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It is often said, and I think rightly so, that the “Achilles Heel” of Christianity is the existence and pervasiveness of suffering seen in the world. Suffering and the existence of evil are pressing issues that seem to defy both reason and explanation. Both have been used hundreds of times by unbelievers to deny the possibility of a God existing Who is both perfectly good and all powerful.

Of course, we who know and love the One True and Living God of the Christian Bible, know that HE is indeed both perfectly good and all powerful. But, we still need to, “given an answer to everyone who asks…” of how and why we can and do believe this seeming paradox to be true.

The problem is not that we do not have an answer; the problem is two-fold: first, the answer is not simple; and, second, many Christians do not think through theological issues much and do not know the answer that is clearly given in Scripture.

Well, you have been warned! The answer is neither simple nor short; and, neither will the sermon be this coming Lord’s Day.

The formula for reasoning logically is as follows: fact + fact + fact + fact = logical conclusions. Scholars use their own language here… “ergo, ergo, ergo, sum.” This means: therefore + therefore + therefore = answer (or summary). This is the way I will proceed.

My outline will be: Fact #1 + Fact #2 + Fact #3 + Fact #4 + Fact #5 = God has both “sufficient reasons” and “righteous purposes” for allowing suffering to exist!

While we cannot know all of God’s sufficient reasons and righteous purposes for allowing suffering to exist, HE has chosen to reveal several of them in the Holy Scriptures. The application part of my sermon will consist of eight “Sufficient Reasons and Righteous Purposes” why God allows suffering to exist!

Let me encourage you to do some Scripture reading and thinking! I will give you the verses and you see if you can identify the reasons and purposes that come from those verses…

#1 Ephesians 5:6

#2 Jeremiah 7:12

#3 2^nd Chronicles 6:26-27

#4 John 9:1-3

#5 Philippians 3:7-10

#6 Isaiah 53:10-11

#7 Luke 23:39-43

#8 Acts 7:54-60

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!

Lanny

Revelation 7:9-12

⁹ “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

As the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning I will speak on the 5^th of the “5 Solas” of the doctrines of salvation. As we have previously seen, Salvation is From Scripture Alone; By Grace Alone; Through Faith Alone; In Christ Alone; and, this Sunday I will preach that it is… To the Glory of God Alone!

As we consider the salvation we have in Jesus Christ, we see more and more of how simple, and yet multi-faceted it actually is. In our Text this week, we can see three key things about this salvation:

First, God’s gift of salvation to sinners glorifies God by revealing the inclusiveness of it! To the glory of God, heaven will be home to multitudes of saved people from every Nation, people, tribe, and tongue! There is only one requirement to be a candidate for salvation – you must be a sinner!

Second, God’s gift of salvation to sinners glorifies God by revealing the exclusiveness of it! Of course, I realize that this sounds like an immediate contradiction to my first point, but it is not. Let me explain! Salvation is HIS! It is exclusively HIS! It is HIS to give or not to give; it is HIS salvation and HE alone can provide salvation to lost sinners.

Finally, God’s gift of salvation to sinners tells us much about HIM! There are at least six specific things about the Person and Character of God that are demonstrated in the above verses:

– God’s gift of salvation to sinners demonstrates the blessings of God!

– God’s gift of salvation to sinners demonstrates the glory of God!

– God’s gift of salvation to sinners demonstrates wisdom of God!

– God’s gift of salvation to sinners demonstrates the benevolence of God!

– God’s gift of salvation to sinners demonstrates the honor of God!

– God’s gift of salvation to sinners demonstrates the power of God!

It is indeed a humbling thing to know that even our salvation is not about us! Our salvation is really God’s salvation freely given to us in Jesus. It is HIS and it is to HIS glory!

I hope that you will take the time to read through these verses and comments, pray over them, and ask God to speak to you through the sermon this Sunday as you prepare your spirit to hear the preaching of God’s Word.

