“God, Saints and Aints”
Romans part 5
Reference to Palm Sunday: Mark 11:8-11
Mark 11:8-11 The Message: 8The people gave him a wonderful welcome, some throwing their coats on the street, others spreading out rushes they had cut in the fields. 9Running ahead and following after, they were calling out,
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!
10Blessed the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in highest heaven!
11He entered Jerusalem, then entered the Temple. He looked around, taking it all in. But by now it was late, so he went back to Bethany with the Twelve.
Video Clip of what Holy Week means to us as Christians.
Thesis: No one is right in the eyes of the Lord today except for the forgiven, “The Saint” who once was “The aint.” God saw the need for all of us to be rescued so He sent Jesus to rescue us from sin. He also sent His Word to keep us safe from falling back into the trap of sin after being rescued.
Scripture Text: Play from CD – dramatized version
Romans 3:1 - 31 (NIV) 1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved. 9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.”18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Romans 3:1 - 31 (TMSG) 1So what difference does it make who’s a Jew and who isn’t, who has been trained in God’s ways and who hasn’t? 2As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference—but not the difference so many have assumed. First, there’s the matter of being put in charge of writing down and caring for God’s revelation, these Holy Scriptures. 3So, what if, in the course of doing that, some of those Jews abandoned their post? God didn’t abandon them. Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? 4Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same: Your words stand fast and true; Rejection doesn’t faze you. 5But if our wrongdoing only underlines and confirms God’s rightdoing, shouldn’t we be commended for helping out? Since our bad words don’t even make a dent in his good words, isn’t it wrong of God to back us to the wall and hold us to our word? These questions come up. 6The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening? 7It’s simply perverse to say, “If my lies serve to show off God’s truth all the more gloriously, why blame me? I’m doing God a favor.” 8Some people are actually trying to put such words in our mouths, claiming that we go around saying, “The more evil we do, the more good God does, so let’s just do it!” That’s pure slander, as I’m sure you’ll agree. WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME SINKING BOAT 9So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: 10There’s nobody living right, not even one, 11nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. 12They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one. 13Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mud slides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. 14They open their mouths and pollute the air. 15They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, 16litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, 17Don’t know the first thing about living with others. 18They never give God the time of day. 19This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? 20Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin. GOD HAS SET THINGS RIGHT 21But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. 22The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. 23Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, 24God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. 25God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. 26This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. 27So where does that leave our proud Jewish insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled. What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. 28We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade. 29And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews. 30How could it be otherwise since there is only one God? God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion. 31But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.
Introduction:
Max Lucado in his book Life Lessons from the Book of Romans writes this in the introduction:
At the moment I don’t feel too smart. I just got off the wrong plane that took me to the wrong city and left me at the wrong airport. I went east instead of west and ended up in Houston instead of Denver. It didn’t look like the wrong plane, but it was. I walked through the wrong gate, dozed off on the wrong flight, and ended up in the wrong place. Paul says we’ve all done the same thing. Not with airplanes and airports, but with our lives and God. He tells the Roman readers, ‘There is no one who always does what is right, not even one’ (3:10). ‘All have sinned and are not good enough for God’s glory…’(3:23). We are all on the wrong plane, he says. All of us. Gentile and Jew. Every person has taken the wrong turn. And we need help” (page 9).
I remember one trip Kathy and I took one summer about three years into our marriage. It was a vacation nightmare. It seemed everything we did turned into a disaster or an argument. I had her navigating through Toronto Canada and we missed our turn and we ended up going miles and hours out of our way. When I finally discovered our mistake we were sitting in wall to wall traffic on some highway north of Toronto. We sat there for what seemed like hours trapped like mice in maze. We all became frustrated with each other and with our journey. What started off as a wonderful adventure to go see Kathy’s mom and dad in New Hampshire turned into a living breathing nightmare. The kids were crying and she was crying and I was frustrated and angry. I wanted to scream and you know what I did!
Have you ever found yourself in the same type of predicament? Your journey of life all of a sudden takes a wrong turn because you missed the exit and then all Hell breaks loose. Life starts spinning out of control and you cannot stop it. A couple of weeks ago my brother-in-law Peter called depressed because he had just found out that Matt a former pilot of his had crashed along with a student pilot and they were both killed. The student pilot some how lost control of the plane and it went into a spin and it crashed killing both of them. Tragic but all too common in this life – life takes a spin and you lose control and you have to face the impact of the crash.
The truth is we have all made wrong turns with God. God saw this so He provided
a solution to our problem- by sending us Jesus Christ. Today is Palm Sunday and if we look at this even in history we discover that this is the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the people of that city honored Him by laying palm branches in front of Him as He entered. They were crying our cheers to Him and expected Him to rescue them from the bondage of the Romans.
