All Have Sinned

[0:00] Good morning, brothers and sisters and friends, and a joy to worship the Lord together. A special welcome if you're visiting with us. We ask the Lord would bless his word to you. There's quite a lot you see at the back of the door, intimation-wise, and bits and pieces.

[0:14] I'll go through it quickly. The usual intimation sheet, there's a lot of information on that. Please do take one, and there'll be more this evening if we run out.

[0:24] But attached to information, information sheet, is actually something new for us. We're trying it out today. A pastoral letter, a minister's letter, whatever you want to call it.

[0:37] I won't promise it'll be monthly, but it'll be almost monthly going forward. Just a wee sheet, a few thoughts on it, depending on what's going on with ourselves or in the wider world.

[0:48] So that's stuck on, stapled on to the intimation sheet. Also, there are 60-odd invitations to Hope Explored. And on that invitation is all the information of what it is, also of where and when we hope to have the course in September.

[1:06] So there's 50-odd, 60-odd. There's 100 more of these invitations in the months. So please do take as many of them as you want to do. These are to give out to friends, family, neighbours.

[1:17] And again, the information's on the sheet. But three weeks in September, on Tuesday evenings in the Tech Haley, we hope to have the Hope Explored course. Just a very basic course.

[1:29] Very simple, but really well done. It's three videos, three different talks. And it's all about why Jesus? What is so good about Jesus?

[1:41] Why do we care about Jesus? And why should people care about Jesus? It's for those who have some biblical knowledge, those who have no biblical knowledge. And with that, as you see in the intimation sheets, we'll need at least three volunteers.

[1:58] Now, these volunteers, you won't speak publicly. There's no work for you to do, really. I'll be doing all the heavy lifting. But these volunteers, just sit with those who come along.

[2:09] Be a friendly face. Be a welcoming face. So please let me know. Just speak to myself. Phone, email. Grab me at some point during the next few weeks.

[2:20] And just indicate if you'd be happy to help. Again, it's just sitting and chatting. And being there to be a welcoming face to those who might prayerfully attend the course.

[2:31] All that being said, our August prayer point is for the Hope Explored course. For the whole of August, we are praying for people to attend the course and for ourselves as a congregation to grow in our ability to speak and to share the gospel and to give out these invites to friends and family and neighbours.

[2:53] We pray the Lord will bless all this work, all for his namesake, all for his glory. We're here to worship God. We can sing first of all then in the Sing Psalms.

[3:04] Sing Psalms, Psalm 96a. Sing Psalms, Psalm 96a. It's on page 127.

[3:17] Psalm 96a. On page 127. We can sing verses 7 down to the end.

[3:30] Psalm 96a verse 7. Psalm 96a verse 7. Ascribe the glory that is due. Praise his name to God. Praise his name.

[3:40] Praise his name. And praise his name on you. Worship the Lord in holy fear. All earth before him bow. Psalm 96a verses 7 to the end.

[3:51] To God's praise. 3- God. O Lord in holy fear. Animals in holy fear. The Lord has guide him, The glory that is due.

[4:10] Gloria, strength, and strength to come, and grace is near by you.

[4:27] In the midst of the joy and miracle, and offering with you, Worship the Lord in holy field, all earth before Him now.

[5:03] And every hour, the largest King, His salvation in here, And God of Luther, Gloria, church, and people's service to, Let every choice and every love with joy, and all shall sing.

[5:57] Breath, peace, and all in great will shine, and power in deep will sing.

[6:16] Let all rest sing before the Lord, who comes to judge the earth.

[6:35] He'll trust the world in righteousness Let me know His truth Let's join together in a word of prayer. Let's pray.

[7:01] Lord, we thank you once more for the great privilege we have of worshipping together Thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have of joining together as sons and daughters and brothers and sisters Also as friends as we come around to hear your word Come around to sing your praises. Help us, we ask not to be here today Just to tick off that box of our week, but help us to be here fully present in our body, but also in our mind Lord, we bring to this place this very morning so many worries So many anxieties So many burdens and stresses and strains We bring just now before you all that was laid on us this past week All the things we saw and went through All the conversations that were had All the situations that perhaps we faced that were difficult We bring all these things to you just now Also laying at the throne of grace just now all the burdens of this upcoming week

[8:01] All the worries perhaps are already on our mind We bring just now before you all our loved ones Those who are heavy in our minds just now for various reasons Will we bring them before you Help us then to come to this place just for this short time together And a short time together this evening With hearts and minds ready to listen and ready to worship We come before you, our holy, sovereign God As we've been reminding ourselves in our prayer meetings In many ways we come to a God who is beyond our understanding In your full beauty, in your full glory We only understand the smallest portion of who you are And what you have done But the little we understand, we know It is beautiful, it is glorious Help us then Lord to come today With a heart ready for worship We understand often we come to this place And our heart is in many different places We come to this place and we're not here to worship fully

