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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2013-05-30, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013. By Pastor Mark Royall, Huron Chapel Evangelical Missionary Church, Auburn Rules can be good in that they provide us a sense of peace and order. Rules help things to run smoother. You can imagine if you drove into the city and everyone decided not to obey the traffic lights, stop signs or speed limits, just how much chaos a simple drive would become. So rules have a lot of value. Rules are necessary for peace and order, but sometimes they can seem a little odd. Here are some current or former laws: • A person may not wear cowboy boots unless he owns at least three cows. • Owners of homes with Christmas lights up past Feb. 2 will be fined $250. ( I think we should enforce that one). • No more than five inoperable vehicles may occupy a piece of property at one time. • It is is illegal to move to British Columbia with the intention of killing a Sasquatch. • In St. John’s, Newfoundland you are not allowed to drive your cattle through the streets of the city after 8 a.m. There is nothing to stop you from doing it before that time, however, as long as the cows are trained to obey traffic lights and stop signs. • In Souris, PEI it is illegal to build a snowman that is taller than 76 centimetres high on a corner lot. I think this one is my favourite one, • Women should not be allowed to drive a motorized vehicle unless a man precedes it waving a red flag warning pedestrians or motorists. God has rules. We call them commandments. The most noted ones being the Ten Commandments. They talk to us about everything from how we treat our parents, our neighbours and even God Himself. There are always consequences and outcomes to following or not following these commands from God. The commands are there for our benefit. They are good. Just like the rules our parents had for us when we were young, God’s commandments are here to protect us and to keep things moving smoothly. But here is what we forget about God’s rules; they don’t save us. They help us, they guide us, but they don’t save us. There are a lot of people who haven’t murdered, which is one of the Ten Commandments, but who are not going heaven. There are a lot of people who honour their father and mother, but they are not going to heaven. Why? Because rules don’t save us. If you ask someone why should God allow them into heaven they will answer, “Well, I have tried to live a good life. I tried to follow the rules. I don’t steal. I tried to help the less fortunate. I have done some volunteering work in my community. I think compared to a lot of people I know, I have done pretty good.” These are all good things but I don’t think this person understands that what they are really saying is, ‘Jesus didn’t need to come and die for my sins. I am capable enough on my own to secure my salvation. I follow the Golden Rule.’ But if rules could save me from the consequences of my sins against God then I need to ask the question, why did Jesus come and sacrifice Himself upon the Cross for my sins if I am able to save myself? The answer? Rules don’t save us. Here is what rules do ... they condemn us. The Bible says that Law, the rules show us just how incapable we are of saving ourselves. We can’t keep them. You have broken them. I have broken them. As hard as I try, I break the rules. The rules are good, but I am not. I need to realize that I can not save myself and I am need of a Saviour who is without sin to save me. In Romans 7:14-17 Paul is very real in describing our struggle with following the rules. He says, “So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.” The truth is rules condemn but Jesus saves. This is what Jesus does. I heard an author on a radio talk show last week talk about his very difficult life. He talked about the many calamities he had faced and then he made this observation, “If I was religious I would think I was being punished.” Unfortunately people like this author are not listening to what God is really telling them. God is not waiting for a chance to punish or condemn us. In fact just the opposite is true: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:16- 17 So let Him save you. You can’t do it on your own. We call people who think they can, self-righteous. They are depending upon their righteousness and their goodness to save them instead Jesus’ righteousness. The Bible says this about our attempts of being righteous before God: “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” Isaiah 64:6 Jesus alone sets you free you from the eternal consequences of your sin. Ask Him sincerely to do it and He will. Then allow Him to be the Lord of your life so that you won’t get in bondage to a life of trying to make the rules the source of your salvation. “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” Galatians 5:1. THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS. OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS: Brussels: St. Ambrose Saturday 6:00 p.m. 17 Flora Street Wingham: Sacred Heart Sunday 9:00 a.m. 220 Carling Terrace Listowel: St. Joseph Sunday 11:00 a.m. 1025 Wallace Avenue N. Youre Invited to come worship with us Sunday, June 2 Brussels Business & Cultural Centre at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday School for children 4 to 11 years of age at 9:30 a.m. Childcare provided for infants and preschoolers during the sermon. Coffee & cookies after the morning service For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621 Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173 You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship SUNDAYS Morning Service 10:00 am Evening Service 7:30 pm BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Hwy. 4, Blyth 519-523-4743 www.blythcrc.ca Worship Service & Sunday School at 11 a.m. CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS MINISTER Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div. All Welcome MUSIC DIRECTOR Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224 JUNE 2 ~ Join us at Camp Menesetung JUNE 9 ~ So, What Are You Hungry For? MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Rev. Elwin Garland SUNDAY, JUNE 2 Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available 519-887-9017 10:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship - Sunday School Every Sunday @ 10:30am huronchapel.org getlivingwater.org Living Water Christian Fellowship 10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School Wingham Bible Study - Tuesdays 7:30 pm at 308 Blyth Rd. (former Church of God) Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848 June 2: Lk. 8:26-39 Evangelical Missionary Church “Dealing with the Demonic: Danger, Deception, and Deliverance” Fri., May 31, 7:00 pm at CRC Travelogue with Audrey Bos - Jordan & Morocco. Freewill offering to Youth Fundsharing / Room2Grow From the Minister’s StudyRules can condemn, but Jesus saves: Royall BRUSSELS Sandra Cable, Pastor Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - beunitedchurch@gmail.com SUNDAY SERVICE 11:00 am Sunday School Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship United Church 250 Princess St., Brussels 519-887-6388 www.bmfchurch.com Pastor Jim Whitehead Guests Welcome Jesus Is Lord! Brussels Mennonite Fellowship Worship Service 10:00 am Sunday School 11:15 am