God bless each of you, it is good to be here with you this morning. It’s good to see all your faces. I greet all the ones here this morning, and all of our friends listening online. I had some opportunities to speak this week with some of the brothers overseas, and they send their greetings to us. Lord willing, we will be able to see some of them next month. I am just praying for God’s help and leadership in everything.
God has been so good to us this past week, he has answered prayers. I am so thankful for that. And he has also just been giving such beautiful weather lately. When a pretty day comes, it feels almost like God is smiling on you. And I always enjoy a nice day.
If you would, you can open your bibles with me to Romans chapter 3, and I am going to pick up where I left off in my reading. Romans chapter 3, and starting at verse 9, we will read down to verse 23.
Romans 3, King James Version
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Prayer
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for goodness to each of us, and we thank you for the Bible. We thank you that you have given us your Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us into understanding what is written in scripture. Lord, we pray that as we examine these scriptures this morning, you will further open our understanding. That as we look upon what you caused to be written and preserved on paper for our benefit, it will edify us and strengthen us, and help us more clearly understand ourselves and understand you. We ask it for Christ’s sake. Amen.
Introduction
Well, it is some very stark verses we have read here this morning. They are strong words. And like so much of the Bible, I can’t recall anyone ever taking time to preach from them in the places we have come from. But these are the verses we have arrived at today, and we will go over them.
As I was studying over these verses, I found one man who said that these verses are like a mirror. Paul is holding up a mirror in front of lost mankind, and he is allowing them to get a clear reflection of their own appearance. As he holds up that mirror for lost mankind to look into, Paul is really bringing home in these verses all the points he has been making in the first two chapters of his letter to the church in Rome. And there in verse 9, Paul says something that clearly lets us understand his primary point of the last two chapters. Let me read verse 9 again, and just make sure we all caught it.
Verse 9:
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.
We have before proved… Right there, Paul is letting us know clearly what he has been seeking to prove in the preceding chapters. People may argue that Paul was not trying to say everyone was a sinner in chapters 1 and 2. Like I said, I have heard people take parts of chapter 2 and try to use that to say we should be good law keepers. But that is not Paul’s point at all through these chapters. In fact, if we look at the preceding things Paul has said, and our takeaway is that he is encouraging us to look to the law or our works for salvation, then we have completely missed his point. Paul’s point, and what he is getting at, is explained to us right there in verse 9. He has been trying to explain to us that everyone is a sinner, and there is nothing in the law that can undo sin.
All of the arguments and all of the points have been building up to this climax. Here he explicitly states what he has been getting at all along: he has been proving that everyone, Jews and Gentiles, are all under sin.
If you recall, Paul is going through an in-depth explanation of the gospel in the first half of the book of Romans. He is explaining why we need it, what it is, and what it will do. Up to this point, Paul is still in the “Why We Need It” part of his explanation. Here in these verses I have read, Paul arrives at his ultimate conclusion of why we need the gospel, why we need a savior. And we need the gospel, we need a savior, because all of mankind is under sin, and there is no way out unless someone comes and saves us from it.
Sin is a prison.
Sin is a prison, a prison we cannot escape from. We have no power to escape its presence, its power, or its penalty. Of our own selves, we have no means by which to escape sin. There is nothing we can do, nothing we can learn, and nowhere we can go to escape sin.
As I say that, sin is the thing Jesus came to save us from. Sin is the problem, and Jesus Christ is the solution. Jesus delivers us from our sin. He changes our hearts, and we follow Him. He told us that if we follow Him, He will come back and get us and take us to be in heaven with Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life. It’s all in Him, and you don’t have to add anything else to it. Everything in the Bible will point you to Jesus because He is the answer. But Paul tells us the answer to the problem; he is first making sure we understand the problem.
Paul is trying to bring home to his readers the magnitude of their predicament. He wants them to see how vast and insurmountable the problem of sin is. Once he has finally demonstrated the enormity of the problem sin presents, then he is going to tell his readers the solution to the problem.