[9:05] We're here perhaps limping and broken We're here often feeling as if we're being dragged here by ourselves Or by others Lord we ask you for this short time together To fully focus on what it is we are doing We come just now as sons and daughters As those who you have called your own As those you have been pleased to call your precious children Those you have seen from before time Those you set your love on before time And in time you came and you rescued us We come today as brothers and sisters As we look around to this community of saints We understand that we are one family here Help us Lord then to remember that In all our conduct, all our words, all our actions towards one another Even our thoughts towards one another Help us to glorify you Help us to be one family Seeking to live and serve and work together

[10:05] For the gospel good of North Tulsa Until we see days of full gospel blessings here Help us to be faithful in the work you've given us I thank you Lord as we come together this day We are one family But also we are part of that worldwide family Pray just now for every single believer across our island Every believer across our nation And every single believer across the world We give you praise that we are just a small part of this wider church And together in different languages Different colours of skin Different cultures We come together to worship you, our one God As one church, with one voice, with one heart In the same one spirit Knowing you hear the praise of your people But more than that, knowing you receive And you rejoice at the praise of your people Help us Lord then to come to this time of worship With our right attitude

[11:07] I pray just now Lord for all your people here today We thank you for this time of gathering We ask as we come around your word once more That you would work in our minds and work in our hearts As we hear once more the very basics of what it is we believe Help us not to tune out Help us to be willing to be humble enough To listen once more to the basics And to learn from that And to grow from that Understanding that we never graduate beyond The simple beauty of the gospel That we are sinners And Jesus, the friend of sinners Came to live, to die Be raised up from the grave At your right hand side forevermore All for the love of his people Lord help that never to be a small thing for us When we think about the love of our Saviour We think about the eternal grace He has shown towards us And before we were even born

[12:07] He set his love on us In time and in space He would enter into his own creation Be born of a man Be born as a man Be born of the Virgin Mary Live as a man Exist as a man With a full emotional range of humanity Seeing and understanding And experiencing this world As we see it and feel it and understand it Like us in all ways Apart from sin Living out every day of his life Seeing the disaster The destruction that sin has caused To his creation And yet he lived these days Humbly obedient In every single way Making his way slowly Towards his horrific end on the cross Knowing that as he did so It was for the sake of his people Lord help us never to Never to think we have graduated past The simple gospel truth

[13:07] Of who our Saviour is And who we are But also who we now are Through him And although at times We feel ourselves so small And so useless We know that in Jesus And through Jesus As we've heard in recent weeks We've been clothed By his righteousness He has covered us With his beauty With his perfection And right now As your people We can stand before you And know we've been cleansed And made perfect Through the finished work of Jesus We can declare And understand fully Although we don't feel it fully We believe it fully That you love us As you love the Son And your love for the Son Is an eternal love Therefore your love for us Is now an eternal love As we grasp that beauty Help us then To put into action What we have heard today To apply it to our daily lives At home At work At places of study Help us then To be faithful servants In all that we are In all that we do We pray for ourselves

[14:09] We are mindful Of the wider gospel work We pray just now Locally for the vacancies Even in our own denomination We do pray Lord Just now for them We pray Lord With thanksgiving Of recent news Of the vacancy Of North Uist We pray about to be filled We pray Lord For David Ferguson And his family As he has answered The call To come And to pastor And to be a minister To that congregation We pray for him Especially this month As he prepares For his ordination exams His ordination trials Lord comfort him And be with him As he studies just now No doubt The amount of work And the amount of work That must be done To pass these exams Lord you be with him Be with him And his family Also Lord be with The congregation Of North Uist After a vacancy Of several years They are now looking forward Once more To a pastor Pray Lord For the Uist As a whole North and South Uist All we did To Barra I would remember

[15:09] Barra also We know you have Your people In these islands Lord that you would Work mightily In a part of our Our land Where there was once So much gospel blessing But now we are seeing A real barrenness Of the gospel God we pray That you are not done yet With North Uist Indeed South Uist Indeed Barra You have your people There therefore You are still working And still moving there Pray Lord we hear soon Of days of gospel blessing And gospel work Taking place As we remember ourselves We are a member of a wider church Pray just now For our brothers and sisters Who are facing times Of extreme persecution Remember just now Especially in central India Lord you know the details Pastors there who are Pastors there who of recent weeks Have been imprisoned And been attacked And had homes and churches Burnt down For the sake of the gospel Because they would not give in

