Whatever Happened to Sin? sermon teaches that society needs to restore the concept of sin and be conscious of God’s holiness and grace.

Key verses:
Romans 3:9-26

I’m going to ask you to take your Bible and turn with me if you will, to the Book of Romans, Epistle of the Apostle Paul, the Book of Romans. Years ago, I heard a preacher say that when he trusted the Lord, he didn’t know very much at all about the Bible. This same man later memorized most of the Bible, all of the New Testament, and a good part of the Old Testament, and he became very knowledgeable in the Bible.

But he said when he first trusted the Lord as his Savior, he didn’t know much, and he heard terms that were used that he didn’t understand. He heard talk about an apostle and an epistle. He thought maybe an apostle and an epistle were man and wife, but that’s not how it works. So, the epistle is a letter written by the apostle, who is the sent one, sent out to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans chapter three, if you will, and I want to start at verse nine, Romans chapter three and verse nine. We’ll read just the first three verses, 9 through 11. Then we’ll pray, come back, and look at verses 9 to the end of the chapter.

The Fear of the Lord

Romans chapter 3 verse 9 says:

Romans 3:9: “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;”

Romans 3:10: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

Romans 3:11: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

I want to go back to verse nine with you:

Romans 3:9: “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;”

That last word of verse nine is sin. I don’t hear that word a great deal these days and I’m kind of concerned about that. I wouldn’t say upset about it. I don’t think that’s an accurate word, but I’m concerned about it because I think we have lost the concept of sin. We’ll talk about that here in just a moment.

Proverbs chapter one, verses seven and eight say:

Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:8: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:”

In these two verses, we have a summary of God’s general will for mankind and what does that mean? Well, to recognize the holiness, the authority, and the majesty of God in our life, that’s the fear of the Lord. We’ve said this here many times, but I think it bears repeating. You hear about the fear of the Lord and the fear of the Lord is not some spiritual paranoia that you’re supposed to go through life afraid God’s out to get you. That’s not what it means at all. What it means is that we have a holy respect for the holiness, the authority, and the majesty of God.

And then we need to recognize God-given teachers and human authorities in our life. The first human authorities we’re told to recognize is our father and our mother. So, Solomon wrote:

Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:8: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:”

As I look and listen to the world around us it appears that our society has lost the fear of God and we no longer recognize His holiness. We no longer recognize His authority in our life. We no longer recognize his majesty in our individual lives.

There are many people, and thank God, literally, it is not everyone. I don’t even think it’s the majority of people, but many people today just want to erase God from our society, erase God from our thinking, so that we literally live as atheists. We don’t believe there is a God. We don’t believe there’s anyone who has holiness or authority or majesty to whom we should submit.

Therefore, we eliminate the word sin and the concept of sin because if there is no sin and there’s no God, then we may do whatever we want to do without fear of any kind of punishment without fear of having to answer to any authority. We may just do whatever we want to do.

Deciding Right and Wrong

Now, in His Word, the Bible, God tells us many things that are His will for our life. We’re certainly not going to go through all of them tonight, but He tells us that if we do these things, He will be pleased with us. He will bless us, and if we do not do these things, or we choose not to do them, then we violate the revealed will of God and that is called sin.

In our Sunday School class this morning, we were looking at part of the life of King Saul. Saul started out as a very good King. He was a humble man when he began, and God called him to be king. He was anointed to be the king of the people of Israel, and yet, a few chapters later, we read about Saul disobeying God. Now, God had given him a specific job to do, and he did it mostly but not completely. He chose to change the commandment a little bit and do what he wanted to do. And that’s exactly what happens to human beings. You know what’s right, you know what’s wrong.

I’m going to share with you this. Even people who are not familiar with the Bible, even people who have never heard of Jesus Christ, have an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong. Where does that come from?

I’ve heard so many people in recent years say, “Well, that’s society that decides right and wrong.” Well, there’s a problem with that line of thinking. What’s perfectly fine in one society isn’t in another society. And what’s perfectly fine in the other society isn’t in that first society. So, right and wrong being determined by society then would depend on which society you’re in. “Well, no problem there, preacher. We’re going to put everybody under one society and then we won’t have a problem with that.”

It’s not part of my notes tonight but I want to share a concept with you. There is and this is nothing new, it’s not something that’s just come along recently by any means, it’s prophesied in scripture, but there is a movement to have a one world government, one government for the entire world. Now, part of the theory behind that is that if you have a one world government, only one government, then we will all have peace because there will be no countries to fight against each other and so, we will have world peace.

Let’s just think about that logically for a moment. In any situation, whether it is a nation, a country, a state, a county, or a city; however you want to divide it up into smaller government agencies, has there ever been under one government in a city, has there been under one government in a county, ever been under one government in a state, or in a nation, anywhere, has there ever been a time when people under that one government fought against each other? Does that ever happen? What do you think? Absolutely, absolutely, and it happens frequently. Now, it’s happened throughout history.

You know, honestly, I want you to think about that because having one world government will not bring about world peace. It will not end all fighting. It will not end all wars. It will not happen.

One of our presidents, 100 years ago, a little over 100 years ago now, had that idea when he formed or helped to form what was called the League of Nations. The League of Nations were countries that came together, and they formed this league, and they were going to have world peace. They decided that what we now call World War One, they didn’t call it World War One because they didn’t know there was going to be another one at that point, but they decided to call it the War to End All Wars.

After we had all these nations fighting each other, that’s going to be it; there won’t be any more war. Now, as I said, that was over a century ago. Have there been any more wars? Yes. You know that’s exactly what Jesus said would happen. He said that you’ll hear of wars and rumors of wars, but the end is not yet; unto the end of time, there are going to be wars.

Now, having a one-world government will not solve that issue, but it seems that in the eyes of many people, there’s just no such thing as sin. There’s nothing that’s right, there’s nothing that’s wrong, except as the individual determines it to be. So, every man does that which is right in his own eyes. Where does that come from? Well, you find it in the Book of Judges. At the end of the book, it says:

Judges 17:6: “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Is there a problem with that? If right and wrong cannot be decided universally by society, it can be determined by the individual. Okay, let’s think about that. Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to bring your keys up here and put them on the platform and walk away and leave them because I want your car. And you’re going to say, “You’re crazy.” and I would be if I were serious about it.

But you say why would I do that? Well, I think I should have that car. “Well, I bought it. I paid for it.” However, you got it; it’s mine. Yeah, but in my eyes, I should have it, so you just bring the keys up here and leave them and you figure out how to get home. You’d say that it’s absolutely absurd, and it is, isn’t it? It’s not a matter of what’s right in my eyes, it doesn’t matter what is true and what is not true. It’s a matter of what is real and what is not real.

God says, “Thou shalt.” and He says, “Thou shalt not.” “That’s what I don’t like about the Bible, preacher, all those thou shalt and thou shalt not.” Well, what God says is true is true. What God says is false is false. What God says is good is good. And what God says is bad is bad. When He says it’s right, then it’s wrong to violate it. It’s wrong to do our own thing.

The sinful state of mankind is the problem that we have in this world, and no government is ever going to solve that problem. Now, I’ve said all this. We don’t like to think of ourselves as sinful; we don’t. We like to think of other people as sinful, but we don’t like to think of ourselves as sinful.

I heard the story. You probably heard this one. I’ve heard it several times in several places. But a grandfather was driving along and had his little granddaughter in the car with him. As they were driving, he was driving, and the granddaughter said, “Grandpa, can I ask you a question?” He said, “Sure.” She says, “How come all the other drivers are idiots, and you’re not?” Isn’t that how we look at things? Isn’t that it? Yeah, there’s everybody else that’s a sinner, but me? No, no. I’m a great guy. I never do anything wrong.

How comfortable would you feel if God held an open house in your life and said, “You know what? We’re going to let everybody come in and see everything. Not only everything you do and say but everything you think. Open house for the whole world to see.” How comfortable would you be with that?