The depth of the problem of sin is driven home by two main points. Number one, everyone is under sin—there is no one who is not. Number two, there is nothing we can ever do on our own to escape sin and its penalty.
Everyone is guilty, and there is no way we can escape on our own. Those two facts drive home just how insurmountable the problem of sin is. Paul has been seeking to make those two facts perfectly clear to his readers. No matter how good they have been, no matter how well they have lived, all are under sin. Not simply because our ancestors sinned, and we inherited their curse, but we ourselves have personally sinned too. There is no one who is exempt from that truth. All have sinned and fallen short, and there is no way out. There is no way we can reform ourselves and change our situation. No amount of reforming and changing our ways can ever make right our sin in the eyes of God.
With God, it is one and done. One strike, and you are out. One sin, and you are finished. Those are the rules. God gave the rules to Adam and Eve in Eden. The day you eat thereof, the day you sin against God, that day you will surely die. It just took one sin. It just takes one sin, and you will surely die. Nothing we can do can change that.
Adam and Eve proved it. They tried to cover their nakedness. They tried to, by their own means, do something to cover up what they did, to reform themselves. They tried to right the wrong, but it was impossible for them to do. There was absolutely nothing they could do to get back into the presence of God, and they were sent out of Eden. No amount of reform can change a person’s eternal destiny.
Once we have sinned, we cannot simply make a decision and say, “I am going to change, and from today on, I am going to be a good person.” That doesn’t work without a savior. God does not forgive your past just because you ask. God does not forgive your past because you decided to start living better.
Adam and Eve’s attempt to cover their nakedness and hide their sinful past did not work. God saw right through it.
There is no passing the buck. We can’t say, “Adam made me do it. Eve made me do it. The serpent made me do it.” That doesn’t work with God. Adam and Eve proved that too. We are responsible for our own actions, and we can’t blame someone else for making us do it.
Adam and Eve were stained with sin, and there was nothing they could do to remove that stain. There was no one who could take the blame for what they did. They were guilty, and they were responsible.
But right from the very beginning, God promised there would be a way out. It would be a savior. He promised a seed would come who would bruise the serpent’s head. He demonstrated that it was going to take a life to make things right. He showed them that when He made their coats of skins, something had to die to cover their sins. A savior was going to have to die to cover their sins. Someone was going to have to die to pay for sin.
Blaming someone else is not going to work. We can’t pass the buck. We are responsible for our actions.
Simply trying to reform ourselves will never work. No matter how much we reform, we cannot eliminate our past. Reform can only change our future. But when God looks at man, He looks at his whole life, not just from the point in time he decided to try and reform.
Sin has to be eliminated. God is a holy God, a righteous God, and true holiness and true righteousness cannot coexist with evil. If God is truly holy and truly righteous, then He has to one day eliminate evil. If it is in God’s power to stop evil and He never does, then He is not holy, He is not righteous, and He is not good. A God that allows evil to go on forever is not a good and holy God. So God has to judge it. We know the day will come when He will judge the world, and He will put an end to evil, just like Paul told us earlier in chapter 3. So judgment is coming. Mankind is doomed, and the only way out is someone delivering us because we can’t deliver ourselves.
As we come to verse 9, Paul is bringing this point home.
Romans 3 King James Version:
9 What then? are we better than they?
Are the religious people who know what is in the Bible any better off in this situation? That is the question here. In terms of salvation, people who know the Bible are no better off than people who don’t know the Bible. The only advantage is that people who know the Bible know about the way to salvation. But knowing about the way to salvation does not actually save you.
You can have a Bible, read it backward and forward like the Jews, and know all about the law. You can even do your best to live a good life and be a good person, but that doesn’t save you. Without a savior, you are still lost. You can have the law, but unless you have the savior it is pointing to, you are still lost. You can have the Bible, but unless you have the savior it is pointing to, you are still lost. You can do your best to live the good kind of life the Bible talks about, but unless you have the savior that good life is patterned after, you are still lost. All of those things, without a savior, can’t save you. So Paul asks the question:
9 What then? are we better than they?
Just because we know what is in the Bible, are we better off than the rest? Are the Jews better than Gentiles? Are people who grew up in church better than those who did not?
