Good News for Lawbreakers (Part 1 of 2)

In our continued study of the 10 commandment you found yourself experiencing conviction today on Truth for Life will find out the true purpose of God's law.

It's intended to be reassuring for some of us, and a source of fear for others. We continue our series title pathway to freedom here is Alister back now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced in the old held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law rather through the law we become conscious of sin. We been studying together the 10 Commandments and as a result of that none of us. I believe have gone away believing that this is been an exercise in feeling good about ourselves. Not that we wanted said by some strange punitive die mention just to feel bad, but we have been made painfully aware of the fact that confronted by God's perfect standard in the law the deck along the 10 Commandments. None of us is able this morning to say anything other than that we are lawbreakers. We have broken God's law. The question is what are we then, to make of this message, as it is comes so clearly to us the message has not been if only everyone would get on with our seeking to embrace the 10 Commandments. Then we'd all be a lot better off if Gladys appeared to be the message and I have failed you. You certainly have misunderstood. I must've miscommunicated if the reaction is being to say well I think what I've been learning is that I need to try a lot harder if I'm going to make a goal of this Christian life and business and again something is gone sadly wrong. However, if the studies have brought us to verse 20 of chapter 3 of Romans then the spirit of God has done his work for through the law says Paul, we become conscious of our sin. Like this morning to address this to wrap opposite where this series under three headings. The first of which is the condition to be faced the condition to be faced. We've been discovering and we need to reaffirm that today the law of God was never given to save us the 10 Commandments were not given as a step ladder up which we were to climb into heaven rather what we discovered is that the law of God has been given to pinpoint sin to define it to bring it out of its hiding place is and where and to show as the immensity of our problem to show some of us who never believed that we had a problem that, in actual fact, we do to show as that the wonderful good news can only be understood against the background of the bad news to understand that the provision which God has made is only relevant in the heart and life of the individual who understands the awfulness of the condition that we face.

So if you turn back a page of Romans chapter 1, I noticed Paul's great declaration of the gospel which begins in verse 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. First for the Jew and then for the Gentile.

Paul sets out this glorious lien this tremendous declaration of good news this word of mercy. This word of grace this call to faith this call to believe this call to trust this call to be see and he does so like setting a sparkling diamond on the black velvet is aware of the condition of men and women outside of Christ.

Indeed, the Gospels significance may only be understood and adopted and discovered when first we have been made to seem by the spirit of God. The context of our own Saudi state and the reason as to why many of us are ineffective in proclaiming the gospel and the very reason that some of us remain in our sins, is because we have only had half the gospel to proclaim what it is only half a gospel that we have received and only half a gospel makes A question which is no Christian at all, which is an explanation as to why some who are engaging in religious activity have no assurance that the wonderful good news of the gospel has been made applicable to my life or to use so we must almost start where the Bible start no matter how uncomfortable it may be, no matter how on appetizing it may be to the spiritual diet of modern man.

We must start where the Bible starts having said I am delighted to proclaim the good news. What is he then immediately say in verse 18 of chapter 1 the reason he says I'm so glad to have this message of good news is because the runoff of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress their truth by their wickedness. Now the Roth of God is not some uncontrollable emotional outburst. That's how we understand Roth or anger from a human perspective, and we have great difficulty in conceiving of it in any other way. But we must understand this, God is absolutely pure God is absolutely holy.

Therefore, God cannot tolerate that which is impure and on the holy that is why the prophet says that God cannot even look upon sin, but as a Congress turns to the north.

So God's second reaction to sin is the outpouring of his raw so that God Roth is revealed as the antithesis to the godlessness and the wickedness which ascends from the air to his throne in heaven he doesn't win, get Satan he doesn't excuse Satan, he is in play with sin settled reaction to sin is the unfolding the outpouring of his raw is directly related to the condition of man which Paul describes in these two keywords. The Roth of God is revealed from heaven against all the number one godlessness and then number two wickedness of men who suppress the truth. I wonder is the order.

Important here I believe it is because wickedness is the byproduct of godlessness when men and women are godless. They will then be wicked and the reason for the wickedness of our culture this morning is its godlessness that modern man has rejected God wholesaling rejected God. Even those who say they believe in God so many of them reject the God of the Bible reject the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We said many many times that men and women today when you use the word G OD do not know what were saying God for them as a cosmic principle. God is the air guard is this God is that God is whatever you wanted to be and so with an embracing of the name God bless godless and it is godlessness which gives rise to wickedness.

