Bible declares that there have been – and there will be more – exceptions to the “universal death” rule. Benjamin Franklin didn’t believe the Bible, and neither do 95% or more of the people of our world today. This means that “death and taxes” is an ARBITRARY rule. The Bible disproves it with exceptions. And there are many other rules, most of which are man-made, against which the Bible declares exceptions.
For example, have you heard that good, moral, religious people go to Heaven?
That is a very common opinion – so common that many people think it is an unbreakable principle. Edith Stewart, whose testimony I read a few minutes ago said, “I always liked going to church. My mother instilled in my young mind a reverence for God and the Bible. If anyone had asked me about where I would be after I died, I just assume I would go to heaven.” Most people – at least those who believe there is life after death – also believe that good people go to heaven and bad people have some other unpleasant future in their future. That is the general teaching of most world religions, but usually they add their own special wrinkles. Perhaps it includes some sort of purgatory – to polish up a person’s ugly tarnish. Or it might involve the amount of money someone contributed to that particular religion or denomination. Sadly, rarely do those people consult the only true rule book that applies to the question – the Bible.
The Lord Jesus, early in His earthly ministry, sat on the side of a hill with a vast number of people waiting to hear what He had to say. And Jesus had a lot to say in that “Sermon on the Mount.” While just getting into His message, Christ, the Son of God, declared, “I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” From there He provided some specific examples that were well understood by His hearers that day. We notice that Jesus referred to the scribes and Pharisees. They were the most religious, the most outwardly sinless, the most sanctimonious people in Jewish society. They were the best of the best – in their own eyes and in the eyes of their neighbors. But in eyes of God they were hypocrites, because their hearts didn’t match their outward appearance. They had cleaned up the outside of the bowl or frying pan, but the inside was caked with filth. Jesus used the word “righteousness,” but He could have said “goodness, morality and religiousness.” He essentially said, “except your goodness exceed the goodness of the best people in our society, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” “If your morality isn’t higher, purer and more noble than the most outwardly moral people on earth, you are not fit for heaven. You have to be better than the best to enter into the kingdom of God.” Now notice that Lord Jesus began His statement with the word “except.” He said – there is an exception to the generally believed rule about good people. Those who people who thought they were on an upward trajectory – were actually going down. And in Matthew 23 Jesus said over and over: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites… WOE unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites… WOE unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites… Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
And this leaves us with a couple of questions: First, if the very good people of the world cannot escape the damnation of hell, then who can? And then – if there are exceptions to the rule, am I a part of the exception? Are YOU? “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Does your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the most righteous people on earth?
Perhaps a negative aspect to the same rule might be:
BAD things happen to BAD PEOPLE and GOOD things happen to GOOD PEOPLE.
That was a rule firmly believed by people in Jesus’ day, and it is still believed today. But are there any exceptions to this idea? Is it a good idea at all?
Luke 13 tells us that one day in Jesus’ life, a hot news topic came up in conversation. Verse 1 – “There were present at that season some that told (Christ) of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” We don’t have all the details today, but it is generally believed that the Roman Governor had authorized his soldiers to kill a group of Jews. These were followers of a Galilean zealot who proposed a rebellion against the Romans. The soldiers timed their attack to catch them when, as a group, they were offering sacrifices to God. It was a news item that hit the front page of all the papers in the day.
The Lord Jesus replied to the comments saying, “Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? Then He said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except YE repent, YE shall ALL likewise perish.” After that He went on to raise a question of His own: “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Were those who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11 bad people? Were they as bad as the terrorists? Were the four people killed in that bar in Anaconda last week, bad people? Some Pharisee might say, “Of course they were. They were in a bar weren’t they?” But were they worse than the man who murdered them, and who will probably spend the rest of his life living off the bounty of Montana’s taxpayers?
Listening to the news the other day, I made a comment, to which my wife offered a mild rebuke. We heard that two teenagers had been killed in a car accident over on the Spokane Indian Reservation. When I heard that it took place on Monday morning, I said they were probably drunk or high on something. It was rude, judgmental and uncalled for, but if it was early Monday morning – like at 2:00 in the morning, it might have been true. Whether true or not, it exposed the commonly believed rule that bad things happen to bad people. BUT – they might have been going to Wellpinit for school when a tire blew or a deer ran in front of them, and the driver veered off the road and into a tree. The fact is, bad things happen to “good” people as well as bad. There are exceptions.
But notice that Jesus offered another exception to the rule – “EXCEPT ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” You may be a church-going, Bible-memorizing, A+ student, the darling of your mother and the teacher’s pet. But “except YE repent, ye shall all likewise perish” just like the bullies and really bad people in this world. And remember the scripture which says, “after this comes the judgment.” Death falls on everyone no matter what the outward expression of his life might be. Ben Franklin said: “nothing is sure in this world except death and taxes,” and death is pretty-well guaranteed. But then there is Jesus’ exception.