[16:10] They would not give up They would not deny you Therefore in terms of material things They have lost everything Pray just now for those Who are mourning in central India Of the loss of loved ones Who would not relent Who would not give up The gospel hope Lord we cannot enter Into that situation You have blessed us With many years Of peace and prosperity As a church In this nation Help us Lord As we pray for them To do so Understanding That these are brothers and sisters Who love you And serve you as we do And in many ways Whose faith is tested And tried In ways We will never begin To understand Lord for them And the ongoing work In that part of the world We also remember As we hear of the ongoing Struggle of brothers In China Especially the brothers And sisters Of the early reign Covenant church As we hear again Of their imprisonment And of police raids In their buildings Lord we ask you To encourage your people Be with them

[17:11] And support them And we Whenever we meet them We know we will Have little interaction With them This side of glory Brothers and sisters They are And worthy Not just of our prayers But worthy of our adoration And admiration As we think of them Who are willing to give Their freedom Their time And give over their very bodies For the sake of the gospel Thank you Lord For the freedom we have In our nation just now To share and preach the gospel We ask that we continue For many years to come Help us to be faithful In the age and day We are serving And we do pray Lord For our government Locally In the council Nationally In Holyrood And in Westminster We pray also For our king As your word Instructs us to do Pray Lord Our nation Will be peaceable And prosperous Pray especially Lord With the rise We are hearing Of recent days The rise of rioting And of Of civil unrest In various parts Lord of England And of Ireland We bring these things To you Lord we

[18:11] Know that There's nothing We can do In of ourselves But we pray Lord For peace To reign Pray Lord Especially that those Who lead over us And govern us Would lead us well But You'll lead us well Because they have been Transformed by the work Of our saviour Pray Lord For salvation of our First minister And prime minister For salvation of our king Pray Lord That men would recognise There is one over them Who is truly king And who is truly God Until we see days of peace And days of gospel prosperity Help us to be faithful With what you've given us This day of small things We pray for ourselves Locally now in North Holstead Pray for all the plans We have had And all the plans We've seen come to A fruition over the last few months We thank you once more For the The Great chance we had Of Inviting our friends And neighbours To that Back to church Sunday That few months ago As we saw you work through that And we saw new faces Come out And new faces Remain with us

[19:12] Pray just now Lord For the upcoming plans Pray especially For hope explored This course Where We pray that some Will be introduced For the first time To the reality Of who Jesus is And what he has done For them We ask Lord You give us the words To say Help us to Humble ourselves Enough And to be willing To To expose Perhaps Our own awkwardness Expose perhaps Our own shyness Our own unwillingness And to lay all that And to pick it up And to carry our cross And to serve you As your servants Here in North Tulsa We thank you for days Of gospel blessing Thank you for the evidence We have That you're not yet done In North Tulsa You're still moving In hearts and minds We preach now Especially for Those in the village Who are interested In coming out to church And who are interested In gospel matters But who as of yet Haven't made that That move Help us to be salt And light Help us to be good neighbours

[20:12] And good friends And to be there To point them towards One who can save them The Lord Jesus Who has done all the work So all who come to him Will Be saved Help us Lord then To be faithful In this day of small things Pray just now For our number Pray just now Especially for those Who are away from us Just now Those on holiday We ask Lord For times of rest And times of peace Those away for other reasons Because of work commitments Or health reasons Lord you know That the full story We ask Lord You be with them also Be around them And be with them And comfort them Pray just now Lord For those who Would love to join with us more But through various reasons Cannot join as often as you wish Lord we ask you Be with them also Encourage them And support them Pray just now For your number of people here Who are going through Dark times And hard days Perhaps only you And they know about it Lord be with them And comfort them Remind them That you are God

[21:12] You are the one Who shows your love To your people And you promise Never take that love away You promise never to leave Nor abandon Nor forget us Help us Lord To cling to these gospel hopes And the gospel truth When all around Seems to be falling apart We know that we come to a saviour Who is the same yesterday Today And for all time It's in his name And it's for his sake We ask these many things Amen Let's turn to God's word We can turn to read In Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 We're starting a new series Today As I said A few weeks ago This evening We're starting a new series In Acts And today A new series Looking at the very basics Of the gospel The ABC's Of the gospel Turn to God's word In Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 Let's hear together

[22:16] God's word Now the serpent Was more crafty Than any other beast Of the field That the Lord God Had made He said to the woman Did God actually say You shall not eat Of any tree In the garden And the woman Said to the serpent We may eat Of the fruit Of the trees In the garden But God said You shall not eat Of the fruit Of the tree That is in the midst Of the garden Neither shall you touch it Lest you die But the serpent Said to the woman You will surely Not surely die For God knows That when you eat Of it Your eyes will be opened And you'll be like God Knowing good And evil So when a woman Saw that the tree Was good for food And that it was A delight to the eyes And that the tree Was to be desired To make one wise She took off Its fruit And ate And she also Gave some To her husband Who was with her And he ate

[23:17] Then the eyes Of both Were opened And they knew That they were naked And they sewed Fig leaves together And made themselves Loincloths And they heard The sound Of the Lord God Walking in the garden In the cool of the day And the man And his wife Hid themselves In the presence Of the Lord God Among the trees Of the garden But the Lord Called out to the man And said to him Where are you?

