The Church At Brierfield

When you think about it, it is amazing how often we lie to ourselves.  I seldom lie to others but constantly lie to myself.  Of course this is no surprise to God.  He called us out on this thousands of years ago.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)

The most deceitful thing we will ever deal with is our own “desperately sick” heart.  It will tell us what we want to hear and will justify our sin.

Our heart says, “Your needs are more important than others.”  God says, “In humility count others more significant than yourselves.”  (Phil. 2:3)

Our heart says, “It’s OK, you can’t help yourself.”  God says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”  (1 Cor. 10:13)

Our heart says, “You really are a good person.  God will accept you as you are.”  God says, “There is none righteous, no, not one: … For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  (Rom. 3:10, 23)

Our heart says, “You really shouldn’t embarrass yourself in front of your friends.”  God says, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.“  (Mark 8:38)

Bottom line: Don’t follow your heart.  Follow your God.

Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

From the very beginning, God said that death is the punishment for sin.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  (Genesis 2:16, 17)

Even though people know the consequences of their actions, they continue to sin in willful rebellion against God.

In addition to sinning against God themselves, they also encourage others to continue in their sin.  Knowing that God has decreed something to be sin, they tell people that their sin is alright.  God has strong warnings for people who tell others that their sin is actually something good, right and commendable.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!  (Isaiah 5:20, 21)

Romans 1:31 – Romans 2:1

Sermon by Joe Clark on Sunday, September 27, 2009.

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There is a significant difference between running a race and running it to win. God wants us to live our lives with the same kind of focus and determination that a champion runner has.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  (1 Cor. 9:24)

Personally, I have ran several endurance races but have never ran to win.  My goal has always been to finish without killing myself.  Having finished, I could say I ran the race and feel like I had accomplished something but didn’t have to make too many sacrifices along the way.  To be the winner of an endurance race requires tremendous sacrifice in every area of the athlete’s life.  (1 Cor. 9:25)

The attitude of doing the least we can to get by is not the kind of attitude God wants us to have.  He has called us to live a life completely abandoned to Him.  We are to remove everything from our life that distracts us from doing what He wants.  (Heb. 12:1)  Strange as it may seem, this kind of self-sacrifice is the way to a much fuller life.  “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for [Jesus’] sake and the gospel’s will save it.”  (Mark 8:35)

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

In verse 29 a list was started of the kinds of sin people’s lives are filled with when God gives them over to the control of their sinful minds.  The list is continued in verse 30 and finished in this verse.

Foolish is to be without understanding or discernment.  Foolish people are those who do not comprehend the reality and importance of a right relationship with God.  They think that their ways are right whether they agree with God’s ways or not.  They think that God’s ways are foolish and ignorant.

Faithless is to be untrustworthy and a breaker of promises.

Heartless is to be without the natural kinds of love and affection that people have for each other.  It especially applies to the relationship between parents and their children.  Heartless parents will not love and care for their children as they should and vice versa.

Ruthless is to be without mercy or compassion for others.

Romans 1:30 – Romans 1:32

As we look around the world, we can’t see all the places and ways that God is working.  We know what He is doing in our life.  We see evidence of His work in the lives of our family, friends and neighbors.  Yet we don’t know what He is doing in other towns, states and countries.  Is the gospel working in other parts of the world as it is in our small part?

Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing–as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,  (Col. 1:5b-6)

It is encouraging to know that all around the world the gospel of Jesus is spreading and producing Christ-likeness in people.  The same gospel that saved us from our sin is saving others, we have never met, as well.  The same Spirit that is producing spiritual fruit in us is producing fruit in them too.

slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

In verse 29 a list was started of the kinds of sin people’s lives are filled with when God gives them over to the control of their sinful minds.  The list is continued in this verse and the next.

Slanderers are people who publicly speak lies against people, defaming them with evil accusations.

Haters of God are people who despise God’s righteous demands on their lives and His condemnation of their sin.

Insolent people are convinced of their superior view of life and are insulting, rude and disrespectful to others as a result.

Haughty is to be proud and arrogant with a condescending attitude, showing contempt and disdain for others.

Boastful is to represent yourself as something more than you are, to be a pretender, faker or impostor.

Inventors of evil indicates a mindset of always coming up with new ways to fulfill one’s self with no regard for the lifestyle God wants us to live.  As a result, they keep coming of with new ways of sinning.  As those new sins stop being fulfilling, they come up with new ones not realizing that fulfillment in life only comes from a right relationship with God.

Disobedience to parents is a result of sinful pride.  Parents generally have the best interest of their children in mind, so disobeying them is foolish and wrong.

Romans 1:29 – Romans 1:31

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.  (Psalm 25:5)

It is God’s job to lead us through our lives.  His leading will always be in line with His truth.  He will never contradict Himself in the way He leads us.  If we think God is leading us to do something contrary to His truth revealed in the Bible then we are mistaken.  He will never do that.

As God leads us, He will also be teaching us about Himself and how we are to live with Him.  God is the best teacher in the world.  Only He can reveal His truth to us.

By asking God to lead and teach us we are acknowledging His right and ability to do so.  After all, He is “the God of [our] salvation.”  In Him alone is everything we will ever need.

We must wait on God’s leading and teaching in our lives.  Our tendency is to strike out on our own without seeking His leading.  When we do seek His leading, we tend to be impatient for the response.  We should be willing to wait all day for Him and be determined not to proceed without Him.

being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,

When God gives people over to the control of their own sinful minds their lives become full of all kinds of sin.

Unrighteousness is a general word that includes every act that is contrary to God and His moral law.

Sexual immorality includes all kinds of sexual sin such as pre-marital sex, adultery, incest, homosexuality, and sex with an improperly divorced person.  This Greek word is the basis for our English word pornography.

Wickedness is a general word that includes all kinds of evil and depraved desires and purposes.

Covetousness is greed, the strong desire to have more money and possessions than we need.

Maliciousness is the desire to be hurtful to other people.  A malicious person is mean, hateful, ill-willed, nasty, spiteful, and vicious.

Envy is the discontent, resentment, and displeasure we feel when we see or hear that someone else has something we want.  An envious person does not celebrate the success and prosperity of others.

Murder is to kill someone, to commit homicide.

Strife is to have conflict, fights, and quarrels. A strife filled person is contentious and always in conflicts with others.

Deceit is being cunning, deceptive, subtle and tricky in order to trap or take advantage of someone.

Evil-mindedness is to have bad character and to live a depraved life.  Malice and guile saturate everything an evil-minded person does.

Whisperers are gossips who secretly slander people based on hearsay, rumor and exaggeration.

Romans 1:28 – Romans 1:30

Sermon by Joe Clark on Sunday, September 20, 2009.

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