According to the words of the Lord Jesus, REPENTANCE creates an exception when it comes to death. “Except ye REPENT, ye shall all likewise perish.” But that requires an explanation, because Franklin’s rule still seems to be true – death is universal. First, we need to understand the meaning of the Biblical word “repentance.” It refers to a change of heart and mind. More specifically as Jesus used it, this is a change of heart and mind toward God. Repentance involves a person’s recognition of who he is before the God and Judge of all the earth. It is an admission that he is a sinner – a doomed, hell-bound, rebellious sinner. Repentance is the first step toward reconciliation with God – it is the first step toward peace with God. And then there is that word “perish” – “die.” Repentance creates an exception to death???
One day, when a mob of Jews saw two of Christ’s apostles miraculously heal a well-known crippled man, Peter took the opportunity to preach a gospel sermon. As he reached the climax of the message his voice got stronger and bolder until he finally declared: “Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…” Without repentance and conversion there will never be any blotting out of sin before the Lord. For “unto you… God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” – his sins. When Jesus said, – “except ye REPENT, ye shall all likewise perish,” He was referring to the first step toward eternal life. I will come back to this in a moment, but briefly put – the second step is to rest your trust in the Saviour.
Another rule, usually considered to be unbreakable – at least here in the West, is that there is only one life.
In our opening scripture, John 3, one of the Pharisees, named “Nicodemus,” came to Jesus with questions. Christ, knowing exactly what those questions were before they were asked, interrupted him saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, EXCEPT a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This is much like our first exception – “EXCEPT your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Nicodemus was one of those Pharisees whose righteousness was not sufficient for the kingdom of heaven. And here Jesus adds – your old LIFE is not sufficient either. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Quite naturally Nicodemus didn’t understand. “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” To that Jesus replied, “in addition to your NATURAL birth, you must have a SPIRITUAL birth.” “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh – (nothing but flesh) – and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit – (It is spiritual). Marvel NOT that I say unto thee, Ye MUST be born again.” “Nicodemus, you may be trying to pattern your life according to one rule, but there is exception to that rule.” And to that exception – that second rule – there is no exception. You must be born a second time before you can see the kingdom of God – “Heaven.”
With Nicodemus still not understanding, the Lord went on with His explanation. First, He took the man to one of the miracles of the Old Testament – one which Nicodemus knew to be fact. In Numbers 21, God taught Israel a lesson about sin, righteousness, judgment and faith. While Israel was once again denying the Lord and trying to rebel, God sent a herd of poisonous snakes. But then He said, “If you don’t want to die from the bites of these serpents, I offer you an exception.” Moses quickly made a brass replica of a fiery snake, putting it on a pole high enough for all to see. Anyone who was bitten by a snake would surely die, but the promise of God was that if that person would simply believe the Lord and look at the brazen serpent, he would live. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must I, the Son of Man, be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in him (me) should not perish, but have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Nicodemus, the Pharisee, believed the rule that we have only one life. He believed that we better spend our life well in order to prepare ourselves for the Kingdom of God. He wasn’t convinced there were any exceptions to this rule. But Jesus told him that the life he was living was already dying, and he was not prepared for God’s kingdom. He had to be born again. So, there is an exception to the rule that people can only be born one time. There is a second birth – something we call “the new birth.” And Christ tells us that second birth is related to faith in Christ. How is an old man – how is an old sinner to be born a second time? By trusting in Christ Jesus and what He began and finished on the cross.
There are a number of other commonly believed rules which have their own exceptions. But I’ll finish with just one more.
I think that it is a good rule that cannibalism is not a good and proper behavior.
But there is an exception – although it is not a literal exception – there is a SPIRITUAL exception. In John 6:35 the Lord Jesus made one of His powerful “I am” statements. “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” “Then the Jews murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.” Jesus picked up on that and said, “Murmur not among yourselves.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
That really stirred the hornet’s nest in the hearts of the Jews. Verse 53 – “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.” There are branches of Christianity which believe that it is necessary for people to eat Christ’s literal flesh and actually drink His literal blood, before they can have spiritual life. But in verse 47 Jesus clearly said, “I am the bread of life. He that BELIEVETH on me hath everlasting life.” Christ was saying that the “eating” and “drinking” of His flesh and blood was by faith.
There is a pretty widely accepted rule against eating human flesh. But in a spiritual sense, if someone does not eat, devour, ingest by faith Christ Jesus – the bread of life – that person will never possess everlasting life. In verse 51 the Saviour said, “I am the living bread which came down from HEAVEN; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.”
Conclusion:
Throughout history men have made various rules and declared that there are natural laws which cannot be broken. They forget that Jehovah, the Creator of the Universe, has established His own laws, and/or crushed the laws of men. Whatever consequences there are to breaking men’s rules – like poor spelling… We are eternally bound to obey the laws, rules and declared principles of God. And here are some for you to seriously consider this morning: “EXCEPT ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” “EXCEPT your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” “EXCEPT ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” “EXCEPT a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And “EXCEPT ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.”
There are no exceptions to God’s exceptions. Have you ever met the Lord on His terms? Do you have His eternal life? Are you a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven? I beg of you… Repent before the Lord and put your faith in Christ’s death on the cross, eating and drinking His blood by faith.