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
It doesn’t matter if you grew up in church and know the Bible. It doesn’t matter if you tried to be the good kind of person the Bible tells us we should be. We are still under sin. We are still in need of a savior, and a savior is still the only means of salvation, no matter what your background is.
Even when we have been saved, when Jesus has reconciled us to God, when we are being redeemed, are we better than they? Are we better than those on the outside? No, there is still nothing about us that is inherently better. We are not better than them, but we have something better than they have. The thing is, they can have it too if they want it. And it’s not a “what,” it’s a “who.” It’s Jesus, and they can have Him too. He will deliver them from sin; just believe in Him.
Note how Paul ends verse 9: “We are all under sin.” All are under sin. There is no exception. It is a universal statement.
Since the fall of man with Adam and Eve, all have been under sin. Except for our Lord Jesus Christ, there has not been a single person to walk this earth who was not under sin. If we jump ahead to chapter 5, Paul is going to return to this point and elaborate on it. We will look at this in detail when we get to chapter 5, but today let’s just jump ahead to chapter 5 and take a little peek at that. We can jump over to chapter 5, and I will just take one verse. Let me read verse 12:
Romans 5 King James Version:
12 Wherefore, as by one man (verse 14 tells us this man is Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Notice Paul is using the same language here as in chapter 3: “All have sinned.” “All are under sin.” “All have come up short.”
Sin came into the world by Adam, and death, which is the penalty for sin, followed sin into the world, and it passed upon all men. It has passed on all men not just because Adam sinned, but because death has come upon us all, and we all have sinned. Everyone who has sinned has done so by their own choice. If someone is
lost and they never come to Christ, when the day of judgment comes, they are not going to be judged according to what Adam did. They are going to be judged by what they did themselves.
Everyone after Adam has sinned. Everyone has. There are no exceptions. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying or doesn’t know what sin is. Everyone has sinned in life.
The only way out is a savior.
If we jump back to verse 9 of chapter 3, we see that Paul is making the same point as we have read here in chapter 5: Everyone is under sin.
Paul is now going to, in these next verses, go to the Bible and hold up verses to his readers. Paul is going to let the Bible tell mankind that all are under sin and that there is no hope without a savior.
Romans 3 King James Version:
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Notice there, Paul said, “As it is written.” Paul is quoting scripture here, and the next eight verses are all quoting scripture. Each verse he quotes supports the point he has made: that everyone is under sin.
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, references a psalm of David—specifically Psalm 14—where David declares that “there is none righteous, no, not one.” Paul isn’t taking this verse out of context; he is faithfully conveying the message of the entire chapter, which asserts that not a single person in the world is truly righteous. This doesn’t mean everyone is as evil as Adolf Hitler, or that there are no decent or kind people. It also doesn’t mean that people aren’t good some of the time. Rather, it emphasizes that no one meets the standard of perfection—no one is perfectly righteous all the time, every day, throughout their entire life.
To be considered righteous in God’s eyes requires absolute perfection, every minute of every day. Since everyone has failed to achieve this standard, God can rightfully declare that there is none righteous, not even one—not Noah, not Abraham, not Moses, not Job. God’s assessment of humanity is comprehensive and universal: there is none righteous, no, not one.
There are many good people, many who were used by God, and many who were all they could be. Noah was perfect in his generation; Job was perfect in his generation. But being perfect in your generation is not enough to merit salvation, because God does not grade on a curve. Being at the top of your class is not sufficient to earn salvation. All they could be was still not enough to meet the perfect standard that God requires for salvation by works. God demands absolute perfection, which is something no one has achieved, leaving everyone in need of a savior.
The Bible makes it clear that everyone has fallen short; there are no exceptions. Those who argue otherwise misunderstand the nature of sin and the plan of salvation. Even Abraham and Job, who are exemplary figures in the Bible, were looking forward to a savior. Abraham’s trials were meant to point him toward this savior. Job cried out for a redeemer, saying, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” These men had a revelation that God would send a redeemer—a savior—who would be perfect, sinless, and the spotless Lamb of God.
