I'm Only Human

The title of my sermon today is, I'm Only Human.

Great excuses ever used. Maybe you've used some of them. One of the most famous recognizes, Dogg Ate My Homework. I never tried that one. Although I did find it interesting, John Steinbeck, one of the greatest writers of the last hundred years, was writing a novel. Spent three months on the novel. It was about halfway done. And he got tired one night and decided to retire to his bed. Left his writings on the floor. When he got up in the morning, the dog had gone through every one of them and made just a mess out of everything. Tore up the pages, just did everything. John Steinbeck said, that was such devastation to me. And it made me get up the next morning and start to try to remember what I had written for the last two or three months, at which he decided he couldn't do. And he put it down and scrapped the entire project and started a new one. The new one was called Of Mice and Men, one of his greatest writings. As he said, he thought he would keep the dog around. For that? Does anybody here know Sandra Curran? Nobody knows Sandra Curran. She lives in Vero Beach. Still nobody. Bill, you're supposed to be the mayor, you know? No, one of your constituents. Very good, Bill. Sounds like a politician.

Sandra Curran wrote the Reader's Digest. She happens to be from Vero Beach, Florida. She talked about excuses and they printed her comments because she was encouraging her husband. And she asked her husband to go to the gym with her like they used to. He said no. His excuse? I need to lose a few pounds before I go.

Thirty years of owning or managing a business, I heard a lot of excuses. I ran out of gas. Was one. Caught by the train, as I had a business that was half a mile down from the train.

Tell him to be quiet. Bill is speaking. But one of the ones I heard, I guess, the most is, I got a flat tire. Any of you ever had a flat tire going to work? Not? Oh, just one? There's two? Three? Four? Five? Oh, okay. You had that going to church. And another one person called me and said, I'm late. I'll be there in about 30 minutes. My dog was sick. Okay. But I've also heard those excuses, like Bill just said, for not being able to come to services. Or one I heard one time, person said, I might be sick. I'm not sure.

And I can see where you may, if you think you're going to get sick. We have that at the Feast of Tabernacles. In case you have never been to the Feast of Tabernacles and by the, what, fifth or sixth or seventh day, all the desserts have piled up. And next thing you know, you have a runny nose, and you're not feeling 100% yet. I get that. But I heard another one that says, I got up too late. Couldn't make services. That would be bad in the PM service, like we have here. I could see it for Fort Lauderdale, but not Fierrell Beach. 230, I think you should be up. Or how about this one? I stayed up too late and couldn't make it to services. This one I had in Nashville. My clothes were too wrinkled, and I did not want to iron being. Of course, it was a Sabbath. My dog wasn't well, and then the other one couldn't come because relatives are coming into town. I bring those up because we, as humans, we like excuses. But one of the greatest excuses we can use is, we're just human. When somebody expects a great deal out of you, you can always say, well, I'm only human. And we all experience the human condition. So today's sermon is a little different. It is about not only the human condition, but about can we use the excuse I'm only human? It makes me wonder what people in the Bible use that excuse explaining something to God. I don't know. Have we ever used it? Have we ever used it? Oh, us too. Yes, that's true. I want to look at a couple of things today in Scripture. You'll turn with me. Go from the New King James Version. New King James Version. And let's go to Psalms. Psalm 8. Everyone knows it. Everybody uses it. Right? And David explains in Psalm 8 and verse 3. I'll read from the New King James Version. We'll go from 3 to 8. Verse 3. I can picture David looking out as perhaps you did last night. It was a beautiful night here in Florida. We had some cloud cover, but I did get to see a little speck of the moon and got to see some stars. Very beautiful. I kind of picture David doing that one evening before he wrote this. He says, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, that amazing showing just how great God is, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars which you have ordained are set in order.

