The Journey of Grace: Message Three - The Great Divide
By Dr. Jon Fillipi
John 1:35-42...
The most important question: what do you seek?
The incredible desire to share (that grace is something too good to keep to yourself)
The transformation that takes place (a new name represents a transformation of character; 2 Corinthians 5:17)
Acts 10...Cornelius
Life at the crossroads.
The curiosity that comes when God is at work.
The companionship that comes with God's people.
James 4:17
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James 4:13-17
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is sin?
Sin is REBELLION!
1 John 3:4
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
Isaiah 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
What is sin?
Sin is ENSLAVEMENT!
Luke 15:11-20
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Luke 15:21-24
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
John 8:34
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
What is sin?
Sin is ESTRANGEMENT!
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Genesis 3:7-10
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Isaiah 59:1-3
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
Sin is rebellion, enslavement, and estrangement. But it doesn't have to be that way!
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The secret is found in John 1:12! By simply receiving Him, and believing on His name, He gives us the right to become children of God.
