The Open Word (Audio)

It’s easy to pick out a person’s sin that you particularly despise and be self-righteous about God giving up on them, thinking, ‘Yes God, go get them’, but the Bible says, “such were some of us”! You see sin is sin, we’ll all destined for Hell, but we’ve been washed, because of Jesus we were sanctified and justified. God gave them up to their own devices, directions and will. But thankfully what God gave up on He made provision to buy back again. God gives up, but not the way we give up.

Throughout the Bible there are many examples of how God gives up. It’s never the way that you and I give up. He gives up when man continues to turn from Him. He reveals Himself to man, and man rejects that revealing and God gives up, but not the way that we give up. We give up because we get tired, run out of resources, or get frustrated. He says ‘enough is enough’. An example of God giving up is when He brought judgment on Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah. God leaves them to their own self-destruction.

God loves us. It is His desire that we would all recognize our sin and turn to Him. That’s why He sent His Son. Jesus came so we would have a way to be cleansed of our sin. He bled and died so we could be forgiven and restored into a right relationship with our Creator. But we have a choice in the matter, we can choose to accept Jesus, admit our sin and turn and follow Him. Or we can reject God, reject His Son and reject His word. Doing so will lead to eternal separation from Him.

Today in our time of study we’ll be reminded that repentance is key in the life of a believer. First, and foremost, in order to be saved we need to have a humble heart of repentance, one that is ready to turn away from sin and follow after the ways of God. But repentance doesn’t stop there, you see in this walk of faith, God will continue to reveal sin. He is faithful to continue and complete the work He has begun in us, but we have to be willing to recognize our sin, confess and repent.

In today’s message Pastor David will give us an exhortation to be an example. You see, as believers, we’re called to share the truth of the Gospel with others. While sharing the Word is a great way to do that, there are also other ways to share the Good News. One of the best ways is by example. As we live our lives committed to the truth people should be able to see God’s grace and work in us. They should be able to see what it looks like to live as a child of God, and it should be our heart that they desire what we have.

As believers we need to understand we weren’t saved only for our own benefit. We were saved to serve, but serving takes faith, it takes trust. It means we are willing to step out and proclaim the truth of the Gospel regardless of what others think. But sadly a lot of believers shy away from doing so. The reason for that is often due to the fact they are embarrassed or ashamed to share with others. They aren’t willing to put themselves out there because they fear man more than God.

As we continue Sinners, Slaves yet Saints we see that Paul understood what it meant to give up everything and be fully submitted to the Lord’s will in his life. We know that often the world will offer us grace and peace, but of course at a price. Grace and peace that come from the Lord are free flowing and are attainable through full submission. This means making changes in our lives. Pastor David describes the grace and peace Paul speaks of in his greeting illustrating how slaves become saints.

Paul writes a very pointed letter to the Romans, little did he know that even today we would still be benefitting from the truths he shared. Paul understood the depth and meaning of what a slave is. We’ll see the analogy he used of a bondservant as an example of how we should be as Christians today, fully and voluntarily surrendered to our Lord’s will over our own. We are sinners, we are slaves, and yet we are saint. Listen to hear how all three of these come together.

We now continue our gold mine tour of the book of Romans. The next gold nugget we’ll be examining is the Roman road. This is a guided tour through scriptures that point out our need for salvation. It highlights how we all fall short of the glory of God, how God demonstrated His love for us in the gift He gave and the price He paid, and tells how we can be saved. We also see that true repentance leads to a life filled with fruit, reminding us that being a silent witness won’t lead others to Christ.

In this introduction to Romans we’ll be taking a tour of the greatest gold mine known to man. Examining gold nuggets, such as the depth of our faith, the sinner’s prayer, and the on-going work of God in our lives. We’ll look at Martin Luther’s experience with the book of Romans and the birth of the Protestant Reformation. The book of Romans has been a gold mine to believers from the time it was written, and still remains a monumental producer of invaluable nuggets today.