What is man that you should be mindful of him? You've thought about that? He did. And the son of man that you visit him or care for or pay attention to. David wondered, Who are we? But we're just specks. Verse 5. For you have made him a little lower than the angels, except that's not what it should be. If you have a margin in your Bible, in King James, you'll look in the middle, and it actually says, A Jewish tradition is the angels. So the Masoretic text transferred Jewish. They put that angels in there. But that wasn't the original Hebrew word. As a matter of fact, if you go to the Kargim tardium, Aramaic Old Testament, the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, the Suratic text of the Old Testament, they all say the same thing as they should say. Elohim changes the meaning quite a bit to me, doesn't it?

So it says, For you have made him a little lower than Elohim. Made him a little less than God. Ow! Kind of hurts the excuse thing, doesn't it?

Wow! That's pretty big stuff. And then it says, And you have crowned him with glory and honor. That's us. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. Notice the capital, Yur. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beast of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. Dominion, control over all those things. Seems kind of lame to go, I'm only human. When you can even go back to Genesis and he said, He made what? He made us in His image, both male and female in His image. And he's developing his character in us now. Well, let's go to the other extreme. If you will, I'd like you to go with me to Mark. Mark, let me jump over there. Mark 9. To be exact. Mark 9. Mark 9. Jesus is giving this teaching about not to offend or be a stumbling block to the little ones, and He talks about having a millstone hung around your neck. Most of us understand that. But then He gives something that I have had more than a few questions about. And it's just a simple verse that people did not understand. And go down to verse 44. As He talks about the previously about having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched. Where? Where? Their worm. Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. You understand that? Let's go down. See if He explains it, because Jesus is throwing this in there. He says, And if your foot makes you sin, cut it off. Well, that's not fun. It is better for you to enter life lame than having two feet to be cast into hell, or gohenna, into the fire that shall never be quenched. Gohenna fire. Where? Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. He said it again. What is your worm? What is this fire?

Verse 47. If your eye makes you sin, pluck it out. It is better you enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into gohenna fire. Where? Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 49. For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt, as it was commanded to be. So, what? Can you explain this verse if someone asks you about it? Why he uses this verse? Why he does what he does? Because if you can't, the best excuse you can say is, I'm only human. But that is exactly what this is teaching. This exactly puts it in perspective. Christ gave it to them who would offend others, telling them not to. It's better for a millstone to be hung around your neck. It's better if you're not living a sinful life, if you actually cut it off so that you wouldn't have a problem. Because it is about being in the kingdom of God. And if you're not going to be in the kingdom of God, it's all the same. Just like he stood in front of or at the outside wall of Jerusalem. Outside wall of Jerusalem on one side was a fire. A fire. They hauled it at the valley of Hinnom. It was known and translated as Gehenna. And there was a fire that went on there all the time. It never ended. And it was where they threw all the old skins that they killed from sacrifice, which they sacrificed every day. So they'd have to do something with the skins. They ate the meat, but then they'd have to do something with the bones. So they would just...they didn't really want to tell you. So they threw it over the wall. And it went down into this little valley, but they had a ledge on it. A ledge on the side of that wall, so when they threw it down, it hit the ledge and rolled down. What's that got to do with us? It has to do with us being human. If Jesus Christ's body had not been claimed by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, that's where his body would have been thrown. In the trash heap, because that's where they also burned trash. Whatever they had, they would throw it into a can of fire. And that's where this came from. He was looking at this.

