Latest / First Baptist Church of Tampa Sermons / S1 E36: Show Them the Way

Transcript

S1 E36: Show Them the Way · First Baptist Church of Tampa Sermons

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as you are being seated, if you would take out a copy of God's word and open it up and join me this morning, not in Mark this morning.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you just naturally turn straight to Mark because you've been doing it for almost two years now.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: But we're going to the book of Romans this morning, Romans chapter 10.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to do something I rarely do.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, if you have been around long enough, you know that I'm an expository preacher.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I like to preach directly from the text, and I like to do so consecutively, just working our way through books of the Bible.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I focus on one text a week.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are going to move around a little bit, all in the book of Romans, but it's going to be a little bit different.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you to join me.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 10.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, there are some in the pew back in front of you.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be on page 1020 in that Bible.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: 1020.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mentioned earlier that October is the month that we celebrate missions here at First Baptist Church.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tonight we get the chance to celebrate with 150 local partner churches here in our association.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: In a couple of weeks, we get to celebrate our global and national impact with missions through our Go Conference.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, missions isn't just about partnerships with churches and associations and conventions.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Missions is about what we do individually.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's about what God has called us to do.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It is the personal call that God has placed on all those who have received his salvation, that have received his grace.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We are to share that with others.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Our mission field is both local and it is global.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: God has called us to share the gospel with our neighbors and also with the nations.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we do that collectively as a church through things like our Go conference and our missions offerings and sending missionaries.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: We do that collectively, but God has not called us to just do it collectively.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, primarily He's called us to do it individually.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: He has called us to tell those that are around us about his love.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And missions isn't just about thinking about who we're going to send and where we're going to send them.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Missions is about, God, where are you sending me and to whom are you sending me?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: A statistic that gets thrown around in evangelical circles is startling.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Historically, less than 10% of Christians ever share their faith with someone else.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Less than 10% of people claiming to be Christ followers ever have a conversation with a family member or a friend or a coworker to tell them about Christ.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And to make that more personal, let me just ask us: when was the last time I had a conversation, a spiritual conversation with someone else about Jesus Christ?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: When was the last time you had a conversation, a spiritual conversation about Jesus with someone else?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to not talk about it as much as we should.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is, why?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't we?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: There are many barriers, I suppose.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: There is just the natural sense of rejection.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: No one likes to be rejected, and so we're fearful of rejection.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe if I tell them about this, they will reject me or won't like me.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there will be fear of ridicule.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they might even, you know, get snarky about it along the way, which, by the way, I have rarely found in any of my interactions with people when I tell them I care enough about them to tell them about the greatest news that they could ever hear.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And yet it's still a fear.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Some people don't share simply because they don't have enough confidence in their own ability or in their own knowledge to share.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: They say, well, I didn't go to seminary.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a Sunday school teacher, I'm not a deacon in the church, so I don't have enough knowledge to share.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, there are those who have never been trained in how to share their faith.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: They've never been taught, here is a way that you can rightfully and clearly, faithfully share your faith.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our text is Romans chapter 10 this morning.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 10 asks a question.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's an urgent question in verses 14 and 15.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I ordinarily have a stand to read God's word, but I'm going to just ask you to remain seated because if I didn't, we would be standing up and down and up and down and up and down today.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to hear what God's Word says in Romans chapter 10, verses 14 and 15.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is the urgent question this morning.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And how will they believe in him in whom they have not heard?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And how will they hear without a preacher?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And how will they preach unless they are sent?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: How in the world can the world who is lost call on a God whom they have not met?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And how can they meet them unless someone tells them about them?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And how can somebody tell them about them unless somebody sends them?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: The word preacher there is just somebody that brings good news.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean somebody who has formal education that stands in a pulpit.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: It means somebody that just takes the gospel and shares it with somebody.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: How will our friends ever know unless we tell them?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that there is only one way to be right with a holy God.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are not many roads that lead to the same destination.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: All religions do not lead to the same place.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: All belief systems do not believe the same thing.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Your truth and my truth have to be the truth.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: We can't all have our own truths because that's just ridiculous.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: There is one way, and Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: No man comes under the Father but by me.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's an absolute truth claim.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if it is true, and I believe with every ounce of my being that it is, then it is my responsibility to help others find their way down that path to the one way to be right with a holy God.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I brought in the pulpit with me this morning a very special Bible.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't plan to preach from two Bibles.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just brought this Bible because it is very dear to me.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: This was a gift to me by my parents in Christmas of 1979.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's got my name written in here, and my parents.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the scripture verses that I memorized, I read for the very first time in this Bible.