Introduction:
We began this series awhile back with me saying that God is at work in every Christian.  That is the reason for the hope we have.  That is the basis of our assurance.  Because the One who began a good work in us will complete, we are assured of future glory.  It is not left up to us.  We do not save ourselves - God saves.  The same grace that brought life to us brings sanctification or holiness.  Every Christian will bear fruit.  Jesus said if you abide in me, and I in you, you will bear fruit.  I am the vine you are the branches.  Life is in the vine.  Thus He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

So all of that to say, when God saves us He begins a work in us.  Salvation, or better conversion, is only the beginning.  We are to press on toward holiness.  Being conformed to the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus.  The promise of Scripture is that we will grow in holiness.  That our appetite for the things of God will increase.  Because God works in us “both to will and to do” (Phil. 2:13).  He gives us both the desire and the ability.  We cannot fail.  We will ultimately be presented to the Father pure and spotless because of Christ and because of God’s gracious work in us.

Now here is the question.  If that is true.  If God is at work in every Christian and if every Christian grows in holiness and righteousness does that mean all Christians are alike?  Are we all the same?  It is the same God, with the same power, moving toward the same goal - are we the same?  It seems like a logical question.  I heard about a young lady who thought everyone would be the same in heaven.  After all the Bible says when we see Jesus we will be like Him.  She took that to mean we would have the same appearance and we would know the same things.  I’ve heard others speculate that in heaven everyone is 33 years old because that’s how old Jesus was when He died.  What does the Bible mean when it says, “We will be like Him?”

A God of Endless Variety

Then what does it mean when it says we will be like Him?

So what difference does the differences make?

What does it all mean?
While we have a responsibility to love and encourage one another and while it is good, right and necessary for us to rebuke and instruct one another - growth and rewards are God’s business not ours!

You have no right to judge another man.

You have enough to worry about considering your own life and growth.

At the same time don’t be discourage if your fruit doesn’t match another’s.  Don’t worry if you lack the understanding that another has.  Continue to strive with the understanding that God is at work in you and therefore you cannot fail.  You will not be judged according to another’s works but according to yours.  You will not give an account for why someone achieved something that you did not.  Were you faithful to what God called you to?  That’s all that matters.  Leave it in His hands and rejoice because He is at work in you.

Introduction:
It is a common objection, “You Baptists and your ‘once saved always saved’ theology promote a cheap grace.”  Some say, “I wish I was a Baptists and all I had to do was say a prayer and then live anyway I want for the rest of my life without a care about eternity.”  Such mischaracterizations are, at best, ill-informed.  I will grant you a number of people have thought that was our position.  A good number of folks have foolishly stake their souls on such false notions as evidenced by the great discrepancy between our church roll and actual attendance.  But it is not now nor has it ever been our position that salvation is a matter of “saying a prayer” and nothing further required.  Yes, we believe that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.  Salvation is the work of our great and merciful God.  God saves.  We do not.  We are helpless and hopeless in our sin.  We can do nothing to secure our salvation.  It is not a matter that we are drowning and someone throws us a life-preserver in the gospel and we taken hold of it for life.  Rather we lay dead on the floor of the pool and Christ comes to us, breathes life into us and grants to us life eternal and abundant.  But that is not the end of things - it is merely the beginning.  The same grace that rescued us then begins a transforming work in us that will ultimately present us to the Father pure and holy.  We are saved from the penalty of our sin as we come to faith in Christ.  We then begin a journey in which we are being saved from the power of sin as we grow in holiness.  Ultimately we will be saved from even the presence of sin when we enter into glory.  When we talk about salvation we are talking about all of that - your justification, sanctification and glorification.  I’m bringing this up because when you preach the gospel as it appears in Scripture it can lead to misunderstanding.  Let’s face it, it sounds too good to be true.  “I don’t have to do anything?  I just believe?”  Well if that is true and if where sin abounds grace abounds all the more…then let’s have a party!  Let’s eat, drink and be merry because it doesn’t matter we are saved by grace.  Well not so fast.  Our text this morning is found in Romans chapter 6.

Text: Romans 6:1-14
Paul has made us aware of our condition - we are sinners, deserving of God’s wrath.
Yet God has manifested a righteous, apart from the law and it is ours by faith.
This is because Christ lived and died for us.
When we come to faith in Christ we have peace with God.
We are assured a glorious future.
It is all because of God’s costly gift of His Son.
Chapter 5 ends with a statement of grace’s sovereign, victorious reign over sin (5:20-21).

Look at those two verses: Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Note - where sin increased, grace superabounded.

Paul’s experience had been consistent.  When he preached the gospel in its pure form his critics twisted and perverted his words into something all together different.  In anticipation, he brought up the objection himself in verse 1 of chapter 6.

The question before is what about the relationship between grace and holiness?  If salvation is by grace alone, nothing further required, then why live a holy life?  What incentive could there possibly be for a life of righteousness?  If you do not have to do anything to get salvation or to keep it - why would you strive for holiness?  Can you see that this is a understandable question?  Can you see that it is a very practical question?

The problem, of course, is that it fails to recognize a fundamental truth.  That truth being:

Thesis: A genuine experience of grace leads to a life of increasing holiness.

How is that?  In what way does the one follow the other?  That is what our text is about.
I want you to note three things as we work our way through this text.

1. Grace brings us into union with Christ and that union radically changes everything.  (6:1-4)
2. Our union with Christ demands that we begin to look at sin from a radically different perspective.  (6:5-11)
3. This new relationship demands that we now offer our lives consistently to God in the pursuit of righteousness.  (6:12-14)

Grace does not lead to lawlessness.  Far from it.  A genuine experience of grace leads to an ever increasing life of holiness.

Introduction:
It was just so funny.  I laughed and nudged the man next to me as we both nodded in agreement about the truth being spoken.  A man was talking about why people go into the counseling profession.  He talked about the “make up” of those who choose to go into psychology and psychiatry and everything he said had the ring of truth about it.  They have problems themselves and this is a way of getting help without having to admit they have a problem.  They have hang ups and they assume everyone else does too.  I found it all very funny and obviously true - these people have real problems.  Then he said, “Keep laughing because I’m about to tell you why you are a preacher.”  It wasn’t funny anymore.  Now he’s gone too far.  “You like standing in front of everyone in your elevated position looking down on those poor sinners.  You get a chance to rail against the sins that plague you but it’s someone else’s problem.”  I was getting a little uncomfortable.  The guy next to me was no longer smiling.  Neither of us nudged the other we both just looked at the floor.  It does seem a bit arrogant doesn’t it?  I mean to stand and say, “Thus saith the Lord.”  It takes a lot of nerve to speak for the Almighty!

There is a sense in which I’m very uncomfortable doing what I do.  I am painfully aware of my black heart and my sinful mind.  So I certainly understand those who wonder if we really need preachers.  Do we really need teachers to tell us what this book says?  Are those who say, “I’ve got my Bible and the Holy Spirit - that’s all I need” right?  Are they on to something?  I’m convinced we do need teachers and I believe both Scripture and history bears that out.

A Foundational Text
Listen to the apostle Paul in his words to the church at Corinth: And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28

A Note of Caution

• Acts 17:11
• James 3:1
• 1 Timothy 3:6

A Sobering Text
Hear the words of Paul from an often misunderstood and misapplied text.  1 Corinthians 3:9-15:

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Hear Paul again - 1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
Or Isaiah 55:11 - so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

What Does It All Mean?
Yes we need teachers that is why God has given them to the church.

What is your responsibility?

• To listen with a discerning ear and search these Scripture for truth.
• To pray for those who are your teachers.
  • That God would open their eyes, minds, hearts to the truth
  • That they be faithful to the Scripture

• Pray that God will continue to call and raise up teachers even from your own children.

It also means we need each other. We are a team.

Introduction:
It’s what stirred the heart of the old sea captain as he wrote, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”  It was the thing that broke the shackles that bound the sin-laden heart of Martin Luther.  It is that which loosed the pen of the apostle Paul as he wrote to a world held captive by ritual and superstition, “…by grace are you saved by faith” and “…it is not to the one who works but to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”  The gospel.  God’s gift of forgiveness, life and righteousness to all who believe.  It is an amazing message.  One that seems too good to be true, in fact it seems foolish to those who are perishing but it is life to those who believe.  How can sinful men be made right with God?  How is that those who are deserving of God’s judgment and wrath can be loved and accepted?  The answer is found in the gospel.

Near the midway point in the first century the apostle Paul picked up his pen and wrote a letter of introduction to the church at Rome.  It was his desire to preach the gospel in Rome as he had done in Athens, Corinth and Ephesus.  What better way to see the gospel spread than to bring the gospel to the cultural, political and economic capital of the world?  Paul said, “I long to come to you.  I want to encourage you and be encouraged by you in the work of the gospel.  I want to see fruit among you for I am confident of the power of the gospel.”  In laying the ground work for his arrival he laid out the gospel as it was given to him by God’s grace.  Thus we have in this brief letter the most detailed outline of the gospel to be found in Holy Scripture.  Chapters 1-3 hammer home the reality of our guilt before God.  We are sinners deserving of God’s wrath.  But, in grace and mercy, God has manifested a righteousness, apart from the law, that is ours by faith.  Chapter 4 speaks of God’s gracious provision in Christ.  This righteousness is given, as a gift, to those who trust in God and God alone.  It is the result of a faith that has dealt honestly with all objections and obstacles and choices to believe God’s promise.  A faith that has as its goal the glory of God and a genuinely righteous life.  In chapter 5:1-11 we learn what this gift has done for us.  It has secured for us a glorious standing before God - peace with God and access to His grace in which we stand.  This gift came at great cost - Christ died for us.  This standing assures us of a glorious future.  Now Paul pauses to reflect on the wonder of this gracious gift.  In our text we are reminded of just how amazing this grace of God is.  Our text is found in Romans 5 beginning with verse 12.

