Introduction
I. Over the past two weeks, I have had three conversations that have caused me a degree of concern.
II. All three conversations involved people that had been either raised in the church, or involved in a church that I know was a good, solid, bible teaching, salvation believing church.
III. Because of these conversations, I have decided to take a step back this morning, and talk about what I believe to be a basic Christian truth.
A. As we move into this new phase of our church rebuilding process, I believe it is paramount that all of us know, and basically agree with what the gospel message is.
1. We have been praying and asking God to bring us people that do not know Jesus Christ as their savior.
2. Our purpose statement is “To Connect People to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.”
B. If God is going to answer that prayer, and help us meet that purpose statement, then it becomes imperative that we know what it means to connect with Christ.
IV. If we, individually and corporately, do not know and understand the gospel, then two things are true,
A. One - We are still lost in our sin, and without hope.
B. Two - If we are still lost in our sin, then we will not be able to help others connect with Christ either.
V. Prayer - God; open our minds to your truth.....
VI. So - Conversation One, which took place with a young lady.
A. At one point, I asked her the direct question, “When you die, what is the next thing that will happen to you?
1. Her first answer, and it was quick, “I will go to heaven of course.”
2. My next question,
a. Why,
b. How do you know.
3. Now I remind you, this young lady had been raised in a good, Bible teaching church,
a. In answer to the “Why” and “how” she gave me two answers,
(1) One - “I am a good person” quickly followed by,
(2) “I know God.”
b. At that point, I was concerned,
VII. Now let me ask you, “Why would those answers leave me unsettled?”
1. Because the bible says,
a. “There is no one that is good.
b. No one seeks after God.”
2. Paul puts it this way in Romans 3 - “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; thee is none who does good, there is not even one.”
B. The good part of this conversation was that I got to share the gospel with her.
C. In response to what I shared, the young lady then said, “That is what I meant” and again I was left a bit unsettled.
D. I ask you again, “Why would such an answer leave me unsettled?”
1. Because I couldn’t be sure,
a. Did she say she agreed because it was true; in which case the church needs to do a better job communicating the gospel,
b. Did she say she agreed, so I wouldn’t pursue the subject any further, in which case I was lost with how to follow up,
c. Did she know or not know; I couldn’t be sure.
VIII. All I know is, sometimes in our desire to feel justified, we can have a tendency to deceive ourselves as to what the gospel really is.
IX. Take a look at this movie clip from “Hidden Secrets” and see what the bigger sin just might be.
X. Conversation two took place later that week,
A. I was talking with a gentleman that I thought I knew well.
1. I had been his pastor in a former church.
2. He had been a leader, an elder in that church.
B. We were talking about a lady that he was currently involved with.
C. As we talked he said, “I know that she is a Christian, because,
1. She doesn’t drink!
2. Because she doesn’t smoke!
3. Because she doesn’t even cuss, except once in a while!
4. And of course the kicker, “She is a good person.”
D. Again, cause for pause,
1. I know he has been taught truth, because I taught him,
2. I know he gave me a solid testimony, before we made him a leader in the church,
3. How/why then would he say, “I know because....” and not even mention faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
XI. We all want to believe that if there truly is a heaven, we will end up there at the end of this life.
XII. And if we are going to end up there, certainly we want to believe that those we love and care about will end up there too.
A. But hoping and wishing will not get the job done.
B. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately,
1. Being a good person won’t get us into heaven, for how good is good enough, and how do we know if we are good enough.
2. Following a bunch of rules won’t get us into heaven, for how do we know whose rules we are following; are they God’s or are they mans, does it really matter?
XIII. I want to show you another video clip, this one from “Nacho Libre”
A. One wrestler has a genuine concern for the salvation of his fellow wrestler.
1. He want to ensure that God is on their side in an upcoming match, and the only way to ensure that is to make sure his friend is “Saved.”
2. So what does he do; get him to follow the rules for salvation of course.
XIV. Clip - “Nacho Libre” - That certainly made him right with God, didn’t it.
XV. I would like to think that I’m “preaching to the choir” today, but truth be told, I thought I was preaching to the choir with my friend too.