[23:42] And he said I heard the sound Of you in the garden And I was afraid Because I was naked And I hid myself He said Who told you That you were naked?

[23:54] Have you eaten Of the tree Of which I commanded You not to eat? The man said The woman Whom you gave To be with me She gave me Fruit of the tree And I ate And the Lord God Said to the woman What is this That you have done?

[24:10] The woman said The serpent deceived me And I ate The Lord God Said to the serpent Because you have done this Cursed are you Above all livestock Above all beasts Of the field On your belly You shall go And dust You shall eat All the days Of your life I will put enmity Between you And the woman And between your offspring And her offspring He shall bruise Your head And you Shall bruise His heel To the woman He said I will surely Multiply your pain And childbearing In pain You shall bring For children Your desire Shall be contrary To your husband But he shall rule Over you To Adam He said Because you have Listened to the voice Of your wife And have eaten Of the tree Of which I commanded you You shall not Eat of it Cursed is the ground Because of you In pain You shall eat Of it All the days Of your life Thorns And thistles They shall bring

[25:10] Forth for you And you shall eat The plants Of the field By the sweat Of your face You shall eat bread Till you return To the ground For out of it You were taken For you are dust And to dust You shall return The man called His wife's name Eve Because she was The mother of all living And the Lord God Made for Adam And for his wife Garments of skins And clothed them When the Lord God Said Behold the man Has become Like one of us In knowing Good and evil Now lest he reach Out his hand And take also The tree of life And eat And live forever Therefore the Lord God Sent him out Of the garden of Eden To work the ground From which he was taken He drove out the man Now the east Of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim And a flaming sword That turned every way To guard the way To the tree Of life Amen We give praise to God For his holy And his perfect

[26:12] Word Let's again Sing To God's praise This time From the Scottish Psalter And Psalm 51 Scottish Psalter Psalm 51 It's on page 280 Of the church Psalm books Scottish Psalter Psalm 51 On page 280 Psalm 51 We can sing First of all Then verses 1 Down to verse 5 Of the psalm Psalm 51 Verses 1 Down to verse 5 A psalm of course About God's Kindness towards us Even We find ourselves Lost in sin After thy loving Kindness Lord Have mercy upon me For thy compassions Great Blot out On mine iniquity Me cleanse from sin And throughly wash From mine iniquity From my transgressions I confess My sin I ever see Psalm 51

[27:13] Verses 1 To 5 To God's praise After thy loving Kindness Lord Have mercy upon me For thy compassion For thy compassion Be content Of mine iniquity Me cleanse from sin And throughly wash Thou my heavenly

[28:27] Have I still Have I still In my sight Thou confessing How breathless Beate How breathless Beate How breathless Beate How breathless Beate How breathless Beate How breathless Beate How breathless Beate How breathless Beate Also, in the sin, in guiltiness and sin.

[29:47] The basics of the Gospel. And our hope is there will be a broken up series over a while, I'm sure. Between this and carrying on our series in Mark, going from A possibly to Z, we'll see how far we get, looking at the very basics of what it is we believe.

[30:05] If you'll allow me some artistic license as we go through that, it won't all be alphabetical, but it'll be connected somehow to the letter. Starting off good. Today we're starting off, of course, with A.

[30:19] I'm looking at sin. If A is sin, then I don't know how we're carrying on. But A is sin, because our verse really is Romans 3, verse 23.

[30:30] But keeping Genesis 3 open, we're going back to Genesis 3. But in the back of our minds, I want us to have Romans 3, verse 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[30:43] For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Our A, then, is all have sinned. All have sinned.

[30:54] Although we're saying gospel basics, I want us to be clear and very careful. Not for a second does that mean that if we're older Christians, or perhaps if you've been in these pews for many years, you can just tune out and think, well, this is for those who are perhaps new to our church, or those who haven't come for many years.

[31:14] If any of us Christians are our friends, if any of us thinks we've graduated beyond, as it were, the gospel basics, then the reality is we really know far less than we think we do.

[31:29] Now, of course, we know we must grow in our knowledge, and it's good for us to do so. It's good to grow in our theological understanding. It's good to grow in understanding of areas. We'll see on Thursday evenings, we've been looking at the Trinity.

[31:42] And in many ways, in the many weeks, and brothers and sisters and friends will agree, we've been left just paddling at the very, very shoreline of the deep, eternally deep ocean of who God is.

[31:57] It's okay to dig into the theology. At the same time, we must keep the basics clear. We must keep the basics clear.

