God's Boundaries are Good

Good morning.

There is an outline for this morning's sermon, or, if you need a Bible, the ushers have those.

Raise your hand up and they'll help you with an outline or a Bible.

The name of today's message is God's boundaries are good.

If you don't believe that the first time you heard it, I hope you believe it by the time we end today.

What I found challenging is that I thought I believed it until I started to work on it.

Numerous times over the last few months, god pointed out that's out of bounds.

Yikes, yeah, those things can be deceptive.

In 1987, I was 17 years old, some friends and I headed out to a party.

We drank a lot of alcohol.

That night.

About 11 o'clock it started raining and a massive downpour.

I found myself in his front yard pushing his lawnmower around, cutting his grass In the pouring rain.

I'd never started the lawnmower, I was just pushing it around.

I was completely wasted, but I was completely wasted.

But I was 17 years old and I was living free, free outside the boundaries that had been set for me.

Boundaries set by my parents not to be drinking.

Boundaries set by the state of Indiana about the age of drinking.

Boundaries set by God.

State of Indiana about the age of drinking Boundaries set by God, not being controlled by something Drunk, disobedient to parents.

A few years later, in the fall of 1988, I went to Ball State University.

I basically drank my way out of that first year.

By that spring of 1989, I had credit in one class and thousands of dollars wasted, which I was most of the time.

But I was living free.

Free outside the boundaries set for me, boundaries set by parents, by the school, by the state and by God.

The boundaries set for me, boundaries set by parents, by the school, by the state and by God.

By 1993, I was living, had a grip on me.

I was still living outside the boundaries set for me, but I was not free.

I was now experiencing bondage and death in my life, bondage to alcohol and drugs and death to relationships to jobs and death to relationships to jobs and death to some friendships.

In 1994, I got a DUI in Cook County.

I skipped the court date.

Two days before Christmas that year I checked myself into River Edge Hospital In Forest Park.

I couldn't stop drinking and I needed help.

I was 24 years old and I spent Christmas in a drug and alcohol rehab hospital.

I have three pockets with Kleenexes.

Kurt filled one of them.

Thanks, brother.

In 1995, I was pulled over in DuPage County for a minor traffic violation.

Remember that court date.

I skipped.

There was a warrant for my arrest and off I went.

As I was struggling to get free from alcohol and bondage, I was now about to understand what it meant to be bound by the state or the county.

I had a DuPage County judge sentence me to 240 hours of community service and a bunch of fines.

I served those hours at the Elmhurst YMCA.

Over the next nine or ten months I had a Cook County judge sentence me to report to Haymarket Center in Chicago for drug and alcohol rehab.

Or I could just go to jail.

I chose Haymarket.

Over those years that led up to this moment I had made many decisions to live outside the boundaries set for me.

I thought I was living free.

What I didn't understand was that living outside God's boundaries will always lead to death and often some kind of bondage along the way.

I'd like to take a look this morning at Genesis 2 and 3, this morning at Genesis 2 and 3, take a peek into where Adam and Eve made a decision to live outside of God's boundaries.

The first thing I'm going to read is Genesis 2, 15 through 17.

Genesis 2, 15 through 17.

We see Adam and Eve experience this in the Garden of Eden.

15 through 17 says this Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.

The Lord God commanded the man, saying From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.

Here's where the boundary is given, moving forward to Genesis 3, verses 1 through 6.

Genesis 3:1–6

Genesis 3, 1 through 6.

Now, the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden.

The woman said to the serpent From the fruit of the trees in the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, god has said you shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.

The serpent said to the woman you surely will not die, for God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate.

She took from its fruit and ate.

She gave also to her husband with her and he ate.

Stepping outside the boundary, adam and Eve while they didn't die physically right away, their sin separated them from God, the source of life.

This spiritual death is a state of alienation from God and from his goodness.

It's a condition of brokenness and guilt that leads to further consequences bondage to pain and difficulty in life, including physical death.

So this morning I'd like to talk a little bit about boundaries and ask some questions and answer them.

Why do we need boundaries, why do we struggle with boundaries and how can boundaries lead to freedom?

So why do we need boundaries?

Point number one what's the point?

God's boundaries are good.

They keep us safe physically.

They keep us safe emotionally.

They keep us safe spiritually.

We see examples in life, as we're living, that there are boundaries out there to protect us.

Think about driving laws, signs for dangerous areas like stay out high voltage.

This reminds me of a story of a couple of guys, a couple of friends, driving down the street.

They're just kind of flying along and they of friends driving down the street.

They're just kind of flying along and they come up to a red light and the driver vroom right through the light and his friend's like what are you doing?

You're going to get us killed.

He goes no, no, no, don't worry, my brother taught me how to drive this way.

