Mark 2:17; “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Do you feel like you are in need of a doctor, if you believe you are extremely healthy?
Would you go to the ER if you are not sick or hurt?
If you have no need, what then would you feel like you are lacking?
What is the value of good news, when there is nothing bad?
If you don’t think you need saving, then why would you think you need a savior?
If you think you are good enough, why would you think you need salvation?
Is 64:6: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted (“filthy” NASB) garment (“Rags” NIV). We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Because we are/were slaves to sin and our hearts are constantly filled with evil, any “good” thing we try to do still isn’t good enough, and anything not good enough in the presence of a Perfect and Holy God, is sin.
Anything “nice” anyone does, apart from doing it for God’s glory and desiring his glory, is “like a polluted garment” no matter how good you, yourself, thinks it was.
Everyone has hard in some shape or form of the 10 commandments
The 10 Commandments DO NOT make people righteous
The 10 Commandments DO show people they NEED help, they can’t meet God’s standard.
Let’s Hold Up a Mirror to Ourselves:
Ex. 20:3 - You shall have no other gods before me
A god is something you idolize, worship, hold in the highest regard, respect, and fear and look to for comfort and satisfaction.
Cars, relationships, money, career, your self.
Ex. 20:7 - You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Ever said “GD” or “JC” out of anger, frustration, surprise?
Ever said a prayer in “Jesus’ name” and didn’t actually mean it?
Ever avoid someone and just tell them “i'll pray for you” or just tell them to “talk to God” because you didn’t want to?
Ex. 20:8 - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Has there ever been a day where you failed to rest in Christ and trust in God’s will?
Jesus is our Sabbath, he is our rest.
The 7th day didn’t end, there was not “evening and morning”
The Sabbath is an eternal state of peace and rest only found in Christ.
Ex. 20:13 - “You shall not murder.
Have you ever been extremely angry at someone? (Matthew 5:21-22)
Ex. 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery.
“Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matt 5:28
Sexual activity before and or outside of marriage?
Desired someone sexually
Porn
These are only 5 of the 10 Commandments
Mark 12:29-31: And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
How can you obey the most important commandment of all, if you don’t even know God?
How can you love God with ALL your heart, when it's infected by sin?
How can you love God with ALL your mind, when you get intrusive sinful thoughts and ideas?
1 Tim. 8-10,12-15: Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,[b] liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound[c] doctrine,... I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
The LAW of God is GOOD. Why? Because it helps us see our current sinful state and points us to our need for a savior by showing us our shortcomings and needs.
Jesus came into the world to SAVE SINNERS
Mark 2:17; “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus came to call the sinners and save them.
The self righteous and those who are blind to their sin, won’t see the need for Jesus.
What about any of these?
Romans 1:29; They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Have you EVER done ANY of those above?
Have you ever, EVER, known of something you ought to do or should do that is good, genuine and beneficial for someone else, but didn’t? Failing to do good, is sin (James 4:17)
1 John 3:4: Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
The law points us to our need for a savior. Without a need for a savior, they don’t see the need for Christ.
Moral Relativism is a lie. The concept itself is self defeating. For morality to be relative, truth must be relative, and if truth is relative, that would be making an objective universal truth claim, contradicting the concept of truth and morality not being objective or universal. Massive logical failure of an idea.
Secondly; If the contradiction of Moral Relativism is true, anyone who has faith in this concept must agree that what Hitler did wasn’t wrong in German culture in the 1930s-1940s. They must agree that slavery in America wasn’t wrong according to southern culture. They must agree that rape isn’t wrong if it’s that person’s own truth to do it.
When is torturing an infant to the point of death, just for the fun of it, ever NOT wrong? What if a culture somewhere at some point in history believed it to be not wrong, is that culture right?
Now, apply the moral relativist argument to rape, torture, slavery, genocide… is there any place, at any time, any where in the world, where these could be “right”?
If your answer is, “it's never right” then congrats, you recognize that morality is objective, universal, and transcendent.
I can declare in absolute confidence that YES, what Hitler did was absolutely sin, that slavery in America was absolutely sin, and that rape is absolutely sin no matter who says what when and where at all times, at all places, in all time. I can know this and DO know this because there IS an absolute, holy, and perfect standard of right and wrong outside of cultures, societies, and humanistic social constructions.
1 John 1:8-11: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
You are lying to yourself, lying to us, and calling God, himself, a liar…
Reevaluate your life
You don’t think you are sick or lacking so you don’t think you need a doctor or a savior.
If you claim you did have sin, but no longer, this verse still calls you a liar
“Have” is a current state – currently “have no sin”
“IS” is a current state – if you currently “have no sin” then currently the truth “is not” in you.
Since SIN cannot be morally relative and everyone are sinners in the eyes of God, no matter how the individual feels and thinks; and the standard for us to determine what is evil has been made known for all time, for all people, everywhere:
Sin
1 John 3:4: Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
The law points us to our need for a savior. Without a need for a savior, they don’t see the need for Christ.
James 1:14-15: But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
We are our worst enemies and we don’t even realize it most of the time. Our own desires cause us to conceive of our sin.
Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
The desires that cause us to sin, comes from our heart, our natural fallen state, our sinful nature.
Mark 7:20-23: And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Jesus can’t be more clear than this: “out of the heart…” comes evil. But not evil deeds, but evil thoughts, ideas, desires, defile a person
Matthew 15:7-8: You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Doesn’t always matter what you say and speak. You can say the nicest things, the sweetest things, but your desires and motives for saying those things could be focused on being liked by everyone else, or manipulating someone.