XVI. The third conversation I had is too broad for this morning.
A. Again talking with a young lady, raised in the church.
1. Taught the right stuff,
2. Claims Christ as Savior,
B. But only recently she told me, “You know the Bible is all lies. It was all politically motivated.”
XVII. We need to deal with that as week, but not today; today is “The True Gospel.”
XVIII. We begin with, “How Good is Good Enough.”
How Good Is Good Enough
I. If you were to ask most people, “Are you good,” I believe most people would say “Yes. Of course I am.”
II. And I will also say this,
A. I would agree
B. Most people are essentially good; notice I did not say good at their core, but most people are essentially good.
1. With some exceptions, most people are “good” to their spouses.
2. With some exceptions, most people are “good” to their children.
3. With some exceptions, most people do a “good” job at work, and even try their best.
C. Most people are good.
1. In fact, I believe it to be true that most people are more good than bad.
2. If you could take the lives of most people, and put their deeds on a scale, the “good” side would far out weigh the “bad.”
D. If the only requirement for entrance to heaven was “does your good outweigh your bad” then getting into heaven would not be a problem for most people.
III. You see, primarily, the problem is not whether we are good or bad!!!
A. On our human scale of looking at good and bad, most people are in fact good.
B. The real problem lies in the scale that we are using to make the judgement.
IV. I would like to ask you to open your bibles to the first white page you have and write “Romans Road” and beside or under that, write “Romans 3:23.”
A. Romans 3:23 reads like this, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
B. The entrance into heaven is not based on some arbitrary, or human imagined level of goodness over badness.
V. Entrance into heaven is based on perfection.
A. God is perfect in all that He does!
B. God never makes mistakes!
C. God is not mostly good, God is the embodiment of good, and in order for us to enter into the presence of God, we must also be wholly good; we must all reach the level of the “glory” or perfection of God; and so it is with every human that has ever been born.
VI. Goodness is not the requirement; perfection is, and none of us are perfect.
VII. Paul gives us an extreme picture of human sin in Romans 3:10-18 - as it is written,“There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips” ; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” ; 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17 And the path of peace have they not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.
A. But you say, “Pastor, you just said that man is basically good; this is not a picture of someone basically good.”
B. On the contrary, it really is,
1. Do we lie, sometimes, then we are we are liars;
2. Do we cheat sometimes, then we are cheaters;
3. Do we talk bad about our neighbors, even our loved ones, sometimes; then we are slanderers, with the poison of asps under our lips.
VIII. The point is, we don’t always do bad things, but if we ever do bad things, then we are at our cores bad, and moreover we are deserving of the results, the compensation for that badness.
IX. And so what is the compensation for badness; we will look at Romans 6:23, but before you turn there, at the side of verse 3:23 write “Romans 6:23."
Just Compensation
I. In our world, we generally work on a basis of “just compensation for just effort” in other words, we can expect to receive what we deserve.
II. Take for instance a student.
A. If a student does all his homework, does well on the tests, behaves in class, does all that is expected by the teacher, then the student expects to earn a good grade.
B. If the student does more than expected, they might even expect a break from the instructor, should they falter in one small area.
III. Now consider the normal worker on the job.
A. If they expend the anticipated effort on the job, if they show up on time, do an honest days work, and stay the required number of hours; they can expect to receive the agreed upon paycheck each week.
B. If they do more than expected, they may anticipate a faster than usual promotion.
IV. Most of us can think about our children,
A. They all claim to be well behaved, they all claim to follow the house rules, they do what is expected, so they anticipate our love.
B. If they do more than expected, which every child I’ve ever seen does, do they not then anticipate that new Playstation or Ipod as a reward.
V. We can also get caught up in that expectation when it comes to our relationship with God.
A. We believe we are good, therefore we anticipate God’s blessing.
B. In fact, if you listen to many TV evangelist, they will tell you that if you give more than the basic requirement from God, you can anticipate a greater than expected reward.
VI. But we have already learned that if we do anything at all wrong, then we are entirely wrong, therefore for what can we expect from God? See Romans 6:23.