As my good friend Tom Rains often says, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!”

Acts 4:5-12

⁵ “On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ⁶ with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷ And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” ⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹ if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹ This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Over the past six months, we have been studying a “Survey of Bible Doctrines.” As the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning I will bring the 27^th message in the series on the subject, “Salvation is in Christ Alone.”

I hope that you will read over, think over, and pray through these verses and thoughts as you prepare your mind and spirit to hear the Word of God!

I am absolutely convinced that this is the most controversial thing that Christians believe! We do not believe that Jesus is merely “a” way of salvation; or, even that He is merely “the best” way of salvation. We believe that Jesus is the “ONLY” Way of salvation and that apart from HIM, there is no salvation!

This age-old statement of the Christian faith is the penultimate of the “Five Solas” of the Reformation. We have already studied “Sola Scriptura – Salvation is from the Scripture Alone; Sola Gratia – Salvation is by Grace Alone; and, Sola Fide – Salvation is by Faith Alone.”

We believe these – we really believe these! We have, in fact, enshrined them on our “Wall of Faith” in the foyer of our Church!

It is impossible for me to see how anyone can claim to believe the Bible and not believe these five statements. Consider these verses:

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 8:23-24 “[Jesus] said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

In the eight verses of our text, I want us to consider three key facts:

First, in verses 5 through 10, we see that Jesus is the source of the Church’s life-changing power!

Second, in verse 11, Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the church is built!

Finally, in verse 12, Jesus is the single, solitary, source of salvation!

The applications to these truths are clear: no one is saved by the teachings of Islam; Judaism; the Buddha; Sikhism; Taoism; Confucianism; Unitarian Universalism; or, secular humanism!

No religion; no religious system; or, any other person or plan can bring one to real salvation. The God of the Christian Bible is the One True and Living God – and only He can save. The “Way” He has chosen to save sinners is from the Scripture Alone; by Grace Alone; through Faith Alone; in Christ Alone; and, His salvation is to the Glory of God Alone!

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!

Romans 4:1-8

¹ “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵ And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶ just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; ⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

The New Testament word translated “faith” is pistis and it is used (in various forms) three times in this passage:

(4:3) The word translated, “believed” is episteusen (a past tense verb).

(4:5a) The word translated, “trusts” is pisteuonti (a present active verb).

(4:5b) The word translated, “faith” is pistis (the root word; which is a noun).

One of the clearest passages in Scripture to contrast the uses of this word is found in John 2:23-25

²³ “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed (episteusan) in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴ But Jesus on his part did not entrust (episteuen) himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵ and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

So it is very easy to see that what the Bible means when it says we must “believe” in Jesus Christ is that we must “entrust” – or as the King James has it – “commit” ourselves to Him. It is much deeper than the typical and casual use of the word “believe” today.

For example, we “believe” it will rain; meaning we think it will but we are not sure. Or, we “believe” that our favorite sports team is the best of all, when in fact – they may not be.

The Bible does not allow for any such ambiguity! If we claim to “believe” in Jesus Christ we must be convinced about Who He is and What He has done to the point of “committing” our self, our soul, and our eternal future to Him!

Another area of common confusion is the relationship of “faith” and “works.” Let me be clear here – this is vitally important – human works have no part in our salvation. They cannot save us or even assist God in saving us… but, real saving faith in Jesus Christ will ALWAYS produce good works in the life of the person who possesses that faith!

It is a problem of “cause and effect.” Good works are NEVER the cause of anyone’s salvation; but, they are ALWAYS the effect of one’s being saved!

James 2:18 is very helpful here: “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Let me add one additional warning… we are not saved by faith in and of itself! That would be to have “faith in faith.” We are saved by faith in the object of our faith – Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God!

This is really important! It is this doctrine (rightly understood) that separates authentic Bible-believing Christians from all of those who possess a phony faith.

