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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/jb-nicholson/uniqueness-of-christianity3/
But there's more. When we turn over a few pages to chapter 3, there is a grisly description of the human heart, beginning in verse 10. There is none righteous, no, not one. None that understands, none that seeks after God.
They're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. That is by God's standards. It's a funny thing to me that some people think that if they do good in certain situations, that they will get a credit with God to overcome the bad things they've done.
I don't think the arithmetic works. You see, God's standard is perfection. And if by some amazing feat, you are actually in a particular day able to ring the bell, actually able to reach perfection one day, that is God's minimum daily requirement.
So you don't get a credit. You've just broken even. You've just reached perfection for one day. You'll never get a credit. God says my standard is perfection. Nothing less than that will do me. Now, obviously, that presents a serious problem to those who are honest.
Some people say, well, I think I'm a pretty good person. Listen, you don't even come up to your own standards, let alone God's. You can't even keep your own New Year's resolutions. We have to agree with God that we're born in sin.
I had one man tell me, I don't think we're born sinners. I say, obviously, you haven't had children. No, we are born sinners. And we practice sin and we fall short of God's standard. We are guilty as charged.
So we read in verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, in other words, by seeking to live a good life and keep the Ten Commandments, live by the golden rule, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.
Everybody falls short of God's standard. But now to those who find the way barred, the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is manifested. The righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all.
No matter how wicked a sinner you are, no matter how good you think you are, God has made an offer to the human race. To those who find the way barred because their own sin and failure has kept them from meeting God's standard, there is an alternative.
It is the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all those who believe, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You know, sometimes when gospel preachers preach the gospel, they say there's good news and bad news.
First the bad news. You're a sinner. But we read in chapter one that this isn't a bad news, good news situation. It's called good news. It's all good news. Good news that you're a sinner. Well, not exactly, but good news that you can be honest with God about your sin.
Now I want to tell you that this is the second thing that is absolutely unique about Christianity. Christianity is the only belief system in the world that lets you be honest with God about your sin. You ask someone who's trying to get to heaven by the good works, how are you doing?
Oh, not bad. Oh, really? Not bad. Oh, doing pretty good. Doing my best. Oh, you are. I've never met anybody who does their best, even by their own standards. One day a woman came out of a little town in central Israel.
She was making her way to the well at a place called Sychar, and as she came near to the well, she noticed a stranger sitting on the well. She tried to avoid him. She saw he was a Jew, but it was a bit tough to avoid him, and especially when he began to speak to her.
And he said to her, could I have a drink, please? And she said, what are you doing talking to me? You're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan, and we don't have anything to do with each other. And he completely avoided the racial issue and said, if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask me and I'd give you a drink and you'd never thirst again.
You'd be satisfied. She said, I'd love some of that water. Why don't you give it to me? He said, well, I'll tell you what, why don't you go get your husband and we'll have a little talk about it. And she said, I don't have a husband.
Now he didn't say to her, you liar. You know what he said? You told the truth, didn't you? You're right. You're right, you don't have a husband. You have had five, and you're living with a man right now who's not your husband.
And all of a sudden she realized, this man has known all about me all along, and he just offered himself to me to satisfy my heart. She was looking for the perfect man, you know. She'd had five, she was living with number six, and here was number seven, the perfect man who would love her the way she needed to be loved.
You know, when she went into town, you know what her big selling point was? Come see a man that told me everything I ever did. It couldn't be the Messiah, could it? See, in fine print she was saying, there's somebody who knows all about me, and he still loves me.
In spite of my sin, he loves me. You know, she emptied the town. They all came out to see Jesus, thinking to themselves, if he could love that woman, knowing all about her, maybe he could love me, knowing all about me too.
Listen, folks, this is good news. God doesn't ask you to pretend you're okay. He wants you to be honest with him. Listen, you're no shock to God. He knows all about you. Knows every sin you've ever committed.
Knows the sins you've forgotten and the sins you wish you could forget. The sins of the mind and the sins of the soul, the sins of the flesh, the sins of omission, the things you should have done and didn't do, and the sins of commission, the things you did you shouldn't have done.
He knows them all. He hates your sin, because it separates you from God. It disappoints you. It damages you and ultimately will damn your soul. But oh, how he loves you. This man, Saul of Tarsus, who killed Christians for a living, at last was able to write, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.
You could say that tonight. He loved you enough to die for you. And the Christian message is this. You can be honest with God about your sin. Why don't you do that? Why pretend any longer? Just tell him, guilty as charged, your honor.
I stand condemned. It's all true. But Jesus died for me. He died for my sins. And I hold God to His promise that any sinner that comes to the foot of the cross by faith, Jesus will save me from my sins.