It has been said that the Gospel message has lost a great deal of its impact because of the fear preacher's have to preach and say "you" instead of "they." My friends, I do want you to like me. I do want to be accepted by the folk in this church. But my greatest desire is that you come to a right relationship with God. And an awareness concerning the reality of sin that is present in your life.
God's message is directed to you. The great tragedy in the church today is that there are so many who have no awareness of sin. You might say, "I'm a good guy." God says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Again, there is none that doeth good, no, not one!"
You say, "I'll find some other way to enter heaven." Jesus says, "I am the Way, Truth, and the Life; no one can come to the Father except through me." You say, "I'll follow my own truth." God says, "All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs motives." That verse appears in Proverbs 16, but also in the Old Testament book of Judges, in several places. It was describing the "spirit of the age" in which Judges was written. It was speaking to what was a highly individualistic and self-centered society. Their entire basis for basic morality and sense of right and wrong was centered, not on God, who gave them His law - the 10 Commandments - but also rules for living; it was centered on what they wanted and on what they desired. Their entire philosophy of life was not centered in God, but in an individualistic framework. Is that true even today?
Is there a sense of failure before God in your heart? Let's look at what His Word says: "Your iniquities (perversity) has made a separation between you and God." Jeremiah 17:9 reads: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it? But God knows it; He "searches the heart and tests the mind." When in your life, or collectively in society, the basis for love and hate, right and wrong, good and bad is based upon everyone doing "what is right in his own eyes," there is chaos, dysfunction, turmoil. It may sound counterintuitive to some, this high standard of God's governance in our lives, or in our society, because after all, we are a democracy, we have freedoms and rights. Nevertheless, God says he designed us to live under His governance.
God's message is directed to you. The great tragedy in the church today is that there are so many who have no awareness of sin. You might say, "I'm a good guy." God says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Again, there is none that doeth good, no, not one!"
You say, "I'll find some other way to enter heaven." Jesus says, "I am the Way, Truth, and the Life; no one can come to the Father except through me." You say, "I'll follow my own truth." God says, "All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs motives." That verse appears in Proverbs 16, but also in the Old Testament book of Judges, in several places. It was describing the "spirit of the age" in which Judges was written. It was speaking to what was a highly individualistic and self-centered society. Their entire basis for basic morality and sense of right and wrong was centered, not on God, who gave them His law - the 10 Commandments - but also rules for living; it was centered on what they wanted and on what they desired. Their entire philosophy of life was not centered in God, but in an individualistic framework. Is that true even today?
Is there a sense of failure before God in your heart? Let's look at what His Word says: "Your iniquities (perversity) has made a separation between you and God." Jeremiah 17:9 reads: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it? But God knows it; He "searches the heart and tests the mind." When in your life, or collectively in society, the basis for love and hate, right and wrong, good and bad is based upon everyone doing "what is right in his own eyes," there is chaos, dysfunction, turmoil. It may sound counterintuitive to some, this high standard of God's governance in our lives, or in our society, because after all, we are a democracy, we have freedoms and rights. Nevertheless, God says he designed us to live under His governance.
Can you really rely on your own senses to diagnose your ills. Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool says in his heart, there is no God." Is your religion make-believe? The sin in your life has prevented you from coming to Christ or from serving Him with your whole heart. Many of you could say these words found in I Thessalonians 2:18 to God: "Wherefore we would have come unto you...but Satan hindered us." Satan. Called by many names:The Great Dragon, the Devil, Lucifer, The Deceiver, Prince of Darkness. We find out what will ultimately happen to Satan in Revelations 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast out — that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world."
It's your soul - poor, miserable, perverse, sinful, wicked - of value to you perhaps, but what of God? Listen! God loves you - He gave His Son for you - the Holy Spirit pleads with you.
But you, along with your sings, can go to hell straight over the cross. How much does your soul mean to you? Enough to give it to Christ? Your whole heart and soul? Enough to let God have more than just the scraps (Sunday morning attendance) in your life?
A famous 18th century atheist and philosopher, best known for his skepticism of religion and empiricism, cried loud on his death bed “I am in flames!” It is said his “desperation was a horrible scene." Another famous infidel as he was dying said: "Don't tell me there is no God, for I am in His awful presence. I am lost - lost without hope!"
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