Hello and welcome to Redemption Church in Plano Texas!  My name is Chris Fluitt and I welcome you all.

Welcome to the 4th  week of our Spooky Sermon Series – Scary Words

Scary Words

In week 1 we our word was Ichabod which means “the glory has departed.”

In week 2 we told you about the scary word Anapologētos which means “without excuse.”

Last week we told you about telling God “no.” Ou-Dechomai means refused.

Today I want you to turn James chapter 2 where we will start reading at verse 8.

 

As you are turning with me in your Bibles I want to say thank you to all our volunteers at Redemption.
Some of you serve on…
Worship teams
Greeting teams
Children’s ministries
Small group teams
Tech teams

Let’s stop for a moment and give all our great volunteers a big thank you.

James 2:8-11 (NIV) 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

We went cover to cover in your Bible, and we believe that GUILTY is one of the scariest words in the Bible.

Guilty

Guilty means “connection of a person to their crime.” It means “worthy of punishment and penalty.”

We understand what guilty looks like.

A person convicted of a crime is brought into a courtroom to be judged by a jury of their peers. At the end of the trial… after the charges have been laid out and all the testimony and evidence given the jury of 6-12 people deliberate.

You have likely seen what happens when the jury comes back with a verdict.

The judge tells the defendant on trial to “rise and face the jury.”

A voice then rings out in the courtroom… “we the jury find the defendant…”

At this moment the defendant is bracing for the worst and hoping for the best. Their life hangs upon the next word spoken.

The loved ones of the defendant, the loved ones of the prosecution, all those with a vested interest in the verdict seem to almost flinch as the words are being spoken.

“We the jury find the defendant guilty…”

When this is said I have seen full grown men cry and fall to the ground.
I have heard people scream in anger, agony, and terror.
I have heard people scream out for God, there mom, and their dad for help.
I have seen people charge wildly out of control and reach for help only to be held down by bailiffs and handcuffed… this was their last moment of freedom.

They have been found guilty.

What could be worse than being found guilty?

The jury foreman speaks up and says “on the 2nd count… we find the defendant guilty.”
…On the 3rd count…  …on the 4th count…

The defendant is found guilty on all counts.

Guilty on all counts

Often people have broken more than one law. What is so much worse for being guilty on 1 count is to be guilty on multiple counts, because it brings about a greater penalty.

Who is the most guilty criminal of all time? Who has the most guilty verdicts against them in the court?

Marshal Blessing helped me research these statistics this week.

Bernie Madoff

Bernie Madoff is noteworthy for having defrauded many people of $64.8 billion. He was convicted of 11 federal felonies.

Depress Johnsons

Depress Johnson was charged with 142 felony charges in 2013 after posting numerous incriminating photos on his instagram account. He was posing with illegal substances and guns and a former felon on parole is not allowed such things.

Luis Alfredo Garavito

Columbian serial killer, Luis Alfredo Garavito was convicted in October 1999 of murdering 147 minors. (He has been confirmed to have commited 193 murders, and he is suspected of others.)

 

Terry Nichols

Terry Nichols was one of the Oklahoma City bombers. He was convicted in 1995 of 161 counts of first-degree murder, first-degree arson, and conspiracy. He was also given the longest sentence ever – 161 life sentences.

Guilty on all counts

Can you imagine a worse criminal?

Can you imagine standing in a court room and hearing guilty pronounced over you 161 times?

 

Our rap sheet is much longer. The number of laws we have broken is much larger by comparison.

James 2:8-11 (NIV) 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Verse 10 says whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all…  If you have broken a single point of the law is guilty on all counts.

Let’s read the whole passage again… I want to make sure we understand.

James 2:8-11 (NIV) 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
 

Trying to keep God’s command to love, but if you show favoritism you are convicted as a lawbreaker.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  

11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

RAP SHEET

If you stumble at just one point, you are guilty on all counts.

If you keep one command, but not the other… If you don’t commit adultery, but you do murder… you are a lawbreaker on all counts.

We are sinners… check that… we are the worst sinners.
We are lawbreakers… check that… we are the worst lawbreakers.

We are not better than anyone else. We are just as guilty as anyone else.

 

Romans 3:23 (NIV) or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 (NIV) 23For the wages of sin is death

We deserve the wage of our sin. We deserve death.

This is why it makes no sense for sinners like us to yell at someone else and call them a sinner. We are “guilty on all counts” sinners.

The apostle Paul knew this and that is way he referred to himself as the chief sinner in 1 Timothy 1:15.

Paul also wrote this…

Romans 3:11-19 (NIV) …For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

11     there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves;  their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16     ruin and misery mark their ways,

17 and the way of peace they do not know.”

18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held GUILTY BEFORE GOD.  

One day before the judge of the world, every mouth will be closed and the whole world will be held guilty before God.

Don’t you agree that guilty is a scary word.

Like that court room scene where the defendant stands ready to hear the verdict. That will be us… except worse.

We will stand before God.
Not one of us have a chance of innocence.
Our list of crimes is much lengthier.
There is no escape or parole from hell.

613 laws of God

There are 613 laws of God in your Bible.  James 2:10 says we are guilty on all counts.

613 death penalties. 613 reasons why we fell short of glory.  613 reasons why we should never make heaven our home. 613 reasons why we should be separated from God for eternity in a frightful place called hell.

On the count of being greedy – we are guilty.
On the count of being lustful – we are guilty.
On the count of being lazy and slothful – we are guilty.
On the count of not loving God with all our heart – we are guilty.
On the count of not loving our neighbor – we are guilty.
On the count of murder – we are guilty of murder in our hearts.
On the count of adultery – we are guilty of adultery in our hearts.

 There is no defense when you are guilty on all charges.

We can’t offer an excuse.

We did the crime, we do not deserve mercy.

 

The Bible is a binding document… it is a contract between God & mankind. 613 times it says that we are guilty.

 

But if you can be judged by this binding document… maybe you can be saved by this binding document.

Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,  and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Our transgressions… our iniquities… those are big words for SIN.  Our Sin and our punishment has been laid upon someone else.  Who is Isaiah 53 prophesying of?  Who would be pierced and crushed?  Who would take upon Himself our guilt.   Jesus is His name.

Guilty is a scary word, but Jesus was willing to take our sin and punishment.

The Bible says Jesus was sinless, yet Jesus became guilty for us.  He took OUR GUILT upon Himself. This is the good news of the Gospel.

Do we understand the cross?
 

Jesus took our rap sheet. He took that long list of our guilt and He took it to the cross.

Colossians 2:14 (NIV) 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

That “charge” is your list of guilt. All your shame, regret, and even those secret sins you have tried to hide… Jesus took every last sin with Him to the cross.

It says “He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

I want you to imagine the hand of Jesus being nailed to the cross.  That large metal spike put a hole in the peaceful hands of Jesus.

Imagine the size of the hole in his hands…  Your guilt has the same sized hole in it.

Your guilt has a hole in it because of Jesus.
Your shame has a hole in it…
Your mistakes and regrets have a hole in them.

 

Jesus has done the work… so what do we need to do?

We need to believe and follow Jesus.

 

Do you have faith in this message of Jesus? Do you believe it?

 

Are you following Jesus? Do you know what your next step in following Jesus is?

 

Are we thankful for what Jesus did for us?