As the Lord allows, when we look at the text this coming Lord’s Day I will build the sermon around a two-point framework: i.e., the Illustrations of Salvation by Faith Alone; and, the Implications of Salvation by Faith Alone!

God, speaking through the Apostle Paul, gives us two illustrations of being saved by faith alone: Abraham and David. The life experiences of these two men could hardly be more different; yet, the Bible reveals that they – like everyone else – were saved by faith and by faith alone!

There are, of course, lots and lots of implications of salvation being by faith alone. I have never heard or read were anyone summarized these better than did the man who discipled me in theology, (by the miracle of video tape) Dr. John H. Gerstner.

Dr. Gerstner lists seven specific implications for those who accept Jesus Christ on the basis of “sola fide” or faith alone:

1. The justified one does “not work.”

2. The justified one “trusts.”

3. The justified one trusts not in himself but in another: “God.”

4. The justified one confesses himself to be “wicked.”

5. The justified one does not have faith in his faith.

6. The justified one sees his faith only as “credited” to him.

7. The justified one sees his faith credited as “righteousness.”

Beloved Ones, as the Lord allows, I will teach through each of these points this coming Lord’s Day morning. I hope you will read over these scriptures and my notes, pray through them, and think through them as you prepare your spirit to hear the Word of God!

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!

Ephesians 2:1-10

¹ “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Salvation!

WOW!

“Saved!” What a wondrous and happy thought! As I have been thinking about the second in this series of five sermons on “The Doctrine of Salvation” I am overwhelmed by the very thought of the word… and the idea… let alone the reality of actually, really, certainly being saved.

This is not a difficult concept for me. I have been saved; and, I have been saved at multiple times and in multiple ways.

Huh? Of course, I have only been saved “spiritually” once. But I have had my life saved several times. I have had two serious motorcycle accidents; (I seem to be a slow-learner) I have survived some fairly close calls in Viet Nam; and I have, by the grace of God, survived stage four cancer.

Yesterday, July 29^th, 2013, was the 13^th anniversary of my cancer surgery. As you can imagine, I have spent a lot of time over the past few days thanking God for His intervention and for leading me to Drs. Wall, Sobol, and Elliott whom He used to bring about this “salvation.” Of course I realize that these men and their staffs did not “save” my earthly life, they merely extended it. Nonetheless, I am thankful for these thirteen years and my present good health.

By the grace of God, on November 6^th, 1982, I experienced the new birth. I won’t go into all of my testimony, since almost everyone reading this knows it well, but, I am most thankful of all for that reality in my life!

As I have prepared for my sermon this coming Lord’s Day, I have been again and again moved by the fact of God’s grace. Grace means, “unmerited favor” and you can be sure of this… my salvation was completely unmerited. As was yours.

But, I want to go beyond just this and make it clear that salvation is not only by grace; it is by GRACE ALONE!

Many people are confused by this concept. Many acknowledge that grace is required for salvation, but the reject the idea that God saves sinners by grace apart from any and all works or efforts of the sinner.

I am planning to take time in the introduction to the sermon to explain as clearly as I can that there are only two logical possibilities as to how God will deal with sinners. They will either receive justice from Him, or they will receive non-justice.

Careful here!

There are three categories of non-justice: injustice, mercy, and grace. We can eliminate injustice from the discussion as the Bible clearly says of God, “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!” (Romans 9:14 ESV)

There is no injustice in God. Period. That leaves the two other forms of non-justice, i.e., mercy and grace.

Unsaved sinners will receive perfect justice from God and saved sinners will receive both mercy and grace. Let me explain the distinction between the two:

“Mercy” is when a sinner does not receive what we do deserve for our sins! “Grace” is when a sinner does receive what we do not deserve. Our merciful and gracious God has promised both mercy and grace to all who repent of our sins and believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

“Hallelujah! What a Savior!”

Near the end of his earthly life, John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) famously said, “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” One does not get more theologically profound than that!

