Sermon Central
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Is That Your Problem? Series
Contributed by Timothy Mills on Sep 18, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: We are all sinners, & God treats us like sinners; now, doesn’t that comfort your heart & give your peace?
God has no preferential treatment for one person over another. Acts 10:34-35; We are all sinners, & God treats us like sinners. Now, doesn’t that comfort your heart & give your peace?
1) The Law is what comdemns us all.
• "The Law" means the Law of God, the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments. The Law brings awareness of sin. That all people know what sin is shows they know what the Law of God is.
• People may not know all 10 Commandments, esp. the 1st 4, No other Gods, No idols, Don’t take the Name in vain, Remember the Sabbath. The last 6 are common to all peoples; honor parents, no murder, adultery, stealing, lying, or coveting.
• They know the Law, & they know there is a god, but they did something wrong with that knowledge, making idols & ideas about God that look like them, or look like their worst nightmares.
2) All have sinned.
• Pagans sin aginst the light they do have. Everyone has some Divine Light. The problem is that they have sinned against the light they do have. That sin dims the light they already have.
• Jews sinned against a fuller light. Their problem is not that they lack light, but that they sinned against the light they did/do have. Small "c" christians have sinned against their light too.
• The problem is not knowledge, but sin. You know how to live, but you don’t do it. You “dis” your parents, you lust, do not keep the Sabbath; you may not murder, but you slander & gossip.
3) What must I do to be saved? Luke 18:18; Acts 2: 37, 16:30.
• All of these peole wanted to DO something to inherit eternal life. They began with flattery: "Good Teacher." In Luke, the man said he had kept the Law from his youth on up (liar!).
• Yes there is something we can DO to be saved. Matthew 7:21, Romans 2:13. We want to keep the Law of God. The problem is not in the Law, but in our keeping of the Law. We can’t do it!
• Eternal life is the GIFT of God. All you can do with a gift is accept it or reject it. Never earned, or diserved. It is inherited from God. This means that the good works will follow our salvation.
4) Because of all this, judgement is necessary.
• There is a set day for Judgement. We may not know when, but JDay is a certainty. This is Sunday, but Judgement day is coming.
• The deep secrets of the heart will be revealed. Luke 2:2
• Jesus, the Stumbling Stone, the Rejected, will be our judge. He will judge based on what you have done; have you accepted Him?
