(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

In Romans chapter 1, the part that I'd like to focus on is the beginning of verse 17, where the Bible reads, For there is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. And that's what I want to preach about this morning, is making excuses, and that people are without excuse. And the first thing I want to talk about is salvation, and that's what this passage is about. It's about people who are not saved, they do not believe in Jesus Christ, and God is saying that these people are without excuse. No one's going to be able to stand before God on Judgment Day, and have a valid excuse for why they didn't get saved, have a valid excuse for why they didn't believe on Jesus Christ. He says, first of all, that which may be known of God, verse 19, is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. He says that it's possible to easily look around and realize that God exists, that there is a truth out there that is beyond mortal man. And He says that those things may be known, it's not that God's word isn't out there, it's not that salvation isn't out there, it's that people are not looking for it. Because, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for everyone that asketh receive it, and everyone that seeketh find it, and to everyone that knocketh it shall be opened. There's no excuse for not being saved. See, the Bible says in verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. He's saying when they heard about God, when they were aware of God, when they were acquainted with God, this is no as in sort of like if I said, yeah, I know brother Garrett, I know so and so, it means I've met them, it means I know who they are. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm a member of their family, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm trusting them as my savior, that I've got all my faith in them. They knew God, it's not that they didn't know who God was or that they've never heard the name of Jesus. He says they knew God and they glorified Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. They weren't thankful for the food and the blessings that He gives us, but rather they became vain in their own imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. And of course, we hear a lot of people talking about the proverbial guy in Africa who's never heard the gospel. And you know, we've all heard people say that. You know, what about the guy in Africa and he's never heard the gospel, he's never heard the name of Jesus. He says, you know, what about that guy? Is he going to go to hell if he doesn't get saved? And you hear people ask that a lot. Usually people that when you're out knocking doors and you're giving them the gospel, they don't want to believe the gospel. And so they pull that out as an excuse to not believe the gospel. The first thing I always tell that person is, well, forget that guy, you're hearing the gospel right now. You're without excuse. I've got the Bible in my hand showing you the Word of God, a clear presentation of the gospel. You're without excuse. Forget that guy. But here's the funny thing, if that guy really exists, nobody's ever met him. Because if anybody ever met him and started talking to him about Jesus, he's heard the name of Jesus. So this guy is a figment of somebody's imagination because nobody's ever met him. Because as soon as they have met him, he heard about Jesus when they started talking to him about him. So it doesn't make any sense. But you see, beyond that, if you look at, for example, Africa, and we could pick any region of the world we want to pick. If we pick Africa, we think of the fact that they worship a lot of false gods and a lot of even animal-type deities. You know, and you think about how the Egyptians and the Bible worshipped animal gods and they had a golden calf and so forth. And you think about how in India and these other places, they have brought God down to the level of an animal. And we in our Western society, perhaps we don't worship statues of animals and golden calves and people that are half eagle, half man. Like maybe the Native Americans or the Asians or the Africans have done. But you know who we worship? It's right there in verse number 23. And made the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man. You know who we worship? We worship man. It's called humanism. We worship ourselves. We become vain in our own imaginations as a society. Vain means what? Puffed up. And the United States of America, maybe we're not worshipping an animal, but a lot of people in the United States of America are worshipping themselves. They think they're God. They think humanity is God. They believe in evolution. They believe that we are the top of the system and that we are becoming God and so forth. It's a lie. And so God says these people are without excuse. It's out there. The truth is out there if anybody wants to find it. But go to Acts chapter 17 because I want to deal more with this proverbial guy in Africa. In Acts chapter 17, this is when Paul is speaking on Mars Hill in Athens and he's preaching to the Athenians about the unknown God because they had all these altars to all their different gods that they worship. And then they had one altar sent to the unknown God just to make sure in case they missed one, he's covered. And so they've got this altar to the unknown God and Paul says, you're too superstitious. He says in verse 23, For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. Now, first of all, notice it says in verse 26 that God is the one who determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. That's just right there that God is well aware of where everyone in this world lives. He determined the bounds or the boundaries of their habitation, where they're going to live. You know, they're not going to live in Antarctica, for example. Okay, they're not going to live in certain places. They're not going to live in the middle of the desert