New Year
It’s a new year. Are you full of hope? Is this year going to be different? Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Have you kept them? You and I are the same people we were at the end of 2017. I can’t escape myself and you can’t escape you. So how are you going to make this year better? How is it going to be different? What is going to change in 2018?
If you made New Year’s resolution(s), have you kept them? The month isn’t even half over yet and a lot of New Year’s resolutions have already been broken. Around 80% will probably fail by the middle of February and it’s estimated that only 8% of all New Year’s resolutions are kept for a whole year.
So why is it that we can’t change? Why can’t we lose weight (and keep it off)? Why can’t we quit smoking or quit drinking? Tell me, why is it so hard for us to improve ourselves? The best place to look for answers to these questions isn’t the self-help section at the bookstore. No, the best place to look for answers to life’s questions is the Bible.
What’s The Problem?
When you start reading the Bible, you only have to get to the third chapter of Genesis to see the problem. Do you know what it is? It’s you and me. That’s right, we are the problem. Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden and all of us have sinned since then. We are born with a sinful nature. It comes naturally to us. We have to teach kids good behavior; bad behavior comes naturally. Just tell a child not to do something and the first thing they will do is the very thing you’ve told them not to do.
You and I are no better than Adam and Eve. Yes, they were the first ones to sin, but we’ve all sinned since then. The problem is us. Oh, we may have good intentions, but when it comes right down to it, most of us do exactly what we want to do, when we want to. Even criminals that have been caught will justify their sins. A thief will say he needed to steal to provide for his family. A murderer will even justify why they killed someone. We are all sinners and we are prone to do what is wrong. It’s in our nature.
To me this is a simple explanation for why it’s so hard for people to keep New Year’s resolutions. When push comes to shove, we end up doing what we want. We seek the pleasures of the flesh. We seek our self-will. But let me ask you something, are you tired of the same old same old? Are you tired of the hangovers? Are you tired of the unfulfilling immoral sexual relations? Don’t you get tired of the broken promises? Aren’t you ready for a change, a real change?
Real Change
Real change happens when we get real with ourselves. When we truly see ourselves as God sees us. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24 and I believe the apostle Paul was even talking about himself after his conversion because normally an unregenerate person doesn’t see themselves as wretched. But those of us who are saved know that we are wretched sinners).
How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shines not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? (Job 25:4-6). Job 25:4 states great questions. How can a man be justified with God? How can a man be clean that is born of a woman? Then verse 6 ends saying that man is but a worm.
In God’s eyes, we are but a worm. In other words, we are insignificant. We have nothing to brag about. There is nothing good in sinful creatures and make no mistake, we are all sinful. For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not (Ecclesiastes 7:20). How does God see us? He sees that there is no one that is just, or righteous. There’s not a single person that doesn’t sin.
How We Need To See Ourselves
Folks, this is how we need to see ourselves. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one (Romans 3:9-12).
None of us are righteous or right with God. Oh, how we wish we could get you to see yourself as God sees you tonight. My friend and I see ourselves as God sees us. We’ve seen how wretched we were. We have confessed our sins to Almighty God and we still repent from our sins and confess them to God.
Oh, but in addition to seeing your sinfulness, you also need to see God’s Holiness. God is Holy, righteous and just. Almighty God always does what is right. He cannot lie. He cannot go against Himself. God is perfect and we are not. The Lord is righteous, we are unrighteous. He is sinless and we are sinful. Sin separates us from God.
Your Sins Have Separated you From God
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness. None calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity (Isaiah 59:1-4).
Your iniquities, your sin has separated you from God. His arm is not shortened that He cannot save, but your sins have separated you from God. Do you have bloody hands? If you are pro-choice, then you are pro-abortion you are pro-murder. Your hands are bloody. Have you ever hated someone or been angry without a righteous cause? If so, then you have committed murder in your heart. You have blood on your hands.
Your fingers have committed iniquities. You have sinned by your actions or your deeds. Your lips have spoken lies. We’ve all lied. How many lies do you think you’ve told in your lifetime? Folks, we have all sinned in our thoughts, actions and words. We are all guilty sinners. Each and every one of us.
God Cannot Tolerate Sin
God cannot tolerate sin. Your sin separates you from God. So how do you get back in a right relationship with Him? Do penance? Try to make up for your bad deeds? Do you try to “overcome” the bad with good? In other words, do you try to do more good than bad? Do you try to bribe the God of the universe? How do you pay for your sins? How do you get back in good standing with God?
Well, if you think along any of those lines, I have some really bad news for you. There is no way for you to get back right with God on your own. You can’t bribe Almighty God. You can’t do more good than bad. No, you can’t do so, but for argument sake, let’s say that you really could do more good than bad in your life. Do you realize that good deeds don’t erase bad deeds?
I could lie to my friend right now. Tell him a bold face lie. Then later on I could feel really bad about that lie, ask my friend to forgive me. Let’s also say that he does forgive me. Even with his forgiveness, it doesn’t wipe out the lie. It doesn’t erase it. I can’t undo that lie, no matter what I do. I can’t do enough good deeds for my friend the rest of my life to wipe out that one little lie.
God Is Perfect We Are Not
Folks, this is the reality of the state of the human condition. God is perfect, we are not. God never sins, we are sinners and there is nothing that you can do to save yourself. But praise God, salvation is of the Lord! God can do what we cannot do. God can save us when we can’t save ourselves.
But God commends (demonstrates) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Oh, this is something to get excited about, God is the one who saves. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For God so loved the world, that He sacrificed His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish; should NOT perish, but have everlasting life.
Salvation Is Of The Lord
Yes, salvation is of the Lord. God draws lost souls to Himself. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. But you must recognize that you are lost before you will cry out for help. You could be driving the wrong way, maybe even following GPS directions, but those directions are taking you the wrong way. As long as you are trusting in the GPS, you will continue heading the wrong direction.
But if you think there’s something wrong and you ask someone, ask the right person for directions, they could get you on the right path. Jesus is the narrow way. He is the only Savior. This new year, come to Jesus. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14).
Oh, this new year, don’t continue down that same old path full of the same old broken promises. Don’t continue listening to Satan’s lies. Sin is pleasurable for a season, but it never stops there. The devil draws you farther and farther in. You keep losing more and more all the time until you eventually lose your life and more importantly, your eternal life. When you die in your sins, you will suffer eternal damnation for your sins.
This New Year Is The Time
Come to Jesus Christ. This new year is the time. Today is the day of salvation. Come to the only Savior of mankind. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
Don’t continue barreling down that broad road to destruction. This year, this new year, come to the narrow way. Jesus is the way, He is the only way of salvation. Trust Jesus today. Trust in the sinless Son of God to save you from your sins. Repent from your sins and put your faith in Jesus.
You Are Not Guaranteed Tomorrow
Oh, do this today. Don’t put it off. You are not guaranteed tomorrow. This week alone I’ve heard of a 37-year-old man that was shot in Indianapolis. A 21-year-old died from the flu. A 19-month-old died from the flu. Many people died from the mudslides in California. You and I are not guaranteed our next breath. A drunk driver could kill anyone of us before we get home tonight.
This new year is the year to come to salvation. In fact, today is the day of salvation. Oh, repent from your sins and surrender your life to Jesus. Then experience life with Christ Jesus. There’s no better way to live and He saves us for all eternity. Receive eternal life tonight. Repent and trust Jesus and be saved. If you do so, this new year will just be the beginning of your eternal life.
(A rough version of this message was lifted up in downtown Springfield, MO on January 12, 2018)