In Romans 3:11, Paul continues, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” Here, Paul is still quoting from Psalm 14, making a universal statement with no exceptions. It is not that no one understands or seeks after God at all, but rather that no one does so with the fullness of their being. People may seek God in part, but no one seeks God perfectly or with their entire being. Our attention wanes, our minds wander, and our flesh is weak, even when our spirit is willing.
Jesus highlighted this human weakness in Gethsemane when He found His disciples sleeping instead of praying with Him. He said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This reflects humanity’s predicament: we are simply incapable of understanding or seeking God with the totality of our being.
Paul goes on in Romans 3:12, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” This again underscores the universality of human sinfulness. Everyone has gone astray from God’s perfect way, and as a result, humanity has become unprofitable for the purposes God intended. While people can be profitable by worldly standards, God measures success and profitability differently. He values love and treasures in heaven, not earthly wealth, knowledge, or power.
Jesus said, “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” This is why all of humanity is considered unprofitable to God without a savior. It is only by acknowledging our fallen state that we can truly accept and appreciate the need for a savior. While there is good in people, there is not perfect goodness, which is why we need redemption.
Paul continues in Romans 3:13-14, “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” Here, Paul quotes from Psalm 5, using a graphic image to describe the sinful nature of humanity. An open sepulchre (tomb) represents death and decay, symbolizing the condition of a fallen soul without a savior—dead men walking. Paul describes how deceit and poison flow from the mouths of fallen people, emphasizing the destructive power of sin.
Finally, in Romans 3:15, Paul says, “Their feet are swift to shed blood.” This doesn’t mean everyone is a murderer, but rather that people are quick to bring about conflict and destruction, often without considering the consequences. Paul’s point is clear: humanity, in its fallen state, is utterly lost and in need of a savior. Without recognizing our fallen condition, we cannot fully appreciate the salvation offered through Christ.
But they have been quick to shed blood. They have been swift to injure and harm. That is the way of fallen man, that is the way of the wicked. On the small scale, on the large scale, it’s the same.
You look today, there are people all over the place clamoring that our nation should go into a civil war. There are crowds of people who would be pleased to see our nation break out in violence. They clamor for violence. They would love to see one segment of the country rise up and wipe out the other segment. They are hoping for it, they are praying for it, and if they could light the fuse to make it happen, they would do it. They are keen to instigate it. And truth is, people on all sides are guilty. It’s like they don’t hear the words coming out of their mouths. It’s like they don’t even consider the horror they’re going to inflict. But so long as they are not on the receiving end, most people just don’t care. They are swift to shed blood, they are quick to go down roads that lead to violence or death or destruction for others. They almost don’t even give it a second thought. Their feet are swift to shed blood.
You look at the war in Ukraine, you look at the mobs and violence we have seen in our nation in recent months and years. Saber rattlers, threatening violence if this thing happens or that thing happens. It is the state of mankind. Maybe let me say it in reverse: how many voices are out there today calling for calm? Hardly any. How many voices are calling for peace? Hardly any. Almost every voice out there is ratcheting up the tension.
Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways. Their pride, their covetousness, their selfishness, their self-centeredness, their jealousies, their fear—it all produces misery and destruction. Everything bad in the world today is a product of fallen men. Every bad societal problem that exists is because of fallen men. Fallen man is to blame for drug addiction. Fallen man is to blame for murder. Fallen man is to blame for war. Fallen man is to blame for the breakdown of relationships. Every sin and all the suffering it causes in this world is here because of fallen mankind. Mankind is the cause of all of our own worst problems. Destruction and misery, those are the hallmarks of human history when man is left to his own devices. The history of man has had high points and low points, but misery and destruction have been a constant. There has always been some class of people who were oppressed, marginalized, left to fall between the cracks. Some element of people who had to suffer so that others could prosper. Someone has to experience misery and destruction so that someone else could stroke their ego, feed their pride, satisfy their greed, or fulfill their lusts. It is the way of fallen mankind.