Notice God rejects worship when your heart isn’t even desiring him, no matter the words that come out of your mouth.
Only born-again, saved Christians can worship God. Everyone else does it in vain.
Is this you? Have you sinned? Why? Why did you choose to do that?
All have sinned
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
Every single human being has sinned (except for Jesus).
Gen. 6:5: The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Not only does everyone sin, but everyone without the Holy Spirit will have sinful thoughts and sinful intentions coming out of their heart, continually.
They are literally slaves to sin. People might be able to break habits, but all they can do is exchange one habitual habit (idol) for another idol. They can not have any other idol in their lives except for sin.
Is 64:6: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Because we are/were slaves to sin and our hearts are constantly filled with evil, any “good” thing we try to do still isn’t good enough, and anything not good enough in the presence of a Perfect and Holy God, is sin.
Anything “nice” anyone does, apart from doing it for God’s glory and desiring his glory, is “like a polluted garment” no matter how good you, yourself, thinks it was.
Not only has everyone sinned, continues to sin, and can’t do or be good enough, it begs the question, is anyone good?
Romans 3:10-12: as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (ref Ps. 14, 53)
Anyone that is “righteous” and “good” in scripture, it was gifted to them, accredited to them by God. They, themselves didn’t make themselves ‘good’
Noah? Gen. 6:8 Noah “Found” favor in the eyes of God. He didn't earn it. God chose him and accredited to him favor (unmerited favor = grace)
Abraham? Gen 15:6 “he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
Paul, biblical author? 1 Tim. 1:15 “worst sinner” (present tense)
WE, humans, are not the authority of Goodness
By claiming to be a good person and do good works outside of Christ, is placing yourself higher than Noah, Abraham, and the Apostle Paul who wrote 30% of the Bible; and placing yourself as equal to God, who is the authority of all that is good. Are you God? No.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every imperfect corrupted breath we take, as a sinner committing sins, we earn the wage of sin which is complete death. Not just a coming physical death, but we are already spiritually dead as well.
God has judged the wage for sin and he has declared the judgment of death for the sinner.
Eph 2:1: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.
Because of our natural sinful state, we are/were spiritually dead in our sins
Because we are dead, we can not even “see” the kingdom of God without spiritual life: John 3:7
So, how do you know you have/had a debt of sin judgment against you? But, how do you even know what sin is?
James 1:14-15: But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
We are our worst enemies and we don’t even realize it most of the time. Our own desires cause us to conceive of our sin.
Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
The desires that cause us to sin, comes from our heart, our natural fallen state, our sinful nature.
Catch that word “sick”
Mark 7:20-23: And he [Jesus] said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Jesus can’t be more clear than this: “out of the heart…” comes evil. But not evil deeds, but evil thoughts, ideas, desires, defile a person
Do you understand the weight of sin? Road rage is murder (Matthew 5:22). Sensuality for desirable attention outside of marriage is adultery (Matthew 5:28).
Matthew 15:7-8: You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
You can say the nicest things, the sweetest things, speak positive things over your life, but your desires and motives for saying those things could be focused on being liked by everyone else, or manipulating someone.
Notice God rejects worship when your heart isn’t even desiring him, no matter the words that come out of your mouth – he’s looking at your heart.
Only born-again, saved Christians can worship God (Heb. 11:6). Everyone else does it in vain.
The reason why people cling to Moral Relativism is because they know they aren’t perfect and they know they aren’t completely moral. They know these things because it comes from their own heart. So they cling to an illogical irrational idea in an attempt to justify their own sinfulness.
The cultural phrases “only God can judge me” and “only God knows my heart” should scare you. Especially since God himself is showing you that you are not righteous and holy.
How does it feel being called a sinner?
How does it feel being called a sinner by the Law of God?
Who/what causes you to sin?
Satan, demons?
Gen 3:6: So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the [her] eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make [her] one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Eve can only blame herself.
Satan is called “the tempter” (1 Thes. 3:5)
God?
James 1:13: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Can’t blame God for being tempted and falling into sin.
Is temptation sin?
Matt. 4:1: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Mark 1:13: And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
If Jesus can be attacked by temptation and not sin, we know that temptation itself is not sin. We can resist temptation and not fall into sin.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every imperfect corrupted breath we take, as a sinner committing sins, we earn the wage of sin which is complete death. Not just a physical death, but we are spiritually dead too.
God has judged the wage for sin and he has declared the judgment of death for the sinner.
The next thing that comes after judgment, is sentencing. Everyone, all of us, have already been found guilty of sin. Christ is coming to judge the world and impose the sentence for that judgment.
Before coming to know Christ and receiving the gift of faith; WE ALL would have crucified Jesus too.
Acts 2:22-23,36: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men… Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
They didn’t physically kill Jesus with their own hands. Some of them probably didn’t even see Jesus on the cross. Yet, they are counted with all those who did; all sinners crucified Christ because that’s why Jesus came– to pay off their wage/debt of sin.
Our hearts testify against us that we are sinners. Our imperfect lives, thoughts, and deeds in the past, present, and future testify against us that we are sinners. God himself reveals and exposes that we are sinners through his righteous law by our inability to perfectly keep his law. And the just and perfect consequence for our sin is complete eternal death.