[32:09] So taking this short verse in Romans 3, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just taking that simple verse, that simple phrase, that part of a verse, and take a very broad and very brief view as to what sin is.

[32:27] Under two very simple headings. Sin, first of all, is universal, and sin makes us all unfit. So sin is universal, and sin makes us all unfit.

[32:42] To define sin, we can turn to the catechism, the confession, but just to simplify even more. Quite simply, sin is every single thought, word, or action that goes against the holiness, the person, or the command of God.

[33:04] From the very garden, the very start of this world as we know, we see sin enter in. We see the reality of evil, the reality of rebellion, as Adam and Eve, as they give in so easily it seems, so quickly, as they want to be like God.

[33:26] And really, at the heart of sin, at least most sins, it seems to be pride, isn't it? On some level it's pride. We think more of ourselves, or we want more for ourselves.

[33:39] For Adam and Eve, the temptation was simple. Have this fruit, eat of us three, be wise, be like God, be more than you are. And it seems in seconds, that temptation just worked.

[33:56] It just worked. Now, we looked before together at this chapter in different situations, we won't go over it again in depth. But just to remind us that right from the start, sin enters in.

[34:08] So we have that inherited sin, of course, from Adam, as our head, our federal head, as the one who was representative of all humanity. Sin enters in through him.

[34:19] We said before, Adam and Eve are there. Adam is there as priest in the garden, as protector, as guardian of the garden. And as Eve takes and eats the fruit, we have the horrifying phrase given to us.

[34:36] But where's Adam when the serpent speaks to Eve? Where's Adam when Eve takes the fruit? Where's Adam when the serpent rewords and twists what God said?

[34:49] Where's Adam? He's right right beside her. At the end of verse 6. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

[35:01] He ate. He is there with a clear role. Protect the garden. Serve God. And right from the start, Adam says no. He lets this creature into the garden.

[35:14] He lets his wife be deceived. And he then himself partakes. And sin enters the world. And then from that, all of us then, we sang in our psalm, Psalm 51 there.

[35:29] All of us then are born in sin. It's inherited. Even apart from that, there are some, wrongly, but there are some, of course, who will argue against inherited sin.

[35:41] They'll say that's not the case. They're wrong. But just suppose they're right for a second. Suppose they are. It doesn't really matter. Because the second we go against a holy God.

[35:52] The second we go against a holy God. Say we're born perfect. Say we're all born fine. But the second then we go against God, we're still then condemned anyway. And we're left in the exact same place.

[36:06] So what does it mean then? What does it mean when scripture says, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. First of all then, universal.

[36:17] All have sinned. The first half of the phrase here is perhaps one of the statements in scripture which has caused, and still causes, so much confusion among so many people.

[36:35] The fact that sin is universal, that it affects all people everywhere. This causes a great issue. As you ourselves understand, but ourselves also, we can understand why.

[36:51] We'll see this in a second. It's not a popular thing to say. It certainly won't lie in and fill churches and fill pews to proclaim the gospel truth that all have sinned.

[37:07] We don't say it to be popular. We don't say it to be unpopular. We say it because it's true. And before we talk about the beauty of the gospel, and the glory of the gospel, and the salvation we have in Jesus, we have to first of all say, why do we need Jesus?

[37:25] It's all good saying, yes, Jesus came to save us, and to love us, and to forgive us, and to have him as his own. But why did he come in the first place? It requires us to understand the full depth of our lostness, the full depth of our sin.

[37:41] It says before, but Jesus didn't come to make bad people better. Jesus didn't come to make people who were struggling give them strength. He came to make those who were dead in our sins alive again.

[37:55] That is the depth. Not struggling, not quite bad, not even very bad. Dead in sin. Gone. So bad we are dead and buried, as it were. He came to bring life to those who were dead.

[38:10] And the more we understand of our own deadness and sin, then the more beautiful the glory of our Saviour is. At times, perhaps, as Christians, as we said before, as Bob Ackroyd always said, we're so guilty of going one way or the other on the horse.

[38:27] We fall off either side of the horse. Sometimes we focus too much on sin. Too much on how bad we are. And then never focus on the redemption and the hope and the salvation we have in Jesus.

[38:41] But also, the other side is true. We can only ever speak about the hope and redemption and salvation in Jesus, but never explain why we need it in the first place.

[38:52] Scripture is balanced. We keep saying that week after week. The scripture is balanced. Therefore, we must be balanced too. Sin, then, is universal.

[39:03] Now, for many here, you've already had this Greek lesson from me, but good to remind ourselves here. All has sinned.

[39:14] The Greek word, therefore, all. I start testing this. The Greek word, therefore, all is the word panta. Panta. And that word means what? It means everyone, everywhere.

[39:26] That word, it's a small word, but it's the broadest word you could quite possibly use in the context. For taking in the biggest scope of humanity.