somewhere. But he determined the bounds of their habitations. He knows the times that people are going to inhabit different areas, and when people are going to be in different continents. And the Bible says that God knew that, and God understood that. And when he divided man at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, and he divided them into their nations and families and tongues by splitting up their languages, God knew that these countries would exist in Africa and Asia and all around the world. God is not ignorant of that. God is aware of that. And the Bible says that God is not far from every one of us. God is not far from the man in Africa. He's not far from the man who's in the outback of Australia. He's right there. If happy, they might feel after him. You can have the illustration of, you know, you're feeling around, you're in a dark room, you can't see anything. And the unsaved man is blind, according to the Bible. He's completely blinded. The light of the glorious Gospel needs to shine and illuminate him. But he says, even in that darkness, you know, are they feeling after him? Because he's not far away. Go to Romans 10 and see this very clearly. In Romans chapter 1, God explained that people are without excuse. They can look at the natural world. They can look at the world around them and see clearly that there's a God. They're without excuse. He says in Romans chapter 10, verse number... Let's go back a little bit and look at verse number 6. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead. Watch this. But what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee. He's saying it's near thee. Remember God said in Acts 17. Look, he's not far from every one of us. And here he says, the word is nigh thee, even in thine mouth and in thine heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God graced him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. He says in verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Verse 14, how then shall they call on him if they've not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For as I have saved the Lord, who had believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord. Here's the key verse, verse 18. But I say, have they not heard? Have they not heard? Have the people of this world just never heard about Jesus? He said, yes, verily. He's saying, yes, they have heard. Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. Jesus Christ said it in Matthew 24. He said, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all nations of the world. He said it will be preached in every tongue, every nation, every language, every family, every kindred of the earth will hear the gospel. And it's funny because I was talking to my friend Paul, who grew up in Africa, and he said he grew up 80 miles from electricity or running water. So he was out there, and he said there were, I think he said three missionary families in the town that were preaching the gospel, three Baptist missionaries in that town. And I think Africa probably has more missionaries than any other continent in the world. There are so many missionaries that are all throughout Africa in every country of all different denominations and stripes. And obviously a lot of them are preaching a false gospel. A lot of them are preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ. But they're hearing about Jesus. They're hearing God's word. They are hearing from a lot of Baptist missionaries. You know, you don't know that there's some guy out there who's never heard the gospel. But I'll just frankly tell you right now, anyone who does not believe on Jesus Christ is on their way to hell. Amen. It doesn't matter. There is no excuse. God spelled it out. He said the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. They are without excuse. Now stop and think about this as well. Why does a person go to hell according to the Bible? To be punished for their sins. Well, no matter how little or how much someone's heard about Jesus, they still sinned, and they still deserve to go to hell. Just like I deserve to go to hell, just like you deserve to go to hell. He said, well, I don't think that's fair that they didn't get a clear presentation of the gospel. Well, I've got an idea. Why don't you go give them a clear presentation of the gospel? Instead of saying God isn't fair, why don't you go there? Why don't you give them the gospel? In fact, why don't you go across the street and give somebody the gospel? Because there are plenty of people in the United States who, yes, they've heard the name of Jesus, but have they heard a clear presentation of the gospel? I run into them every week that haven't. And so the field is wide in the harvest. We need to bring people the gospel instead of making excuses for people, saying, well, that guy's going to get a free pass into heaven because he didn't hear. No, he's a sinner. He's lived his sin. He did not seek after God. He did not feel after him. He did not respond to what he heard from God. When he knew God, he glorified him, not as God. He has no excuse. If we can go drag him out of the fire and preach the gospel to him and compel him to be saved and persuade him to be a Christian, as Paul tried to do with Agrippa, but you know what, if not, he's going to go to hell. That's the whole reason why we go out and preach the gospel, is to get people saved. Nobody's getting a free pass. The only person biblically that gets a free pass is a baby or a young child because they're not even old enough to know the difference, and the Bible makes that clear in many places. But when you grow up and you live your life in this world and you don't get saved, there's no excuse for not being saved. There just isn't an excuse. It's not some far-off thing for you. It's right there for you to be saved. Seek and you shall find. And there are many stories I've heard about people who, you know, they wanted to know the truth and they heard maybe a scripture or they