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: The very first sermon I ever preached was preached out of this particular Bible.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is a special Bible to me.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: This stays on my shelf.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of Bibles.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is a special one.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't bring it up for those reasons.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: The reason I brought it up, because in the front cover of this Bible are written these words.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: When I was a young boy, someone taught me how to share my faith with others through a tool called the Roman Road.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they walked me through and showed me how to record that in my Bible so that I could sit down with my Bible and open it up and share it with somebody else who needed to find the one way to be right with a holy God.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this morning in our time together, I just want to share with you what my friend shared with me so that maybe one day you can share it with one of your friends.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Roman Road is not a magic road.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a magic trip.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the only way that someone can share their faith.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is a tool that is used.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: There are many others.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can use the three circles, you can use the four spiritual laws, you can use a color bracelet.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: There are many different ways to share the gospel.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: The method is not what is important, the message is what is important.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: The message just simply needs to be biblical, accurate, and clear.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever your method is, you don't have to use mine.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I don't always use the Roman Road.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: But whatever your method is, as long as it's biblical and clear, use it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't have a method, if you've never learned how to share your faith, if you've never written these things down in your Bible, I'm going to encourage you just over the next few minutes, as I walk through the Roman Road, if you are comfortable, and even if you're not, I would encourage you to do this, mark your Bible with these words.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because it will walk you through how to do this.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible that you can write in this morning, use the handout.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Write these things down on the back of that handout.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so you have a tool that you might be able to use along the way.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because what's important is that we know the gospel, we share the gospel, and we invite other people to be saved by the gospel.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the important thing.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the Roman road, just imagine us going down a road and there are some stops along the way.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: The first stop is creation points to the creator.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So what I would do is in the very front cover of my Bible, I would write this down.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: The plan of salvation begins, Romans chapter 1, verse 20.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote it right there in the top of my little Bible.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Just write it right there in the top of your Bible.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So when you open the front flap, whatever the first clean page is, the plan of salvation begins, Romans chapter 1, verse 20.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but the hardest part of a gospel presentation, the hardest part of sharing my faith is actually starting the conversation.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do we get into a conversation of spiritual things?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: How do we find out if somebody is interested in talking about eternal life?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: How do we kind of measure that up and say, how do we, it's so awkward at times.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I found to be a great way.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Find something that you share in common with the person that you're sharing with.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Find some commonalities.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: That may be something in your life that is common, it might be a common experience.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Here's one common experience that we all have.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: We all live in an orderly, amazing world.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: We all live in creation.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And God has created his creation for his glory.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we can look at creation and see order in creation and awesomeness in creation, and we can ask somebody this question: where do you think all this came from?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: What's your view about where the world came from?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about this creation that we have?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I look at creation, I see order.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at creation, I see intricacy.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at creation, I see awesomeness.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the creation cries out that there is a creator.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, if we were to turn to Romans chapter 1, verse 20, turn there in your Bibles if you would.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, God's invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that man is without excuse.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: This did not happen by accident.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: The world was not just some accident that happened out of nowhere.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is created by an intelligent designer, infinitely bigger than we are.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: You and I were created for a purpose.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: The world demonstrates that, and the creation cries out that there is a creator.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm chapter 19 is a beautiful text you might want to turn them to one day.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It says that the heavens are declaring the glory of God.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Without words, they tell us there is a God.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to stay in the book of Romans, you can turn to Romans chapter 1, and it says everything we need to know about God.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: We see in creation.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: God is there.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: We stand without excuse before him to say, we did not know you exist.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: The creation points us to a God.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when God created his creation, he looked at it and he said, This is good.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he created man and woman in his image.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked at all of his creation and he said, This is very good.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was perfect.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And man was in perfect relationship with God.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: But knowing that there is a creator and knowing who that creator is are two very different things.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing that there is something, having this understanding that wow, all of this, this massive universe, had to come from somewhere, and what the world is telling me doesn't make sense.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: That it just came out of nothingness and randomness turned into order.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make sense to me.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's not enough.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need to take them to the next step.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Creation cries out that we might understand who this God is, and God introduces Himself to us.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Creation awakens the concept that there is a God.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel answers the question as to who that God is.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we look at creation and we say, man, it's massive and it's beautiful, but wait a minute, something's wrong.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because in our experience in creation, we see fallenness, we see people hurting one another, we see war, we see famine, we see death.