So he's like, okay, he's a little nervous but we'll get through it.

He kind of keeps going.

Another red light roof right through it.

What are you doing?

Don't worry, my brother taught me how to drive this way.

He's a little unsure.

They're still moving along.

They come up to a green light and he stops.

He's like what are you doing?

He goes my brother might be coming the other way, the other way.

The Bible gives us examples of God's protection.

When we abide in him, when we live within God's boundaries, we have protection.

Psalm 91, 1 and 2 says this he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God and whom I trust, he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, is where we find protection, within God's boundaries.

Psalm 32.7 says you are my hiding place, you preserve me from trouble, you surround me with songs of deliverance.

It is within God's boundaries that we find deliverance and being preserved from trouble, the thing we often miss, and we miss this in Genesis 2,.

We have boundaries, but within those boundaries we have the opportunity to live abundantly.

Back in Genesis 2, god said from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

We often focus on that second part, but here the Hebrew word in Genesis 2.16 for freely is chokshi, and this word has a few different meanings, including free, at liberty or without restraint, and in the context of 2.16, at liberty or without restraint.

And in the context of 2.16, it implies that Adam was given unrestricted access to the fruit of every tree in the garden, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

It is when we live within God's boundaries do we not only have protection but we have abundant life and true freedom.

It is outside of God's boundaries where we are robbed of that abundant living.

Point number two why do we struggle with boundaries?

Well, first, god's boundaries are good.

Why do we struggle with boundaries Number one?

First, we struggle with authority.

Don't tell me what to do, anybody ever think that we know.

We struggle with authority because, over and over again, in these next four verses that we look at, god has to tell us to follow the authorities in our lives.

Romans 13.1,.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

Hebrews 13.17.

We can see from Hebrews 13, 17, that not sticking within the boundaries of our authorities could be unprofitable for us.

Our struggle with authority 1 Peter, 2, 13 and 14, submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether to a king as one in authority, or to governors as set by him, for the punishment of evildoers and praise for those who do right.

And finally, titus 3.1,.

Remind them to be subject to their rulers, to the authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed.

Why do we struggle with boundaries?

Well, first of all, we struggle with authorities and that obedient, to be ready for every good deed.

Why do we struggle with boundaries?

Well, first of all, we struggle with authorities, and that's pretty obvious, because God takes time to continually remind us to be subject to authorities.

Why do we struggle with boundaries?

Number two perceived fun versus boring.

The world makes sin look fun.

Our flesh will crave what looks like a fun time.

All the things actually fighting against us will work to make the things out of bounds look like a better time than inside the boundaries.

Satan disguises sin to look very appealing.

We struggle with boundaries because outside the boundaries can look more appealing.

Hebrews 11, 24 through 26 talks a little bit about Moses, because outside the boundaries can look more appealing.

Hebrews 11, 24 through 26 talks a little bit about Moses by faith.

Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Sin can be very enticing.

It wants to pull us out of the boundaries that God has given us and to drag us away.

James 1, 13-15.

When you are tempted, no one should say God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

And then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

Living outside of boundaries leads to death.

Why do we struggle with boundaries?

We don't like authorities telling us what to do.

We choose something that looks fun over something that looks boring.

The third reason we could struggle with boundaries is we just don't agree.

This boundary just doesn't make sense to me.

I think as I get older, that's where I found some areas.

As I worked on this I thought when God would point out that might be out of bounds, oh come on.

54 years old, I've been through a lot.

But boundaries apply every day of our life.

God says in Isaiah 29.14, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

Repeated again in 1 Corinthians by Paul.

It's not going to make sense sometimes, my wisdom.

This doesn't make sense to me.

God's boundary is earthly.

It's worldly wisdom from below and will not line up with God's wisdom when our best sense doesn't agree with what God is clearly saying in our lives.

It does not mean that God is wrong.

It means we are wrong.

It means we are wrong.

We step outside boundaries because sometimes they just don't make sense to me.

1 Corinthians 3, 18-20.

Let no man deceive himself.

If any man among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he may become wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.

For it is written, he is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness.

And again, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are useless.

Matthew 5, 43 to 45.

You have heard it said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you will be sons of the Father who is in heaven, for he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Our wisdom would usually say hate your enemy.

But our wisdom is worldly and from the earth.

Our wisdom is not aligned with God's wisdom.

One more example of that James 3, 14 through 17.

I realized there was going to be a lot of verses today, so I gave them all for you on the outline so you don't have to write them all down.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such wisdom does not come from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

For where you have envy, selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

God's boundaries are good.

We need them for physical, spiritual, emotional protection.

We need them for physical, spiritual, emotional protection.

God's boundaries we struggle with and we struggle with them because we struggle with authority, we struggle with what's appealing to us and often we struggle because we just simply don't agree.