Text: Romans 5:12-21
This is, without a doubt, one of the greatest theological passages in the entire Bible.  In a sense Paul is summarizing the theology of the preceding chapters dealing with man’s lostness and his rescue through God’s provision.

It is also a very difficult passage.  Paul’s thoughts seem to rush on one to another without leaving a clear or carefully formed expression.  Anders Nygren says Paul’s thoughts flow like a torrential mountain stream.  Or you might say, “It’s kind of like drinking from a fire hose!”  But, if you break it down and work your way through it, this is a glorious restatement of the truth Paul has been driving home.

Note the progress in thought from the misery of man’s ruin in sin to the wonder of God’s deliverance through Christ to the sovereign and triumphant reign of grace.

As we work our way through this passage I want to point out three things along the way.

1. First, I want you to see sin’s universal and devastating ruin.  (5:12-14)
2. Second, note Christ’s amazing and overwhelming reversal of sin’s ruin.  (5:15-19)
3. Finally I want you to see that this is all because of grace’s sovereign and victorious reign over sin.  (5:20-21)

This is the gospel.  No matter how great your sin - God’s grace superabounds to you!  No one is beyond the grace of God.  You can come to Him.  You can know His grace.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

Introduction:
It was a great sermon.  I had heard E.V. Hill on several occasions and had never been disappointed but the sermon I heard that year in Dallas was exceptional.  He told of preaching a sermon one evening in Los Angelus when an angry young black man approached him after the service.  He told Dr. Hill that he was a member of the Black Panthers and had listen to him call for people to “trust in Jesus” but he wanted to know why he should trust Jesus.  The young man said, “After all, what do you have when you have Jesus?”  For the next hour Dr. Hill held the crowd spellbound as he told us what he had told the young man many years before.  He had just finished the third thing you receive when you receive Jesus - it had been over an hour - and he said, “I’ve got 12 of these!”  A year later, I was in Chicago at Moody Bible Institute for their annual pastor’s conference.  E.V. Hill got up to preach and he said, “Last year when I was here I spoke on the subject What do you have when you have Jesus…number 4.”  I heard points 4, 5 and 6!  It was just as good and the sermon I had heard in Dallas the year before.  I never did here the other 6 points but I’m sure they were worth hearing.  The apostle Paul has been laying out his argument.  He has hammered home the point of man’s sin and guilt before God.  That we are fully deserving of His wrath.  That we are depraved and stand condemned but that God has made provision for us in Christ.  That there is a righteousness outside of us that is accepted by faith.  This righteousness enables us to stand before God loved and accepted.  This is God’s gift to us by grace through faith.  We cannot earn it.  We do not deserve it.  We do not work for it but rather trust God who justifies the ungodly.  In Romans chapter 5 Paul begins to speak to believers about what happens to us as a result of God’s gracious gift.  Our text this morning is found in Romans 5:1-11.
Text: Romans 5:1-11
This is a new section in Romans.  I do believe that Paul is talking about the effects of this righteousness in this chapter but I don’t think that is all that is going on in the text.  I don’t think this should be read like a laundry list.  I think there is something more foundational here.  I believe Paul is emphasizing that God’s gift of salvation is fixed and settled.  That the life and hope given to us cannot be shaken.  It cannot be lost regardless of what is thrown at us.  Regardless of what trials and troubles hound us.  It is fixed and settled because it is rooted in the love of God and secured by the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Keep that in mind as we work our way through the text.

There is a hymn like quality to this text.
Paul makes a strong statement about what God has done for us in Christ.
There is such an air of confidence in what he says - to the extent that we “rejoice in our sufferings” (5:3).

All of this serves to remind us that…

Thesis: Our hope of God’s glory rest securely in God’s gracious provision in Christ.

There are three things I want to point out from our text.

1. The love of God secures for us a glorious standing before God.  (5:1-5)
2. Such a glorious standing was secured at great cost.  (5:6-8)
3. Our standing assures us a glorious future.  (5:9-11)

Introduction:
It is an interesting question.  One that tends to create a lot of discussion, involves a great deal of emotion and can get a little heated.  “What constitutes saving faith?”  What does a person need to know in order to be saved?  Is knowledge of the truth enough or is there something else?  How much faith does one have to have?  What if your faith stumbles?  What if you doubt?  Can anyone really be sure?  I think we can all agree these are important questions.  They are questions worth considering and questions for which we need biblical answers.  The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome to introduce his gospel.  He was saying, “This is the message I am proclaiming.  This is the truth given to me by God, the message I am faithful to deliver.”  Thus we have in Romans the most detailed presentation of the gospel found in all the Scripture.  In chapters 1-3 he drives home the point that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We are all guilty.  We are sinners.  We are deserving of His wrath.  Heathen, hypocrite and Hebrew have all been weighed and found wanting.  The out and out godless, the self-righteous and the garden variety sinner are all under sin and therefore accountable to God.  Having established our great need he moves to God’s glorious provision - “…but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.”  God has provided an alien righteousness.  A righteousness that is outside of us, that fully meets God’s holy standards and is given to us as a gift.  That righteousness, or right standing before God, is appropriated by faith.  He uses Abraham and David as examples of such saving faith in chapter 4:1-15.  In this morning’s text Paul takes that example a bit further.  Our text this morning is Romans 4:16-25.

Text: Romans 4:16-25

In Romans 4:13-15 Paul makes it clear that righteousness is by faith and not by the law.
The law came 430 years after the promise which Abraham believed.
There is no way the law can invalidate or restrict the scope of the promise.
To make the promise conditioned on obedience to the law would nullify the promise.

It is clear faith brings us into God’s favor.
Faith brings us into God’s family.
The question is - what kind of faith?
What is saving faith?

Thesis: Abraham provides us the model of saving faith.

Saving faith from the perspective of popular religion is best defined by doing your best, working hard and eventually you will make it.  In spite of our culture’s love for the song Amazing Grace most people think if you do your best God’s got to let you in heaven.  In fact, the whole notion of justification by faith alone through God’s grace alone is deemed unacceptable.  After all that would mean that no one is “deserving” of heaven.  That would mean my accepting that I’m no better than the worst person on the planet.  Yet that is the biblical gospel.

Paul said in Romans 3:28 - “We are saved by faith in Christ and not the good things we do.”
In Romans 4:3 he quotes Genesis 15:6 - “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

In our text Paul talks about the struggle that went on inside of Abraham as he believed God.  From his example we learn three things about saving faith.

1. Saving faith trusts in God and in God alone.  (4:16-17)
2. Saving faith honestly and realistically considers every obstacle to belief and yet continues to believe.  (4:18-20)
3. Saving faith has as its goal the glory of God and genuine righteousness.  (4:20-22)

What is saving faith?

• Saving faith trusts in God and in God alone.
• Saving faith honestly and realistically considers every obstacle to belief and yet continues to believe.
• Saving faith has as its goal the glory of God and genuine righteousness.

Introduction:
It is perhaps the world’s most recognized story.  It is a story filled with drama and emotion.  Its beauty is reflected in its simplicity.  It has been the basis of countless plays, musicals, movies and television specials.  Every person here can tell the story in explicit detail.  The average person on the street could recite chapter and verse – but I wonder if they have any idea of its significance?

It is recited year after year with ritualistic exactness.  It is represented in beautifully carved marble and with freckled-face shepherds clad in plaid bathrobes!  It is the story of the birth of Jesus as found in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  The meaning of Christmas is not found in man’s goodwill toward man.  It is not found in sentimentalism or in “Christmas cheer.”  It is found in the heart of God.  It is found in His sovereignty, love and grace.  It is found in that God, motivated by His own pleasure and glory, provided a savior for sinful stubborn folks like you and me.  Christmas isn’t about us.  It is about Him.  It isn’t about our need.  It’s about His provision.  This evening I want us to take a look at the birth of the Lord Jesus as told by Dr. Luke.

Text: Luke 2:1-20

Luke, the physician and traveling companion of the apostle Paul, is writing to his friend Theophilus the first volume in a two-volume history of the life and ministry of Jesus.  His purpose is to provide his friend with an accurate and orderly account of Jesus’ life and work.  Luke desires to show his Gentile friend that Jesus is the savior not of the Jews only but of the whole world.  This universal aspect of Jesus’ ministry is reflected consistently throughout his work.

We are looking at a familiar passage.
Perhaps too familiar.
Please don’t assume you’ve heard it all or understand it all.
Look at it through fresh eyes and hear it for the first time!

Thesis: Luke’s account of the birth of the Lord Jesus reveals the character and the nature of our God.

As we explore our text I want you to note three characteristics about our God.  Three things that jump out of our text.

1. God’s sovereignty is demonstrated in His orchestration of the events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus.  (2:1-5)
2. God’s great love is reflected in the circumstances surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus.  (2:6-7)
3. God’s grace is unmistakably declared in His announcement of the birth of the Lord Jesus.  (2:8-20)

This is why he came.  This is the meaning of the Gospel.  This is what it is all about.
It is about God’s sovereignty, God’s love and God’s grace.  Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus reveals the character and the nature of our God and gives all glory to Him.

