Romans 5:1, 12-15: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift: for if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. We are all sinners, each and every one of us. We are all sinners who deserve hell; we deserve every bit of hell for the sins we have committed.
God would have been fully justified to send all of us to hell. But thank God, the God of the Bible is supremely kind to guilty sinners like you and me. I thank God for Jesus and all He did for me on the cross.
I thank God for my relationship with Him and all He did for me on the cross. Oh, Jesus! Jesus!
Jesus! There is no other name but Jesus; there is no other door but Jesus; there is no other king but Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life—eternal life, the giver of life.
All life flows from Him; all life comes through Him. What I love about Jesus is that He forgives the unforgivable. He touches the untouchables.
He finds the lost. He is not a respecter of persons. If you want a relationship with Him right now, wherever you are, you can cry out to Him, and He will meet you where you are.
You can be a cast-out in society; you could be locked in a prison cell serving a mandatory life sentence. Society could have thrown away the key for your cell, but right now, Jesus! Jesus can come into your life, and you can have a relationship with Him.
You can be heartbroken and alone, but right now, Jesus! Jesus can come into your life, and you can have a relationship with Him. You can be facing illness and be unsure whether you are going to make it or not, but right now, Jesus!
Jesus can come into your life, and you can have a relationship with Him. You can be fearing death and fearing hell, but right now, Jesus! Jesus can come into your life, and you can have a relationship with Him.
We are all fundamentally good; yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good. Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? This one verse opposes the Pope's statement.
The context of Jeremiah 17:9 speaks of Judah's sinfulness despite all the blessings of God. The verse states, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? " This highlights a profound truth: our hearts are not only deceitful but also desperately wicked.
You might say, "I know my heart," but do you truly? Are you absolutely certain you know how you will react in every situation? The reality is you don't.
Knowing your heart means understanding how you will respond in every conceivable circumstance. But there are situations that can push anyone to act out of character. Life can present challenges that drive you to your breaking point, leading you to do things you never imagined.
Consider this: there are people in prison right now because they did something they never thought they would. Lives have been ruined by actions individuals never believed they were capable of. The human heart harbors unknown depths of potential evil.
Look at all the murderers in prison. If you saw pictures of them as children, you would never have predicted their future crimes. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
No one truly knows the extent of the evil within the human heart. Some preach that human beings are inherently good, but this is not true. We don't know the wickedness that lies within people's hearts.
How many times have we heard people say, "I don't know what made me do that," "I don't know what came over me," or "I don't know why I did that"? The truth is they genuinely don't know. The heart is deceitful.
The human heart is diseased with sin; you don't know your heart. Don't trust your heart or your feelings. Instead, trust the word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not yourself.
The heart can refer to many things, but in this context, it represents the seat of the soul—emotions and desires. Being led by the heart means being driven by lusts or emotionalism. Instead, you are to be led by a renewed mind, not by your heart or emotions.
I recall counseling a couple on the brink of divorce. The wife had committed adultery with a colleague she had been working closely with for some time. Over the course of their working relationship, they developed feelings for each other, and she ultimately followed her heart into an affair.
She explained that the affair happened because she followed her heart. The Bible tells us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. If this woman had followed a mind renewed by the word of God, she would not have committed adultery.
As a pastor, I witness the deceptive nature of the human heart frequently. I have seen people walk down the aisle with someone they should not be marrying, despite warnings from their parents and friends. They proceed because they are following their heart.
They fail to recognize that the person they are about to commit their future to lacks the characteristics. . .
Of a great life partner, let me give you some real-world examples of how deceitful the human heart is. The human heart is so deceitful that it sometimes leads people to interpret Scripture to suit their own wants and desires. I have seen men sit with the Bible and attempt to justify having more than one wife, reading their own lustful desires into the Scripture.
They go point by point, explaining how they believe they are called to have multiple wives, twisting Scripture to suit their sinful desires. The human heart is so deceitful that it can lead a person to justify their own sins using the Bible, misquoting and misinterpreting Scripture. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Some people cite biblical characters who had multiple wives as justification for their sinful lifestyle. It's crucial to understand that while the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is also an accurate record of history. Not everything recorded in the Bible means that God condoned those actions.