Mark 11:8-11 (NIV): Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”
11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Jesus was welcomed as the conquering hero as He entered Jerusalem that day and the people praised Him. They thought that their deliverer had finally come and they would soon be delivered from their Roman bondage. They thought that He would muster a great Israelite army and vanquish the Romans out of Jerusalem. But instead Jesus picked up a whip and drove the money changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem. He rebuked the people and the religious leaders for their distortion of God’s truth and His word. He rebuked them for making His house a den for thieves and not a “House of Prayer.” He called them thieves and a depraved generation. Then all of a sudden the praise stopped and the crowd turned on Him. It’s amazing that by the end of week instead or crying, “Hosanna” they were crying, “Crucify Him!”
What happened how did all these people miss it and take the wrong turn so quickly during Holy Week of all weeks? It all comes back to what Paul is talking about in our Romans 3, “For all have sinned and fallen short!” “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Here is the truth being preached in Romans 3 by the Apostle Paul we are all lost sinners, misguided, deceived, and hopelessly out of touch with God, senseless when it comes to God and His ways. We are also in desperate need of someone to rescue us from ourselves. The truth is God sees our fallen nature and He decided to send Jesus to rescue us! I heard a quote a few years ago, “I have seen the enemy of my soul and he is in the mirror!” I also remember it this way, “I have meet the enemy and it’s me!”
When I studied our text this week it told me three things about God, about the saints and about the aints that we need to understand today.
Max Lucado says it this way, “Romans is a life-changing letter for people who are willing to admit they are sinners. For those who admit they are on the wrong plane, the letter provides the correct itinerary. Read it and take note. The flight home is one you don’t want to miss” (9).
T.S. – So let’s re-examine our text today and learn three things about God and about ourselves.
I. Paul tells us in this chapter that “God keeps His Word!”
a. Romans 3:1-7: The Message: 1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
b. Paul tells us that God never lies! He always tells the truth and His truth will prevail in spite of the response of this world.
i. Numbers 23:19 states, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
1. God always and will always fulfill His promises and His Word.
2. God is not capable of lying – it’s not in His nature!
3. God will not change Hi mind on the definition of sin even if He is out voted by the whole world.
4. God is not into democracy but into holiness and truth.
ii. God has been telling the truth for 4,000+ years and He still is today.
1. God’s promises are weaved throughout the Bible and He will fulfill and keep everyone of His promises.
2. Paul tells us in verse 3b-4 from The Message that, “… Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? 4Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same: Your words stand fast and true; Rejection doesn’t faze you.”
a. Paul is telling you and me that just because a majority of the United States is rejecting God’s truth will not cause Him to change His mind on what is sin and what a saint should look like and act like.
b. Maybe I can put it this way for you to understand, “God is not a politician and He will always tell the truth whether you want to hear it or not, or whether you like it or not!”
c. God is truth – He does not lie!
c. Satan on the other side of the fence has been lying for 4,000 + years.
i. John 8:42-24: “42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
1. Jesus ran into the same problem in His day that we are running into in our day. People would rather believe lies than the truth.
2. Genesis 3 verifies the fact that Satan is a liar:
a. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
b. Satan deceived and lied to Adam and Even in the Garden and today he still uses the same lies to deceive and trick people.
i. “God did not really say that!” He is still trying to get you to doubt God’s Word!
ii. “God wants to keep you powerless!” He is still trying to tell you that God is not to be your authority in life.
iii. “Don’t believe God He won’t let you die for disobeying Him – He is love don’t listen to His baloney about a judgment day!”
iv. “Go ahead eat and discover the truth of sin – it’s good!” He will always twist the Word of God to get us to bite into sin.
c. Paul addressed the problem that many of us face today in this society in Romans 1 :25, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
i. This is the problem in our society today we believe lies rather than the truth of God’s Word and it is going to continue to bite us in this nation if we keeping putting our energy into living and believing lies.
d. Paul tells us that God’s Word stands fast and true even when the rest of the world is lying out of their teeth.
i. Time Magazine Article this week:
1. Show in the church – highlight article – he makes a case of how today’s HS kids need to know the Bible.
a. He does make one statement that I disagree with in the article were he says that the Bible is dangerous to younger kids and they should not study it in school until they are in High School!