I may work this out in your mind for the moment. If I make modern man is not prepared to face that modern man is prepared to accept the notion of wickedness, albeit under other terms the finer things are not the way they want to be the fighter. We have some problems here and there and everywhere actually.

However, it's not that man is wicked modern mind is like a word like wicked is like a dagger it sticks in the senses, it may be true, so he pulls out and throws it away. What's not that I'm wicked.

It may be that I'm on educate and maybe that I'm a little lost and maybe that I'm a little wayward, but I know wicked and even if I am wicked.

I'm surely not godless, but there is a direct correlation between a godless culture and a wicked culture. There is a direct correlation between a godless man or woman I don't wicked man or woman. And because our society refuses to six accept the link between godlessness and wickedness. Billions and billions of dollars are thrown after the symptoms while at the same time refusing to acknowledge the disease Sumerian programs political programs social programs educational programs financial programs are conceived off from Washington and in the highest realms of the land and they stand up and display their total unwillingness to recognize that that state of affairs godlessness and anything that a little trip. The church year and I will hold in the Bible there in a little bit of religion on the site in a little bit of good works on that site will somehow complicate whatever deity it is with whom we have to deal but since we cannot say to people you're not allowed to sleep with your girlfriend since we cannot see your people homosexuality is wrong is deviant behavior. We are left not addressing the disease but addressing the symptoms and we are going to be subjected to the wholesale development of this for our children's children because man's wickedness is due to godlessness and godlessness that man refuses to accept. So while men and women will acknowledge that there is trouble in the street. There is lawlessness in the homes there guns in the schools. There is pain in the office. There is tragedy in the lives of developing teenagers their pains to explain it. They shake their heads and say I don't know how in the world we got here. While the Bible tells us how we got here it says not only is God Roth being revealed from heaven, but one of the indications and expressions of God's Roth is that when a culture continues to turn its back on him. God may choose to give that culture over to its own desires.

Romans chapter 1 verse 24 therefore God gave them over verse 26 because of their reaction to him the God, the creator God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones and let the world say what it will and let politicians mumble in their beards and let God be Herod let his word be sound and it is his word, which is powerful for the salvation of men and women and loved ones this morning, you better learn your Bible and you better know your Bible and you better see to your friends and your neighbors.

I can explain to you why. What in the predicament within because God's Roth is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men. How do you get a godless wicked culture you get godless wicked individuals is not right.

You can have a culture that is made of individuals and individuals bring their own dimension to the culture. So that means that it is.

The problem is a personal problem is not ultimately a societal problem you cannot change society by external means talk down the only way a society or culture is changed is by change lanes.

That's why Paul narrows it down in chapter 3 again and in verse 10 he says there's no one righteous, not even one problem this morning talking about our culture doing well talk about our culture that we are not abortionists were not feminists where we are not these bad people all man what a culture we have lived on the Bible where evangelicals where we we can close to God, we come on Sundays.

We are okay. No were not. That's what the Jews were doing. In Romans chapter 2 they said that Gentiles.

What a bunch of scum man do we hate those Gentiles messing up the culture.

All those godless people as the Jews where the holy ones we have the law we wear it here when we're in here when we are here we walk around. We're sure that God's going to accept this because we have the law we have the 10 Commandments.

What is posted to the nearly the reader this afternoon says the lesson in an even worse position at least these characters don't even have the 10 Commandments and the stand condemned the very things that condemn union walking around holding them in the thing you're holding me said in the thing your strap in your forehead and tying the arrest you, who are you judge somebody else. He says, who are we to judge other people who are we to condemn the culture in which we live. We are culture we are the people we are sinners. That's the condition how you answer me this. Is this the kind of message that contemporary bourgeois Americans want to hear, not on your jolly life. Only a madman fool would stand before a congregation and proclaim the word of God in this way I listen to the radio Sunday mornings I was in all these different sermons. Again, I hear the same old junk this morning and he's telling the congregation on what are we supposed to do were supposed to do this kind of thing and that kind of thing in the next kind of thing. Never once did he say were supposed to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Why not because they don't believe it is necessary because they do not believe that God's Roth has been revealed from heaven against wickedness because they do not believe that man is wicked, they do not believe he is godless and they don't believe in a God who would exercise Roth on the sins of men and women so ipso facto you have no gospel. You did nothing to the reason why some of us this morning. Sit in this congregation still in our sins, is because we have never been brought by the Spirit of God to face our true condition before God's righteous standard. Some of us who are wondering about where we are in relationship to spiritual things are nowhere because we have never been truly converted by the spirit of God. We have exchanged one set of external circumstances for another. We ones didn't go to church and now we go we once weren't interested in religious things, and now we are. We once didn't really care. We can have a conscience and now we do. And so we had all that again we see when therefore I must be.

I wanted to have a friend, and somebody told me Jesus is a friend. I wanted to have purpose and somebody told me Jesus give me purpose. I wanted to be free from anxiety and somebody told me Jesus give me freedom from anxiety but did you ever once hear Jesus say I have come in order that you might've purpose to time, in order that you might have life. Why would he want to give life to people of life is the life we have is not life is actually we are spiritually dead, but nobody's going to put on the Hennessey Jesus give me some of that life to force the spirit of God says your dead man that will 93 years of American culture in the realm of conservative evangelicalism has bolstered our notions of our self and our own supposed goodness, thus preventing many elements from actually ever come to genuine faith in Jesus Christ city again this morning is absentee so many times. If there really are that many conservative evangelical born-again believers in the United States of America. What in the world is going on in the real effect in 40, 50 million truly converted people in America there are many who are living with an illusion.

Having never faced the condition you may be one of doesn't matter how moral we appear doesn't matter how philanthropic we are.

It doesn't matter how idealistic we may be or how apparent our righteousnesses. None of that stuff. Transfers in the currency of God's kingdom. The purpose of the law. The purpose of the 10 Commandments is to close our mouths is what he says in verse 19 of chapter 3. The law speaks so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be accountable before God. The whole object of the 10 Commandments, then, is to show is that we must be saved and secondly to show is that we cannot save ourselves. So we do the 10 Commandments we go. This is a message that says we need somebody to do for us what we cannot do first. Now if we have truly come to faith in Christ. This is a reassuring thing if we never have, and it is a nerve jangling for because what Paula said is that irrespective of our background with her were clueless. You know whether we are a religious person. All of us has missed the mark you notice there in verse 22.

There's no difference. Verse 23 for all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God well flunked well flunked the test papers come back and nobody got anything other than I think most would be better after you got you got an Saul laughs. Everyone got an the only person ever got her name was Jesus and Eve RNA so that our path may go down the children. He may put his knee in our place and that God may exempt eyes because of his irrespective of our but you know many people in this church Sunday by Sunday glad appear assuming that the message is going to bring my grade up. I'm going to bring my grade up. I'm sure I need to get at least a D or CB got to get my grade up. Hear me this morning if you've never heard me before. If you work from now to the day you die, you cannot do one thing to get anything else other than an there is not one religious thing I can do. No one philanthropic thing I can do.

There is nothing I can do to alter my grade now until I understand that I am in the most perilous condition because I will then be living with the potential for considering that all these things that I am able to do are always things that I trusted will somehow or another change my condition before God and it's okay for the pagan and it's okay for somebody else. But this is a message for me to drive problem in our culture you look in the mirror. Okay, got that a good enough expression of the bad news that is Alister Greg reminding us that we are all lawbreakers, all in need of a Savior listing the Truth for Life. Part one of a message titled good news or lawbreakers. Your Truth for Life. We believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible word of God. This is a foundational element of our faith. That's one of the reasons were excited to tell you about today's book recommendation. It's titled Spurgeon on the power of Scripture. Charles Spurgeon was a well-known preacher in the 19th century.

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Just today, but time you shop, it's a wonderful way to invest in the gospel this holiday season. So again, go to Amazon smile.com I'm bumping expert listing. Today we heard the bad we are helpless sinners, unable to save ourselves from God's righteous wrath. So now you should listen to borrowers will hear the good news about provision got his mate gives us hope Bible teaching of Alister Greg is furnished by Truth for Life Learning is for Living