Now, if you’re honest, you can say, “No, I don’t think I’d like that at all.” I know somebody’s going to say that’s an invasion of privacy. Well, can I help you with that? God already knows you didn’t do anything you haven’t done, anything you’re not going to do, anything that God doesn’t know about. You’ve never done anything, and nobody else has, nobody else ever will, where God said, “I didn’t see that coming.” Never thought he’d do that. Never thought she’d act that way. Never thought they’d say that.

God says what is right and what is wrong, and God has some rules about that. Look again at verse nine, if you will:

Romans 3:9: “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;”

“What then? are we better than they?” We’re not. We’re not better than other people. We’re not claiming to be better than other people. “No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;”

Doesn’t matter what your physical heritage is, what nationality you are, what language you speak, or what they spoke where you came from. It’s concluded all under sin as it is written, “There is none righteous, no not one.” That’s a beautiful little verse. We teach it all the time. It’s so easy to memorize, “There is none righteous no not one.” The word “righteous” means perfect, without spot, without blemish. Actually, it is very close to meaning it is holy. According to that verse, how many people are righteous? Can you see it? None. How many is that? Nobody.

Does that mean that I’m not righteous? Yeah, absolutely, that’s what it means. Some of you are looking out if I wanted you to say that or not. It’s true, isn’t it? It means that I’m not righteous. Does that mean that you’re not righteous? Okay, now I know what some of you are thinking, “So, how come you get to stand up there and preach to us?” Well, I’m not preaching my righteousness; I can tell you that. I’m telling you what the Word of God has to say.

No Other Gods

Verse 11 says:

Romans 3:11: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

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.”

Romans 3:13: “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:”

Romans 3:14: “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:”

Romans 3:15: “Their feet are swift to shed blood:”

Romans 3:16: “Destruction and misery are in their ways:”

Romans 3:17: “And the way of peace have they not known:”

Romans 3:18: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

That’s what we’re talking about, no fear of God, no recognition of the holiness of God, no recognition of the majesty of God, no recognition of the authority of God. But one day, we will all answer to God. God says some things. God says versus what man says. God says that “I shall have no other gods before me.” Man says, “I will have any god I like or no god at all, or maybe I’ll be god myself.” God says we shall not have idols, but we create our own idols.

It’s interesting the scripture talks about this, how a person can take wood or stone or metal and form a statue and then set it up on a shelf and pray to it and call it their god. Is your god something that you can make? I’ve told this story many times here, and it’s been quite a while, and I think it helps you understand what I’m trying to say here.

We had a man come here years ago; his name was George. We’ve had a number of men named George come here, but he came, and he and his wife would come in on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. I used to have motorcycles myself. “Say, why don’t you still have them?” Because they’re expensive. But the truth of the matter is George came in, and he stood up one night and gave testimony. And he said that he had come to the point in his life prior to coming here where that motorcycle was his god. He said he idolized that motorcycle.

There was another fellow in the church at that time. His name was Fred. Some of you remember him. He was a motorcycle guy and he said it’s pretty bad when your god has an oil leak. But George said, “I heard about Jesus Christ.” He said, “I heard about Jesus Christ.” He said, “I still have my motorcycle. It’s not my God. Jesus Christ is my God.”

God says don’t take His name in vain, which means treat His name as if it were worthless. We use His name any way we choose. There’re certain other names that we must always revere. I could name some human beings. I’m not going to for sake of time and other reasons, but I could name some human beings that you dare not say a bad word about that person. Oh, my goodness, if you say a bad word about that person, you are the most horrific human being who’s ever lived, if you say something bad about that person.

But you say anything you want to about Jesus Christ. Drag His name through the mud. Use it as a swear word if you want to. As a matter of fact, that’s about the only way we want to hear it is if you’re swearing.

God says to set aside, a time for rest and worship. Man says to live life in the fast lane. Don’t take time out for God. No reason to do that. God says to honor your father and your mother. Man says my rights are more important than my parents’ rights. God says do not kill. Man says I will, if I want to, or if I just feel like it, I will. God says do not steal. Man says take what you need. Man says take what you want. If you want it, take it. God says do not lie. Man says truth is relative. Now there’s your truth, there’s my truth, You can have one truth, and I can have a different truth. Can I share something with you very quickly? If you have your own truth and I have my own truth, then there is no truth. Truth ceases to exist.

God says do not covet. Man says you’ll be happy if you get what you want. Go for it. You get your happiness, and that’s what matters most as long as you have what you want. The trouble with that is there’s never enough of what you want to make you happy. Look at verse 19, if you will:

Romans 3:19: “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.”

Isn’t that something? The law he refers to here is the law that God gave through Moses on Mount Sinai. We call it today the Old Testament law, but it is the law of God. There’s no question about that, and it was given to us to show us what was sin and what was not. What he’s saying here is, “We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped,” Why? “And all the world may become guilty before God,” – because we talked about the Ten Commandments, and I just went through them with you.

But did you know that in the law of God, there are more than ten commandments? Did you know that in the law of God, there are over 600 commandments? Nobody’s ever kept them all. They were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But no mere mortal has ever kept them all. And by the way, and I shared this with you not too long ago, a few weeks ago, people say, “Well, that’s all Old Testament. We’re living in the New Testament era. There are no New Testament commandments.” Well, you read the Gospel of John, chapter 13, and you know that Jesus says a new commandment I give unto you. Sounds like a New Testament commandment to me.

Keeping God’s Law

Romans 3:20: “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.”

So, if we can’t keep this law of God and we can’t, then why did God bother to give it to us? He tells you right here at the end of verse 20, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” He gives us the law to tell us what is right and what is wrong.

Keeping the law, if we could keep it, is not our hope. The law was not given so that we would earn our righteousness. There is no ritual you can go through, there’s no training you can go through, and there’s no exercise you can practice that will allow you to do enough good things and keep enough of the laws of God to earn your own righteousness. It’s not possible, but it’s given to us so that we understand our own thoughts and rebellion.

I talked a moment ago about King Saul when he did not completely obey God. The prophet Samuel, who was the prophet, was a judge and he was the high priest at that time, came to King Saul. He said this, he said rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

Now, was he saying that King Saul was practicing witchcraft? No, he wasn’t saying that, although it was pointed out in our Sunday School this morning that he did go and visit a witch later. But what he’s saying is, Saul, your rebellion against God is as bad as the sin of witchcraft. You’re no better than the witch. You’re no better than the person who practices the dark arts. You’re no better. Yes, you’re the king of Israel. Yes, you’ve been chosen to lead God’s people, and yes, God has given you much in your life, but you are no better than the one who practices witchcraft because you rebelled against God and against His Word.

Romans 3:21: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;”

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,” – this is what we’re saying, you cannot keep the law. You cannot do enough good in order to earn righteousness. “The righteousness of God without the law is manifested,” – it’s visible. “Being witnessed by the law and the prophets;”

Romans 3:22: “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:”

How do you become righteous if you cannot earn your righteousness and if you cannot do enough good to outweigh the bad? If I committed one sin, and I have committed one sin, I have. “Oh, preacher, you only committed one sin?” No, I committed one and then another one, then another one, then another one. But if I had stopped with that first one, if I had never committed but one sin, I could never do enough good to outweigh that, couldn’t do it.

“The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ” – how do you get the righteousness of God? By faith in Jesus Christ. “Well, that’s your opinion.” No, that’s what the Word of God says, “The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that what believe.”

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior trust Him to save them, and He does save them. And notice the last phrase in verse 22, “for there is no difference.” There’s not my way to get to Heaven and your way to get to Heaven. There’s not my way to get saved and your way to get saved. There’s only God’s way. And God’s way is through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no difference. There’s a colon at the end of verse 22, not a period, so let’s go on till we get to the period.

Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

How many people have sinned according to that verse? Oh, how many people is that? Everybody. Everybody. We’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God. “You know what, preacher, don’t you think some people live better than others?” Sure, absolutely. Yes, I think some people live better than others.

I was teaching one day, and a little boy, I think he probably was not more than nine years old, maybe ten at the most, said to me, he says, “I know somebody better than you.” I said you know what, I do too. They’re not hard to find, but the truth of the matter is we’ve all sinned. Now, some of us may be living better lives than others, but nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s made it.