2. The truth is our Founding Fathers knew that the Bible and its moral law code was good for America. Our founding fathers over 200 years ago stated that the Bible was good for America. But the new generation of corrupt leaders in Government and in Judicial realms has all of a sudden decided to take God out of the picture in American political life, government life, school life and even public life.
a. The Serpent is still lying today to people and many are still believing his lies. He is saying things like:
i. “God should not be involved in government!”
ii. “Our founding fathers wanted a separation of church and state!”
iii. The Bible is dangerous keep it out of school and public life.
iv. “The Ten Commandments are not to be posted in schools because kids may read them and do them.”
1. This could harm our society!
ii. But the Bible warns us not to fall prey to the lies of the enemy. Why? Because there is a price to pay for listening to lies. Listen to these statistics of what happens if you leave God out: Here is a Case in point from an article on http://gospelcenterchurch.org/tencommandments.html which should open our eyes to what happens when we follow lies:
1. Since the Bible and the Ten Commandments have been taken out of our schools in the last 40+ years, we now have epidemic problems with teen pregnancy and Sexual diseases; epidemic drug and alcoholic problems, and violence in our schools to such an extent that we have never seen in the history of our Nation. SOMETHING HAPPENED IN AMERICA IN 1962:
a. When our Courts ruled completely opposite to the Religious Principles our nation had been founded upon in 1962, our society has went into a moral freefall.
b. Before 1962 Unwed births to girls ages 10 to 14 were steady and relatively rare. After 1962, the graph shows an increase of 325% .....
c. Sexually-transmitted Diseases to High School students were relatively rare before 1962. Since then STD’s are at epidemic proportions in our kids.
d. Violent Crime since 1962 has shot up 995%!
e. In 1950’s a survey of teachers showed the biggest problem in schools was chewing gum and shooting spit wads. Can you believe it?
f. Peter Marshall stated the following about the condition of our nation:
i. He sites other indicators which point to the spiritual and moral bankruptcy of Americans:
1. There are two million Americans in prison the largest ever.
2. There are forty five million with Genital Herpes in this country.
3. There are 900,000 cases of HIV Aids in this country.
4. In Americans 10 and older 30% are carrying a sexually transmitted disease.
5. But even these indicators are not as bad as the next one he shared. He noted that 50% of Born Again believers in America do not believe in Absolute truth or in absolute principles of right and wrong.
g. The Divorce rate in America since 1962 has steadily risen 111% to where America is leading the World now in divorce.
h. The SAT Test as a standard measurement of education achievement for our children was began in 1926 and later standardized in 1941 as the same test we have had up until recently when it had to be ’dumbed down’. The SAT rates were steady up until 1962. Since God and prayer were kicked out of our schools in 1962 and the children were taught they evolved from mud and slime, the SAT scores declined 18 years in a row! Unprecedented! For the first time in history, the student’s scores were 80 points less then the previous generation of their parents! Just recently our ’Educators’ from the NEA had the SAT dumbed down the test because boys and girls in America were scoring so poorly!
2. This little bit of analysis shows that taking God out of our lives will cause a moral free for all in society and in the end it will destroy America and its people. The founding fathers knew this and they warned us not to believe the lies of the enemy but to follow the truth!
a. Here are a series of quotes from the Founding Fathers warning us not to forsake the Bible and its teachings these quotes are form the same website above and from lectures by Peter Marshall on Restoring America: “The very men who WROTE the Constitution admit that this nation and its Judicial System was founded upon the Bible and the Ten Commandments. It was done intentionally to preserve this nation from collapse.”
i. James Madison - (4th President of the United States and known as the ’Father of the Constitution’) "We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
ii. John Jay was the first Chief Justice of our Supreme Court and one of the 3 top men in the formation of our Constitution. He said Americans should ’select and prefer Christians as their rulers" When is the last time you heard a Supreme Court Judge say that?
iii. To show that this nation was built on the Bible and Christian Principles, listen to what Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not be religionists but by Christians....not on religions but ton the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
iv. Listen to what our first President, George Washington, said, "It is impossible to rightly govern....without God and the Bible."
v. "Can the Liberties of a Nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are the gift of God." - Thomas Jefferson
vi. "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time." - Thomas Jefferson
vii. "Suppose a Nation is some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited....What a Utopia! What a Paradise would this Nation be!" - John Adams
3. 52 of the 55 Framers of the Constitution were members of the Orthodox Established Churches in the Colonies. A Secularized United States without any reference to God and the Bible whatsoever was the farthest thing from the minds of these men.
4. In New England - 1777 - Because of the War, Bibles from England were cut off. Patrick Allison, Chaplain of Congress, placed before the Body a petition praying for immediate relief. A special Congressional Committee ordered 20,000 Bibles which were imported from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the States of the Union.
a. These Bibles were to be given to students in school so they could learn using the Bible.
