Sermon Central
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What It Is That We Do Not Deserve
Contributed by Pastor Randall Timblin on Jul 6, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: Do we deserve every gift that we are given? Is it always something we have done or done well? I know of a gift that you can never deserve and it replaces something you do deserve.
GREETINGS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Lord we gather this morning that we might raise our voices to You and that we might truly Glorify Your Holy Name. You have told us that where two or more gather and raise their voices in unity, expressing what is needed, that you would hear us…Please hear us Lord as we Glorify Your Name and offer our petitions to You.
LET THIS BE OUR CALL TO WORSHIP
PRAYER
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever been surprised with a gift from someone who loved you?
Were you truly surprised? Did you think that you deserved what was given to you?
Was it because of a “job well done” or just because you are you perhaps?
Well today we are going to talk about a gift that you cannot deserve. A gift much beyond who you are or something you have done…but first let us read together from His Word.
SERMON
Our sermon this morning is titled “What it is that We Do NOT Deserve.”
I have six points to discuss with you this morning:
POINT #1: We are an UNGODLY bunch
POINT #2: We are an UNDESERVING bunch
POINT #3: We are a CLUELESS bunch
POINT #4: We are a SINFUL bunch
POINT #5: We are a LOVED bunch
POINT #6: We can be a part of His Bunch
POINT #1: We are an UNGODLY bunch
Have you ever once considered yourself as “UNGODLY?” Well you were or maybe you still are…that is between you and our Lord Jesus Christ…
You see, Jesus Christ, the Son of God…the Son of Man…availed Himself to this harsh world…to let the same men He created…spit on Him…ridicule Him and His Name…and then to place Him on a wooden cross…just one more thing our Lord created.
He did so according to verse 9, that you and I might avoid God’s Wrath. You see, God’s Wrath is soon to come to His earth and much of His creation. In Genesis, it is recorded that He would never destroy that which was on His earth…that which He created…by water…ever again. He gave us the rainbow as proof of His covenant…His promise…that it would never happen like that again.
However, He has also promised us that the earth and all of His creation…. man specifically…but not solely…those that are still His enemy…those that have disappointed Him…especially those who have disobeyed His commands.
He first gave mankind a set of commandments…knowing that foolish man would never obey them and that there would be a need to have His Son give His life that we might have eternal life should we truly accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
But eve with such a sacrifice…He also knew that there would be many who would still not accept His free gift of eternal life with Him.
POINT #2: We are an UNDESERVING bunch
This gift is something that man DOES NOT DESERVE by no means. What has man done to deserve a single thing God has given us?
To Him, we are just sinners that deserve nothing but death. But to His Son, we are His beloved and so He died for us…that we might be reconciled to His Father…verses 10 and 11.
How then did man get into the current predicament? Well…it goes back 6000+ years to the time when this earth…this once beautiful earth…had just two human inhabitants…one Adam and one Eve his companion.
God’s intentions were two-fold as it related to His pride and joy (Adam and Eve). One, they would have free will and two, they would walk with Him in His garden of Eden rejoicing to Him what He had created. This was to last forever…but He knew…with all of His omnipotence that it would not turn out well.
POINT #3: We are a CLUELESS bunch
Many ask, “Well why did He not create us sinless…having no part of our being that would disobey Him?”
The answer is that He designed us not as so-called robots but as humans with the ability to make a choice…that choice being Him…He wanted us to CHOOSE HIM.
Was that too much to ask? Satan thought so. Satan knew that man was just human. We had no powers even close to His or God’s angels. We were special…by far…but susceptible…and that’s exactly what Satan keyed on.
Perhaps…most likely…it was to get even for being cast out of heaven by God. He would show God. He would influence man to disobey that Father as he himself had done.
POINT #4: We are a SINFUL bunch
Therefore, it is said in verse 12, that “just through one man sin entered the world” as did death. Our immortal selves were replaced by corrupted and mortal beings…men and women that would die. We would then be faced with a decision…to continue to disobey Him or to follow and obey.