Know Your Spiritual Condition: A Sermon Preached on July 1, 2018

One of the greatest tragedies of the 20th Century took place on April 14, 1912. We are all familiar with the sinking of the Titanic. When the "Titanic" left Queenstown on 11th April the Enquiry into the sinking states that the Titanic was in perfect, sea-worthy condition. So oblivious to the danger that loomed ahead were the people on Titanic that they were “living it up”; fancy dinners, parties, seeing who they could impress. As a matter of fact, when the ship first struck the iceberg at 11:40 PM the passengers on board did not perceive that they were in any danger. I mean after all, as 2nd Class Passenger Sylvia Caldwell testified during the American enquiry on the disaster, that when she asked if the ship could sink, a steward aboard Titanic answered "No lady! God himself could not sink this ship." At 12:05AM, Captain Smith gave the orders to start loading life boats, they were lowered down, many of them only half full. The people simply did not know the true condition of the ship. When, as legend has it, the band on the Titanic changed its tune to "Nearer My God to Thee" it was already too late.

Many people live their spiritual lives in exactly the same way. They don’t understand their true spiritual condition. They seem oblivious to the great eternal danger that looms ahead. As a result many never look for the spiritual life boat. The very idea that 1500 people would perish was unthinkable to those on board the Titanic, but they found that the cold dark north Atlantic waters were very unforgiving. Survivor Eva Hart remembered that night "I saw all the horror of its sinking and I heard, even more dreadful, the cries of drowning people". Most of the passengers ended up struggling in the icy seas, while those in the life boats waited a safe distance away, listening to the cries of the lost. God has heard the cries of lost humanity, too. He didn’t have to do anything about it. He could have kept a safe distance and just listened, allowing us all to perish, but He didn’t.

The apostle Paul talked about this issue of knowing our true spiritual condition in his epistle to the Romans chapter 3 verses 23 and 24. As you read these verses I want you to think on the question: Why would God send YOU a life boat?

Romans 3:23-26 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:23 tells us “All have sinned.” This isn’t good news for us. It’s like saying “Our ship has struck an iceberg!” It’s a serious thing, but has become so commonplace for us in the age we live in. We are bombarded with it on TV, radio, books, magazines and billboards. For the most part we have become comfortable with sin. It seems like it’s no big deal to hear people talk about their “vices.” However, sin is a big deal; sin should be something that makes us uncomfortable, it should make us squirm in our seats and want to hold our ears so we don’t have to listen. However, the topic of sins is becoming so taboo even in the church, we have ministers who’d rather give your soul a pillow-fluffing than to call you to repentance. So serious is sin that it separates us from God—it even carries a death sentence—Romans 6:23 states “The wages of sin is death.”

However this is not our only problem. Paul goes on to tell us that we have fallen short of the glory of God. But what does that mean? 2 Corinthians 4:6 tells us that we see the Glory of God  in the face of Jesus Christ. God’s glory is shown in the perfect life of Jesus Christ. Jesus gives us a perfect standard to live up to. If you have ever been involved with labor unions you know that the workers get real upset if someone new comes on the job who is working to fast. They don’t want anyone to show them up. They also don’t want management to get the idea that they are not working hard enough or worse yet that they should do a new time study. That could increase the daily work standard for everybody.

When Jesus came to this earth he lived a perfect and sinless life. In effect He showed us up. We all have fallen short of His glory. We have fallen short of His perfect standard. Some people have the idea that Jesus’ perfect life is what saves us. That is not true. His perfect life condemned us. His perfect life is something we cannot live up to. The point is, our boats have struck the iceberg and we are sinking fast friends!

I have great news though! God didn’t leave us to drown in our sins. Verse 24 is where our lifeboat comes into view—Paul declares that our salvation and justification is coming through God’s grace! There was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and traveled across to the continent for a vacation. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, "I’m having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?" The Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his journey. As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, "How much is this going to cost me?" When he returned to England, he wrote a letter to the company and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: "Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything was ever wrong with a Rolls-Royce." That is justification. In the same way, when you are justified YOU are declared right with God, just as though you never did anything wrong.