Our focal passage clearly provides three great truths about our salvation:

(2:1-5) Sinners are spiritually dead and because we are spiritually dead there is nothing we can do to save ourselves or even assist God in His work of saving us!

(2:6-7) The reason God saves sinners by grace alone is that in the ages to come He will demonstrate the immeasurable riches of His grace! Bad news for the narcissists… even our salvation is not about us; our salvation is about God!

(2:8-10) Sinners who are saved are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone!

Salvation! WOW! “Saved!” What a wondrous and happy thought! As I have been thinking about the second in this series of five sermons on “The Doctrine of Salvation” I am overwhelmed by the very thought of the word… and the idea… let alone the reality of actually, really, certainly being saved.

But, I repeat myself. “WOW!”

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

As the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning, July 28^th, I will continue my series on Bible Doctrines with the first of five messages on the Doctrines of Salvation!

These five messages will conclude this series. Next, I am planning a series of sermons from the first eleven Chapters of Genesis. I hope you will begin now to read over (and over and over) these Chapters and take note of issues and questions about which you would like to study. You input is always appreciated and will be most welcome.

For this week, I want to focus on “the basic of the basics” about the doctrines of salvation… i.e., that salvation is only found in the Word of God.

Christians have always believed that the Bible is the one and only sufficient guide to God’s plan of salvation. All one needs to know to be saved is contained in the pages of scripture, and what one needs to know to be saved is found nowhere else but in the scripture!

Surely… surely… surely, this is the most vitally important of all Bible Doctrines. Whether or not one is saved is the most important issue in life and how to know the answer to that question is the most important thing one can settle.

And, as the Lord allows, I intend to settle it for you over these coming five weeks.

God’s living and holy Word is infallible and always accomplishes that for which God sends it out. This is true because God chose to decree it to be so. His Word may not always accomplish what you or I want it to do at a particular moment, but it never fails to do what He has decreed that it will do.

The Bible is truth. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Therefore, it is the truth about salvation. If one is to be saved, they must be saved the way the Bible says one must be saved. Or, they will not be saved.

Salvation is a gift of God and cannot be produced, (or even helped along) by human works. We cannot earn God’s favor, His mercy, His grace, or salvation.

He has decreed to save His people and the way He has chosen to do that is by exposure to His Word. When God decreed anything, He decreed it and the means by which it will come to pass. This is also true of salvation.

And the means by which He has chosen to save sinners is that they come to hear the plan of salvation given in Scripture.

In our focal passage, please carefully and prayerfully think through three specific ideas: God’s Plan, Promise, and Process of saving sinners.

Pray that the Lord will use this sermon to bring unsaved people to saving faith and to give life-long assurance of salvation to those of us who already know Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

1 John 1:6-10 ⁶ “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Upon further reflection, I have decided to extend my series of doctrinal sermons on “Sin” to deal with a major issue for every Christ-follower: “How can I deal with the real and present problem of my own sins?” Therefore, as the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning I will address this very subject. What can the truly regenerated person do about the abiding presence of sin in our body and the many times that we give in to temptation?

No truly converted person wants to sin, yet we all do. Therein is our dilemma.

Someone (long ago) said, “No believer in this world will ever be sinless, but we can all sin less!” I don’t know who said that, but she or he was one wise person! As I have thought this through this week, I have written down five specific things that bear upon this situation:

1. A truly regenerated person does not have to sin, but we do still sin!

2. Christians sin when we do not do what we are commanded to do!

3. Christians sin when we do what we are commanded to not do!

4. Christians sin because while our sin nature is gone, our sinful flesh remains!

5. The fact that Christians still sin is one of the primary reasons that lost people reject Jesus!

Many non-believers find this unimaginable. They think that someone who knows Jesus should be perfect and when they discover that we most certainly are not perfect, they determine that we are all “hypocrites” and they have been right all along in their thinking that there is nothing real to all of this “religious” stuff.

