The Great Evil of All Sin - Part 4 — Richard Owen Roberts

They say, I understand that, but I've accepted Christ. It doesn't much matter whether you've accepted Christ or not. What matters is, has Christ accepted you? And if you harbor sin in your heart, you're deceiving yourself when you suppose Christ has accepted you.

The Holiness Required for Christ’s Acceptance

Do you not realize what a violation of themselves that would require? He who is holy would have to cease to be holy to accept the person who despises holiness and will not walk in it. But I come to my final point.

Sin Opposes God’s Aspirations for Us

All sin is against God's aspirations for us. Now granted, not everybody uses the word aspirations, but most of us do know the word aspire. I could ask you, what do you aspire to? Now that may not be the normal way that the question is put to you, but you know, to aspire is something you long for, something you set before you as a goal, a purpose, something you would like to achieve.

All sin is against God's aspirations for you. You see, I only have two children, a daughter, a sweet Christian girl, who suffers from a loathsome brain problem. She's what we call a schizophrenic. She's the sweetest girl, loves the Lord.

But when she's under attack by her disease, it is awful. And then I have a son, a lovely fellow, whom I love dearly and for whom for years and years I prayed this prayer, Oh God, make my son more holy and useful in this wretched world than his father has ever been.

A Father’s Aspiration for His Son

Nobody knew, not even my wife, that that was my prayer for my son. He certainly did not know. But one time when we were together in an unusual circumstance and speaking of the most precious matters that a father can speak to with his son, I just felt the time had come I ought to tell him.

And I said, son, my aspiration for you is that you should be far more holy and useful than your father. He sat very quietly. He looked at me with great care. And he said, Dad, I will never forget that.

And every once in a while he will look at me in an unusual way. And he'll simply say, Dad, I remember. Now that's the aspiration for a mere man, for his son. But God's aspirations for you are infinitely higher and better.

Sin Frustrates God’s Purpose for Human Life

I have no way to know precisely what God's aspirations for you are. I only know they're wonderful. I only know that God's plan and God's purpose for your life is infinitely greater than any plan or any purpose you could devise on your own.

And when you sin, you sin against God's aspirations for you. You guarantee you cannot become what God has designed you for. The great evil of all sin consists in the fact it is against God, against thee.

The only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.

Prayer for Conviction and True Conversion

Will you join me in prayer? Let's pray. Father, we do thank you so much for this very sobering presentation this morning, this message this morning. Many of us, I'm sure, have read this passage many, many times.

But I believe, Father, you have spoken to each one of us this morning in ways that we've never been spoken to before. And I know, Father, it's very easy for us to come to church. It's very easy for us to enjoy church, enjoy the hymns and the songs and the people.

Even the messages, because we are familiar with it, we hear it so often. But it's different when we hear a word from God. At the beginning of the message this morning, I know that Richard said to us the difference is in the people that claim to be Christians is that they want to draw near to God.

We often think, I guess, of the fact that God may not seem to be close to us. It's not that God has moved from us, but we have moved away from Him, if that is the problem. Father, I believe you're speaking to men and women and young people here today, many maybe that have claimed or would say to others, I know I'm a Christian.

The Difference Between Professing and Possessing Faith

I know I'm a Christian because I've been forward at a meeting. I've got my name on the roll of the church. I've been baptized. Deep down in their heart, there isn't any evidence of their being a Christian.

There isn't any desire to draw close to you. In fact, even church is only a convenient thing to do to keep family happy or friends or maybe folks at church. Father, just as we have heard, the problem in the world today is the church.

We have ceased to be the people that you have called us to be. Lord, I pray that if there are those here today that don't know Christ as Savior, that you would speak very plainly, very clearly to them.

Dying to Self and Living for Christ

Being a Christian isn't just taking on a new name, joining a new church. Being a Christian is being willing to say, I can't live any longer. I need to die and Christ needs to live in me. Just as we have heard today that being a Christian means I don't have any rights.

I don't have any rights to my time. I don't have any rights to my testimony. I don't have any rights to my talents. I don't have any rights to my time. Being a Christian means dying to self and living for Christ and Christ alone.

I believe, Father, you are speaking to some today who need to come to the cross, lay their lives down to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I believe, Father, there are others who have played the game and have claimed the name but have never lived the life.

Confession, Repentance, and Getting Right with God

I pray, Father, that today they be willing, seated just where they are, knowing deep within their heart the game they're playing and knowing that you have never been fooled by their actions, that they, Father, will be willing to say enough.

No more playing the game. It's time to get real with God. They need to come today and confess that sin and make their lives right with you. Lord, I pray that you would be speaking to us right now, that you be speaking deep within our hearts, that we won't be distracted by those beside us or around about us, but it would be as if you were right there.

We're looking to you face to face. I pray, Father, that you be speaking strongly to us and we be willing to say as Isaiah did so many years ago, here am I, Lord, send me. Send me, Father, to be in the world in which I live, salt and light in a world that's desperate in need of preservation, desperate in need of refreshment, desperately in need of renewal, desperately in need of a light that can show them the way.

So, Father, we pray as we come to the conclusion of this service that we would make those decisions that would not please those around us, but would be honest before you. Challenge us and change us, Father, I pray in these moments right now.

The Invitation to Receive Christ and Respond in Faith

We ask it in Jesus' name and for Jesus' sake alone. Amen. Just a moment. Jeff is going to lead us in a closing chorus, a closing hymn. If the Lord is speaking to you this morning and you know that there's something that you need to do, maybe you need to come this morning and receive Christ as Savior, we encourage you to come.

If you're here this morning and you know that you've just been playing games at the foot of the cross, you have the name, but that's all that you have. That won't get you into heaven. If you haven't come to the cross and given up your life and been willing to live for Christ, there's going to come a terribly sad day when he will say to you, What did you do with my son?

Because he's never been the Lord, Master of your life. God is speaking to you as we sing this invitation hymn. As if he's moving in your heart to come. Maybe you need to come and pray. There may be somebody that you know you need to invite this week.

Somebody you know that's struggling spiritually that needs your prayer. Maybe the Lord will lead you to come and pray for them as we close. However it is that the Lord is dealing with you as we sing this invitation hymn, you be obedient to the Lord.

You just listen to the Lord. Don't do anything to impress anybody around you. God is speaking to you and challenging you to come this morning. You step up, step out, and you come while we sing. Let's stand together as we sing.