Introduction:
It was really frustrating.  We could never surprise him.  He always had it figured out.  He would shake the box.  He would ask questions.  He lied, cheated, schemed and deceived.  But dad always knew what he was getting for Christmas.  My mother was infuriated.  Not once had she ever managed to surprise him until that year.  I really didn’t know my mother was capable of such deviant behavior.  She got my dad a pair of boots.  But she used an unusually large box and weighted it with bricks!  She also stuffed it with paper so there was no movement or sound.  His questions yielded nothing useful in fact she mislead him!  She managed operation deception with the skill and expertise of a senior operative in the CIA.  Christmas morning, as we were opening gifts, dad kept putting his off as he said, “I’m looking forward to opening that drill.”  Later, “I’m going to get all kinds of use out of that saw.”  “Music is going to sound great through that stereo.”  Mom just smiled.  My brothers and I began to look at mom a little differently that year.  She had become a force to be reckoned with.  Finally with a great deal of satisfaction she placed his gift in front of him and said, “Well, you better go ahead and open those boots!”  She came so close but she managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  We looked at each other and shook our heads.  Undefeated.  Dad knew what he got for Christmas before opening his gift.

There’s just something wonderful about being surprised.  The joy of the unexpected is beyond comparison.  When you give a gift and it is followed by wide eyes, an open mouth and stunned silence - you know you have done something good.  When a gift is described by words such as surprised, stunned or staggered you know you are in the presence of greatness.  The most surprising and wonderful gift of all is the gift of Christmas.  It is the coming of Christ to save His  people from their sins.  I worry that in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the season, in the business of the parties, dinners and get-togethers we lose a sense of the wonder.  I’m not talking about the “pagans” out there.  I’m not talking about those folks who think Christmas is about Santa Claus, Jingle Bells and decking the halls - I mean us.  I mean church folks who too often fail to remember and to reflect on why He came.   I worry that we fail to remember that…

Thesis: The joy of Christmas is found in the wonder of the Gospel.

Text: Romans 4:1-12
Paul has just made the case that we are all under sin.  We are dominated or controlled by sin.  Sin touches, affects every area of our lives.  Meaning that even the good we do is marred by sin.  Therefore we cannot save ourselves.  We need a Savior.  We need a righteousness that is outside of us, an alien righteousness that enables us to stand before God accepted and loved.  Such a righteousness is received by faith and made possible by the work of Christ.

Now he is going to take that argument a bit further by emphasizing righteousness by faith alone and not by works of the Law.

This is God’s gift to us.
I want you to note three things from our text.

1. Surprised by the extent of Gospel grace.  (4:1-5)
2. Stunned by the effects of Gospel grace.  (4:6-8)
3. We are staggered by the scope of Gospel grace.  (4:9-12)

Surprised, stunned, and staggered we stand wide-eyed and speechless by God’s good and gracious gift bound up in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Now that’s a Christmas present.

Introduction:
I know that Christmas is about more than gifts but gifts are great aren’t they!  I remember Christmases from my childhood like they were yesterday.  Rheadon says that I was spoiled and I’m sure she is right.  I remember one Christmas in particular.  We had Christmas at my aunt Ruth and uncle Ed’s place.  I remember getting up early anticipating a lucrative morning but I was not prepared for what I got that year.  It was beautiful.  I couldn’t believe my dad spent that kind of money.  My first car.  I was stunned.  Speechless.  It was white with a red pinstripe.  A convertible.  It was the most beautiful peddle car you’ve ever seen.  The problem was that was the year my brother Ronnie got the grenade launcher and I made for an easy target in my car.  I still loved racing around in my car - welts and all.  As a kid I though nothing could be greater than a bountiful harvest at Christmas time.  Then I became a parent and discovered something far more wonderful.  I saw the joy in the face of my own children as they discovered the wonder and excitement of gifts.  It’s about to get much worse - next year I’ll be a grandpa!

I know that we can moan and complain about how commercial Christmas has become.  We can cry out against the secularization of the season and speak with distain about how “out of hand” things have gotten but like it or not, gift-giving is part of Christmas and some of that giving is wild, reckless, extravagant and costly.  But none more so than the gift of Christmas itself!

Christmas is a gift.  It is the gift of a holy and righteous God who created a world filled with beauty and wonder.  A world perfect and whole.  As the crowning glory of creation God created man in His own image and likeness.  A creature capable of love and fellowship with the Creator himself.  But something happened.  Something changed.  Through the temptation of the Evil One man sensed he was lacking.  He was being denied something that was rightfully his.  Adam chose rebellion as a means of gaining what he was denied and in the process lost everything.  First and foremost he lost fellowship with God.  Once God’s friend he was now God’s enemy.  Once God’s confidant he was now the object of God’s wrath.  Christmas is God’s gift to sinful man restoring what was lost and making intimacy with the Creator possible once again.  Our text this morning is found in Romans chapter 3 beginning with verse 21.

Text: Romans 3:21-31

Again this is not “your father’s Christmas text.”  This is not what you would expect to go along with Carols and hymns celebrating the birth of the Savior but I’m convinced of this:
Thesis: The true beauty and wonder of Christmas can only be understood from the perspective of God’s great and glorious gift to those who stand before Him as objects of His sovereign and holy wrath.

There are three things I want you to note.

1. God’s great gift to us is the provision of everything necessary for us to stand before Him loved and accepted.  (3:21)
2. This great gift must be received by faith.  (3:22-24a)
3. This gift is made possible by Christ alone.  (3:24-26)

God did not act is such a way as to suggest our sin didn’t mean anything or that the law was without meaning.  He upheld them both while upholding his own righteousness.

The result?
We are loved and accepted because of Christ.
Fellowship/intimacy restored.

That’s what Christmas is about.  It is about God’s wild, extravagant and costly gift.  A gift that allows hopeless rebells to become beloved children.

Introduction:
One of the struggles of the Christian life is dealing with those things that seem to be in conflict.  As a Christian I desire one thing but I do another.  You remember the apostle Paul’s struggle with that in Romans chapter 7: 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. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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.

Finally in desperation he cries out, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

That’s not pre-conversion Paul that is Paul the apostle of Christ talking about his present struggle.  Can you relate to what he is saying?  Now I stopped with verse 24.  Who will deliver me?  Verse 25 begins, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” It is no accident that the next chapter begins, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” So you have Paul on the one hand crying out due to his on-going struggle with sin and on the other his affirmation that nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We are told on the one hand if we live in sin we do not belong to Him and yet, on the other, if we say we are without sin we are liars.  For the last several weeks we’ve been talking about the life we are called to live.  I’ve been saying that God is at work in His people.  We are assured that He who began the work in us will complete it.  Our security is in God’s hand.  He will not lose us.  He will not give up on us.  He will not fail to deliver us pure and spotless before His throne.  Thus all Christians are characteristically or habitually righteous yet we sin daily.  How can both be true?

This is where the confusion comes in and this is where so many get discouraged and depressed about their faith.  Every Christian who is growing in holiness is increasingly aware of their sinfulness.  That seems contradictory.  You would think that as you grow in holiness you would be less and less corrupt.  Now hear me.  I’m not saying the more you grow in holiness the more corrupt you become.  I said the more you grow in holiness the more aware you are of your sinfulness.  You knew you were a sinner when you started but the further along you go you begin to understand just how sinful you were to begin with!

As a means of encouragement I want to again remind you of what God has to say about the Christian and sin.

An Important First Principle
Let me say from the outset that too often we fail to recognize a fundamental truth.  We sometimes fail to see any difference between the believer and the nonbeliever.  We preachers tend to bemoan the fact that there is no difference between those who belong to Christ and those who are in the world.  Of course we are talking about perception rather than reality but we don’t often make the distinction.

So let me do that right now: CHRISTIANS AND NON-CHRISTIANS ARE COMPLETELY, UTTERLY DIFFERENT.

To look at them you may or may not see a difference.
At times you may not even notice a difference in their behavior.
At times you may think the non-believer is a better person than the believer.
You may like the non-believer more than you like the believer!
But mark it down they are fundamentally and radically different.

How so?
A Christian often pleases God.
A non-Christian never pleases God.

Everything the non-believer does is sin - everything, without exception!

Romans 8:6-8

Hebrews say, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  Paul is even more explicit in Romans 14:23, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.”

Paul said in Romans 3:12, “There in no one who does good, not even one.”  But it appears otherwise to us.  You know unsaved people who do “good” things.  But for an act to be good it must arise from good motives.  In fact it must be motivated by a desire to bring glory to God.  We are told in 1 Corinthians that, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Anything less is sin.
It is unpleasing to God.

So you see there is a great gulf between the saved and the unsaved man.  One often pleases God the other never pleases Him.

The Christian and His Sin
Sin’s Grief
Our sins are many.  We must not deny that.  At times we are overwhelmed by the number and the depth of our sin.  Here is the difference - we are grieved by our sin.

Not so for the unsaved man.  Oh, he may be grieved over the consequences of his sin but not the sin itself.  He may despise what it does to his family.  He may be upset because he failed to live up to a standard he had set.  But he would be content to live in his sin if it didn’t bear such bitter fruit.

The Christian, on the other hand, hates his sin.  Thus he is involved in life-long repentance.  He longs to not grieve the heart of God.  So when he fails his grief is greater each day.

The Sinning Christian’s Prayer
Because our sins are many, God has provided great forgiveness.
Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

But wait, aren’t we supposed to name our sins?
Yes, provided we know what they are.
Here is the problem - I don’t know all my sins.
The psalmist asked, “Who can discern his errors…forgive my hidden faults.”
Yet I can pray, in confidence, “Lord forgive all my sins” and trust His grace.

God is at work in you and has been since the moment you were awaken to the truth of the Gospel.  He has been remaking you.  He is reforming you.  He is perfecting you and He will not stop until the work is done and you are presented to the Heavenly Father without spot or blemish.  Christian take heart!

Introduction:

A Song was born at Christmas that sat the sky ablaze,
As joyful sound rang all around with heaven’s highest praise.
Now let us join the glorious song that the lowly shepherds heard.
With heart and voice, O come rejoice, that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Why?  Why sing?  Why rejoice?  Because a baby was born in a barn?  Because of some sweet, sentimental tail about some ancient legend now fulfilled?  Let’s see, there was a frightened couple a long way from home who encountered an unsympathetic innkeeper.  There was a birth in less than ideal circumstances.  Then some angels appeared to shepherds and sang a song.  Oh, and there were some strange visitors from an exotic location that somehow figured into the story.  Curious, interesting perhaps but not all that compelling and certainly not worth singing about.  That is until you get behind the story and learn the reason for it all.

I love the music of Christmas.  I don’t mean Rudolf The Red-nosed Reindeer, Deck the Halls, or Santa Baby!  I mean the hymns like Joy To The Word!, Angels We Have Heard On High, and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  They are upbeat, joy-filled and full of life.  But why?  Let me add one other thing, there is a big different in the singing of those who understand and those who do not.  You can have a choir of excellent musicians who have a beautiful arrangement of a particular Christmas hymn and they can sing it with perfection but it’s not the same as the singing of those who’ve been brought from death to life through the gospel.  Oh the former may bring a tear to your eye and it might move you as beautiful music often does but the latter feeds your soul and stirs your heart.  No, the true music of Christmas is born in the heart of those who have come face to face with the darkness of their own soul and have found light and life in the person of Jesus Christ.  Our text this morning is found in Romans chapter 3 beginning with verse 9.

Text: Romans 3:9-20
At first glance this hardly seems appropriate for a “Christmas” text.
Christmas is upbeat, joyful.
Not exactly appropriate for describing this passage.
This is one of the darkest passages in the whole of Scripture.
Here we have God’s indictment of the human race.
Here we have assembled Scripture’s most explicit description of total depravity.
This is God’s assessment of the man.
When God looks at us this is what He sees.
It’s not a pretty picture.

I’m not thrilled about His conclusion either.  “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”  (3:19)

We’re guilty.  We are condemned.  We will answer to God.  “Thanks for the Christmas cheer pastor!”  Wait, what was it that the angels said to those shepherds in the hills of Bethlehem?  “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR who is Christ the Lord.”  A Savior.  God’s deliverer has come.  What deliverer?  The one who will save His people from their sins.

Thesis: You will never understand the beauty and the wonder of Christmas until you understand YOU need a Savior.

That is what this text is about and that’s why it is very appropriate, perhaps the most appropriate Christmas text.  Thus far in Romans Paul has made it clear that the heathen, the hypocrite and the Hebrew have each in turn been arraigned and found guilty.  All are sinners.

This text is about your need of a Savior.  We find three reasons for why you need a Savior.

1. You need a Savior because you stand condemned before a holy and righteous God.  (3:9-12)
   According to Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit we are:
   • Unrighteous - 10
   • Unreasonable - 11
   • Unresponsive - 11
   • Unrepentant - 12

   You need a Savior because you stand condemned before a holy and righteous judge.  But there is more.

2. You need a Savior because you stand rightly condemned by both your words and your ways.  (3:13-18)
   It is not that you are unjustly condemned.
   It is not that charges have been manufactured.
   • Your words condemn you - 3:13-14
   • Your ways condemn you - 3:15-18

   YOU need a Savior because you stand condemned, rightfully so by your own words and your own conduct.  But we’re not through.

3. You need a Savior because your condition is hopeless.  (3:19-20)

That is how dark and desperate your circumstance.  Unless you come face to face with that reality you will never hear or enjoy the music of Christmas.

Introduction:
What do you need to live the Christian life?  What is required for you to live in obedience to Christ’s commands and walk humbly before Him?  It is clear there is more to the Christian life then just accepting a set of doctrinal beliefs.  There is more to it than to intellectually agree that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.  It is not enough even to believe that He died on the cross or even that He died on the cross for your sins.  It is not enough to believe He died and rose triumphantly from the grave!  You must believe in Him.  You must put your faith and trust in Him.

To believe or to trust is to rely upon Him.
It is to say, “I am trusting wholly in Christ.  I have no backup.  If He can’t save me I’m lost.”
Okay, that’s what is means to be saved but what about holiness?
What about living the faith?

Well that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in and the church and Bible Study and prayer and discipleship and fellowship and accountability groups and the gifts of the Spirit and all of those things that God promises and gives.  Be careful!

If you are thinking along these lines you are dangerously close to heresy.
You are close to stepping over the line.
You see the problem is when you say there is something else you need you are suggesting Christ is not enough.

In essences you are saying, “Being saved is great.  That gets you ‘in the door’ but it’s nothing compared to the victorious life or the spirit-filled life.”  Such talk puts Christ in second place and that is a dangerous thing.  I don’t believe that any Christian would intentionally downgrade the Lord Jesus but we do it unintentionally when think or say we need something more than Christ to be all God wants us to be.

When something is sufficient it “meets the need.”  It supplies all that is missing.  Now, is Christ sufficient to restore our relationship with God?  Is Christ all we need to put us in right standing with the Creator of the universe?  Or is there something more?

What do the Scriptures say?

• Colossians 2:9-10
• Romans 8:9
• 1 Cor 1:30

Whoever accepts me, Jesus said, accepts the one who sent me (John 13:20).
All that you will ever need to live the Christ life is given to you in Christ.
You do not need a “second blessing.”
You do not need a subsequent experience.
You need Christ.

Wait!  No Christian is as wise as he should be, nor as dedicated, nor free from sin.  Isn’t that proof there is something more?

That is a logical question but it fails to recognize something else plainly taught in the Scripture.  We are not born full grown!  Our need to grow in these areas demonstrates that God gives out His good things over our lifetime.

That is why we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ - 2 Peter 3:18.
And we all grow at a different pace and to different degrees.

What harm is there in thinking there is something more?

What was the problem at Galatia?
They were preaching a Jesus plus theology.
They were looking for something more.
It is God’s will that Christ rescue us from this present evil age (1:4).

Paul was writing to a church that was drifting from the Gospel.  They were drifting toward something more.  How did Paul address the crisis?  He preached Christ.  It was not his place, it was not his job to determine who is and is not saved.  It was his job to preach Christ.  The rest is God’s business.

What is the work of the Spirit?

John 16:14-15

The work of the Spirit is to lead men to a greater appreciation of Christ.  To make an experience with the Spirit a step beyond Christ is to miss the point entirely.  “He will bring glory to me,” said Jesus.  There is no knowledge higher than the knowledge of Christ.

The writer of Hebrews says Christ is the means of our holiness - Hebrews 10:16; 13:20-21.

Christ is all we need.

Wait!  If God guarantees our progress, why all the commands and why am I to strive to be holy?

We are not machines.
It is relational.

We do not all progress at the same rate.
God uses commands as one of the means of accomplishing His work.

Conclusion

To seek something more than Christ is heresy.
But what do we do when the battle is too heavy?
What do we do when the sledding is tough and we just can’t make it?

Jesus answers that for us: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Christ is all you need!

Introduction:
It is an excellent strategy.  It is used all the time by magicians and illusionists it is called diversion or misdirection.  I want you looking over there while I do something over here.  It is also used effectively by those who really don’t want to answer questions or deal with the truth.  “You asked me about this but I’d rather talk about that.”  We all know who likes to use such tactics!  It’s politics 101.  Just once I’d like to hear a politician say, “Look, this is a press conference the last thing I want do is answer a bunch of questions.”  In stead you hear something like, “That is an excellent questions.  That’s why I have my people looking into…” then they go off on something that’s not even remotely related to the question asked.  But as good as politicians are with “spin” I’ll tell you are the real masters of spin.  They are the folks who love to talk about “religion” but who don’t want to deal with their sin or come to grips with the gospel.

Do you remember the story recorded in John chapter 4?  The story of Jesus and his encounter with the woman at the well?  It’s a classic example.  Jesus made a point to pass through Samaria.  It was noon, the hottest part of the day, and he sat down at Jacob’s well and waited while the disciples went into the village for food.

A woman approached who was, without a doubt, a woman of questionable character.  She came to draw water and Jesus struck up a conversation with her.  Jesus asked her for a drink.  She was surprised that Jesus, as a Jew, would ask her for water.  Jesus said, “If you knew who is was you would be asking me for water.  And I would give you living water.”  She was “hooked.”  “You don’t have a bucket and this well is very deep.  How would you get this water?  Are you claiming to be greater than our father Jacob?”  Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again.  Whoever drinks of the water I give - will never be thirsty again.  In fact that which I give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  “Sir give me this water,” she exclaimed.

Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and tell him to come here.”  The woman said, “I don’t have a husband.”  “You’re right,” said Jesus.  “You’ve had 5 husbands but the man you’re currently living with is not your husband.”  That’s when it happened.  She was pleased to have the conversation up to this point.  She was fascinated and intrigued.  She wanted to know more.  But know she says, “I perceive you are a prophet.  I’ve always wondered…where’s the best place to go to church?”  Divert!  Move away.  Let’s talk about something else.  Let’s talk about anything else.

If you’ve tried to talk to others about the gospel.  If you’ve ever tried to move the conversation toward confronting an individual’s sin and their need of Christ then you’ve experienced “diversion tactics.”  You’ve been hit with the Crusades and all the evil that’s been done throughout history in the name of the church; you’ve been hit with the poor, innocent heathen in the African bush and the lowly villager in China who have never heard the gospel or the name of Jesus.  Is that brought up because they’ve always had this burden and wanted to know the answer or is it because they are not comfortable dealing with the gospel up close?  I suspect it’s the latter.  I imagine they don’t really want to deal with their sin and thus their condition before God it’s much safer to talk about the heathen in Africa or what happened 1200 years ago.

That’s what Paul is dealing with in our text this morning found in Romans chapter 3.

Text: Romans 3:1-8

The key to this section is found in 3:8 - “Their condemnation is just.”  Their condemnation is right, is fitting, it is appropriate.

That is highlighted in our text by revealing the depth of our sin.  The depth of man’s depravity is seen in that…

Thesis: Man’s wicked heart will go to any extreme to avoid dealing with God’s sovereign, wise and just judgment.

1. Man’s depravity is seen in that he tries to use his own unfaithfulness as grounds for charging God with unrighteousness.  (3:1-4)
2. Man’s depravity is revealed in that he seeks to justify his own wickedness as a means of glorifying God.  (3:5-8)

At first glance this text seems out of place and an unnecessary side track.  Paul why go down this road?  Why muddy the waters with a somewhat confusing rant?  But it is not a rant at all.  It’s not even out of place.  It’s purpose is to underscore the wickedness of man’s stubborn, sinful, heart.

It is given to declare yet again man’s destiny is hopeless apart from the mercy and grace of God in Christ.

Introduction:

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
bound to him eternally by love’s strong cord,
overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,
resting in my Savior as my all in all,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

The guy that wrote that must have been some kind of nut!  Is he kidding?  When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail…I shall prevail?  Overcoming daily?  Is that your experience?  Oh, its a great song.  I love to sing it but come on - when I sing it I know I’m lying.  Do you ever feel like that?  Do you ever feel like a hypocrite because your confession bears little resemblance to your actual life?

I hope you know I have my tongue firmly in my check as I make these comments.  But my point is we all struggle with living our faith consistently.  I want to deal with this because I don’t wont you to misunderstand what I’ve been trying to say for the last 5 weeks on Sunday evening.  Please don’t hear me say, “You must be perfect or you are not a Christian.”  Or, “You must trust Jesus and you must remain faithfully committed all the time or your faith is a sham!”  No, that’s not what I’m saying.

• I’m saying it is not enough to say you are a Christian.
• It is not enough to say you are trusting Jesus.
• Genuine faith, saving faith, is followed by works.
• Salvation is conversion - it is change.

If you say you believe but your life is no different, your desires do not change, sin does not break your heart, you have no hunger or thirst for righteousness - there is a problem!  You would do well to explore that problem and test your faith to see if it is in deed genuine.

• What are we to do?
• How do we find our way through this mess?
• Let me just remind you again this evening of some of the things God has said about his children.
• All of which serve to remind us, “Christian take heart!  God is at work in you.”

Ephesians 2:19-22
Or consider Colossians 2:19

Let me give you what I think is the most important thing you can learn as a Christian related to spiritual growth and development.  God does not ask His people to initiate the work in their own lives.  Rather He calls us to fall in with whatever He is already doing.

Listen to Philippians 2:12
Look at the next verse 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Paul is confident you can work out your own salvation because God is already at work in you to do that very thing!

Or Romans 6:13
How?  6:14

But how can I be sure I’ll do that?

6:22
1 Thessalonians 2:12-13
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10

God is at work in you.
We find the same themes in Paul’s prayers - 2 Thessalonians 1:11; Philippians 1:9-11.

Because God is at work in us we come across some strange passages in the NT.  Consider James 1:2.  That makes no sense unless God is at work in us.

What has God said?
“You have been set free from sin” - Romans 6:22
“We see in you the things that accompany salvation” - Hebrews 6:9
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome [false spirits]” - 1 John 4:4
Why?
“Because greater is He who is in you that he that is in the world.” - 1 John 4:4

Christian take heart!

Introduction:
Shocked.  Stunned.  Outraged and offended.  That’s the only way to describe the crowd’s response to the sermon.  For some it was the most outrageous thing they had ever heard.  It was unimaginable.  Others were frightened by what the preacher had said.  There were no, “Amens” in fact there was nothing but silence as the end of the sermon hung in the air.  It was a terrifying prospect - the thought of hearing the voice of God thunder, “Depart from Me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you!”  You might expect such if He were speaking to thieves, murderers or adulterers but listen, “Lord we prophesied in your name.  We cast out demons.  We did many mighty works in your name.”  Depart from Me?  I never knew you?  If He had said, “Liars!  You did no such thing.”  He did not dispute their claims He just said, “I never knew you.”  No wonder the crowd was astonished at His teaching.  Is it possible?  Could it be that there will be those who have “believed” the truth, worked in the church, labored for the kingdom who will be damned?  Is it true that there will be some at the judgment who will genuinely be shocked to learn that they are not included in the heavenly band?  Our text this morning is found in Romans chapter 2 beginning with the seventeenth verse.

Text: Romans 2:17-29
The apostle Paul is building his case for salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.  He begins by driving home the point that we are all sinners in need of salvation.  Unless we understand we are sick - we feel no need for a doctor.  Unless we understand the sickness we have no need of a cure.

• Paul says God has revealed himself.
• He had made himself known.
• Creation screams, “There is a God!  He is powerful, majestic and awesome.”
• But man has suppressed that revelation - he has pushed it down.
• We refuse to acknowledge God as God.
• We do not honor Him as God or give him thanks.

Instead we pervert the truth and eventually exchange the truth for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.  That leads to a depraved, condemned, abandoned mind that in turn leads to profound sensual perversion, an endless variety of sin and a twisted morality.  Thus Paul addressed the openly flagrant sinners at the end of chapter 1.
At the beginning of chapter 2 he address the “righteous sinner.”  Both the moral pagan and the Jew for their hypocrisy.  Those who think themselves righteous and treat others with contempt.  Railing against sin while failing to recognize their own wickedness.

In our text he address the most difficult group to reach with the gospel - the religious sinner.  I say most difficult because it is difficult to convince earnest, sincerely religious people that they are “lost.”  But the Bible is very clear on this.  You can believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, confess all the doctrinal truths of the faith, and be a member of the church and miss heaven by 18 inches.  Because it never got from your head to your heart.  Your association with the truth, your exposure to the truth even your knowledge of the truth may prevent you from dealing with the heart of the matter.

My purpose is not to create doubt or to confuse but to deal honestly with what Paul says in this chapter.  I do want to make it clear, salvation is not the same as church membership.  Salvation is not to be equated with orthodox belief.  Salvation is about the work of God in the heart of the believer enabling the believer to understand the truth, desire the truth and surrender to the truth.  Salvation comes from trusting in Christ and in him alone!

As we walk through the text you’ll see why that is important.

First, knowledge of the truth may prove to be deadly.  (2:17-23)

• Part of the problem is their sense of privilege - (17-18)
• The problem of deadly pride and presumption - (19-20)

Thus, this is important, “Professed religion will not save a man from Divine judgment!”

Knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
Let me point out another truth from verse 24.

Betrayal of the truth is damning.  (2:24)

Embodying the truth is essential.  (2:25-29)

I have to pity the man who trusts in his religion to save him.  The man who thinks his church membership will get him to heaven or thinks his doctrine will get him there is sadly mistaken.

It is not enough to be near the truth; or to be associated with the truth; or even agree with the truth.  The truth must be embraced and lived out!

Introduction:
Even though I grew up here in Tulsa, the Charismatic capital, I was not confronted with the issues of being “Spirit-filled” until I was in college.  It just wasn’t an issue in the crowd I ran with.  But in college as we were seeking to understand the Faith and come to our own convictions about what the Bible taught we started reading books and listening to tapes by some folks who were not part of “our crowd.”  This was in the late 70s and early 80s as the charisamatic movement was making its way out of Pentecostalism and into mainstream.  The Jesus Movement of the late 60s and early 70s was beginning to have a larger impact.  Peter Wagner and the church growth movement out of Fuller Seminary was talking about “spiritual gift inventories” and other tools to help people discover their gifts and find places of ministry in the church.  There was a movement among Southern Baptist begun by some men who had had an “experience” with the Spirit.  Fulness conferences featured men who wanted Southern Baptist to understand that the miracle working God of the New Testament hadn’t gone away.  He was still in business and His power was great.  Books, tracts and tapes were in abundance telling how you could be filled with the Spirit.  Was there excess?  Of course, there always will be when certain aspects of truth are “rediscovered.”  I have to say I greatly benefited from many of those teachers.  On the whole I think it was good for us.  For too long Southern Baptist were so afraid of getting out on a limb with the Holy Spirit - we wouldn’t even get in the tree!