heard the gospel a little bit and they were interested in it, that seed was planted. They wanted to hear more, and God intervened and God brought people into their life that would bring them the truth and that would bring them the gospel. But, you know, how so they go except they be sent. But look at Luke 14. Luke, chapter number 14. So there's those who think that there's an excuse for not being saved because they're out in the jungle somewhere or they grew up in a Muslim country. And look, let's face it. One billion people in this world are Muslim. People grow up in these Muslim countries. But even in a Muslim country, you're going to hear about Jesus. Because even Islam teaches about Jesus. Now, of course, they teach lies. Obviously, it's a false doctrine. But I'll tell you something. Everybody in this world has heard of Jesus Christ. Everybody in this world, and you say, No, that's not true. There's all these people I've never heard of. Where are they? They've heard of Jesus. I talked to a guy from India and he said, You don't understand. Of course, there are well over a billion people living in India. He said, You don't understand. I grew up in India and nobody over there knows about Jesus. And I said, Well, what about you? You grew up in India, right? When did you come here? As an adult? Did you know about Jesus? He said, Well, I didn't even hear about Jesus until I was like 10 years old. And he said, It wasn't until I was 16 that I learned the whole story about Jesus dying on the cross and the whole thing in school. So here's a guy who's claiming that in my country we don't know who Jesus is. He was hearing about Jesus as a small child. And it was even broken down to him clearly the whole story in school. So it's not that people don't know who Jesus is. Now, I'm not saying they've heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. They'd be much better off if someone like me or you or some other Bible-believing Christian would come and very clearly break it down to them and explain to them what it takes to be saved. In fact, it'd be great if people would do that here in the United States of America. But honestly, that's not an excuse that's going to get somebody out of going to hell. The Bible's clear. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son should not see life, but the wrath of God with item on. The Bible says that Jesus Christ came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Jesus said, I didn't come to condemn the world. If you don't believe on Christ, he said, you're condemned already. And look, when someone as a missionary goes to Africa or goes to even places in the United States where people haven't really heard the truth about the Gospel, they're not coming there to condemn people to hell. They're already condemned to hell. They're going to bring salvation that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. If people who've never heard the Gospel got a free pass, the missionary would be condemning everybody by giving them the Gospel. Now they're accountable. Now they're without excuse. No, they were already without excuse before he even got there. Just by living in this world, God says, you're without excuse. God is not a God who accepts excuses. Look at Luke 14. The Bible says in Luke 14 verse 12, Then said he, Jesus is speaking, also you can then bathe him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee. He's saying they can't pay you back. For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. So he's saying when you put on a dinner and you're serving free food, don't just invite the rich and your friends and your relatives. Invite everyone. Invite the poor, the lame, the whole, people that will never pay you back. That way you'll get your reward in heaven. Watch what somebody answers him. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, so he heard Jesus give that illustration. He said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. That prompts Jesus to tell a parable. And he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper and made many, verse 16, and sent his servant at suppertime to save them that were bidden. Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to what? Make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought a piece of ground and I must need to go and see it. I pray thee, have me excuse. Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excuse. And another said, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So everybody has these lame excuses. I mean, if you just got married, you want a free meal. You're going to bring your wife. You're going to get the free meal for both of you. But anyway, he said, you know, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot come. Verse 21, So the servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of Dallas, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the hauled and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled, for I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Go to Matthew 22, Matthew chapter 22, and we'll see the same type of parable given. Because you remember, he tied this in with the kingdom of God. A man brought up and said, hey, it's going to be a blessing to eat and drink in the kingdom of God. And he says, okay, here's what it's like in the kingdom of God. It's like a man who made this great, rich, lavish supper. He invites the guests. He invites his friends. He invites his relatives. He invites his kinsmen. They won't come. They make excuses. So then he says, just go out and invite the poor, the lame, the blind. He invites all them. They're still rude. He says, go out and invite everybody. Go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. And he says, these others that were bidden, none of them shall taste of my supper. Now, part of the application of that parable is talking about the Jews, the nation of Israel. They were his kinsmen. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. And because those which were invited rejected the gospel, by and large, obviously there were some Jews that got saved, the majority rejected Christ. They crucified him. And so then he opened it out to the Gentiles. And obviously the Gentiles could always be saved, but he focused on the Gentiles. And now the kingdom of God has been taken from the nation of Israel and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And so Jesus Christ is using that illustration about being rejected by those who should have accepted the gospel, the Jews, and then bringing it toward everybody. Look what he says in Matthew 22, verse 1. He said, Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. So again, it's like a man. He makes a great feast, a great marriage for his son. He invites guests, they won't come. The ones who were invited will not come. And of course he's angry, he's mad about it just like he was before. But look what it says in verse 8. Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. And those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found. And I love this next phrase, both good and bad. And the wedding was furnished with guests. He said that's what the kingdom of heaven is like. You see, I was out soul winning not too long ago, a few weeks ago, or less than that. I was out knocking doors, and I was giving away the gospel. And this gentleman was just having trouble grasping the fact that he could be saved, because he'd done some bad things in the past. He'd done some really wrong things in the past. And he just couldn't get past that. He couldn't see that he could be forgiven for that and be saved for that. And he was struggling with that. And so I showed him all the scriptures, how, you know, it's not of works, it's not by our works, or by our goodness that we're saved, it's just by believing on Christ, it's by faith, not works. And he wasn't getting it, so I took him to this story. I took him to Matthew 22 and I showed him this story. And I gave him an illustration, because we were in the downtown inner city Phoenix area. And I said, what if there were a great dinner being put on? And I was thinking about, you know, President Obama running for reelection. And basically, he puts on these big fancy dinners like a campaign fundraising dinner. Who knows what I'm talking about? Politicians do this. They put on this fundraising dinner, and it's about $1,000 a plate, or $10,000 a plate. You know, you pay $10,000 and, you know, you get to sit with all these important people, and you're making your campaign contribution by buying dinner for $10,000. You know, that's kind of expensive dinner. And, I mean, the food's, I'm sure, good. It's probably not that good. And so, you know, you pay $100,000 a plate, $10,000 a plate. And it'd be this great dinner. And I said, what if President Obama came to town and set up a dinner like that? Okay? Just right down the street from where you are. We were in a really rundown neighborhood. This was a bad neighborhood. And I said, what if that dinner was going on right down there? This huge dinner. But let's say a lot of the guests backed out. They wouldn't come. They did not make it a priority. They've left the president at the altar, so to speak. And they just have all this empty space, and they say, hey, this is going to look bad. This is the illustration I'm giving this guy after I read him this story. This is going to look bad if half the hall is empty. We just need to get some bodies in here. We need to fill this place up. And I said, what if they came to your door, and they came to your house and said, I want to invite you. Would you like to go to this dinner? I mean, it's probably going to be the best food you've ever tasted. It's all you can eat. It's going to be a very lavish dining hall that you're going to be eating. And I said, what if they just came to you and said, we're just inviting everybody on the street. We just need to fill this place up. It starts in a half hour. Can you be there? I said, would you go? He said, of course. It would be great. Great food, great meal. You're in this fancy place that you'd normally never see the inside of. And I told him, I said, that's what salvation is like. Because that's what the story is about. The story is about a wealthy man putting on a very lavish dinner where certain people are invited that are friends and family and people that are important to them. But because they would not come, he wanted that wedding to be furnished with guests. He didn't want any space to be empty. And so this man that's putting on this dinner, he just goes out and just starts giving random people. That's what the story is about. Random people just going out on the highways and hedges. Just compelling anybody. Compelling means almost dragging them in there. Hey, come on. Don't you want a free meal? Come on, let's go. It starts in a half hour. Let's do it. And just bring in anybody. Good, bad, doesn't matter. And I said, that's what salvation is like. I said, none of us deserve to be at that dinner in heaven. None of us deserve to eat and drink in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of God. None of us is on the guest list because we're so good, because we're so righteous, because we're so wonderful, because we're a relative. No. We are just invited because God is just inviting everybody. And He said, the Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Truly, whosoever will may come and be saved. God shall love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's what I told him. I said, it's not because you're good that you've been invited. He invited you by His grace. You don't deserve to be there. I said, would you deserve to be at that dinner? He said, no. Did you earn the right to be there? No. But were you invited? Yes. And I said, well here's some scriptures showing where God's invited you to a dinner just like that. You just need to show up. You just need to be saved. And of course, you know, I don't have time to get into it for the sake