No God, No Peace

Romans 3

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, 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 have not known:

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

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.

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None Seek After God.

But thankfully it doesn’t end there. God in His mercy and grace does seek us. The full manifestation of that truth was the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

God’s Word proclaims with absolute certainty that mankind is a sinful mess at odds with God and headed for a Christ-less eternity. And … when we make the active choice to proclaim that truth, we open up ourselves to any number of possible responses — some pleasant and some not so much.

Admittedly …

It’s hard to hear the truth about ourselves from God’s perspective. Nobody likes to be told the things as laid out in Romans chapter 3.  But before anyone can get saved they have to get lost first.  And the only way to get lost is to be told the Bible truth about man’s standing before a holy God.

And admittedly … we’ll probably get people upset, angry and mad at us. At least at first, anyway.

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It’s supremely important we remind ourselves that all people outside of Christ are deeply unsettled within.  The reason?  The only way a being created in the image of God can experience true inner peace is through Christ.  Verse 17 tells us that:  “the way of peace they have not known.” For the unsaved person peace is, at best, a fleeting experience that comes and goes but doesn’t remain.

There are multitudes of people all around us desperate for inner peace. If the truth were to be known, they’d tell us how unhappy, broken, lonely and, at times, desperate they are.  Yes they try to hide it, mask it over with overt expressions to the contrary.  I know because I did before I was saved. But it’s our calling to see beneath the facade.  And it’s our responsibility to earn unsaved peoples’ trust enough to be able to tell them the truth they need to hear.

But …

Why is it so hard for us to do that? Do you ever ask yourself that? I do. I’m constantly puzzled and baffled by my ineptness at seizing upon the moment for Christ and making the most of it.

I know there are a myriad of possible reasons as to why we struggle with this.  And I don’t think we need to probe the depths of our souls to determine the answer.  Rather, we must determine to overcome our inhibitions and hang-ups by trusting God to provide us with the necessary courage to open our mouth.

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As I ponder what I just wrote, I’m struck by our overwhelming need for God to emboldened and empower us before we can do much of anything in His name. To be engaged in this kind of service for God is to enter into a realm of spiritual engagement that cannot be done in the strength of the flesh. 

It’s paramount that we understand a few things:

*The pursuit of unsaved people is a life and death struggle over the eternal souls of those held in the clutches of a demonic power well beyond the capabilities of all human strength. We will need supernatural unction if we’re to make any progress in this battlefield of spiritual warfare. 

**Doing combat in the Devil’s domain is extremely daunting and potetially dangerous.  Satan is highly determined to not lose any of his own to Christ. For us to have any hope for success in the battle for souls, we must realize with absolute assuredness that in-and-of-ourselves we are not up to the task.  And it’s OK to acknowledge that. To do otherwise will result in a futile display of the inadequacy of our own fleshliness.

***The task of the Holy Spirit is to increasingly conform us to the image of Christ.  The more we allow that process to develop within us, the more we’ll be energized to share Him with the lost around us.  And for the Holy Spirit to accomplish this, we must first be reconstructed and rebuilt by the Word of God from the inside out.

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So how can we possibly make inroads into Satan’s tyrannical grip over the unsaved?

Realize that …

*Satan does not want us in God’s Word.  He does all he can to keep us away from it.  Why?  Because He knows he’s powerless against it.  And because he knows we’re powerless without it.

And …

**If we’re going to do God’s bidding then we’re going to need His enabling.  That level of strength only comes from God’s Word being infused within us.  In essence, the output of God’s Word depends upon its input.

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As I close, let me ask ——

What kind of personal daily relationship, fellowship do you (do I) want to have with God?  I don’t ask that to berate us.  I ask that because it’s an honest question we need to answer.  The answer to that question will help reveal a lot about us.

For …

In order to be outspoken for God we’re going to need Him to be in-speaking to us.  And as that begins to well-up within us, the natural outcome will be the overspilling of God’s Word in-and-through our lives and mouths.  Thus … the heartbeat of God will become our heartbeat. That’s what we all desire.  I know it and you know it.

So let’s proclaim the way of peace so that others may come to …

KNOW GOD and KNOW PEACE instead of NO GOD and NO PEACE

Amen.