The second best part of verse 24 is the word “Freely.” If you are like me, you love it when something comes to you for free! We can’t purchase God’s grace—for grace by it’s very meaning is “God’s unmerited favor.” We don’t deserve it, we can’t purchase it—yet God gives it to us anyway.

The third extremely important word we come to is redemption. When we sin a debt is created. "How?" you might ask. Well, we have already seen that "the wages of sin is death" This death penalty MUST be paid. The God of the Bible is a God of justice. God is not capricious; He can’t just "let sinful people off". Someway, somehow the debt has to be paid. Someone has to pay it...so that God’s justice is not violated. The question you have to decide is who is going to pay the debt. You?...or God? What God is affirming in this verse is the fact that Jesus has already paid the death penalty you owe as a result of your sin!. There wasn’t any goodness in you that motivated God to do this. You certainly don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve it. None of us deserve to be redeemed. Why did God give us a way out? He gave us a way out because He is love. A lot of people have the idea that when it comes to Salvation we go "dutch" with God. You pay a little portion and God pays a little portion and the debt is paid. These verses make it plain that this it is an all or nothing proposition. If God is not paying, then you are paying. If you are paying, then the only thing you have to look forward to is death.

There is a legend about a boy who was carrying an old, bent bird cage. Inside was a tiny field sparrow. A man stopped the boy and asked him what he was going to do with the bird.
"Well..." the boy said.”I think I’ll play with it for a while, and then when I’m tired of playing with it -- I think I’ll kill it." He made that last comment with a wicked grin on his young face.
Moved with compassion for the bird, the man asked, "How much would you sell me that bird for?"
"You don’t want this bird, mister," the boy said with a chuckle. "It’s just a field sparrow." But then he saw the old gentleman was serious.
"You can have this bird for – $100" he said slyly. It was an astronomical price for a bird worth only pennies. The man paid the money and then he let the bird go.

This is what Jesus did for us. You see, an evil specter called Sin had us caged much like that bird. We were unable to escape. Then Jesus came up to Sin and said, ‘What are you going to do with those people in that cage? "‘These people?’ Sin answered with a laugh. ‘I’m going to teach them to hate each other. Then I’ll play with them until I’m tired of them -- and then I’ll kill them.’
"‘How much to buy them back?’ Jesus asked. With a sly grin, Sin said, "You don’t want these people, Jesus. They’ll only hate you and spit on you. Why, they’ll even nail you to a cross! If you really want them", Sin continued " it’ll cost you dearly. It will cost all of your tears and all of your blood -- your very life."

That is just what Jesus did for us on the cross. Verse 24 tells us that our redemption is in Jesus Christ. So now the big question is how do we get in Christ? He gives us the answer down in verse 26 "that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believes in Jesus". You are justified when you believe in Jesus. That is what you must do to be saved. Believe in Jesus. Matter of fact, if we were to ask most people "do you know Jesus?" almost everyone would answer you, "Yes certainly, I already do!" Does that mean that they are all justified and on their way to heaven?

In James 2:19 we are told that the devils also know who He [Jesus] is. But are they saved? Are they going to heaven? No, definitely not! Mental assent or merely acknowledging that something is true is not enough to qualify you as being in Christ. The same was true for the people on Titanic. They eventually acknowledged that the ship was going to sink; but that wasn’t enough to save them; if they were lucky enough to realize the truth, the survivors had to put their trust in a small, canvas-covered collapsible, rowboat. When you put your faith in Christ; you entrust him with your life and not only your life here on this earth, but with your very eternity. I’m not going to tell you salvation is easy because when it comes to Christ, one “yes” turns into a lifetime of saying “yes” to Him. You’ll want to so closely identify with Him that you become completely be dependent upon Him. That is the kind of faith that will save a person! In other words, you climb into the lifeboat.

I won’t leave you wondering if anyone was pulled out of the sea after Titanic foundered; one lifeboat, Lifeboat No. 14 did row back to the scene after the unsinkable sank at 2:20 a.m. Alone, it chased cries in the darkness, seeking and saving a precious few. God has sent out a lifeboat to pick us up. You get into this lifeboat by being in Christ. But there is only one lifeboat. Don’t go down with the ship.

Please stand as we sing Hymn______________

Benediction: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen