A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, June 3rd, 2020, by
Evangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK
What The greatest gift one can receive is the finest gift of Jesus. whose name means salvation. Do you need a saviour today? We all need an all-powerful, infinitely strong yet deeply caring and loving helper and we have him in Christ Jesus. You see, Christ was born to die in our place in His shed blood has made once for all atonement for our sins. This has paved the way for us to enjoy the complete forgiveness of our sins and have an everlasting life. Life is full of decisions but there is one decision that’s more important than all the others. Whether you choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord or not, it’s the choice that everything else in your life depends on. If you have never accepted the love and forgiveness that Jesus Christ has to offer, there is no better time than now.
All Have Sinned, What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one“
Rom 3: 9-12
Then verse 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3: 23). From what I have read, everyone should be convinced that we need God to do for us, what we cannot do for ourselves. We need someone to rescue us from our sins because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All are under the guilt of sin. As humans, we just don’t like to admit that there is something wrong deep within our souls. A great majority of people who don’t know Christ are not convinced that they are lost, or they are sinners. But until we acknowledge our need for salvation, we won’t look for the true saviour of this world. Our only hope is Jesus Christ who came to die in our place to declare us not guilty.
No one could boast of not being under the guilt of sin until that person receives Christ.
In the eyes of God, every one of us needs the grace of God to be saved, to be forgiven, to be guilt free and to have the right standing with God.
If you haven’t trusted Jesus as your Lord and personal saviour, you are just as helpless to save yourself and to forgive yourself. The only way that your sins can be forgiven is to come to the cross where Jesus Christ died for your sins. The forgiveness of our sins is the grace of God. It’s the forgiveness of God that comes through sacrifice. God has provided a way for us to be saved from the guilt of sin. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Friend, life is never complete without Christ. The Bible says those without Christ are unprofitable.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one (Rom 3:12)
You must be free of the guilt of sin if you are going to be free to become the person God wants you to be.
Let me give you a simple word equation for this.
A person + God = A whole person
A person minus God can never be whole.
That’s why people in the world are empty, not happy, there is something missing in their lives, there’s no
peace, there’s no joy in their heart because a person without Christ can never be a total complete person.
That’s what the Bible is saying in Romans chapter 3:12.
A sense of worth comes when I know that I belong to God, because Jesus died for me and lives in me, I
have to be worth something in His eyes. Because the Holy Spirit lives in me, energising me to do His work. There’s a sense of confidence. The Bible says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13). Again, the Bible says without Christ there is none who does good. See Rom 3:12.
There is none who does good, no, not one (Rom 3:12).
The point is that, apart from Christ, there is not a single person who has ever lived a righteous life which
is the only standard acceptable to God. But the good news is that God has provided a way for all of us to
become righteous. But that righteousness comes entirely by God’s grace in response to faith in His only
begotten son, Jesus Christ. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor 5:21).
You may have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal saviour and you may be saying: what’s
God saying to me? Here’s what God is saying, there’s only one way to be forgiven of your sin. There’s only one way to overcome sin in your life, and that’s by receiving the Lord Jesus as your personal saviour.
Receiving Him as your saviour means that, you accept His death at the cross as payment for sin. Then by
faith you follow Him, that means you abide by His word. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you and
gives you direction and guidance for your life. As we listen to Him and obey Him, we are blessed. When
we fail to listen and disobey, we suffer the consequences If you want to avoid the consequences for disobedience, then my friend, receive Jesus as your saviour. Get into the word of God, get into a church that teaches the word of God, listen to God every day, understand the principles of scripture and God will build a hedge of protection around you.
Does that mean you are never going to sin? No.
Does it mean you are perfect? No.
Does that mean you are never going to fall? No.
But it means that life will be absolutely different. Now you have God who will enable you, strengthen you,
and be continually forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, I want to encourage you, if you have never trusted Christ, receive Him as your personal saviour right now. In the Bible, there is a promise of a messiah and there is a promise of forgiveness.