This is this picture. He wanted them to see that this picture of what's going to happen when you're thrown into the lake of fire, and why it's so important that you get your act together. If you're interested in this Smith's Bible dictionary, it's not mine. I just bought one. Smith's Bible dictionary is a lot of the writers are from the 1800s and does a very, very good job of explaining things. You want to read about the crucifixion. Wonderful. I mean, it's gruesome, but great story there is it, and also about this go him. It tells about and goes into description, a very good description of what happens on that end of the wall. And that on that ledge, everyone could see what was a worm. We would call it maggots. And that ledge that was there to kick things off stuff would get stuck there, and maggots would climb up and down and around and all through this ledge and eat and feed themselves because they would never die. They can't go in here because there's a fire. So they would crawl up onto this ledge and wait for the waste to hit that ledge so that they could continue to eat and never die. It's a gruesome picture, but that's the way it was supposed to be. This is what Jesus wanted them to see. This is reality. This is what happens to humans. This is all you are. And the worms are going to feed on you, and they'll never die because man keeps sinning. Man kept sinning. Sacrifices kept coming, and then trash was just continually burned. Are we being seasoned with fire now? Trials. Because all sacrifices had to be seasoned with salt, and he compares that salt to this fire now that we get to go through. We get to be tested. Interesting. It shows, as he's trying to teach this lesson, there's something bigger than human life. There's something greater than human life. This was his teaching. They didn't get it. Well, you had half of the religious teachers didn't. They didn't even teach that there was a resurrection, did they? The sacrifices didn't believe in it. Pharisees didn't know what they believed in. Yes, no, when a half, I don't know. So, Christ is trying to show that I'm only human is not an excuse. It's not going to get you into the kingdom of God. All it's going to get you into is a fire. Not my fault, God. You know I just love beautiful women. Not my fault, I just, I guess, I couldn't. I couldn't give up drinking. I couldn't give up drugs. Couldn't give up things. Just couldn't. And you know me, God. I'm only human. You made me this way. Hmm. I've heard that excuse before. The guy I worked with goes, not my fault. I didn't ask to be made. Yes, this is what God has to hear. But now let's swing around to it. Mary, could you bring me my book under there, under a chair?

And don't slap me.

It was from this morning. It caught me totally by surprise. I'd like you to turn with me to something that tells us, like Psalm 8 does, that we're we're pretty special. There's a great, there's a great destiny laid out by God. If you will, I'll be reading from the New Living Translation. I'd like you to go with me to one of my favorite chapters in Psalm 139. We'll just read a couple of verses. Psalm 139. Let me go to verse 13. From the New Living Translation, it said, You made the delicate inner parts of my body. Yes, he did. He knows your guts. He knows your hearts. He knows everything about you. He knows what your blood pressure is right now. He knows whether it's high or low. He knows your cholesterol level. He knows everything about you because he made the inner part. He made this body. And you knit me together in my mother's womb. Yes, he did. He was an intricate part. Without him, nothing could be made. He made it possible. Verse 14. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. This is David saying this again. As a matter of fact, it actually says in New King James Version, I am fearfully and what? Wonderfully made. That's what we all love to hear. But it's, wait a minute, fearfully?

Wonderfully made. Yes. Do you realize that the word fearfully there was a mistranslation and that you read the others? And fearfully, actually in the Hebrew word, means awesomely, awesomely, awesomely and wonderfully made. It's just they translate the word because it's like fearful. You're in awe if you're fearful. As you can see, God talks about at Mount Sinai, they were in awe. Okay, but here he's saying awesomely and wonderfully made. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. Verse 15. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion when he was just conceived. Even his mother didn't know that she was pregnant yet. Yeah, God did, didn't he? He knew. He knew. As I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Book of Life? Hmm. Every what? Every day of my life was recorded in your book. You think we're just human? Think we can use that? Think we can use that excuse when he relates to David that every day of our life is recorded? Wow. Is that not awesome? Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. You talk about a journal? Things got to be long. What was in the writings yesterday for you? Because you see, he did. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. However God's doing it, it's written down. Whether he has an angel do it, I don't know, but everything that went on yesterday, he's writing it down. Everything today, writing it down in his book. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Verse 17. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God? They cannot be numbered. You can't count that high. His thoughts constantly, constantly. Okay. Verse 18. I can't even count them. I can't even count them. They outnumber the grains of the sand. And when I wake up, you are still with me.

See, we go to sleep. We lose. I can't say consciousness, but we go to sleep. And if you sleep well, you don't even think about what went on for the last eight hours. God doesn't sleep.

God doesn't sleep. He keeps an eye on us. How awesome is that? Totally. Totally awesome.

But I'm only human. Really? Go back to Genesis 2. Can we go there? I don't know whether I gave you that or not, did I? No? Oh, everybody got thumbs up. Thumbs up in the back. Genesis 2, because I this was on my mind. Genesis 2. I love this. No, you didn't. Oh, you said, Get out. No. This is like okay.