As “people of the book” we have nothing to fear from the third person of the Trinity.  Any movement or teaching that causes us to go back to Scripture and seek understanding is a good thing.  But what about this question of being “Spirit-filled?”

Are their Spirit-filled Christians and then regular Christians?
Is there a “second blessing” subsequent to salvation?
These are important questions and they are deserving of honest, biblical answers.
I Googled “spirit-filled” and found there were 121,000,000 related items!

I was greatly comforted to find a site that walked me through some simple easy steps to being “Spirit-filled.”  Of course the sight began by explaining that there are three kinds of people: the natural man - he is the lost man without Christ in his life; the spiritual man with Christ on the throne of his life directing and empowering all things; and then there is the carnal man - the man who “allows” Christ in his life but he (the man) is on the throne and Christ is off to the side.

I don’t believe such a division is biblical but we’ll come back to that a little later.

Let’s start with some definitions.

Are all believers Spirit-filled or is it only certain believers?

That’s not a simple answer.  By that I mean it is not a yes or no kind of answer.  I say that because the Bible speaks of “filling” in a couple of different ways.  There is a filling for service and a filling for sanctification.  They are different and they have a different purpose.  Let’s look at each.

The Filling for Service.

Filling for Sanctification.

WAIT A MINUTE - WHAT ABOUT EPHESIANS 5:18?

What About Fruit?

Introduction:
As he walked confidently into the Temple he was very aware of all who were present. He was shocked and a little bit offended by the man he saw over in the corner. A traitor. A Roman sympathizer. No doubt a thief as were all tax collectors. Having surveyed the room he took his stance in a prominent place and, in the words of Jesus, he “prayed to himself” saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get…” Meanwhile the tax collector could not bring himself to look up, overcome with grief he cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” It was the tax collector who went home justified in the sight of God not the other. Jesus told this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. How are we made right with God? Just what is required for us to be at peace with our Maker? That’s what the gospel is all about and the gospel is the focus of Paul’s letter to the church at Roman.

He was writing a letter of introduction. He wanted them to know what he was preaching. His great desire was to come to Rome that he might minister there. He desired to see a harvest in the capital city of the Empire. He also desired to be ministered to by the folks in Rome. He said to them, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” It is in the gospel, he said, that the righteousness of God is revealed. This righteousness that God provides is obtained by faith thus the just shall live by faith. Paul’s gospel, his good news, is that God himself provides all that is necessary for your salvation. His point being that you and I could never be good enough on our own. Why? Because we are sinners. Now the easiest thing in the world is to get someone to admit that they’re a sinner. “Well, no one is perfect,” they will say. The problem is most have no idea what that really means. Actually the problem is twofold. First we don’t understand that God is holy. We don’t understand that He is distinctly different from us, transcendent and perfect, pure and righteous. And second, we don’t understand the depth of our sin.

In Romans chapter 1 Paul pulls back the curtain and reveals man’s natural condition. He exposes our depravity. God has revealed himself in the creation. Nature screams, “There is a God!” But we suppress that truth. We push it down refusing to acknowledge God as God. We do not honor Him as God or give Him thanks. In fact we exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. As a result God gives us over to a depraved mind. A rejected, condemned and abandoned mind. One that leads to profound sensual perversion, an endless variety of sin and a warped, twisted sense of morality. Paul paints a dark picture of the heart of man. He is laying out that piece of black velvet against which the gospel will shine in all its brilliance. Having dealt with the flagrant, openly corrupt heathen he now turns his attention to the “righteous sinner.” Our text is found in Romans 2:1-16.

Text: Romans 2:1-16

There is some question concerning what group Paul is talking about in this section.
Is it the moral philosophers of Greece and Rome?
The moral pagans?
They looked down on “idol worshipers” as unsophisticated and crude.
They taught the principles of virtue and sought an ideal life through reason.
Others believe that he has turned his attention from the pagans to the Jews.
Certainly he does address the Jews directly but that is not until 2:17.
I think it best to understand he is addressing the hypocrite both Jew and Gentile!
He is address that person who thinks things are just fine between them and the Almighty.

Let’s work our way through the text and see what we find along the way.

• First, we discover that a respectable life of merely external holiness invited the full fury of God’s wrath. (2:1-5)
  You may be tempted to cry, “That’s not fair.” Paul anticipated that objection and he addresses it beginning with verse 6.
• God, the righteous Judge, knows all things and judges accordingly. (2:6-10)
  Let me point out quickly the last thing we note in our text because it is directly related this one…
• God’s judgment is informed, enlightened and impartial. (2:11-16)

So where does this leave us? What is it we need to understand?

• If you are a Christian - if you’ve turned from your sin and thrown yourself on the mercy of God in Christ - you ought to give thanks.
• If you are not a Christian - you’ve never turned from your sin and trusted wholly in Christ and in Him alone - you must flee to Christ now!

Introduction:
I remember during my college years a time when the latest and hottest teaching among evangelical believers was that of “positional” truths.  The truth of who you are in Christ.  That positionally you are one with Christ.  You died with Christ.  You were raised with Christ.  You are seated with Christ in glory.  No matter what you might think, how you might feel, what you might experience - you are holy, you are a child of God, you are forgiven, pure, and righteous.  You are not just a sinner saved by grace you are a son of the living God.  The problem with such teaching was that it separated those who were Christians from those who were “really Christians.”  You had those who walked in victory and power and then you had those who just survived in the Christian ghetto.  It was a variation on a theme.  Another manifestation of this same notion was the “Deeper Life Movement.”  In the Deeper Life Movement you had those who were saved but they played in the shallow end of the pool.  Others launched out into the deep and toiled with the deep and wonderful things of God.  Or you might talk about those who “trust Jesus as their Savior” and those who “make Jesus Lord.”  Two distinct groups within the Christian family.

I certainly understand this desire to explain how you have these distinctions within Christianity.  Among those who name the name of Christ there is a wide discrepancy.  There are those who are actively in pursuit of spiritual knowledge and who desire growth in holiness and other the other hand you have those who are “satisfied” in their faith and see no need for growth and have no desire to increase in holiness.  How can that be?  As we have come to think of salvation in terms of “decision” rather than “conversion” we have to find an explanation for how some can be saved and yet have no love for or interest in the church.  We have to explain how a person can be saved and yet give no evidence of new life.

The answer must be that you have two kinds of Christians.  If that is not the answer we would have to accept the idea that there are many “false professors” on our rolls.  It is easier and more palatable to believe the former.  Unfortunately truth cannot be determined by whether or not it is sweet to our palate.  Truth is determined by what God has declared, revealed or made known.  In dealing with matters of truth we must always ask, “What do the Scriptures say?”  “What has God said?”

• An often misunderstood and misapplied text: John 15:4-5.
• Are there abiding and non-abiding believers?
• A word of caution and conclusion.

Introduction:
The prophet in ancient Israel once described the wickedness of the nation by saying the people had, “lost their ability to blush.”  Sin and corruption had become so commonplace that nothing shocked them anymore.  No amount of perversion caused them embarrassment.  I’m concerned because I think we are there.  I remember the day in 1984 when a friend called me early in the morning and asked if I had read the morning paper.  I said that I had not, why?  He told me that a very popular preacher in Waco, one we had heard many times at several conferences, had been forced to resign his church due to a longstanding practice of homosexual relationships.  Now, 25 years later, when I hear such news my response is, “Really who was it this time?”  It’s not that I don’t care.  Not that it is not devastating to a pastor, his family, the church, and the Gospel but I’ve grown accustom to hearing it.  The real grief is the grief of recognizing the hardness of my own heart.  I was watching the news one day last week when the story broke about the house in Cleveland, Ohio were they went in to arrest a man suspected of rape.  He was not home but they found 6 bodies in varying stages of decomposition.  I believe the count is now 10 bodies and a skull and they are still looking.  You turn on the radio and hear there has been another drive by shooting - another young person dead.  Or there is a report of a teacher, a pastor, a priest, coach or trusted individual who is suspected of molesting children.  Or there is breaking news of a business leader or politician involved in scandal.  The story usually begins with something like, “Shocking news this evening…” but it’s not shocking.  “A grizzly discovery late this afternoon…” but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.  Jaded, hardened, unfeeling due to the fact we’ve come to live with and accept wickedness. Even worse, we don’t even call it wickedness - it’s just life.

That’s the problem with living in darkness.  After a while you don’t notice the absence of light.  Your eyes adjust and you make do.  Our world is dark and the darkness is increasing.  Sin is never satisfied.  It is ever devolving.  It grows more depraved.  It tightens its grip.  The only thing holding it at bay is the grace and mercy of God.  That’s what makes the judgment of God so frightening.  It is frightening because according to Romans 1 - the judgment of God begins with His removing the restraint on sin and giving man over to his own wants and desires.  But wait a minute if God gives man what he wants - won’t that make him happier by allowing him to indulge himself in his own desires?  One might think so but sin destroys.  Sin cannot bring lasting happiness, only God can do that.  Man getting what he wants proves to be disastrous.  That is the point of our text found in Romans 1 beginning with verse 24.

Text: Romans 1:24-32

• Paul is writing a letter of introduction.
• Outlining his gospel - the message he has been given to proclaim.
• In chapters 1-8 he deals with sin, salvation and sanctification.
• Chapters 1-3 come to the conclusion that, “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.”