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to ask ourselves, what happened?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: If God created everything and God is such a wonderful creator, what happened?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: At the bottom of my text in Romans chapter 1, verse 20, in the very corner, I write, go to Romans chapter 3, verse 23.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is so that I don't have to remember it.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's right there in my Bible.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 3, verse 23 takes us to the second stop on this road.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Romans chapter 3, verse 23 helps us to understand what happened to God's creation.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you know this one probably by heart.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: It just simply says this for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: In my Bible, I've highlighted that.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I've highlighted all these verses so that when I turn to that page, it just jumps right out at me.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: God has revealed himself in his creation, and yet man has suppressed that truth and turned away from him to our own way.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, for all have sinned.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sin is an interesting word.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: It means more than making a mistake.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sinning is not making a mistake.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sinning is actively rebelling against God's authority.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is shooting the wrong direction.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: This text says that it's missing the mark.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Who misses the mark?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Those evil people that commit murder?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Those adulterers, those liars, those cheaters.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says that all have sinned.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: We've all rebelled against God.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: We've all turned away from his authority in our lives.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: We've rejected it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as a result, we've fallen short of his glory.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: You see, God's standard for us is not goodness.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: God's standard for us is to not measure ourselves against one another and say, well, I'm not great, but I'm better than that one over there.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: God's standard is his own holiness.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: God's standard is his own perfection.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: God's standard is his own glory.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And regardless of how hard we try or how sincere we are or what religion we belong to, we can never meet God's standard.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: We could all go over to the to the edge of the bay facing Pinellas County.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we can all determine that we need to get from Hillsborough County to Pinellas County, but there is a giant bay of water in between us, and we can all determine the best way for us to do this is to take a running leap and see how far we can get.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And some of us will leap further than others, but at the end we're all gonna get wet because we can't make it on our own.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot do it.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: We fall short of the glory of God.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: We are all sinners.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: We've missed the mark.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 3 teaches us that missing the mark has consequences.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve, the first people that God created, sinned against God.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: They openly rebelled against him.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: They did what he told them not to do.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And in that time they were guilty of sin and they were ashamed.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: And their relationship with God was broken.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Their relationship with one another was broken.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we can try to measure ourselves against one another, but in the end, we are all sinners, separated from a holy God.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: God created this wonderful creation, but sin has come in and caused chaos.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Which raises this question if we are all sinners, if we're all in the same circumstance, what's the big deal?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we can all be in the same circumstance, and that circumstance can still be bad.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Which leads us to our next stop.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: So at the bottom of Romans chapter 3, verse 23, I write these words.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Romans 6.23.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Romans 6.23.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: God creates, sin breaks.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: The third stop is sin earns death.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: But God gives grace.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 6.23 in your Bibles.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: It says this.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the free gift of God is eternal life.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: What we earn with our rebellion, what we earn with our sin is death.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: God told Adam and Eve, if you eat from that tree, you will surely die.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is physical death.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: How do I know we all sin?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because we all die.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: The wages of sin is death.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a physical death.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also spiritual death.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is separation from that holy God.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if something is not done about it, we will spend all eternity separated from that holy God.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: There is a wage that we earn.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: What we earn with our sin is separation.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: What we earn is sin.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: But how does verse 26 verse 623 end?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: For the wages of sin is death, but God has a free gift.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: The paycheck we get for sinning is death.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: But God says you can't earn your salvation, you can't earn your righteousness, you can't earn your justification, but I want to give you a gift, a free gift.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can't earn it, you can't be sincere enough for it.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is simply just a gift.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: How many of us are still trying to earn our salvation?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because we recognize that there is a God and we recognize that our relationship with Him is not right.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: We need to do something about it.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And how many of us are still trying to earn our salvation?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: How many of us are trying to be good enough for God?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And God says, you cannot earn it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I've got a gift for you.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how does God provide this gift?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: At the bottom of 623, I write these words.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Go to 5.8, Romans chapter 5, verse 8.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And Romans chapter 5, verse 8 says this, but God demonstrates his love towards us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: While I was still separated from God, while I was still earning my own separation and my own death, God did for me what I could never do for myself.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: God did not wait for me to become good enough.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: God did not wait for me to go to enough church services.