Genesis 2. Oh, excuse me. Genesis 5. There. See, I saw David go. Thumbs up. He's like, What? Genesis 5 and verse 2. Let's go to this one. Genesis 5 and verse 2. I was over in 2 just a while back. Okay. Genesis 5 and verse 2. Here it says, He who? The word. He created them male and female. Okay. Humans don't believe that anymore. A good part of humans don't believe that. They don't believe that there's two genders. God says there is you want to argue with him.

If you want to argue with him over the genders, you may stay human till the end. He created a male and female and blessed them and called them mankind. In the day they were created. See how how messed up the world's getting that they they they can't even take this. They can't even say there's two genders when when anybody with any common sense knows there is anybody who's lived. There's not seven different genders as they're trying to tell us now. And some say there's 18. Some says it's as many as 21. Yeah.

Yeah. There can be that the number is just increasing all the time. But God says there's two and verse three and Adam lived 130 years and begat a son. Now that's pretty old to have a son. 130 years old. Is it really for Adam? And he begat a son. How how long did he have other children between Cain and Abel and Seth? I don't know. Or did they wait 130 years? They had girls. According to Josephus, Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23 daughters. Did any of those happen before?

I don't know. He could have. Could have had some in between. He could have had some afterwards. Yeah, that many kids. All right. After he begets Seth. Oh, wait a minute. He lived 130 years. He begat a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. After he begets Seth, the days of Adam were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters. So it's phrasing that he had kept having sons and daughters.

So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. He died. Imagine you living 930 years. I would say I would feel pretty old. Wouldn't you? You know, those last when you reached 900, did he even keep up with somebody kept up with how old he was?

But when he turned 900, did they have 900 candles and he tried to blow them out and that only gave him 30 years left? I don't know. But imagine what you would feel. I don't want to live 930 years. Do you? Does anybody here want to? Not in this body. Not in this body. I'll take a new one. I'll take a spirit one, but I don't want to. Can you imagine what we would look like? The oldest person I've ever met, in person, was the father, the grandfather of a house I worked on.

He was 104. And I was where he came out and set and watched us do our work. And very skinny man, but he got up and walked and could function. Nine times that? It just doesn't. What? Why did God let them live so long? Populate the earth is one. Yes. But couldn't you populate the earth in 300 years? Pretty good. 900 years. Is it possible that they had to know and see all the evil that man had become?

I don't know, but it makes you think. We go through some pain in life. Every one of us, whether you're getting old and you feel the pain, or you suffer pain, mental pain, psychological pain, we all went through it. We're all going to go through it. It's part of life.

Is it something God can say when we say, boy, God, I'm really hurting. I need your help. I need some of your relief. What would you like to hear from Him? You're only human.

Wouldn't that be a good way to reach us? Is it, I don't want to be human forever? Pain reminds us we are human, does it not? Pain reminds us that we are human. That became crystal clear on that Passover Day in 31 A.D. to Jesus Christ. The Word didn't know pain before He became human. Now He was having to face the ultimate pain. It wasn't just pain, it was torture. It's what one person or group of people can do to another person. Torture. One of the greatest things we can, now you may want to argue with me afterwards about this, one of the greatest things we can have in this life is pain. Pain is a wonderful teacher. If it wasn't, Christ would never have had to go through it. It helps us to empathize, sympathize, helps us to understand others, and is going to help us so much when we are set over this world to help Christ build the kingdom of God.

When you can have someone that says, I know exactly what you've gone through, I know I experienced it. Kind of gives us a little relief, doesn't it? You can understand. Go with me Jeremiah 1 to look at my watch. Jeremiah 1. I'll read from the New Living Translation just because I can. Jeremiah 1. Verse 5. It says, the Lord's telling Jeremiah this, I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations. O sovereign Lord, I said, I can't speak for you. I'm too young. The Lord replied, don't say I'm too young, for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. Go back to 5. Before I formed you in the womb, it's still in the New King James, it says I knew you.