What happens if we don’t listen to what He is saying?
Do Not Neglect Salvation
Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if
the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a
just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, (Heb. 2:1-3).
My friend it happened to transgressors, it will happen to those who neglect so great a salvation that has
been promised and I’m speaking to you about right now. Believers in Christ, I encourage you today to pass this message to people that you think it will be helpful to. Pray for them and remind them that, here’s what the Lord is saying, and He wants us to share what He taught us.
God wants the very best for us but when we don’t listen to Him, we accept Satan’s cheap imitation in place of God’s perfect will for our lives. The perfect way to stay on track is to listen to the Lord and quickly obey.
Grace is an undeserved gift from God. Something He wants you to experience.
The more you understand God’s grace the more you realise how much He loves you. Do you know the
meaning of grace? Grace is God’s undeserved, unearned favour, goodness, and love toward us. It’s unearned, undeserved favour which includes, His goodness, His love, and His kindness toward us.
Why do we say unearned? Because you cannot have grace and work for it. So, the person who expects to be saved by being good to other people, giving to church, going to church, giving to charity, praying to God or whatever it might be. If you are expecting to be accepted by almighty God as a result of that, first of all, it will not happen.
Secondly, how would you ever know whether you are going to be saved or not? How many works do you
have to do? Bible says: For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for
by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. (Gal 2:16).
Even if men somehow had the ability to achieve God’s perfect righteousness, they would not know what it is or how to go about attaining it. What quality of work must you do? If your acceptance before God and your entrance into heaven depends on anyway upon what you do, or what I do, we will never get there.
Because the Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags.
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousness’s are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away (Isa 64:6).
We talk about our works, but we forget about our sinfulness. We all came into this world with a sinful
nature. Because man cannot become righteous on his own, God graciously provided for his redemption
through the atoning sacrifice of His own son, Jesus Christ. Those of us who trusted Christ as our saviour,
something happened to us. Our lives are transformed. There’s a change of our attitude to life. We don’t live that way again because if anyone is Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away and everything has become new.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy, He saved us. There is no
way to earn God’s favour, His love, and His goodness because we are sinful human beings. If you haven’t
accepted God’s merciful gift of grace, believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, don’t wait any longer. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour will be saved. Provision of salvation,
forgiveness and righteousness are granted for all those who believe.
Jesus came to save everyone: Christ Himself said – “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the
one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). Come to Him just as you are, and your life
will be transformed. Let God do in your life, what you cannot do for yourself. Whoever you are, the
transforming power of Jesus Christ is available to give you a new life. Whether you are an armed robber,
murderer, homosexual, prostitute or sex worker, pagan, liar, thief, rapist, or anything else – you can be saved by the power of Jesus Christ.
If you have accepted by faith the grace of God for salvation you stand right in the middle of the favour of
God and you can’t ever get out of that. It makes no difference what you’ve done. It makes no difference the nature of sin in your life. When He says by the grace of God our sins are forgiven, by the grace of God He makes us what we are. In the eyes of God every one of us needs the grace of God to be saved, to be forgiven, to be guilt free and to live in that energy of God.
Father we thank you, we worship and praise you for your provision for our redemption, Jesus Christ is our
redeemer. We thank you for sending Him into the world to save mankind. There was a tragedy in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell, but you promised a messiah and you promised forgiveness. And so, there was victory over sin by the redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ.
We love you and praise you for that in Jesus’ name. Amen!
If you haven’t trusted Christ as your Lord and saviour, now is the time to do so. Put your trust in Jesus, and if you will, you may pray this prayer after me, saying every word from your heart,
Dear Lord: I recognise that I am a sinner and need to be saved.
I understand that Jesus died in my place and suffered the judgment of all of my sins.
I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and He is at the right hand of the father.
Lord Jesus, I surrender my Life to you.
Come and Live in my heart and be my Lord and saviour.
Thank You for saving me. Amen!