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I'm gonna do what you cannot do for yourself, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Stop four is that Jesus Christ died for sinners.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: You may be talking to somebody that hasn't gone to church, but they've probably heard this verse at some context in their lives, John 3.16.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: You may want to mention that verse to them.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: It might be familiar to them.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: It simply says this: For God so loved the world that he did what?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sent his only begotten Son.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: That whoever would believe upon him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I've got a gift for you, but in order to give you this gift, I cannot ignore your sin.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am a holy God, but I am also a righteous God and a just God.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And while I want to love you and while I want to forgive you, I must punish your sin.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: But here's my gift.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of punishing you, I'm going to send my son.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to live a perfect life.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to fulfill the law perfectly.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And on a cross, I'm going to take your sin and I'm going to put it on him.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to punish him in your place.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: He is going to be separated from me so that you never have to be separated from me.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to take our sin upon himself.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine you stand before a righteous judge.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: You are guilty of what you've been convicted of.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: He pronounces that conviction.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: He pronounces that judgment.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: You are guilty.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he tells you what the penalty is going to be.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he is right to do so.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know he's right to do so.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: You are guilty.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: You deserve the penalty.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: But then imagine that same judge standing up from the bench, taking off his robe, coming out from behind the bench, coming down to the court clerk and saying, I am going to pay the penalty for this person.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what God did.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's a righteous judge who has created all things, and we rebelled against him and we sinned against him.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when we did, he didn't wait for us to make ourselves right.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: He came down from his bench and he came into our world and paid the price for our sin.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: He has a gift.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: That gift is eternal life.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: But how do we receive a gift?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have to earn it?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have to do something for this gift?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: At the bottom of Romans chapter 5, verse 8, I write these words.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Romans 10, 9, and 10.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 10, 9 and 10.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 10, 9 and 10 says this.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: God has a gift for us, but that gift has to be received.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: How do we receive a gift?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I often use this illustration whenever I'm presenting the gospel, especially in groups.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: I will either take a piece of candy or I'll put a dollar bill in my hand and I will hold that out and I will pick somebody in the crowd and I will say, hey, Brian, this is yours.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is my gift to you.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is your piece of candy.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll say, What does he have to do to take this piece of candy?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: What does he have to do for this candy to be his?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they all stare at me.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Usually the one that I've offered the candy to doesn't know what to do.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: They want to say something, do something, and I have to repeat myself, this is yours.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's my gift to you.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: What do they have to do to make it their own?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: They just simply have to come and take it.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: They have to come and receive it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: They have to take it out of my hand because I've said it's not mine, it is yours.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: How do we do that spiritually?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: How do we receive eternal life?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: When God says it's a gift, here it is.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: How do we receive it from him?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: How do we take it from him?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that 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.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Receiving that gift simply means this: I recognize that I am a sinner separated from a holy God, that I cannot make myself right with him.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: God's done everything necessary to make myself right with him.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to turn from my sin and I'm going to turn to Jesus Christ.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: The biblical word for that is repentance.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to recognize I'm going the wrong direction and continue to go the wrong direction.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's even another thing to recognize I'm going the wrong direction and I should change direction, but I'm not doing it.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Repentance means I recognize I'm going the wrong direction and I turn and I go the right direction.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And receiving this gift simply means I'm going the wrong direction.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm moving away from God.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the answer to that.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to come to Jesus.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to admit that I'm a sinner and I need him to save me.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is all we do.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: We place our faith in him.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: We confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: We believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: You guys okay?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: You sure?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: If everyone is sinners, then is everyone welcome to receive this gift?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: You might be talking to somebody who thinks they're the worst thing ever.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: You might be talking to somebody who's had a hard life or they've made bad choices in their life and they think I'm not good enough for God, I'll never be good enough for God.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm too bad.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm too fallen.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm too sinful.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: God can't forgive me.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I can't forgive myself, and God will not forgive me.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is this offer available to everyone?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: At the bottom of 10, 9, and 10, I write these words.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Romans chapter 5.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, Romans chapter 10, verse 13.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 10, verse 13.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: In my Bible, I didn't have to turn the page.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 10, verse 13.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know what it says?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Whosoever.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot have sinned too much.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot be so far away from God.