The Grace of God

Romans 3:24: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

“Being justified freely by his grace” – now, that’s such an important word to understand, is grace. We cannot earn our salvation, we cannot ever do that, but we can come under the grace of God. And the grace of God, people have given many different definitions to grace.

They say it’s the unmerited favor of God. In other words, getting God’s favor without earning it. I won’t argue with that. Another famous preacher years ago said God’s grace is when God gives you the knowledge and the power to do what’s right. Okay, yeah, I’d include that as part of grace. But you know what? As good as those definitions are, those are man’s definitions, man’s understanding of grace.

Does the Bible give us a definition of grace? As a matter of fact, it does. It’s in Titus chapter three, where it says grace is the love and kindness of God our Savior toward man. That’s what grace is. It’s the love and kindness of God our Savior toward man. You read Titus chapter two, keep reading into chapter three, and you’ll find that’s the definition of grace according to the Bible, the love and kindness of God our Savior toward man.

Now, an interesting phrase in there, in that same verse, is “God our Savior.” Think about that for a while. Let’s get rid of God. If we get rid of God, then we have no Savior, do we? If we have no Savior, then we are, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, “We are of all men most miserable.” There’s no Savior, there’s no hope. There’s no hope for mankind.

A world government will not bring world peace. There’s no hope for mankind. Well, we’ve got to heal the planet, do all you can to heal the planet. If that’s what you choose to do but that’s not going to solve the problem. It isn’t. We have to learn to see reality as God sees it. So, verse 24 again:

Romans 3:24: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

“Being justified freely by his grace,” – his loving kindness toward man – “Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” Redemption is only in Jesus Christ. It’s not in the church. It’s not a religious ritual. It’s not in a catechism, it’s not in religious instruction. It’s only in Jesus Christ. Now, there’s no period at the end of verse 24. There’s a colon there too. So, the sentence is the same thought continues into verse 25:

Romans 3:25: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

The pronoun “whom,” referring back to the last proper noun, which would be Jesus Christ, “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation,” – raise your hand if you use that word propitiation in a sentence this week. Yeah, I didn’t think so. I haven’t either until just now.

So, what is propitiation? I got a dictionary, and I looked up the word “propitiation” in it. Do you know what the dictionary definition of propitiation is? That which propitiates. It really doesn’t help you much, does it? I thought the dictionary would help me do better than that. What is propitiation? It is the payment in full. It is the payment in full. “Whom God set forth to be the [payment in full] through faith in his blood.” Whose blood? Well, the blood of Jesus Christ. Okay, so God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Now, “His” is a pronoun again. The last proper noun before that is God. Keep that in mind. Let’s start verse 25 again:

Romans 3:25: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

Isn’t that beautiful, sins that are past. They’re over, they’re gone, “through the forbearance of God;” still no period, this is all one sentence, semicolon, there verse 26:

Romans 3:26: “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness,” – whose righteousness? God’s righteousness, not ours, to declare it “at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Who gets justified? The one who believes in Jesus. Who justifies the one who believes in Jesus? God. Now, we’re going to stop there. I’d talk about going to the end of the chapter, but we’re going to stop there due to time.

Come to Realization

But when we come to realize that there is a will of God, and we come to realize that to violate the will of God is sin, and when we come to realize that we have to give an account to God, we need to have someone to step in on our behalf. We need to have someone to pay our penalty for us. This same book, three chapters later, says, “The wages of sin is death.” But, the same verse, not a different verse, same flow of thought, “But the gift of God is eternal life.” Notice it’s the gift of God. It’s not something you earn. “The gift of God is eternal life.” How do you get that gift? Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Believe, repent, and believe.

Somebody said to me the other day, “I don’t like that word “repent.” Well, let’s think about that for a minute. What does repent mean? I said to this person, “Well, the Greek word translated repent, metanoia, means to have a change of mind.” They say, “Well, I like that better.” I said, “Well, what are you changing your mind about?”

A friend of mine wrote a track, and he said, “Turn to God, from your sins.” Well, it sounds like works to me, though that’s not works, that’s coming and saying, “God, I’m a sinner, and I realize that I cannot save myself, and I don’t want to keep living the life that I’m living. I want to live a new life. I want to start a new life, but I can’t do it by myself. I need you. Forgive my sins. Save my soul. Give me everlasting life, and let me follow you.