Romans 1 is a disturbing passage because he plunges immediately into the depths of sin and perversion.  Why?  Why start here?  Because the brilliance and glory of the good news of God grace is best displayed against the backdrop of the darkness of man’s soul and the depth of his depravity.  Have you ever gone into a jewelry store to look at a ring?  They usually will place the ring on a pad covered with black velvet.  Why?  To make the ring sparkle.  To play its brilliance against the darkness.  That’s what Paul does with the Gospel.  In order to fully appreciate the glory and wonder of the Gospel you need to see it against the backdrop of sin and corruption.

Paul’s point in our text is clear…

Thesis: When God gives up on man, allowing him to pursue his heart’s desire, it leads to disaster both now and forever.

Let me point out a couple of things.

• Unrestrained sin leads to profound sensual perversion.  (1:24-27)
• Unrestrained desire give birth to an endless variety of sin.  (1:28-31)
• Unrestrained desire poisons the heart and mind with a twisted understanding of right and wrong.  (1:32)

Why would God give us up to such wickedness?

He does so because when darkness prevails, when despair and violence are widespread men and women are most recognize the depth of their sin, the hopelessness of their condition and flee to Christ.  He gives us up to such despair so that we might give ourselves to His grace.

Do you remember the promise of Isaiah?
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

The first century world had sunk into the darkness of despair.  Men had turned from the true God to gods of their own making.  Suddenly one night against the black sky surrounding Bethlehem declared the coming of light in the person of the Lord Jesus, the righteousness from God had come as the remedy for the unrighteousness of man.

That’s the Gospel and it is for you.

Introduction:
Do you ever struggle with your faith? I don’t mean that you are crippled by the feeling that you’re not a Christian or that you are somehow beyond salvation. I mean that you believe, you’ve turned from your sin and trusted in Christ but you are constantly frustrated by your lack of spiritual development or growth. Do you ever think, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I witness more? Why don’t I speak up? How come I can read my Bible faithfully and yet not see what others see?” Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror and think, “You are one spiritual pigmy?” I sometimes feel like the dimwitted member of the family that everyone loves and yet pities. I’m often frustrated by my repeated failures in certain areas of sin. I frequently need a kick in the spiritual pants to move me from inaction to action. Why is that? I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling. What are we to do with those feelings of spiritual inadequacy and stunted spiritual growth? Do we ignore them and press on? Do we assume them to be indicators that there are serious issues with our faith? Are they a warnings that we are about to “run aground” spiritually? Or, is it just part of the ebb and flow of sanctification?

These are questions that are deserving of answers. Left unanswered by will lead to spiritual depression and have the potential to cast you adrift in your faith.

I dealing with these questions we must begin by understanding that the Christian life is not difficult…it’s down right impossible! You cannot live the faith, and you were never intended to. The Christian life is well beyond your abilities. The secret is Christ in you the hope, the assurance of glory. There is only one who has ever lived the Christian life and He lives it again and again in the lives of His people. Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” What does God expect from you? Nothing! He is the vine we are the branches. It is only when we are connected to Him, the life-giving force, that any fruit will be produced.

The second thing, and the one I want to focus on this evening, is that you must understand that God is at work in you. Do you belong to Christ? Have you put your faith and trust in Him? Are you believing, are you trusting Him today? If you are take heart. Be encouraged. God is at work in you.

The Scriptures make it clear God has always been at work in His people. That was true in the days of the Old Testament, the New Testament and it is true today. God has never left it up to His people to become spiritual or holy. Rather He has been active in them to make them habitually godly. He is forever at work in them conforming them to His image and likeness. And He never fails. Be encouraged.

• Listen to Psalm 1:
• Consider Psalm 15:

Don’t lose sight of God’s promise about the coming of Christ.

Let’s consider some of God’s promises.

• Philippians 2:12-13
• Philippians 1:6
• Ephesians 2:8-9
  But that is not the end of Paul’s thought. We stop there - Paul did not!
• Ephesians 2:10 - key = “created in Christ Jesus…”

The life of the Christian is characterized by righteousness but marred by sin.

One last thing - 2 Peter 2:22

The point of all of this is Christian - take heart. Be encouraged. God is at work in you!

Bertrand Russell said in his Why I Am Not a Christian, that there was one serious defect in Christ’s moral character - He believed in hell.  The idea of a God of wrath and judgment is offensive to a great many people.  Thus there are many who do not like the first chapter of Romans.  As Paul introduces his message he begins with stating man’s sinfulness.  As he outlines the gospel in chapters 1-8 he deals with three great themes: sin, salvation and sanctification.  Our focus in chapter 1 is on man’s sinfulness and the fact that it is the object of God’s wrath.  Our text is found in Romans 1 beginning with verse 18.

Text: Romans 1:18-25

I think it important to note that truth cannot be determined on the basis of whether a notion is popular or well accepted.  Truth exists outside of us.  It is objective rather than subjective.  It is not a matter of what I want to be true but rather what is true.  Second we must note that truth can and ought to be “tested.”  Truth is reasonable and thus will withstand scrutiny.  This is important because when we deal with something like God’s wrath we don’t want to believe it.  We want to find an alternative understanding.  But the question is not whether I like it but whether it is reasonable and consistent with what I know to be true?

Look at verse 18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Paul make one thing very clear - God is a God of wrath or anger as some translations have it. But be careful - what is meant by “wrath?”

• Why is it God’s wrath is aimed at us?
• According to 1:18-20 we suppressed the truth.
• According to 1:21-23 we refuse to honor Him as God.
• Note the fruit our choices - God’s judgment 1:24-25.

Conclusion:
Why does the Gospel matter?  Why do you need the Gospel?

• You need the Gospel because of God’s wrath.
• God’s wrath is holy and just because He has plainly revealed himself yet you have refused to acknowledge the truth of who He is and you’ve failed to honor Him as God.
• In fact, you have chosen to worship and serve that which is not God at all.

The Bible says if you have not yet believed in/trusted the Lord Jesus you stand condemned.  Why?  Not because you’ve not “accepted Jesus” but because you are guilty.  Because you’ve suppressed the truth, you’ve perverted the truth and thus you stand under His wrath without excuse.

Introduction:
It’s a great hymn.  One of my favorites.  I especially like to sing it at funerals because it is such a confident affirmation of our faith.  “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!  O’ what a foretaste, of glory divine!  Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.”  There is no more comforting feeling than that of knowing you are secure.  To know that you are safe in the arms of a loving and gracious God who has promised to keep you forevermore.  But what if your assurance is a false assurance?  What if what you know to be true turns out to be false?  Have you ever known something only to find out it wasn’t true?  I mourned the loss of a classmate for years having been told of his tragic death only to run into one day at the doctor’s office some 10 years after his “death.”  It makes you wonder, “What else do I know that isn’t true?”  Then you start to look at your spiritual life.  Who hasn’t had the thought, “How could I be a real Christian and still do that?”  Then you read about those who will be surprised on the day of Judgment, “But Lord we preached the Gospel in your name, we cast out demons, we healed the sick” and He replies, “Depart from Me.  I never knew you.”  Questions.  Doubts.  Fears.  How are we to respond to them?   Are we to live in uncertainty?  Are we to push such thoughts away and blindly trust?  Are such thoughts always the work of the devil?  Are they all unhealthy?

We are Baptists.  We are those “once saved, always saved folks.”  How are we to respond to questions about our faith and the certainty that we belong to Christ?  Do you remember last week I said, “The problem with my questions is that when I come to Scripture and answer one - the answer creates five more?”  Last time we asked the question, “Is it possible to be a carnal Christian?”  I said the answer is no.  You are either saved or lost.  There is no third category.  A man whose walk is characteristically or habitually ungodly is not a “poor Christian” he is not a Christian at all.  Yes, Christians sin.  Christians can and do fall into great sin and it can be for an extended time but the man who lives in sin, without the conviction of the Holy Spirit; who has no desire for fellowship with Christ or His church; who lives without regard for the will of God has every reason to question whether he has ever been born of the Spirit of God.  I fear such a man will be in that “surprised” crowd on the day of judgment.

1. The Basis of Assurance
2. The Testing of Assurance
   • The doctrinal test - 1 John 2:22-23
   • The love test - 1 John 2:9-11
   • The test of obedience - 1 John 2:3-6
3. Conclusion

Introduction:
This morning we come to gather around the Lord’s Table.  As one of the two ordinances given to the Church it is a high and holy moment.  We as Baptists believe this to be a memorial meal.  It is a symbol of the body and blood of our precious Savior.  We do not believe that the bread or the juice is somehow transformed into the actual body and blood of the Lord but that it symbolizes both.  We also differ from some of our brothers and sisters in that we do not believe that grace is dispensed through the elements.  Partaking of the bread and the cup does not impart saving grace or any other grace.  Rather it is a time of remembrance and reflection.  It is a great mistake however to believe that it is a “mere” symbol.  It is not something to take lightly or carelessly.  This is to be a time of solemn remembrance.  It is also important to note that this is a “church” ordinance.  It is something to be done by the church gathered for worship.  It is not an individual act - it is a communal act.  We do this together as the church.