The Bible transparently presents human choices, providing context and scenarios without necessarily endorsing them. I recall watching a courtroom proceeding where a woman sought a divorce because she was not happy anymore and her heart was not in the marriage. Her husband had not cheated and was, by her own admission, a good provider, but the spark in their relationship had faded.
This is a perfect example of how the heart can be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Unfortunately, such situations are becoming increasingly common. Marriage is about loyalty, faithfulness in good and bad times, trustworthiness, and commitment.
It is not just for moments of happiness and excitement. Marriage is a lifelong commitment to the person you chose to marry. Sadly, with the advent of social media, people often compare their marriages to others.
However, what you see on social media is not always real. People lie and pretend. You don't know what is happening in other people's marriages, so don't compare yours to theirs.
Many are deceived by their own hearts, believing they are living in fellowship with God and that they are going to heaven, yet they are not born again. There are those who preach that human beings are good by nature, but this is not true. We don't fully grasp the wickedness within human hearts.
How many times have people said, "I don't know what made me do that," or "I don't know what came over me"? The heart is deceitful. You need a new heart, and only God Almighty can provide that.
The only hope for the sinful human heart is to be supernaturally changed. You must be born again. The new covenant brings inner transformation; only through being born again can one truly experience a change of heart.
Many of you listening right now may sincerely believe you are Christians. You believe with all your heart that when you die, heaven will be your home. You're convinced that eternity with Jesus awaits you.
You feel assured, certain, and confident in your salvation. But here's the sobering reality: it is entirely possible to be convinced, assured, and confident of salvation and yet have no right to be. This may be the most critical message I'll ever share, because, dear brothers and sisters, one of the biggest problems in the church today is the issue of false assurance.
It's the reason why so many professing Christians will hear Jesus say those terrible words, "I never knew you; depart from me. " They had assurance, but it was built on sand, not on Christ. Right now, as you listen, I urge you to search your heart and ask yourself: is my assurance in Christ or is it somewhere else?
Because the truth is, many people sitting in church pews, singing worship songs, and even reading their Bibles are doing this one thing that may prevent them from entering the Kingdom of Heaven: that one thing is looking to themselves or to anything other than Jesus Christ for salvation. If you're doing that, you may not be saved. Think deeply about this: you can feel close to God, you can be passionate about worship, you can be knowledgeable about Scripture, and still be lost if your hope is not in Christ alone.
Assurance that is based on anything other than Christ is a false assurance, and a false assurance is a dangerous place to be because it blinds you to the truth and makes you feel secure when you're truly in peril. You might be convinced you're on the path to heaven, but that conviction means nothing if it's not grounded in Jesus. Let's begin with one of the most common reasons people have false assurance: self-righteousness.
This might sound familiar to some of you. You've done good things, you've helped people, you've lived a clean life, and you've stayed out of trouble. Perhaps you think, "I'm a good person; God would certainly let me into heaven.
" But if you believe you are good enough for God, then you have fallen into one of the oldest lies in human history. Lucifer himself, in his pride, thought he could exalt himself above God. In the same way, self-righteousness elevates us in our own eyes to a place where we no longer see our need for the Cross of Christ.
It deceives us into thinking we don't need saving because we think we're already good. The Bible warns us in Isaiah 64:6 that "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags"; even our best deeds are tainted by sin and unworthy before a holy God. But self-righteousness blinds us to this truth.
It leads us to believe that we have earned or deserve our salvation. And I tell you with all urgency: if you're looking to your own goodness, your own moral track record for your security, you are not saved. Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life.
Your righteousness is like a shadow. Before the blazing glory of His Holiness, we cannot enter God's kingdom by our own merit, because our righteousness can never match the holiness of God. There are others who look not just to their own moral goodness but to their good works.
They think that their good deeds will somehow tip the scales in their favor. But listen carefully: God does not operate on a balanced system. Heaven is not earned by good works outweighing bad ones.
Ephesians 2:8-9 declares, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. " Our best works are powerless to save us. We might donate, help the needy, or volunteer, and while these things may be evidence of a changed heart, they are not what saves us.
If you trust in your works, you are leaning on a weak and fragile foundation. Salvation is not about what you have done, but about what Christ has done on the cross. Only His sacrifice can cleanse us from our sins.
If you are looking to your good works for assurance, then you have every reason to tremble, because they are nothing in comparison to the saving grace of Christ. Good deeds cannot cover sin; they are a natural result of our faith, but not the root of it. Another common false assurance comes from church affiliation.