You know what? If you come to Him on those terms, He’ll do it. How do you know He’ll do it? He said He would. This same Book of Romans says that “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead,” – now, if you believe that He was raised from the dead, it goes without saying that He died, doesn’t it? You believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, “Thou shalt be saved.” But the question is, why did He die? The same book of Romans tells us this chapter five, verse eight:

Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

“But God commendeth,” or sent forth, “his love toward us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” Why did He die for us? Because we were sinners; because we sinned. We had rebelled against the Word of God. We have rebelled against the law of God, and we are sinners.

The next verse I quoted to you, Romans 10, verse 9:

Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

What would you be saved from? Sin and its penalty, and what is the penalty of sin? Death, the wages of sin is death. The next verse, verse 10, says:

Romans 10:10: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

There’s that righteousness we don’t have. In the same book that tells us we don’t have righteousness, by the 10th chapter, it tells us you can have righteousness, but it’s not yours.

Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Romans 10:10: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Who do you confess to? “Well, you’re the minister that I confess to.” You can if you want to, but I can’t save you. I can’t do it. I would if I could, but it’s not possible. I’d have to be holy and righteous, and I’m not.

You get the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to you so that when you come before God, you have trusted Him to forgive your sins, and He has forgiven your sins, and you stand before God, He no longer sees your sin. He sees the righteousness of His own son, Jesus Christ, and you are forgiven.

Sins that are past, gone away, scripture says, as far as the east is from the west. You can head out that way going east, and you keep going, and you will never run out of east. You can go that way heading west, and as long as you keep going, you will never run out of west.

An old saying, it’s not a Bible verse, “East is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet.” And that’s true, that’s true. That’s how far your sins are removed from you. You don’t have to live under the bondage of sin anymore.

Brother Chris was talking about that this morning. He was talking about this same book, wasn’t he? You don’t have to live under the bondage of sin anymore. You live under the grace of Jesus Christ. I realize some of you are thinking, “Man, you’ve been preaching to the choir.” And you know what? To a certain extent, that’s literally true tonight. Choir members are sitting in the congregation tonight.

But number one, there’s a good chance somebody’s going to hear this either now or later who doesn’t know all the things that I just shared with you. And even if everybody who has heard, or will hear, has heard it before, it helps us to be reminded. Because we need to have a concept of sin, but we need to be conscious of God’s holiness and we need to have a concept of God’s grace.

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Let’s pray. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you for each and every soul who’s here tonight. Lord, I look out on this group of people, and I see wonderful people. Lord, you look on our hearts. You know whose heart is right with you and whose isn’t. I cannot possibly know that.

Lord, it is my prayer, and if there’s a soul listening now or one who will listen later who hasn’t already put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that they would do so even now. They would open their heart and pray and say, “Lord, I realize that, like everybody else, I’ve sinned. I’ve violated your law. But I believe that you love me, and I thank you for paying for my sins at the cross. And right here, right now, I’m asking you to forgive me, to save me, give me everlasting life. Thank you, Lord Jesus.” Maybe you prayed that prayer. Maybe you didn’t. But the wonderful truth is you can. You can be saved. I can’t save you, this church can’t save you, but Jesus can. You put your faith and trust in Him.

If you’re here tonight or you’re listening or you will be later, and you say, “Well, I’ve been saved.” Thank God. Thank God. Would you help others? Would you help others to come to that same saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? You will, won’t you?

We’re going to sing a hymn of invitation. As we do, I’m going to leave the platform and stand down front. If God’s spoken to your heart tonight, this is your opportunity to respond. You come. We’ll help you. We’ll take the Bible, the Word of God, and we’ll show you how to be saved.

Maybe that’s not your issue. You say, “Preacher, I’m saved. I’ve got other things on my heart.” Then you come, you come. We’ll pray with you; we’ll counsel with you. We may not have all the answers you need, but we can point you to the one who does. You come while we sing. Father, bless and move in this invitation time. We do pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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