RIGHTEOUS? NO, NOT ONE!

  

  All have sinned                                  

Romans 3:9-20

• King James Version (KJV)

ARE CHRISTIANS MORE DESERVING?

I have been present in African homes where the guests, the minister, and the missionaries present were served with their host in the living room, while the ladies of the families involved ate a more simple meal in the kitchen, and the children sat on the back steps eating from the kettle, leftovers with their fingers.

Are some people more deserving than others? Not at all. Among christians, it should never be the plan, and in more recent years it isn’t, even in Africa.

Paul, writing to the Roman church had to contend with racism, probably as pronounced as any we see. There were the Jews, who considered themselves contaminated if they ate with Gentiles, slaves, who probably ate on the steps, and of course there were the Samaritans. Paul asks a simple, leading question.

• 9 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;
• 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
• ARE THEY MORE INTELLIGENT?
• There are always those who look down upon someone else. But, there are none anywhere who can answer every question others can ask. It is not a matter of intelligence. We are not expected to know everything, no one does. I remember being told in my first classes in Bible college, that our professor does not know everything, but if you seriously need an answer he was willing to search for the answer, however, God did not see it necessary to tell us everything we can ask. For example, He did not deem it necessary, or even desirable, that we should know when this world is going to end. We know where and how it began. “In the beginning God created...” Genesis or John 1.

How true it is that everyone goes his own way, and does what benefits him the most, and “there is none that doeth good, no. not one” The same tongue that praises the Lord on Sunday, may hurl curses at the referee at his favorite sporting event, Sad, sad, that bitter wail ”no, not one.”

• 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
• 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
• 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
• 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
• 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
• 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
• 17 And the way of peace have they not known:
• 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
• WHAT WAS THE LAW FOR?
• The law given to Moses, gave guidance and definition to His people as He led them through the wilderness. It defined what was, and is right. But, the rich young ruler discovered that, though he had observed and evidently succeeded, in keeping as much as most men did of it, that was not enough. He loved his wealth more than Jesus.
• 19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
• 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
• IF RIGHTEOUSNESS CAN NOT SAVE US, WHAT CAN?

To the Jew, circumcision was not enough, He must love the Lord, but also the Samaritan.  The Gentile must love the Jew, and all must love one another. So let us praise the Lord, for His grace toward us and do all we can to love the sinner, but not the sin. Through faith in him, we must repent of those things we have been doing, and take Him as our Lord and Saviour through obedience to his commands. We must, like him, become obedient servants.  As he was leaving, His last command was, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” (Mark 16:15,16)

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READ YOUR BIBLE THROUGH THIS YEAR

JUNE

30th  -  Sunday    1 Kings 22,    Acts 21:1-16,    Psalm 78:40-55

JULY

1st  -  Monday    2 Kings 1,    Acts 21:17-40,    Psalm 78:56-72

2nd  -  Tuesday    2 Kings 2,    Acts 22,    Psalm 79

3rd  -  Wednesday    2 Kings 3,    Acts 23,    Proverbs 16:1-15

4th  -  Thursday    2 Kings 4,    Acts 24,    Psalm 80:1-7

5th  -  Friday    2 Kings 5,    Acts 25,    Psalm 80:8-19

6th  -  Saturday    2 Kings 6,    Acts 26,    Psalm 81:1-7

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MEMORY VERSE FOR TODAY

“Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”    -    Ephesians 4:32

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A friend is someone who is there when he needs you.

Something is old when you are trying to sell it, it’s obsolete, but if you are trying to buy it, it’s a collector’s item.

The real menace in dealing with a five years old, is that it’s no time at all for you to sound like a five year old.

The quickest way for you to get  child’s attention is to sit down and look comfortable.

Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.

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