I am even going to take a few moments for my favorite Latin phrase, “simul justus et peccator.” Don’t panic… I will explain this simple phrase and how vitally important it is!

*That is at least one of my two favorite Latin phrases; the other being, “Ecclesia reformata, et semper reformanda” but that is a whole different sermon… ;>)

For now, let me get back to the issues at hand: overcoming our sins!

As I look to the Scriptures, (and this sermon will have about as many different passages of Scripture as I have ever used in one sermon) I find several very clear and helpful truths about our problem.

First, we must “Realize the Reality” of the fact that true believers do actually (and continually) sin!

Second, we must “Remember the Results” that come from the sins in our life!

Third, we must “Recognize the Risk” at which we place ourselves if we refuse to confess and forsake our sins!

Fourth, we must “Reflect on the Response” that the Lord commands of us if we are to indeed win the battle with our sins!

Fifth and finally, we must “Resolve to Respond” in the right and Biblical way to the reality of our sins!

At first, the concept of a “sinning Christian” sounds like a contradiction in terms – and it ought to be so – but, the reality is that this phrase is actually redundant. To be a Christian is to be a sinner both before and after salvation.

Is that true? “Simul justus et peccator!”

I hope you will read over our focal passage in 1^st John. I hope you will think through and pray through those verses and these thoughts as you prepare your mind and spirit to both hear and respond to God’s Word this week!

As my dear friend Tom Rains so often says, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!”

Romans 7:21-25                                                                                                                                ²¹ “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

“Sin” is anything that comes short of God’s standard of perfection! I realize that this strikes humans as an “unreasonable” and “impossible” standard; but, what other kind of standard would be reasonable for a creature to be made acceptable to their Creator after the creature’s rebellion against their Creator required the death of His Only Son to remedy?

There is nothing about Our Creator that we could know about Him had He not chosen to reveal it to us. He is so far above our ability to imagine – let alone perceive – that His Self-revelation to us is the only way we can know Him.

So, why did we rebel against a loving, merciful, and gracious Creator? Last week, I focused on the three reasons:

Human Beings are sinners by Nature!

Human Beings are Sinners by Choice!

Human Beings are sinners by Continual Practice!

The Scripture is clear that we are all sinners and our sins separate us from our God; therefore, the MOST IMPORTANT issue with which any human will ever deal is, “What can I do about my sins?”

First, in verses 7:21-23, I will address the cause of our sin.

Second, in verse 24, I will address the consequences of our sin.

Finally, in verse 25, I will address THE GOOD NEWS, which is the cure for our sin.

I hope that you will read over these verses carefully and pray that the Lord will “open your mind” to understand the spiritual truths of His Holy Word!

REMEMBER: we may have several guests present since this Sunday is our “VBS Family Celebration.” I hope you will take the opportunity to introduce yourself to those you do not know or that you know do not attend our church.

Please plan to stay after church and join us and our guests for a special “VBS Fellowship Luncheon” immediately after the morning service!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

¹² “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”

Among the many really difficult doctrines in Scripture is the doctrine of sin. This will be a difficult assignment with which to deal mainly because I only have two sermons to devote to this major doctrine!

There is passage after passage that is as clear as anything can be on the subject of sin. So the question for me is, “How do I decide which passages best encapsulate this teaching in a brief form that can be presented – let alone digested – in just two sermons.”

Well, at least I am going to try.

Of course, I always welcome – and I mean I always welcome – questions about my sermons and the topics I teach. So, if I am not able to address a particular question you have about sin, feel free to email, message, text me, or (if all else fails) call or come by the office – and I will happily take time to work through the Scriptures with you.

With only two sermons to available for this subject, I have chosen to begin our study this coming Lord’s Day by looking at one of the best known passages on the subject and one that gives lots of needed information.

The word, “sin” appears hundreds of times in the Bible. It is, in fact, the translation of several different Hebrew and Greek words. Since our time is limited, I will stick to the best known and most often used of the Old Testament and New Testament words that are translated by our English word, “sin.”

