Assurance of Salvation Part 34 THE SINFUL NATURE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES Repentance (#4) EXCEPT THOSE PUT THERE BY GOD Christine Matthews (CC-BY-SA-2.0) Cliff - Bob Jones (CC-BY-SA-2.0), / Person - Danninx (CC-BY-SA-3.0) Both modified You can break through the boundaries, if you want. But that's not too smart.* *(Moral folly is NEVER smart.) The NEED to repent (because we've ALL broken through the boundaries) Our sinfulness Why we NEED to repent* (Today) Our hope Why we CAN repent (Later) * (Parts of this section overlap what we've looked at before.) We cannot begin to fathom the * greatness of God's salvation, * UNTIL we comprehend the seriousness of our sinful condition. GOD is PURE Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. (Habakkuk 1:13 NIV) God may put up with it for a while which is why we aren't struck dead immediately and also why the book of Habakkuk came into existence but such a delay of judgment cannot last forever. How WE tend to see it. "Not that bad!" How GOD sees it. "Absolute evil!" Without repentance, deserved judgment WILL come. 1
BONDAGE The real issue with sin: IT IS NOT The consequences we experience. DEATH These are the RESULTS of our sin, not what CAUSES it to be sin. LOSS SORROW We may be sorry about the consequences. INJUSTICE But this is not the primary focus of the repentant person. STRIFE TEARS PAIN SHAME LAKE OF FIRE The real issue with sin: IT IS Sin is against GOD A rejection of all that he is. Defiant rebellion. Setting one's self up as a god, in God's place. Every repentant person knows This is the ultimate issue! I, Ralpharama (CC-BY-SA-3.0) modified How bad is our sinfulness? It's not just what we "do" our actions. It's "us" our very nature. It's so much "us," that it's like a part of our genetics. DNA Soerfm (CC-BY-SA-3.0) IT AFFECTS WHAT WE DO: In our actions, we are ALL rebels against God. Why do the nations conspire INDIVIDUALS and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together LEADERS against the LORD and against his Anointed One. "Let us break their chains," they say, UNITED IN REBELLION "and throw off their fetters." Psalm 2:1-3 (NIV) IT AFFECTS WHAT WE ARE: By NATURE, we sin and are worthy of judgment. (Only Jesus can deliver us from this judgment.) All of us [who are now alive in Christ] also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. (Ephesians 2:3 NIV) WE ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE. We KNOW in our consciences what is right, and we choose to ignore it.* since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. (Romans 2:15 NIV; see also chapter 1) * (The more you ignore your conscience, the more you deaden it 1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15; etc.) 2
Even the best of our "goodness" is tainted by sin. We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6a (NLT) "Filthy rags"? Isaiah was more graphic than this. But most translators are afraid to say it the way Isaiah did. (The way Isaiah really said it.) We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. Isaiah 64:6a (NET) Do you think God is impressed by our goodness? If you don't like the description Isaiah gives, how about a paraphrase? (Try offering THIS to God.) [Public domain] HEY GOD!!! Look at all this goodness I have to offer you! You'll be glad to have me in heaven! Figure of a man שרון שלמה- (CC-BY-2.5) / Bowl (Public domain) / Material in bowl - Truebano (CC-BY-SA-3.0) There are better ways to impress God. OBJECTION #1 "I'm not that sinful!" This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2b NIV) YES YOU ARE! All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." Romans 3:12 (NIV) TRY IT! Since birth Psalm 51:5. 3
OBJECTION #2 You ARE that sinful! If there's any genuine goodness in you, it's "JESUS AT WORK IN YOU." (And that can happen ONLY after you've repented.) UNDER CONSTRUCTION Jesus is making you into something you aren't. "I define sin differently!" That in itself is an expression of rebellion against God! We do not have authority to invent our own definitions! [Public domain] I, Ralpharama (CC-BY-SA-3.0) modified There will be NO ARGUMENT at the Day of Justice. So you might as well end your pretensions NOW. [YOU] Blackest darkness is reserved for them. (2 Peter 2:17b NIV; see also Jude 1:13) I "happen" to define sin differently. There "happens" to be special reservations, just for you. Good bye. [GOD] OBJECTION #3 "You have no right to push your views on me!" That's why we AREN'T pushing our views on you. Just as you have no right to invent or push your own views about sin, neither do we. GOD requires us to tell you his views. God created you; HE is the one who defined sin as anything that violates his nature and character. God has showed us all this in the Bible, so you can verify what we say. Comments for followers of Jesus (1) You have a moral obligation to "push" GOD'S views. ALL people are going to be judged based on God's views. Warning people is an expression of LOVE (as long as you don't combine your warning with sinful conduct). Since God commands you to warn them, you will be judged for the way you obey or disobey his command. Comments for followers of Jesus (2) It depends partly on what you mean by the word "push." YOU CAN WARN people and AFFIRM the truth that God has revealed. YOU CANNOT FORCE a person to change his heart (even if you could force him to modify his actions). Don't back away from the truth, just because people don't want it. (And don't "push" your own opinions.) 4
Your Mission: GET SERIOUS (To whatever degree you haven't yet done so.) SCRIPTURE Credits (1) Get serious about what sin is. View it the way God does, not the way unrepentant sinners do. Get serious about repentance. Isaiah 64:6a (first quotation) - Scripture quoted from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. (www.newlivingtranslation.com) Isaiah 64:6a (second quotation) - Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved. All other quoted Scripture - Scripture quoted from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. (www.zondervanbibles.com) PICTURES Fence along the edge of a cliff - Christine Matthews [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:fence_on_cliff_top,_cromer,_norfolk_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1638393.jpg Broken fence hanging over edge of cliff - Bob Jones [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:fence_to_nowhere_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1004064.jpg (modified) Falling person - By Danninx (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:equinoxentre.jpeg (modified) Clenched fist - I, Ralpharama [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:clenched_human_fist.png (modified) DNA model - By Soerfm (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:dna_overview2_crop.png Credits (2) PICTURES Overflowed toilet - By One Salient Oversight (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:toilet_overflow.jpg Figure of a man - שרוןשלמה [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:pikiwiki_israel_15249_environmental_sculpture_.jpg (modified) Bowl By Los Angeles County Museum of Art www.lacma.org, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:bowl_with_rings_lacma_m.80.219.17.jpg (modified) Material in bowl - By Truebano (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:cucho.jpg (modified) "Splatters" in background Dennis Hinks 2008. Many-pointed irregular star (red, orange, yellow; as background) - By chabacano (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:explosion.svg (modified) Under construction sign [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:w21-1a.svg Presentation and any backgrounds not listed above (and not a solid shade) Dennis Hinks 2013. DISCLAIMER: The use of a picture does not imply that the author of that picture agrees with the views of this presentation. Some might agree; some might not. 5