5. The University of Houston was commissioned to do a 10 year study on the Founding Fathers and their writings to see their intentions and if they intended America to be founded on Christian Principles and the Bible or complete separation from religion. They surveyed over 15,000 documents of the Founding Fathers during that 10 year period. They found 3,154 direct quotes from the Founding Fathers themselves. 34% of those direct quotes were from the Bible itself! 60% were from men who were directly influenced by the Bible. One example was Blackstone, whose law books were considered the basis upon our Supreme Court and Judiciary System were built, and were the Law Books of Reference for about almost 120 years. Blackstone quoted so many Bible verses in his law books that a law student named FINNEY was saved and became a great evangelist......from reading Blackstone’s Law books! So they found that 94 % of the quotes of the founding fathers were either directly or indirectly from the Bible!
iii. Today in America we have bought into lies from the serpent and these lies are destroying the very fabric of this nation.
e. God’s Word promised the following to those who are the saints and He also promised that the cursing’s would follow the aints?
i. The saint:
1. New Life – which is everlasting
2. The chance to start over and be Born Again
3. Death will not defeat them
4. Opportunity for a better life
5. Prosperity in life
6. Success that is eternal in nature
7. Eternal blessings and rewards in the next life for living right in this life.
ii. The aint:
1. Death and a life filled with bitterness
2. Cursing’s from above and no blessings
3. Heartache and loneliness
4. No hope
5. Judgment that is eternal and not pleasant – a life and eternal life filled with terror, loneliness, and torment.
6. No wisdom or prosperity
7. Emptiness in life
f. So as Jesus said earlier “This nation has believed the lies of their father the Devil and he is out to kill steal and destroy this nation because it was once founded on truth and it was designed to be “A Nation under God.”
i. Now it is becoming a nation under lies and in opposition to the Lord!
T.S. – We have explored that God’s Word is truth and if we go against it we will pay the price because everyone is a sinner and man does not have a moral soul without God. God’s Word speaks the truth and what God’s says will come to pass.
II. God says that we have all fallen short – we have all sinned – we were all in the same sinking ship helping to sink it.
a. Romans 3:8-23: 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved. 9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.”18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
i. Paul is straight to the point and he is not trying to be politically correct – We have all blown it – so we need to ask Jesus to come rescue us and our society!
b. Video Illustration: How sinful our nation is today just like it was in Noah’s day.
c. We are all in the same boat and we are all responsible for causing the boat to sink. We all have contributed to the sinking of the ship!
i. We all in Paul’s thoughts have helped to sink the ship by shooting holes in it by not following the Word of God with our lives. We have also been responsible for pulling out the safety plugs in the boat and we have allowed the raging sea of humanity to crush in and start sinking our ship.
1. Share the story about Senior Prom and your maiden voyage with “Mac - A - Tac”:
a. When I was a senior in High School I went to prom and then after the prom a bunch of me and my buddies along with our dates decided to go up to Racoon State Park to boat and enjoy a day at the beach.
i. After we had all slept on the beach the Sun came up and it turned out to be a beautiful day. So we decided to go rent a boat and go out on the lake. We rented a row boat and we rowed out into the middle of the lake and we kicked back and soaked up the sun. Then Yardy decided it would be funny to pull the plug on the row boat and not tell anyone. So here we are enjoying the sun and then we all feel water on our feet. We all spring up to discover that the boat is sinking and watering is pouring in the back of the boat. We all panic and start bailing with our hands as Yardy starts to laugh. We al looked at him as if he had lost his mind. He then holds up the plug. He is tormenting us all and laughing until when he tries to put the plug back in it won’t go in right. He then starts to panic as the boat is filling up with water and we are all nice and soaked by now. After what seemed like an hour of paddling toward shore and Yardy plugging the hole we made it to shore with the boat ½ filled with water. No one was laughing or joking and Yardy knew we were not happy. He knew he had made a big mistake even though when he did it he thought it would be funny and a simple laugh. He was wrong!
b. The story of Mac –A – Tac’s maiden voyage: The first time we put the boat in the water on Wapo I forget to put in the drain plug in. So here we are with 6 people out on Wapo cruising along enjoying the day. When I notice the boat is sinking deeper into the water and I look at the back and both pumps are pumping water out it’s then that I realize I did not put the plug in. So we race to shore and eventually get it back up on shore and on the trailer and the boat lower hull is filled with water. The truth is if it was not for the boats pumps we would have sunk it on its first maiden voyage. I to this day thank the Lord that I made a mistake but the pumps came to my rescue and they spared my boat and all of us getting wet.
c. The truth is we all seem to make mistakes and take the wrong turns but the truth is the Word of God never takes or makes the wrong turn!