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
And the way of peace have they not known. If you go back into history, there has been nonstop war for thousands of years. The devil hates peace. I think again about the places we come from. You know, there has not been peace there in a very long time. Maybe never. It has been nonstop conflict for decades. It was constantly open hostilities between this group and that group. And they draw in as many people as they can, they radicalize them. They pit people against each other over the most ridiculous things. It’s like the Dr. Seuss books, where two countries go to war because one side butters their toast on the top side, and the other butters their toast on the bottom side. And they try to destroy each other because of the side of the toast they butter. And the truth is, most of the conflict we have experienced in the places we came from is just about that level of idiocy. And there have been so many casualties. And hardly any of it was of God. It was just destruction for the sake of the pride and the ego and power of men.
And that is what many men do, they attack, they destroy, they fight. They do not know peace. They do not know how to survive in a time of peace. They thrive on conflict. Conflict is the fire that burns in the heart of fallen mankind. It drives them.
You know, when Jim Jones met Father Divine, Father Divine told him the secret for controlling the people. He said, you need an enemy. Find an enemy, and keep them angry and fearful of that enemy. And that is how you can control them. And that is how corrupt men hold control over people—through conflict, by keeping them focused on some enemy. Keep them agitated, keep them afraid of that enemy, and convince them you are the only one who can save them from that enemy. And when you do that, you can control them, because you have them convinced it is a matter of life or death. That is how these men operate. They do not know peace. They need conflict, because conflict is at the heart of how they maintain their control. And we see that take many forms in many parts of society.
We see that very kind of thing play out, big and small. People invent a boogeyman, and they turn everyone against it. We see it with Hitler. He turned the Jews into the boogeyman. He got them focused on some enemy, and then he could control them. There are people we have known. They have invented enemies over and over, and that is how they hold the people together—constantly trying to battle against some phantom enemy that does not even exist.
Today, I am sure you and I are the phantom enemy many people are battling against. But we never did anyone wrong. And we still are not doing anyone wrong. We have been kind, and we treated people well. We are respectful, and we have been respectful. We even did our best to leave and go in peace. But they have ceased not from harassing us. Because they do not know peace. They are the very kind of people Paul is speaking of here. They thrive on conflict, and they have to whip people up into a frenzy, keep them focused on an enemy. Because that is a key factor in how they control them.
And no one is interested in peace. No one is interested in finding a way to live peacefully, because too many people are benefiting from conflict. And most often, it is the ones in power, the ones in authority. They are the ones benefiting from all the conflict because it is how they keep control. Because if there was peace, if there was no boogeyman, then you don’t really need them anymore. So they stir and stir and stir. They make everything sound far worse than it actually is, and their plan to deal with the problem is to never actually put an end to the problem. Their plans just prolong it. They don’t want to actually fix the problem, because if the problem is fixed, then you don’t need a problem fixer anymore. The goal is not to ever win the battle, or fix the problem, or achieve anything. The goal is to keep the people dependent. So they can’t actually deliver on their promise of peace. They can’t deliver on whatever the people are actually looking for.
Because then you don’t need them anymore. You might say, Bro. Charles, you are a very cynical man. And I would say, I am simply observing the pattern I have seen in almost every type of leader, most of my life. Rarely do any of them deliver. They are always more interested in the fight than resolving the fight. And some people, they eventually wake up and realize they are just pawns being played by corrupt men. Or they stay blinded, and they live their life swept up in the constant conflict that no one really has any intention of ever resolving.
Peace is hard to find in this world because we live in a world that does not know peace. If you want peace, you can only find it in Jesus.
Because here is the truth: there is only one boogeyman, and it’s the devil. And Jesus didn’t come to fight with him for all eternity and never solve the problem. Jesus has already defeated Satan; he did it on the cross. And the only enemy that matters is that enemy of the soul. And in Christ Jesus, I already have victory over the enemy of my soul. Jesus delivered on his promise. We can trust him, we can follow him. And in him, in Jesus Christ, we can have peace. But these fallen men, in their constant struggle and conflict, they do not know peace.