[39:37] Panta. All have sinned. Every single person, every single class of person, color, creed, every single area of the world.

[39:49] All have sinned. Everyone, everywhere is taken in, in this very first word. Sin is completely universal.

[40:00] It makes sense. We all come from Adam and Eve. Therefore, we are all inherited the same, as it were, sin DNA from them. Every one of us are sinners.

[40:14] We've heard that before. But remind ourselves, every one of us, according to scripture, are sinners. All have sinned. And herein lies the issue. We hate to hear that.

[40:27] We hate to hear that. Of course we do. Because we hear, and perhaps some hear, you've already shut your ears when you hear this. You feel, I've heard this from so many ministers so many times before.

[40:38] I've been shouted at the pulpit before. I've been called a sinner. I refuse to listen again. I refuse to listen. Because we hate it. We hate to be reminded that we're not as great as we think we are.

[40:50] We hate to be reminded we're not as good as we think we are. We hate to be told the truth. And the truth is, as scripture makes clear, every one of us, from the pulpit down, every one of us, we're all sinners.

[41:05] Now some of us might quite happily think of the people beside us or behind us or outside these walls as being sinners. The bad, the awful, the terrible of this world.

[41:21] Clearly they are sinners. The big bad people. The detaters, the murderers, and so on. That they're the ones who need to hear they are sinners.

[41:36] But we're not like them. We do bad things. Of course we do bad things. But really, you know, I lived my life. I had a family. I love my family. Or I work a good job.

[41:48] Or I work a job. Or I'm a good member of Tulsa. I'm a good society member. I try best to be a good person, a nice person, a kind person. I said this before. Emma and I, we love living in North Tulsa.

[42:01] It's a lovely community. If we were here, not as minister and wife, or as Emma and Donald, we would be here as Emma and Donald. Quite happily living here. Happily we would move here if we had other jobs to come to.

[42:14] It's a lovely community. North Tulsa is a beautiful area. Everyone's kind and chatty and it's a nice place to be. But friends and brothers and sisters, every single person in North Tulsa, all the way across the world, every one of us, we're all sinners.

[42:36] It's not just the really bad people who need to hear of us. Even those in our village, we think, who are really bad. Those who are really lost. Those who are really taken over, perhaps, by drink or drugs.

[42:47] Those who have violent histories. Those who are nasty people. No. It's every single person from the Glen to Gary. Every one of us are sinners.

[43:01] Perhaps others of us go to the other extreme. And we perhaps put all our hope into some people who aren't bad at all.

[43:14] What do we mean? We think perhaps some people, and I hope there's no one here, but still in our culture at times. Which is dangerous. There's those who think they're not sinners.

[43:26] And there's those who think other people aren't sinners. And they are. A good illustration, again, in our culture, perhaps historically. There's those who would view elders or ministers as somehow being just that extra bit holy compared to the rest of you.

[43:43] Up here, there's a level of holiness present in the pulpit that you in the pews will never quite understand. Never quite experience. Back in a mindset that there are some people who are just not sinners and I'll never be like them, as holy as them, as good as them.

[44:03] Just as dangerous. Just as dangerous. Both extremes are wrong. And both extremes are dangerous.

[44:14] If we think that we are not sinners whilst others are, then we won't think, we won't acknowledge that we need a saviour.

[44:25] Or if we think that other people are somehow perfect, whether it's ministers or elders or other people in our lives, we'll look to them for help. Look to them for hope. And once you realise that minister, the elder, whoever is just as big a sinner as you are, you're broken hearted or disappointed or distraught when you realise they're not the saviour you hoped they would be.

[44:46] They're a sinner just like you. All people everywhere are caught up in the reality of sin.

[45:02] The Bible we know and we proclaim and we love the fact is the word of God. And because it's the word of God, it's God speaking to us. And because it's God speaking to us, God knows us.

[45:14] Now we can bluff and put an image on. We can look the part and sound the part and act as if our own life and our own being is totally great and perfect.

[45:26] No faults, no sins, no darkness. The Lord sees past that. The Lord knows that.

[45:37] And quite simply and quite painfully, the Bible declares as God declares, that all are sinners and all have sinned.

[45:48] And that sin, both inherited sin and sin that we also then add on to that inherited sin by happily committing, it has, we know, dire consequences. All have sinned.

[46:00] But then that sin makes us, our second point here, makes us unfit. All have sinned, universal and unfit, have fallen short of the glory of God.

[46:14] See, sin isn't just bad. Sin is eternally disastrous. You've heard this before, but please just hear it again.

[46:25] We see again right from the start in Genesis, that the second, the second sin enters into perfection. The beauty of Eden, the glory of Eden, the perfection of Eden.

[46:40] The second sin enters into perfection. The second sin enters into perfection. It's all done. The beauty turns to horror. The ease turns to toil.