I know that the church has fallen on tough times.  Church attendance is down across the board and church loyalty is all but gone.  It seems many are of the mind that the church is no longer relevant.  Some seem to think that the church has run its course and its time for something else.  Well, the church has not “run its course” but perhaps our style of church has.  The church in the New Testament is describes as a body, a family, a temple, the habitation of the Spirit and even a marriage.  The modern church looks more like a cattle drive, a pageant, a circus and a Fortune 500 company!  The church, in the beginning, was not about programs, budgets, goods and services but rather about relationships.  It is was about living the faith together.  It was a sharing of life and growing in holiness.  This morning as we gather around the Table I want to take just a moment and reflect on what the church was meant to be.  To do that I want to explore Paul’s introduction in his letter to the Roman church.

Text: Romans 1:8-17
Paul writes to the church in an attempt to introduce himself and his doctrine.  He did not start the church in Roman but he had heard great reports about it.  He for some time had long to visit the church and have some ministry there.  So he writes this letter outlining the message given to him by God.  Here is the gospel.  He began by stating that he sees himself primarily as the slave of Christ.  One called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.  In this section he expresses his desire to come to Rome, his prayer on behalf of the Roman Christians, his indebtedness to all the world and his confidence in the power of the gospel.

If you look carefully at what he says I think we can see the church as God intends it. There are three things I want to call to your attention.

1. The church is to be a place of mutual encouragement and growth.  (1:8-13)
2. The church is to be consumed with a sense of indebtedness.  (1:14-15)
3. The church is to be emboldened by the wonder and the power of the Gospel.  (1:16-17)

The church is to be a place of mutual encouragement and growth.  A place consumed with a sense of indebtedness.  A place emboldened by the power and wonder of the Gospel.  Such a place is not outdated or irrelevant.  Far from it - it is desperately needed as we seek to live out our faith together.

Introduction:
I like things cut and dried.  Don’t you like things “in their place?”  Isn’t it great when you’re not left wondering why or how?  Especially when it comes to matters of faith.  It is so much easier if you can take biblical truth wrap it up in a pretty package put a bow on it and then sit it on the shelf and forget about it.  If I ever need it - I know where it is.  It I need to show it to someone I can get it down.  Oh, and I want everything clearly labeled.  And if you don’t mind, I’ll do the labeling.  The problem of course is that faith is not nearly as “cut and dried” as we would like for it to be.  It is, at times, messy.  It can be confusing.  No matter how hard I try - “He” just won’t fit into my box.  There are things about our faith that are clear and easily understood on the face of it.  There are other aspects that are mysterious and beyond our understanding.  And there are those things that are too clear and so we do our best to distort or reinterpret to ease our guilt.  Is it possible to know if a person is a Christian?  Can you tell who is and who isn’t?  Is it proper to even consider such things?  What about the relationship between a Christian and sin?  Is it possible to be free from sin?  Can you be a Christian and live in open sin?  Does the security of the believer mean “just trust Jesus and then live however you want to live?”  Is Christ’s life and death sufficient for salvation?  Is there nothing we bring to it?  What about the “Spirit-filled” life?  Questions I’m sure you have a lot of them - I know I do.  The problem with some of my questions is that when I go to the Scripture and find and answer - the answer creates more questions!  This evening we begin a series of messages on “questions.”

I want to begin this series by asking, “Is it possible to be a carnal Christian?”
This is a common teaching.  It is the notion that it is possible to be a genuine Christian and yet live a sinful life.  A life that does not reflect the will of God nor is interested in the things of God.

By genuine Christian I mean:

• You have genuinely repented of your sin.
• You have placed your faith and trust in Christ.
• You have been regenerated, made new by the working of the Holy Spirit.
• Christ lives in you through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Yet:

• You live without regard for Christ.
• You live without thought or concern for the will of God.
• You have no interest in His church.

The “carnal Christian” teaching says while not ideal, not really what God wants or expects of us, such a person can rest assured they belong to Christ and are therefore guaranteed a place in glory.

Can such a view be supported from the Scripture?  That’s what I want us to explore. I want to walk through 4 things in answering this question. I think it is important to walk through these steps to gain the best understanding.

1. First, let’s consider some amazing Scriptural declarations concerning genuine believers.
   • John 7:38
   • Romans 6:14
   • Romans 8:14
2. That brings us to some disturbing questions.
   • Considering the facts just mention, why is it some Christians do not sense the presence and power of the Holy Spirit?  How is it some Christians are dominated by sin?  How is it many do not recognize the leadership of the Holy Spirit?
   • Christians through the years have tried to answer the questions I’ve raised.  How is it a Christian’s life contradicts God’s promise?  Some answers have been better than others.  Many have concluded this is further proof that salvation can be lost.  It is obvious to many that you could not be a Christian and live such lifestyles.  Those who hold to eternal security, who believe that once God begins His work he will complete it - seek another solution.
3. That brings us to a common but less than adequate explanation.
   • Many have come to the conclusion the some Christians are not spiritual but rather “carnal” or worldly.  This is the carnal Christian doctrine.
   • This is a sober warning to us.
4. A word of caution.
   • So to answer the question - Christians often sin and often sin grievously.  Christians can fall into gross immorality.  But no, a Christian cannot habitually and characteristically live in sin and disobedience.  Such a life is a betrayal of a profession of faith.
   • Such a lifestyle demands a serious and careful examination of one’s soul.

Introduction:
I was in a meeting this past week with some other pastors.  We were talking and praying with one another.  We talked about our congregations, our needs, concerns and what was on our hearts so that we knew how to pray for each other.  One of the men said, “Our folks believe they just don’t obey.”  That struck me.  It struck me first because of its honesty.  He didn’t say it as an accusation or a complaint – he was just stating a reality.  It also struck me because it made me think about my own life and service.  I thought about how often the same could be said of me.  I believe - I just don’t obey.  I know what to do – I just don’t do it.  Those thoughts then sparked other questions.  “Why don’t you obey?”  “What keeps you from doing what you know to do?”  The Puritans were known for their commitment to self-inspection.  When you read them it seems they took it to the extreme in cases.  Too much navel gazing can lead to a depressed faith.  A constant feeling that you are worthless and that there is no progress in the gospel.  I don’t think the modern church is in any danger in that department!  Rather we could use some honest navel gazing.  A little self-examination would be good for us.  What motivates us?  What makes us tick?  Is obedience drudgery or a delight?  Does it drain us or empower us?
There is no question that we, as the people of God, are called to a life of obedience.  We not left to wonder if God would have us do as He says.  Is it the will of God that we grit our teeth and bear the burden of following Him?  After all Jesus said we must take up our cross and follow Him.  He spoke of our dying daily in order to following Him.  But are a long face, a heavy heart and a frustrated life what He had in mind?  I don’t think so.  It seems to me the message of the Scripture is that there is delight in service to God.  That there is a profound joy in following Him.  How is it the apostle Paul found the strength to sing and praise God from a prison cell?  How is it he could delight in being found worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus?  Why would he cry out, “O that I may know Him and enter into the joy of His suffering?”  We get some insight into his joy when we read his opening remarks to the church at Rome.  Our text this morning is found in Romans the first chapter.

Text: Romans 1:1-7
Without question Romans is one of the most powerful and influential “books” ever written.  Its affect on the history of the church is profound.  In turn it has shaped the western world.  St. Augustine was brought to faith after reading a few verses from Romans 13.  Martin Luther rediscovered the doctrine of salvation by faith through his study of this great book.  John Wesley the leading light in awakening of the 18th century was converted while listening to a man read from Luther’s preface to Romans.  Wesley said, “My heart was strangely warmed” and thus he came to faith.  John Bunyan, inspired by this book in turn wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress.  There is no question this book casts a lengthy shadow through the history of the church.

Kent Hughes said when approaching his study of Romans, “The study of it produces genuine excitement and genuine trepidation – excitement because of the possibilities its life-changing themes bring to us, and trepidation at reasonably expounding their massiveness.”  In other words there is joy and excitement because of its great power in presenting the gospel and great fear in handling such profound truths.  I share his sentiments!
Paul, probably from Corinth in 57AD, wrote this letter to Rome as an introduction.  It was his desire to come to Rome and to minister there (1:11-15).  Because he is not writing to a congregation he established and due to the fact he’s not addressing particular problems – Romans differs from his other epistles.

Some have referred to his writing as a treatise or doctrinal statement.  There are those who feel it is a systematic theology.  It is the most detailed teaching on salvation and the gospel that we possess in the biblical record.  Paul desired to come to Rome and this was a means of letting them know ahead of time, “This is the message that I’m preaching.”  This is the theme of my ministry.  But don’t get the wrong idea – this is no dry, lifeless theology text.  This is a warm, pastoral, and practical expression of the Gospel.
In his introduction or greeting we discover an important truth about the life of faith.  The weight of these opening verses gives some insight into what is to come.

From these 7 verses we learn that:
Thesis: Joyful and faithful service is the fruit of a grace-saturated life.

Keep in mind that this church does not know Paul.  Perhaps they know of him, there may be people in the church who know Paul but as a whole they do not know him.  So he wants to give them a little information about himself before he gets to the heart of his letter. It is this statement of who he is that I think is so important.?I believe it is critical to understanding how we remain faithful and joyful in service.? I want to point out three things as we make our way through the text.?These are three things that are the result of a life saturated with grace.

1. The grace-saturated life delights in being owned by God.  (1:1)
2. The grace-saturated life is a life consumed with the Gospel.  (1:1-4)
3. The grace-saturated life gladly acknowledges it is all of grace.  (1:5-7)