2. We often hear the humanistic person say that people are basically good in their hearts. This thought is contrary to scripture:
a. Paul Fritz states: The humanistic view purports that every person has basically good intentions even though they may go occasionally go astray. So much of what we see on TV comes from the humanistic view that believes if everyone is just given enough help they will do what is right. In contrast, Paul describes a very bleak picture of unregenerate human nature in this passage. The great apostle describes several of the aspects of the depravity of our sinful nature to show how desperately all need Christ.
No doubt Paul remembered what God told Jeremiah, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked; who can understand it." (Jer. 17:9) Paul gives us several points of evidence in how the human nature is depraved, corrupt and helplessly sick. The great apostle uses this true description of human nature to highlight everyone’s need for regeneration through Christ’s grace.
3. Listen to what Paul says that Scripture says:
a. Messsage “10There’s nobody living right, not even one, 11nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. 12They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one. 13Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mud slides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. 14They open their mouths and pollute the air. 15They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, 16litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, 17Don’t know the first thing about living with others. 18They never give God the time of day.”
d. Everyone has fallen short when it comes to sin this is why we need someone to rescue us. Important point to remember is that sin is not rated from a 1-10 ratio with 1 being a lesser sin and 10 being the worst sin.
i. There is no degree level for sin – sin is simply sin.
1. All these sins are on the same level:
a. Murder
b. Gossip
c. Bitterness
d. Un-forgiveness
e. Hatred
f. Stealing
g. Lying
h. Sodomy
i. Adultery
j. Fornication – sex outside of marriage
k. Selfishness
e. To God sins is sin- all on the same plain – same level – their will be the same consequences – It is all rooted and birthed from the same evil.
i. When judgment comes we will be judged by how we lived our lives.
1. The key for the saint is he or she is going to be judged on what they did with their life – after receiving the truth.
2. In other words what they did with the gift the Lord had given them – salvation, righteousness and holiness.
T.S. – We all fall short when comes to living a right kind of life without the Spirit of God in us to help us. So Jesus provided Jesus and His Spirit to help us do it right and give us an escape route from our sinful selfish hearts.
III. God has chosen in spite of man’s sins to make things right and to provide a way of escape out of the sinking ship.
a. Romans 3:24-31: 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
i. Paul tells us that God made a way for all of us who have fallen in to sin to be rescued and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.
ii. The law is the means by which we see that we do not measure up and it has a purpose in this life – to show us how unworthy we are.
iii. But faith in Jesus is the key to measuring up to the law and getting into right relationship with the Lord Jesus and God.
b. The way out of our current messed up life is Jesus – there is no other way!
i. When a person chooses to rescued by Jesus then they accept the Spirit of the Lord and go from the aint to the saint.
ii. The way Jesus entered Jerusalem on palm Sunday 2,000 plus years ago was a victory celebration of the deliver of the people of Israel and He is the same deliverer today.
1. By the way back then this made the religious people mad and they plotted His death as they still today try to kill the spirit of Jesus from setting people free.
c. Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem was Jesus to the rescue!
i. Today He is still willing to rescue us if we ask Him to!
Conclusion:
We have learned three things today and that is:
1. God always tells the truth even if it is not politically correct!
2. God says that we have all sinned – everyone of us!
3. Therefore He sent Jesus to rescue us from ourselves.
I want to conclude today by quoting just a few promises from the Word of God for those who choose to go from being an aint to a saint!
Gods Promises Scripture List from http://deborahsmessianicministries.com/Godspromiseslist.html
Exodus 15:26
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
Exodus 23:25
25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
Deuteronomy 7:14-15
14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
1 Kings 8:56
56 Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.
Psalm 91:9-10
9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Psalm 91:14-16
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
Psalm 103:1-5
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
Psalm 107:19-21
19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psalm 118:17
17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
Proverbs 4:20-24
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
Isaiah 41:10
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 53:4-5
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Jeremiah 1:12
12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Jeremiah 30:17
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Joel 3:10
10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Nahum 1:9
9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
Matthew 8:2-3
3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Matthew 8:16-17
16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Matthew 18:18-19
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 21:21-22
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Mark 11:22-24
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them
Mark 16:14-18
14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Romans 4:16-21
16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:
20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Romans 8:2,11
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
11 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Galatians 3:13-14,29
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Ephesians 6:10-17
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Phillipians 2:13
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Phillippians 4:6-7
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
11 Timothy 1:7
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Hebrews 10:23
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Hebrews 10:35-38
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Hebrews 11:1,11
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
James 5:14-16
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
1 Peter 2:24
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 John 3:21-22
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1 John 5: 14-15
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
111 John 2
2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
Revelation 12:11
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