[46:51] And Adam and Eve, for however long they were in the garden, we don't know. But their years, perhaps decades, perhaps centuries, perhaps, of joy and peace is now gone in a second.

[47:03] And what was beautiful and glorious is now horrifying and disastrous for them. We see right from our reading there in Genesis that sin has real consequences.

[47:18] First of all, when we see, as read in Genesis, that sin causes separation. Sin causes separation. Sin leaves us, like Adam and Eve, it leaves us naked and exposed.

[47:35] Naked and exposed. They were made perfect. They ate the fruit and suddenly they are conscious that there is something wrong with them.

[47:47] They are conscious suddenly that things are not as they once were. And they try and scrabble together some kind of clothing for themselves to cover, as it were, their nakedness.

[48:00] But we know the problem is not their physical nakedness. The problem is they are now exposed and cleanly opened in their sin and in their, sadly, in their now slowly dying bodies to the God who made them and who knows them.

[48:21] Sin leaves us naked and exposed. Also, sin causes us to have separation with one another. You see that straight away. The fascinating verse 12 of Genesis 3.

[48:37] Where the second that the Lord God asks Adam of what took place. Adam, in one single breath, blames not just one, but two people, other than himself.

[48:52] Verse 12, the man said, Adam said, The woman whom you gave me. It's her fault. Actually, it's her fault. Also, it's your fault.

[49:03] You gave me her. It's her fault for doing it. And it's your fault for giving me to her. At the same time, I said before, in that one statement, we are seeing the depths of darkness in Adam's heart.

[49:16] He was given the role to protect the garden, protect Eve, to be, as it were, the priest king of a creation. And he abrogates the throne quite happily there, blaming his wife, blaming God, blaming everyone else for the sin, apart from who?

[49:38] Himself. At the very start, we see enmity. We see separation. We see the effect of sin in the world.

[49:50] Sin, of course, quite horrifyingly, we know, also separates us from God. Separates us from God.

[50:01] We see here that the heartbreaking reality take place for Adam and Eve. They now realize, or are told, because of what they have done, the fellowship they have had up to this point with God, the closeness where God walked beside them, where God was close to them, where they served the Lord happily, that closeness, that fellowship, it is now immediately broken.

[50:27] Immediately broken. And they are cast, sent, exiled from the garden. That's bad enough. But it's made even more clear to them.

[50:39] They're removed from the garden. In verse 23 of Genesis 3. Then we know then that, to make clear to them that the Lord then places at the gate, at the entrance, this cherubim and this flaming sword.

[50:54] If nothing else, then a visual reminder to them that there is no way back. You were once in the holiness and the presence of God. You were his finest, highest creation.

[51:07] He has given you the beautiful garden, the glorious garden. He has given you one another, jobs to do, lives to lead. And the second you've lost all of that, there's no enmity between you two as husband and wife.

[51:26] Emnity between you and creation. You and one another and the rest of creation eventually. And you and the Lord. Sin has come in and caused the horrifying eternal separation.

[51:41] The place of God's presence, the garden, they no longer have any access to that place. Sin kills relationships.

[51:55] And most crucially, as Adam and Eve found out, as long as we are servants to sin, there is no hope for us whatsoever to be servants of God.

[52:08] This begins then the whole new reality that we were born into. Again, this is the reality that we've only ever known.

[52:19] I was reading the other day, horrifying in a different way. The thought that right now, there are children who are four years old, who soon enough will be five and ten years old, who have no concept of a pre-COVID world.

[52:38] Whose very existence now is one where this is a world they're born into. We can think back to how life once was perhaps, but now no longer. Well, Adam and Eve once could think back to how life once was.

[52:52] Glory and peace and beauty and interaction, seemingly one-on-one interaction with the Lord God. And now gone.

[53:04] Separation. Distance. Because of sin. With no way that they can bridge the gap again. There is no way they can heal the division they have caused.

[53:20] And we're about to find out, sadly, the wages of sin is death. But all that we do in this life, without our Lord, without Jesus, as long as we remain in sin, it all ends up in the same way.

[53:41] Leading to a place where there is no hope and no help. This is a hopeless place to be. The truth is that this is where sin leaves us.

[53:52] Sin leaves us completely helpless and completely hopeless. But there is no good news with sin. But there is no hope with sin. At times, of course, sin can be quite alluring.

[54:05] At times, of course, sin can seem to offer hope and help. But at the end of the day, sin leaves us where we began, or usually worse than where we began. Further away.

[54:16] More hopeless. More helpless. Separated from God for all the days of our life, and then for all time to come.

[54:27] That is the gospel of sin. That's the good news of sin. That's the best it has to give us. Some happiness maybe now, but then nothing. No joy.