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You are not out of God's reach.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: You are not out of the grasp of his grace.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you confess your sin, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 18, there's a story of two men who went to church.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: One was a religious man.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: He did all the religious things, and he went into that sanctuary and he went right down front and he said to God, God, you're lucky I'm in church today.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're lucky I'm on your team.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I'm not like any of these other sinners in here, these people around here.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: But there was another man that went into church that day.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a sinner, and he sat in the back.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't even raise his face up to look.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: He could not come forward.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: He just cried out to God, God, have mercy on me as sinner.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the man telling the story that day was a man by the name of Jesus.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, only one man went away from that situation right with God.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't the religious man, it was the man who cried out for help, who humbled himself.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Whosoever.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: The great thing about the gospel is we are to come to God just as we are.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to get right before we come to him.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to clean our lives up before we come to him.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: We just come to him and let him do that work in our lives.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: How do I do that?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: That just means this: that I talk to God.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have a conversation with God.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Not me and a priest, not me and a pastor, not me and a minister, not me and a friend.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Me talking to God, the creator who created all things, cares enough to hear my voice.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And even though I've rebelled against him and sinned against him, and there's nothing I can do to make myself right with him, God already has done what is necessary to make me right with him.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: He sent his son to die for me.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when I confess that, I have an open door into this throne room of the Heavenly Father, and I can have a conversation with him that sounds like this God, you are holy and I am not.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I am a sinner.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: And my sin keeps me separated from you.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to be separated from you any longer.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that Jesus died for my sins.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: I believe you rose him from the grave so that he could conquer sin and death.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want to live for you.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive me.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let me live for you.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now hear me.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can't find that prayer in the Bible.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: There is no sinner's prayer written anywhere in the Bible.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're not magic words.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: The prayer isn't what saves you.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: What saves you is the finished work of Jesus Christ and your faith in it.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to have a conversation with God.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: There should be a time in your life where you can look back and say, there was a time when I fell on my face before God and said, God, I'm a sinner and you're my Savior.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I humble myself before you.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Come as you are.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Will there be a difference in my life if I do this?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: Will I notice any difference in my life?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: At the bottom of that page, I write, go to Romans chapter 5, verse 1.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're almost done, just two more stops on our journey.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 5, verse 1 says this.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, having been justified by faith, the word justified means to be made right with God.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a legal declaration.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: That judge that I talked about before says this person is right with me, not because they've earned it, because they've placed their faith in what Jesus has done.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Justified, another way to think about it, is just as if I'd never sinned.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: God restores me to right relationship with Him.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, because I have been justified with God through Jesus Christ, I now have peace with God.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: And how many people do you know need peace in their life?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Peace is not an absence of conflict.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Peace is divine assurance in the midst of conflict.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Peace is knowing that God's got me in the palm of his hand, and no matter what happens, nothing can separate me from his love.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And peace with God is so important.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: When you trust in him, when you've cried out, I'm a sinner and I need salvation.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: A peace comes into your life because at one time you were separated from God.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: You were an enemy of God.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now you are a child of God.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Once you were in darkness, now you are in light.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Once you were traveling down a road to death, now you are traveling down a road of eternal salvation.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: There is peace.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: There is no longer enmity.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: You are not against God anymore.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because many people think I'm just neutral.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not really for God, but I'm not against him.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just kind of neutral.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: There is no neutral.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are either for him or you are against him.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, you are no longer against him.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: You have peace with him.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: And here's another thing: that peace that you have with him leads to the peace of God.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: A peace that passes all understanding, that guards your hearts, guards your minds in Christ Jesus.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: It is a peace that overwhelms you in the midst of no matter what happens in your life.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, when you trust in Jesus Christ, not everything's going to be perfect.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that tells you that is telling you a lie.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you believe in Jesus doesn't mean everything's going to be perfect and you're going to become wealthy and healthy and all things are going to go away.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, sometimes when we trust in Christ, things get harder.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what happens: there's a transformation that takes place.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Where you have peace with God, you become his child, and a peace just overwhelms your life.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is a settled reality.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: If that's true, then our final stop is this.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: What difference should that make in my life?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Will there be any difference in my life if I accept God's mercy and I accept God's grace and I have this peace?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: What difference?