Some people believe their church membership or their particular denomination is the pathway to salvation. They think that only their church has the truth, and if others do not belong to it, they cannot be saved. But this is a dangerous path.
This kind of thinking has shifted the focus away from Christ and placed it onto an institution. And while the church is a place for fellowship, teaching, and worship, it cannot save you. Only Jesus saves.
When we make the church our security, we elevate an earthly institution above the Savior. God was there long before your church was formed, long before your denomination existed. The Lord has been drawing people to Himself for centuries without the help of human labels.
It is Jesus alone who said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. " If you find yourself looking to your church rather than to Christ, then you have been deceived.
Salvation is about knowing Jesus, not about being part of a certain group. There are also those who cling to tradition and religious rituals, thinking these will save them. Baptism, communion, confirmation—these are wonderful practices, but they are symbols that point to Christ; they are not Christ Himself.
Performing religious rituals is not a substitute for a relationship with Jesus. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8-9, saying, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.
" Just like the Pharisees, we can go through the motions of religion and still miss the heart of the Gospel. If you are relying on rituals and traditions to save you, know this: without a genuine faith in Christ, they are as empty as idols. We must have Christ living in us, not merely practices around us.
Salvation is a relationship, not a routine. The Pharisees practiced all kinds of rituals yet were far from God. Don't let religious customs give you a false sense of security; they must reflect a true faith in Jesus.
Another trap is placing your faith in emotional experiences. Perhaps you had a powerful moment at an altar call, or you experienced a deep emotional response during worship. These moments can be beautiful, but they are not salvation.
An emotional response is not the same as saving faith. Many have walked away from such experiences unchanged because they were moved in the moment but never surrendered their lives to Christ. Jesus spoke of people like this in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, where some seeds fall on rocky ground.
These people receive the word with joy, but it does not take root in them, and they fall away when challenges arise. True salvation is not just an emotional high; it's a transformed life rooted in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ. If your assurance is based on an emotional experience, it may be time to examine whether Christ truly has your heart.
Some believe they are saved because they grew up in a Christian home or because their parents were faithful believers, but salvation cannot be inherited. John 1:12-13 tells us, "Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, but born of God. " Your parents' faith does not save you.
Your family background does not save you. Salvation is a personal decision, an individual surrender to Christ. Family faith can lay a foundation, but it cannot carry you to heaven.
Some people are convinced they are saved because they have knowledge of God, the Bible, or Christian doctrine, but knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Him. Even the demons know who Jesus is, and they tremble. Knowledge alone cannot save us; it's a relationship with Jesus Christ that saves.
Intellectual knowledge without a heart transformation is meaningless. You can know the Bible backward and forward, but if you don't know Jesus personally, your knowledge is in vain. You must have a relationship with Him, not just knowledge about Him.
At the heart of salvation is the cross of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is what is most precious: the sacrifice of Jesus on that cross. He bore the penalty of our sins so that we would not have to face the wrath of God.
Not our works, our goodness, our church, our rituals, or our emotions that save us; it's His blood alone we are saved. Because Jesus, who was sinless, became sin for us so that we might be made righteous before God. Only the cross has the power to save, for it is where Jesus took our sin and guilt upon Himself.
In John 3:16, we read, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. " Eternal life is a gift that comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us again that salvation is by grace through faith, not by anything we can boast of, but purely by God's mercy.
This is the only true foundation of our hope: Christ's finished work on the cross. So I ask you again to examine yourself: Are you looking to anything other than Jesus Christ for your salvation? Have you fallen into the trap of self-righteousness, good works, church affiliation, religious rituals, emotional experiences, family heritage, or knowledge?
None of these things can save you; only Jesus saves. There is no other path, no other way, and no other door. Jesus is not one of many ways; He is the only way.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? " This is not about causing fear, but rather about urging you to be sure that your foundation is Christ and nothing else.
Eternity is too important to leave to chance or false assurance. Friends, if you're doing this one thing—looking to yourself or anything other than Jesus for salvation—you may not be saved. Let today be the day that you lay aside every false assurance, every false confidence, and place your trust solely in Christ.
He is the only way—no one else and nothing else can save. Repent, believe in the gospel, and let the cross of Jesus be the anchor of your soul, for only through Him can we find eternal life.
