Salvation: This is not about membership numbers, money, or popularity…there is a great divide between us and God. And I’m concerned for you about it.
The Good Test: Rom 3:12b, “…There is none who does good, no, not one.” 10 commandments Exodus 20:1-17
1. Our condition, what we see everywhere
-
Rom 1:25, “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” People are different from all creatures and are seeking something missing inside. The religious nature of people alone shows we long for our Creator. You don’t see squirrels or monkeys doing religious ceremonies.
-
*01 No other gods before me- has God always been #1 in your life?
-
*02 You shall not make any idols- have you placed any physical thing, person, or fun before God?
-
*03 You shall not take the Lord God’s name in vain- have you ever used God’s name or said God’s name carelessly (“Oh my God!” or something like “God’s the man upstair”, “yeah I know Him, so”, “God, whatever”), or have you used His name in replacement for a cuss word or in frustration? “Jesus Christ! Why you do that?!”
-
*04 Keep the Sabbath day (your day off) holy- have you ever neglected God and your Christianity on your off days?
-
*05 Honor your mother and father- Have you always, even as a kid, spoke and shown respect and proper listening skills to your parents?
-
*06 You shall not murder- have you ever wished that someone was dead, pretended mentally to shoot someone during frustration, or had a hate lled thought about a person?
-
*07 You shall not commit adultery- have you ever been unfaithful to your spouse in thought, word, or deed during and even before your marriage? Have you ever lusted after others?
-
*08 You shall not steal- have you ever taken even a paperclip, pen, cookie, that did not belong to you let alone money, illegally downloaded software, or made copies of illegal digital movies? As a child have you ever taken a toy away that interested you from another without asking?
-
*09 You shall not lie- have you always told and shown the truth?
-
*10 You shall not covet (want what belongs to others)- have you always been happy with what you had and never wanted what others have such as their position, cars, house, fancy technology gizmo (such as your friend’s big screen TV or new I-Phone), or spouse?
2. We are sinners: we all have a conscience that tells us this when compared to the 10 commandments (other side).
-
Rom 3:10, “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one”.
3. The effect of sin: Rom 7:7a, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law…”
- Rom 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. -
Rom 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”.
4. If God is perfectly just their must be a punishment for our sins
-
Rom 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death…”
-
Rev 21:8, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with re and brimstone, which is the second death.”
5. But we have a merciful God
-
Gen 3:15, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head (fatal wound), And you shall bruise His heel (super cial wound).” Jesus says He will be born of a virgin woman to crush Satan and redeem us who accept this gift (all in the past, present, and future).
-
Rom 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
-
Guilty. James 2:10, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Rom 6:23b, “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
-
Worthless. Isa 64:6, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like lthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” - this means our righteousness is the equivalent of ‘dirty menstrual cloths’ (such as a dirty tampon). We cannot bribe God with our tainted “good works” to get into Heaven or pass by judgement. Don’t believe me, try giving a basket of dirty menstrual cloths to a judge after you got a ticket for a crime. Our attitude behind what we do is tainted and in some way sel sh/self-serving without us noticing.
-
Lust. Matt 5:27-28, “27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
-
Murder. 1 John 3:15, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
-
Ignoring. James 4:17,”Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
-
Speci cs
6. We must freely accept Christ’s payment for our sin through faith
-
Rom 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
-
Rom 10:13, “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
-
John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”.
7. You can know you are saved and going to heaven
- 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
Christ had to die because of our failure to keep the law. Gal 2:21, “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”