That is an incredible statement. Before you were ever conceived, I knew you. What kind of mind is that? It's pre-existent to God in His mind. We were pre-existent to God in His mind before your parents ever got together because we're no different than Jeremiah. We're first fruits. He's going to be there with us in the Kingdom. That's what first fruits are unique. What did Christ say? I go to prepare a place for you? Ah, yes! He knew! He knew! Makes you wonder when He says, let no man take your crown. He's not talking about some leader, but He's talking about somebody because you quit. Because He had you, He had your crown ready for you, but you quit. You quit following Him, and somebody else is going to take that crown. Because He knew us, and He has a plan for us. It's such an incredible statement. Whatever you do, do not open that. Pass it around.

Whatever you do, do not open it. Just pass it around. Look at it. Do you know what it is?

You know what? You know what God's promised mankind? All of mankind. He has the same promise for every single human. Do you know what it is? Yes, you're going to be temporary. All of us are temporary.

Think about it. We all get to die.

Go back. I'll go in the New Living Translation. You can go back there in your Bible. It was Genesis 3 and verse 19.

Genesis 3 and verse 19. This is what He promised Adam. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat? They didn't have public sin. By the sweat of your brow you will have food to eat until you return to the ground. To the ground.

From which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. The canister I sent you while you put your hands on. It was dirt, some dust.

But I wanted you to put your hand on it because imagine having two of those. One in each hand. Picture it. Now that you had one, picture two. Because that's all that is when you are cremated. Two of those, all that exists. When you return to dust, bones take forever. But all the skin, everything about you can fit in two of those.

And yet God says, I have plans for you. Isn't that amazing? That were just a couple of dirt bags. I mean, you could put it all in a bag and we would be one dirt bag. Of less than 64 ounces. Not even that could go in two quarts. Jars. So wouldn't it be easy to say, but I'm only human. But God says, no, you're more than that because I formed you from that dirt. So what is God doing? When we die, what is God doing? He's not the Maytag repairman sitting around waiting. Okay, what did the Word say when he was here on earth? I work and my father works. They're working for one thing right now, the kingdom of God. They're waiting. Christ is ready for waiting for Dad to say, it's time. Go! So we may get to be in a couple of jars, or we may be alive. Because we're human. But he doesn't intend for us to stay that way. Does he? There's a very haunting song. By Queen, you can find it on YouTube. It did make a big hit. Let us title, Who Wants to Live Forever? It's this beautiful, if you hear the long version, it's this beautiful piano that's just so mesmerizing as it goes. And then the words are, Who Wants to Live Forever? Who dares to live forever? And I always think of that as I work on messages through the years. I don't want to live forever in this, but I do want to live forever like Jesus Christ. We're no longer going to be dirt. It no longer dust. That is how great God's plan is. See, we are only human. But with divine potential, that's what makes us so different. No dog's going to be divine. No cat's going to be divine, no matter how much you love your cat. It's not going to be a spirit being. But that's what makes us do it. We are only human with divine potential, which separates us from everything that has ever our will ever live. We get to be that. I think about the back of our house. Mary, a couple years ago, had a butterfly garden. Anybody ever had a butterfly garden? No, just see one. Yeah, only one. Well, I didn't know what it's all about. That never was one of my on my bucket list of things to do. But Mary did, and I found it interesting because she went out and got some milkweed. And then, out of nowhere, these cucumbers. Wow, these caterpillars. My mind was on the garden. But these caterpillars started just showing up, and then they started just eating this stuff. And then it was like I had taken out a second mortgage to get more milkweed. Because, you know, she's like, and it's like, wow. And they just kept coming and coming, and they were just eating it and eating it. It's like, where were you guys before? But then you saw the metamorphosis as these cocoons. And out came the next thing you know, I didn't see it. But the next morning, there were butterflies, and they were flying all over. Such a beautiful, there were caterpillars, cucumbers, too, ugly creatures. Right? I mean, they just are. I watched those things just climb, and there's nothing beautiful. But then the whole change happens, and these beautiful, beautiful butterflies come out with their wings, and they're changed. And it made me think about changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. We will be changed into those butterflies, those beautiful creatures who are spirit, who will live forever without any pain.