And the way of peace have they not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. This is proven when men sin. There is no respect for God in the moment of sin. There is a deep selfishness, a deep self-centeredness in the heart of men. Fallen man lifts himself up, ultimately, as his own god. And he respects himself, and he obeys himself, rather than the God of heaven.
Paul here, in verse 18, is finishing quoting scriptures. He is holding up a mirror that all of fallen mankind can look into and see their true reflection, and it’s not pretty. It is the reflection of a rotting corpse, a corrupted heart, and a person who is badly in need of a savior. In verse 19, Paul is going to bring everything home and begin to make his ultimate point about why we need a savior.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. The law said these things, the law said everyone was guilty. The scriptures Paul was quoting, from Psalms, were sung at the temple. The Jewish people would have heard those songs many times; they were baked right into the worship at the temple. These things were part of the law of God. This is a little humorous to me. At the temple, the Jews sang all these songs; they knew they needed a savior. It was there in their songs, but somehow they had missed it. The Apostle Paul, here to get their attention, is going back to the songs the Jewish people sang at the temple. He is pointing to these songs to try and draw their attention to the things they had missed from the Bible. The scriptures, the law, the Bible, and the songs they sang told them that everyone was guilty, everyone was fallen, everyone was a walking dead man who didn’t know the way of peace, who didn’t understand, who didn’t seek God, whose ways caused misery and destruction. If fallen man would truly examine himself, those things would be found in his life. The scripture said there was none good, no, not one. Everyone has contributed to the evil in the world, and everyone is guilty before God. The primary point of the law and the Old Testament was to show people they were guilty of sin and that a savior was coming to set them free. The scriptures and the songs said they needed a savior.
20 Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law is not for justifying people. The law is not for saving people. When we make the law part of the recipe for salvation, we have actually perverted it into something it was never meant to be. The law was there to show us what sin was. It was there to show us what was wrong. Thou shalt not kill, or steal, or commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet. These things are wrong. The law told us what we should not do, and the law told us how we should be. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as you love yourself. The law shows fallen mankind how far away from the mark they are. The law shows mankind how far short we come of being what God expects and requires. The law gives us the knowledge of the depth of our sin. It did that in the days of the Old Testament. It still does that today. It can still reveal our shortcomings. It can still convict us and make us realize we are not all we should be. It can do those things, but it can never save us. Keeping it, obeying it, and following it will never save us because fallen mankind is incapable of obeying it perfectly.
But praise the Lord, Paul does not end there. While the law was showing us our sin, it was also pointing us to a savior, and we will close by reading Paul’s conclusion.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There is a savior. Jesus Christ is made manifest, and the law and the prophets are witnesses that he would come. True righteousness comes by the faith of Jesus Christ for everyone who believes in him. We all need a savior, every one of us, because all have sinned, all have come short of the glory of God.
If any should be listening today and are tired of law-keeping to earn salvation, if you are tired of studying and memorizing special revelations to merit salvation, if you are tired of men who give you nothing but constant conflict, then let me introduce you to Jesus. Let me introduce you to the one who gives peace. Let me introduce you to the one who is perfect because you are not. Let me introduce you to the one who kept all the rules because you couldn’t. Let me introduce you to the one who promised to take you to heaven if you believe in him and follow him. Let me introduce you to the one who loves you so much that he died and went to hell so you wouldn’t have to. He took your punishment; he took your penalty, so you can go free. All you need to do is believe in him, take him at his word. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Follow him; he is the way. Believe in him; he is the truth. Live like him; he is the life. It’s all in him. Throw away all these extra weights that corrupt men have piled on you. Be free in Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayer
Let me close in prayer. Father, I come to you in Jesus’ name, our savior. Lord, I pray you deliver by a strong hand your people who remain in bondage. Break down the strongholds of Satan. Set at liberty those who are vexed by the wicked. Open doors and make ways. Thank you for all the wonderful success we have already had. Our fervent prayer is that more souls will come to faith in Christ and forsake faith in men, forsake faith in themselves, forsake faith in their works, and forsake faith in lies. Deliver them, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.