[54:38] No peace. Then lost eternity forever. In terms of sin, that's where the story ends. There's no good news for sin.

[54:50] There's no hope in sin. There's no peace in sin. Only separation. Only disaster. Only pain. Only death. And that's it.

[55:03] Humanly speaking, that's it. But God, who does not treat us or deal with us as we deserve, he did not leave Adam or Eve, and he does not leave us there.

[55:23] We see right from the start that God gives us promise. In verse 14 of Genesis 3, we see God addressing the serpent. And I'm a little confused about this, but actually, look at you in the structure of a sentence.

[55:37] This is spoken in Hebrew. It's rhyming poetry. God often speaks in poetry. In fact, I know a percentage, a high percentage, every time God speaks in Scripture, he speaks in poetry, beautiful poetry.

[55:49] And in verse 14, we see the Lord seemingly cursing the actual snake. But really, what God is saying here quite clearly is that as he's using the snake as an image, he is showing what's taking place.

[56:00] He curses the evil one who will be now trodden underfoot. Why? The hope then is given. In verse 15. The promise is given right at the start.

[56:12] In the midst of their expulsion from the garden, in the midst of all they've done, there is hope here. The very first seed of hope. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.

[56:28] He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Right from the start, we see the Lord is showing there is a plan of salvation for his people.

[56:43] Enough of ourselves, enough of themselves, they deserve nothing. We have gone against and we have gone against a holy God who does not need us.

[56:54] He is not missing anything without us. But out of his love for us, he gives us hope. Friends, it is this head crushing we'll see next week as we come to the second letter of our building blocks.

[57:15] All have sinned. And if sin is the ugly problem, the ugly disaster that we face, the next week we'll see the solution.

[57:28] It's very hard to end not giving a gospel message. But we have to because we're ending on sin. But next week, we come to be. And the start of the verse next week is, but God.

[57:43] But God. That's for next time. Today we leave being reminded of the horror of sin. The distress that sin causes.

[57:55] The disaster eternally that sin is. Even at the very start, God makes with him the clothing made from animal skins.

[58:06] There's death. Sin requires death right from the start. And then God points to Adam and Eve. He points them forward to the fact that he is going to bring them one who will crush the enemy.

[58:22] All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But next week we'll see. But God. And we'll see why that gives us such promise and such hope when it comes to sin.

[58:37] Spare our heads in that. A word of peace. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you, Lord, that even though we have been reminded today as to just a glimpse, as to the horror and misery that sin has brought into this world.

[58:52] Could we praise that we're not here today hopeless and helpless. We're here today worshipping our risen Savior. The one who has made clear that all who come to him.

[59:03] All. For just as all have sinned and fallen short. All can come to him and find in him forgiveness for that sin. That but in your scripture.

[59:17] That but which reminds us that whilst we're still lost in our sin. Still going away against you in sin. You came down and you rescued your people. Help us, Lord, then to find hope in that fact today.

[59:31] For wherever we are, there is not one person here, not one person in this community. But it's too far gone for the saving power of our glorious Savior. Our power, our energy to sin.

[59:46] It is not greater than his power to save. Lord, that would be our reality. Pray just now for any of our friends here today who as of yet cannot say that they know nor love Jesus.

[59:57] We ask that as we go through these gospel basics. We would be shown and reminded perhaps hear for the first time. Truly listen for the first time. Of the hope that is found in Jesus.

[60:10] And in him alone. The Savior who came to live and to die. To rise again for the sake and of love for his people. Help us, Lord, then to go home and continue this day giving you praise and giving you glory.

[60:24] We thank you, Lord, as always for those who present and those who lead the worship. The sung worship. We thank you for it. Thank you, Lord, we can sing your words to you. Knowing the words we sing are perfect and true.

[60:35] And they glorify you well. I ask all these things in and through and for Jesus. His precious name's sake. Amen. I'm going to carry on singing in Psalm 51.

[60:49] In conclusion, Psalm 51, verses 6. Verses 6 down to verse 10. I've always had to fight against giving a full gospel message in our sermon.

[61:05] We can at least sing it just now. As we sing these words of hope. This psalm reminds us of over his sin and much sin. The Lord in his goodness. He can make anyone clean through the finished work of Jesus.

[61:17] Psalm 51, verse 6. Behold, thou in the inward parts with truth delighted art. And wisdom thou shalt make me know within the hidden part. Do thou with hyssop sprinkle me.

[61:28] I shall be cleansed so. Ye wash thou me. And then I shall be whiter than the snow. Psalm 51, verses 6 to 10.

[61:39] To God's praise. And Thy not to God so faint. And so peace amethisk more And as we35 do want a korporstäk witness of no need. Thank you.

[62:19] Thank you.

[62:49] Thank you. Thank you.

[63:49] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[64:01] Thank you. Thank you.