A. We can anticipate receiving the exact wages that we deserve, namely - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
B. Namely death,
1. When God created the world, it was perfect, and therefore death was not a part.
2. With the introduction of sin, death entered the world,
C. But the writer of Romans is really not talking purely about “physical death.”
D. The death that Paul is referring to is “spiritual death” that is eternal separation from God, and therefore heaven.
VII. We will receive just compensation for the things that we do, namely we cannot expect to be rewarded with heaven, if we are less than perfect.
A. What is hell; really,
1. Don’t worry about the flames
2. Don’t worry about a place of torment,
B. Hell is certain and eternal separation from God.
VIII. Based on a scale of good to bad, our final destiny is not heaven and the presence of God, but rather Hell, which is eternal separation from God.
IX. Except God has a plan for giving us much more than we deserve.
X. God has a plan for offering us “More Than We Deserve.”
More Than We Deserve
I. Before you turn to the next verse, write Romans 5:8 someplace near to 6:23
A. Romans 5:8 reads like this - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
B. To me, the most important part of this verse is “while we were yet sinners.”
II. Because of our sin; because of our lack of perfection, what we deserve is eternal separation from God, death.
A. And yet, the bible says in Ephesians, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us
B. Between these two verses, there are two primary points.
1. First -
a. God does not have to accept us into heaven.
b. God is under no obligation, based on our goodness to allow us life; and yet,
2. Second,
a. Because of his mercy He does offer us life,
b. Even in the midst of our not living up to perfection, God offers us His mercy.
III. Let me ask you, how many times have you said something like,
A. “If you will do this or that, I will reward you by doing this.”
B. They start out good, but then fail to live up to their end of the bargain, and yet; you go ahead and give them what you promised.
C. We all do it from time to time.
IV. We would like to think that is how God works,
A. God says, “You must be perfect to enter into this life called heaven,” and yet we do not, and in fact cannot live up to our end of the bargain.
B. And yet because of His own perfection, God cannot simply look past what we have not done.
C. God’s demand for perfection must be met, He cannot simply look past our sin and offer us reward, and He does not.
V. Romans 5:8 says, “...Christ died for us.”
A. Think of that word “for” as meaning “in place of”
B. Christ died, and was separated from God “in our place” for us.
VI. Because of the great love with which He loves us, God does not look past our sin, but rather He offered up the death of Jesus Christ as our replacement.
A. Christ died instead of us.
B. We are offered life, because Christ offered His own life.
VII. It is ONLY through His death, that we are offered life.
A. God does not look past our smoking, our drinking, our cussing, or our lack thereof and say, “Well it doesn’t matter. I love them.”
B. God says all that stuff does matter, and they deserve death, but I offer live through Christ.
VIII. But there is one requirement; we must believe.
One Requirement
I. Before you turn to the next verse, put Romans 10:9 beside Romans 5:8 - that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
II. The verse says, “confess” and “believe”
A. Maybe I should have said two requirements, but they are kind of a simultaneous action.
B. That which we believe, we are not afraid to confess.
III. God says that for us to be the benefactor of His offer of life, we must believe that Jesus Christ died in our place.
A. Notice this verse does not say we suddenly must go to church every Sunday.
B. It does not say that we must start teaching Bible studies, or know and do all that the Bible says to do.
IV. This verse really says one thing,
A. “We must believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins.”
B. And when you believe it, “confess” or speak about it with our mouths; that means to pray and say “God I realize who I am and who Christ is, and what He did for me.
V. That simple, that quick, that painless.
Conclusion
I. I close with these questions,
II. Were you to die today, what will happen next?
A. Why? How do you know?
B. If you believe that Jesus died to make it possible for you to live, have you ever said so to God?
C. If not, why not today?
D. All you have to do is say a prayer something like this, and you don’t even have to say it out loud; God can hear your thoughts.
III. There is one more verse you may want to mark in your Bible, and that is Romans chapter 5, verse 1 - Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
IV. If you have said “Yes” to Jesus, you now have peace with God.