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so the final stop is go to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Which simply says this.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: I urge you, brethren, in view of God's mercy, to present your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: And don't be conformed to this world any longer, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: He says, here's the bottom line.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: In view of God's mercy, once you recognize there is a creator who's created all things, we have all sinned against that creator.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: That sin has brought separation.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Separation leads to death.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing I can do about it, but God acted in my life through Jesus Christ, and I can have eternal life through what Christ has done for me by placing my faith in him.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when I do, there is a peace that comes with God, and there is a peace in my life that is over all things.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: In view of that, what's the reasonable response?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: The only reasonable response is to come to church for an hour and a half once a week.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a reasonable response.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: The only reasonable response to that is to put money in the offering plate.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: The only reasonable response to that is to do good deeds.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: The only reasonable response to all that God has done for us in his grace and his mercy is just simply to say, God, here is my life.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Use it for your honor.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Use it for your glory.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever that takes me, wherever that leads.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Almost forty years ago.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Almost fifty years ago.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: I almost did the math wrong.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Wishful thinking.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: I thank my parents that they gave me this Bible and taught me how to read it.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then showed me how to live it.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm thankful for the man who sat down and said, Bob, let me share with you the gospel of Jesus Christ and how you can tell somebody else about it.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that you are sharing your faith with someone else.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever method you choose to use, God will honor it.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: If it's biblical, if it's accurate, if it's clear.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: And when it's not clear, he'll make it clear.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we can come up with all the barriers and all the excuses.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm afraid, I don't know how.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have confidence.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I got news for you.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have one of those excuses anymore.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: But you now know how.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: And all you have to do is use your Bible.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: But even with all those barriers, our hearts ought to cry out, God, there is somebody who needs this message.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because the creation cries out that there is a creator.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: And sin separates us from that creator.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the cross demonstrates God's love and mercy.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the tomb points us to the victory of Christ over our sin.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: And faith receives this when works could never do it.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: And grace gives us peace and hope and joy and purpose.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Only two ways to respond to this this morning.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Two opportunities this morning.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is this if you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, if you have never recognized that he is our creator, that I cannot make myself right with him because of my sin, but God has done everything necessary for me, and all I have to do to receive this eternal gift that he has for me is to turn from my sin and to trust in his finished work.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then today, don't let today pass without being the day when you cry out in your voice to God, God, I'm a sinner and I need a savior.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for Jesus Christ.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: In a moment, we're gonna we're gonna conclude our service with a time of response.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sing a hymn.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can pray that prayer right where you are.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be down front.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can come pray that prayer with me.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: There'll be other people around the room.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you want somebody to help you with that, they can help you with that.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: But again, the prayer doesn't save you.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's the faith in your heart that you put in Jesus Christ.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: But today, maybe today is your day.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: The other way you respond to this is this say, God, I knew all that.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: I maybe have not used that method before, but I knew all that.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what ought to be penetrating our hearts.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Who can I tell?
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: God, who's the one person?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to tell hundreds of people, you don't have to tell thousands of people.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Who's the one person that you have in your life that needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: And your prayer today, I pray that your prayer today is, God, put that person on my heart, put that person in my mind, and do not let me rest until I talk to them.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Open doors, soften hearts, and then, God, when the opportunity comes, give me courage through your Holy Spirit to walk through it.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's our response time.