Point number three today how can boundaries lead to freedom?

Kind of doesn't make sense when you think about that sentence.

How can boundaries lead to freedom?

But it can.

Staying within boundaries keeps us away from bondage and death.

We see that in the story I told you about myself at the beginning.

We see that in the decision that Adam and Eve made what was lost because of stepping out of boundaries.

But on the other side, galatians 5.1 if we stay within boundaries, it is for freedom that Christ set us free.

Therefore, keep standing firm within the boundaries.

Outside of God's boundaries is bondage to something.

It's a clear and direct formula.

It happens over and over again Bondage to something and death to something else.

In our lives, sin is a cage, and by living within God's boundaries that is where we find true freedom.

Hebrews 12.1.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us the sin that so easily entangles.

We don't want to be entangled, we want to run.

Run the Christian life free, not in bondage, not in addiction, not in.

I can't stop doing this.

Galatians 5.13,.

For you were called to freedom, brethren.

Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.

God gave us the freedom to choose.

He wants us to choose abundant life within the boundaries that he gave.

Real freedom, real abundant life, is found within the directions that God has given us.

God's boundaries are good.

God's boundaries provide us with protection from bondage and death.

Anything outside of God's boundaries will either immediately or eventually lead to some kind of bondage, but certainly will lead to death of something in our lives.

In the early 1900s, the Australian pastor, henry Howard, once preached a strong message on sin.

Afterwards, an officer of the church said to him Mr Howard, we do not want you to talk so plainly as you do against sin.

Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin.

Howard took down a small bottle and showed it to the man.

It was a bottle of strychnine and on it was marked poison.

He said to him I see what you want me to do.

You want me to change the label, such as essence of peppermint.

Don't you see what happens?

The milder you make the label, the more dangerous you make the poison.

I have no other message for you today.

God's boundaries are good.

Outside of God's boundaries is death and bondage.

There's no essence of peppermint outside the truth of God's boundaries.

Anything outside of his boundaries will either immediately or eventually lead to some kind of bondage and death.

Now what are we to do if we find ourselves living outside of God's boundaries in some area of our lives?

The good news is, even when we sin, even when we find that we're living outside his boundaries, there's a way for us to be forgiven, to be restored.

The first thing we have to do is ask ourselves this question.

First question am I a follower of Christ?

Have I at some point stopped and turned to Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin?

If the answer is no, that's the first step and you can do that today.

John 3.16 says God gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 10.9 says so that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

You need to believe in the saving work that Jesus did for you on the cross, turn to him, confess your need for a Savior and ask him today to be your Savior.

Myself, any of the other elders pastors, would love to talk to you about that right after the service today or at any time Now, if you answer the question.

Yes, yes, I have trusted Christ for salvation.

But, bruce, I realize there's an area of my life I'm living outside of God's boundaries.

The answer is the same and different.

It is confession and it is repentance.

1 John 1.9 says If we confess our sins, he is faithful and he is just.

He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Acts 3.19, peter says Repent then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Repentance includes turning back to God, getting our lives back within the boundaries that he's set for us.

Forgiveness is available for all.

Forgiveness is available for all in Jesus Christ.

Now a quick word of encouragement for you.

I know there's always jokes about when you're listening to a sermon and you go oh, I know somebody that needs that, I know somebody that needs that.

Well, some of us may literally have people we know in our lives that are living outside of God's boundaries, like I was, and I had me create this bondage and this death in my life.

They could do nothing but pray and point me to Jesus.

And point me to Jesus and I would encourage you today.

That was my story, but Jesus changed my life and I would encourage you, if you have friends, family, neighbors, that you see this happening to them.

Pray for them, pray for them every day and when you have opportunity to them, pray for them.

Pray for them every day and when you have opportunity, point them to Jesus and let them see Jesus at work in your life.

God's boundaries are good.

There is abundant life inside of God's boundaries.

Because God's boundaries are good, let's pray, father.

We thank you for your love for us.

Thank you, lord, that you've given us directions, instructions and boundaries how to live this life abundantly and to follow you, and how to do that, and we thank you for that gift of abundant life, lord.

We thank you also for the provision of forgiveness through your son, jesus.

Lord, for when we make these choices to step outside these boundaries and we experience this pain and death, that you welcome us back.

You welcome us back to your arms and we are thankful for that, lord.

Lord, give courage today to those who know they're outside the boundaries.

Give them courage to turn to you, let them feel your love and forgiveness, and I pray for those that know others siblings, children, neighbors and friends that are seeing this destruction.

Give them courage and hope, lord, to continue to pray and pray that we see your spirit work mightily in those lives and bringing them back to your boundaries and to your love.

We thank you in Jesus' name, amen.