Very beautiful. You see, we humans have a finite existence, don't we? We're only going to be here so long. What are you doing with yours? What are you doing with your time? We're all going to answer to God because he knew us before we were born. What did you do with your time? Something happened in the garden, and Adam and Eve, they were there to tend the garden, but then something happened. Yes, but Satan did one thing. They gave it up. They gave up this beautiful garden, and Satan did the first example of eminent domain. Anybody know what eminent domain? If you don't, go back to Jeff. He's probably pulled it on a few people with his city officials. Dale might have over in Failsmere eminent domain where you just you claim something. Okay, we're using this. You came and take it over. Nothing you can do about it. That's what Satan goes. I got it. You remember what happened in Job? Job 1. I think you have it. Maybe you do. That was sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came upon the Lord and said, Where do you come? Satan said, Well, from going to and fro on the whole earth, on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it. He's just walking around. It's his domain now, and he not only says that in chapter 1, he says it in 2 also. In the New Living Translation, when it brings that up, it says, What are you doing? And he says, I'm patrolling. I'm patrolling. Why? Because it's his domain, and God's going to let him have that for a while until you're going to find out God's domain. Because, you see, God's promise, his domain, is an infinite, not a finite, an infinite domain. It's going to last forever, and it's over everything. That's the way he's doing it. That's his promise to us. So, bringing this to an end, let me ask you a question. What's your excuse? Can you say, I'm only human? You can't blame me. Would you want to tell God that? I can't, because the Scriptures don't back it up. Scriptures put me in dangerous territory, if I'm going to say that. So, what does God expect us to do in this temporary existence? How are we to live? Well, we're to get to know him. We know that. But he gives us this incredible Scriptures that I want to turn to. Last ones. Let's go with, I'll go to the New King James, and I'll go to Ecclesiastes. I always love what the preacher has to say. Ecclesiastes in here somewhere. Ecclesiastes 3, you know, the bird's song. Turn, turn, turn. It covers the first few verses. But then it goes to verse 10, and says, I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. Okay, he's seen everything that we can do. Jobs, all these things, and he's seen it all magnified. And he said he made everything beautiful in its time. And that's true. Just think of a flower. Okay, the flower comes up, and it's not going to last forever, is it? Then it dies. Us. I turned 66 a couple of weeks ago. I don't look like I did when I was 26, and I didn't feel like it. My back didn't bother me at 26. My knees were not bad at 26. I had hair that wasn't falling out at 26. You did too, didn't you? I had a slim waist. I wore 32, 32 pants. We're not even going there now. Right? Hey, you laugh. Hey, it's the same.

We're dying a little bit each day. That could be depressing to us. But he says no, that shouldn't be. No. A little bit each day, but that's okay, because we don't know how many days we have left, do we? But let's finish this and let's see what we're supposed to be doing, what we are to be doing during that time. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity in their hearts. We know. We know there's something better than this. We know that there's something bigger than this. The world knows there's something better than this. They've tried to create. We're going to heaven and play harps and float on clouds.

He has also put eternity into their hearts, except that no one can find out that God, what God does, the work that God does from beginning to end. We don't realize how much he's involved. He is. But here's what Solomon wants to tell us with all that wisdom and what God wanted recorded in his book. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good in their lives. Do you? I ask you, do you do this? Do you rejoice? Or do you go, oh, man, I woke up this morning. No, it says for us to rejoice. Do we rejoice with the life this temporary existence we've been given? That's what he wants. That's the human condition. This is what he expects from us. He knows what we're going to be in the next life. But what are we now? He says to rejoice and do good. Are you doing good? We should ask ourselves that. Are we servicing ourselves or just other men or other people? And then also that every man and woman should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor because it is the gift of God. That is our life. Go and enjoy it and rejoice this week.