CALL TO WORSHIP:
O GOD Hear our Prayers. We ask for Your Guidance and Strength as we
witness these terrible times. Be with us and our families and each
and every saint.
LET THIS BE OUR CALL TO WORSHIP
POINTS:
#1 THE LAW
#2 THE REDEMPTION
#3 THE WILL
#4 THE END
POINT #1:
THE LAW
When we hear "THE LAW" what are we to think or understand'
Whatever it is, verse 20 tells us that we are sinful by virtue of it,
but not in those words.
Is the LAW the Ten Commandments?
Certainly. They form the foundation of our being. And I might tell
you this. There has been only one man who kept everyone of them in
their entirety.
That would be Jesus of course.
Let's look at those ten located on the tablets to remove any doubt:
I You shall have no other Gods before me
II You shall make no idols.
III You shall not take the Lord's Name in vain.
IV Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
V Honor your Mother and Father.
VI You shall not murder.
VII You shall not commit adultery
VIII You shall not steal
IX You shall not bear false witness.
X You shall not covet.
Basically, these ten commandments are how a person will be judged by
God if that person has never accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. I
can think of maybe one or two that I have not disobeyed. I was a dirty
rag until I met Jesus. How about you?
Point #2
REDEMPTION
We just read that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.
It's that "fall short" clause that is the kicker.
Unless we do something about it, we will fall short of His Glory,
meaning that we will never see Heaven but instead the Lake of Fire.
Who would want the latter except non-believers perhaps.
I would bet, if I was a gambling man, that many do not realize that
there is a choice that needs to be made.
By choosing nothing, they have chosen the latter. Heaven will NOT be
their final destination. You've heard of defaults I am sure...well
the default here is FIRE!
Christ came to earth and destined Himself to be painfully nailed to a
cross and only after being tormented for hours. He was half-beaten-
to-death when they nailed Him to His Cross and raised Him up for all to see.
No other man could do what He did. But He was not just some other
man. He was God in person, in the flesh, and wanted to give you and
I a way to cross-over the huge gulf that separated us from Him.
If He had not done so, our only choice would be the default I
mentioned earlier. We would all burn forever in torment.
What about a God that cares that much for you and me! He didn't have
to do for us. But our God loved us that much. The Bible says that
He gave His Only-Begotten Son to die for our sins.
But, as He did, He also gave Himself since our God is one in three.
Point #3
THE WILL
Once we have been redeemed, it only sticks if we forget about our
will and take on His Will.
This is most likely the hardest thing a person will ever do because
it is NOT natural for a human to not do what he or she
wants to do but to do what he or she knows that they are to do.
Paul had something to say about the subject.
ROMANS 7:15-20
If Paul sounds confused, he probably was. I know he has me a little
confused at first.
Let me see if I can boil it down for you:
What he does, he doesn’t understand why. It is not as though he
practiced doing what he did, or what he does, for it just comes
natural.
He hates that which he does because he knows it is wrong.
He knows that it is wrong because of the law.
Had he not known of the law he would have no knowledge of his sinful actions.
He realizes that we all are sinners and it is that sin that causes us
to do what is wrong, that which he hates.
Because of sin, his desires are never good.
Instead of good, his sinful self does evil instead.
Still confused? Put another way, we will never do that which is good
unless we shed our sinful selves and allow Jesus to change us from
dirty rags to cleansed saints.
POINT #4:
THE END
As I mentioned earlier, there can be only one of two “ENDINGS” here.
If we do nothing, the ENDING we choose is self-fulfilling. We need do
nothing but continue to be our sinful selves.
MATTHEW 24:6-14
We’ve been having wars and rumors of wars for some time now. It is
the famines, plagues and earthquakes that gives us insight into the
timing.
The last big plague was the HIV was a destructive plague
that claimed 35 million people over the last 40 years, or 850,000 per
year.
Covid-19 has killed 9 million people over the last two years,
or 4.5 million per year. Both have been real killers but there may
be more coming.
Earthquakes have claimed one-half million lives since 2004.
2004 and 2010 had the two most destructive earthquakes in these past two
centuries.
The deadliest earthquake ever was in China in 1556 and
it claimed more than 800,000 lives.
So, we have had more lives lost in the last two decades than in all of the
decades since the turn of the millennia.
There seems to be more hatred and a lot less love in our world in the last
century alone.
And as promised, there are many false prophets running around.
Also, soon there will be no place on earth where His Good News has not
been preached. And so, the END is coming soon, and I tell you "GET READY!"
MATTHEW 24:29-31
We will know the END is upon us when the sun is darkened as will be
the moon. Stars will then fall, and it most likely will be a series of devastating
meteor storms.
His angels will give out a loud trump from a Heavenly Trumpet and
all, every man, woman and child will see Him in the clouds.
They will witness the dead rising and the live as well, to meet with Him
in the clouds.
He, and we will then go up to Heaven for the Great Wedding Dinner in Heaven.
Meanwhile the earth will be in turmoil as God delivers His wrath on
those that would not accept His Son Jesus Christ.
But this is not the true END, for there are a few things that will happen
after what I have just described, and we will have to pick up where we left off,
in our next sermon.
BENEDICTION:
Father we Bless You. We look forward to meeting Your Son in the
Clouds and ask for Your continued protection until then. Amen.
And remember this always. God loves you and so do I.