The most common Hebrew word for sin, “ra-ah” is used 600 times in the Old Testament; while the most common Greek word for sin, “hamartia” occurs 174 times in the New Testament.

No small subject this subject of sin!

In both cases, the words mean “to miss the mark of God’s standard.” That standard, by the way, is perfection! Matthew 5:48 records Jesus as saying, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is, as you understand, a humanly impossible standard to meet.

One of the simplest, yet vitally important, aspects of sin is that there are basically two kinds of sin – there are thousands (if not millions) of different sins – but, there are two main “kinds” of sin:

There are sins of Omission!  These are things that we do not do that by not doing we miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection.

The Bible says in Romans 7:15-18, ¹⁵ “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”                                           

There are also sins of Commission! These are things that we do that miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection.  Again, the Bible describes these sins in Romans 7:19-23, ¹⁹ “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”

Sin, in any and every form, is an insult to the thrice-Holy God of the Christian Bible! Whether it is that we do not do what we are commanded to do; or, if it is when we do that which we have been commanded to not do, either way we insult the holiness of God and bring us under His righteous and necessary judgment.

And, we do sin! The Bible reveals that we are sinners by nature, by choice, and by continual practice. We will closely examine the following scriptures to prove these points:

1^st Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Romans 3:10, 23 ¹⁰ “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one…” ²³ “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

Genesis 6:5-6 ⁵ “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

I am beginning to think that this will never be described as a, “Feel Good Sermon.”

In our focal passage from Romans 5, I will try to reveal and make clear five major applications about sin…

I will address how sin came into the world and how it is passed on to infect the entire human race; the reality that each of us is personally responsible for our sins against God; that God’s righteous punishment of sin is death; that sin is more than breaking the Laws of God – in fact, for the two-thousand years from Adam’s sin until the giving of the Laws of God, everyone still faced God’s judgment on them for their sins – death!

Fifthly, I will close the sermon with THE GOOD NEWS that our loving and merciful God has provided a way to deal with our sins and to bring us to Him as His children! WOW… NO WONDER THEY CALL IT, “GOOD NEWS!”

I hope you will take time to read over, pray over, and think through these verses. I hope you will pray for the blessing of God as you prepare your mind to hear the preaching of God’s Word this coming Sunday.

As Tom Rains loves to say, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!”

I really do.

¹¹ “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ¹² And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴  So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress. ¹⁶  Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. ¹⁹ But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. ²⁰  So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, ²¹  I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²² in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³ So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.”

The events recorded in The Book of Judges take place over a period of about 425 years from the death of Joshua in 1475 BC to the time of Samuel, Saul, and David about 1050 BC.

Judges is the story of eleven men (thirteen, if you count Barak and Samuel among the Judges) and one woman whom God raised up to deliver Israel from their enemies. Among them are some famous and some not-so-famous names like Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephtah, Ibzan, Elan, Abdon, and Samson.

While we see lots of things about them, including both good and bad – and sometimes, very bad (think Samson); these were real people who faced real challenges as God used them to restore His rebellious people when they repented of their sins.

The Book follows a famous and well-known pattern of behavior. This five-part pattern is as follows:

Part #1 Rebellion!

Part #2 Recompense!

Part #3 Repentance!

Part #4 Rescue!

Part #5 Repetition!

Over and over again we see this pattern being vividly portrayed in the life of God’s people. Sadly, no – make that tragically, God’s people (including those of us in America today) still repeat this pitiful pattern!

The purpose of the Book, and the purpose of my sermon is to remind us of this pattern; help us individually (and Nationally) understand where we currently are; and, determine what we need to do to escape this, “Merry-Go-Round of Misery.”

I hope that you will take time to read over this passage several times and prayerfully seek the Lord to reveal to you where you are in this cycle and what you can do to move on to a new and higher level in your relationship with God!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!