of the sermon. Go to chapter 8 of Matthew while we're in Matthew. I don't have time to get into it, but a little later in chapter point 2, as he's going through the wedding guest, you know, there's a guy there that doesn't have a wedding going on, and he's cast out of the wedding. You know, that's referring to the fact that the Bible talks about how when we get saved, when we believe on Jesus Christ, He basically clothes us in His righteousness. He gives us a change of raiment. And the Bible talks about in Revelation 7, those that are saved, He says, they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Just as Joseph put on that coat dipped in blood. Just as Jesus wore a vesture dipped in blood. The Bible says that we as believers, when we believe on Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us. Just like Adam and Eve, when they sinned, they sowed aprons of fig leaves. God replaced those aprons of fig leaves, which did not cover their nakedness. He replaced it with a coat of skins, skin of the Lamb, being clothed in righteousness of the Lamb. And that's a whole other sermon in and of itself. But it's not based on how good somebody was or not. You just have to have that garment on, and that's it. That's another sermon of itself. Matthew chapter 8. So number 1, there's no excuse for not getting saved. Oh, I'm too wicked. I'm too bad. I never heard the Gospel. I didn't know any better. You knew God, and you glorified Him not as God. You looked up in the sky and said there is no God like a fool. And you have no excuse. I don't care what continent you're on, you have no excuse before God. But not only that, number 2, people make excuses for not serving God. And I'll just quickly blow through this point, but look at verse 19. A certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. A certain scribe came to Jesus and said, I will follow you anywhere you go. Now I've noticed that people who make proclamations like that are usually the ones who don't do it. One thing I've noticed, I've noticed that whenever visitors come to our church, and obviously, you know, visitors from out of town is a different situation, but when people live in town and they visit our church and they're looking for a church, I've had several people come to the church and it's always like this. And it's never been proven wrong. When somebody shows up and says, This church is great! I love it! Like this is their first time. Wow! Where has this church been all my life? This is the church I've been looking for. How do I join? I'll come about. I'll see you tonight. I'll see you next Sunday. And when people are really enthusiastic like that, I can't explain it, they never come back. Isn't that weird? Isn't that the weirdest thing? I mean, they literally, they come in and they just tell you, This is great! What time does it start tonight? I'm going to bring five people with me. And you get all excited like, wow, this person is really, this is great. They're going to love it. And they never come back. And I can't figure it out. And I've been fasting now for over six years. It just happens over and over again. And whenever, I even go home to my wife now, when somebody acts like, wow, I love this church. I always go to my wife and just say, they won't be back. They never do. And it always proves me right. And then recently I said, you know, there's one exception to that is so-and-so. They've been coming for a few weeks. As soon as I said that, a few weeks later, they quit coming. It's always like that. And then people, other people show up and they're like, Like I remember when Brother Dave first came, he was kind of like, yeah, you'll probably see me again. You know, he comes two weeks later. Here he is, you know, years and years later. He's here. He's faithful. He's consistent. So many people are like, I don't understand it. I can't figure it out. But I think it's just people that are, that are basically, they're just woo, woo. You know, people that get excited that fast, get unexcited just as fast. I mean, does anybody have a better explanation? That's all I can think of. You know, these people, because look, this guy in the story, Matthew 8, he says, I'm going to follow you wherever you go. You know, an hour later, he's not getting on the boat with Jesus. An hour later, he's not following him anymore. Because look what Jesus says to him. And Jesus says unto him, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. This guy says, I'm going to follow you wherever you go. And he says, okay, well, just so you know, I don't have anywhere to stay tonight. You know, I might be sleeping outside. I don't really know where we're going to stay. I don't have a place to lay my head. I don't even have a place to live. I don't even know where I'm staying tonight. You guys are like, oh, oh, well, I got to go. I thought somebody as important as you would have a really nice place to stay. You're going to be able to provide. Look at the next guy. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Keep in mind, Jesus is about to cross over to the other side. He's about to get on a boat and go to the other side. Guy comes to him and says, I'm following you wherever you're going. He says, okay, well, we're going to the other side. We don't even know where we're staying tonight. Oh, okay, well, let me go home and check on that. Another guy says, hey, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Now, doesn't that sound like a pretty legitimate excuse? Father was still alive. I mean, let's say your dad just died. Okay, let's say your dad just died. And you say, well, I got to go bury my father first. But you know what? Jesus doesn't have time for that. Because Jesus is only here for three and a half years as far as his ministry. Obviously, he lived for 30 years before that. And basically, he says, I don't have time to wait for you. And you know what? I think what God's trying to show us here is that there is no legitimate excuse for not following Christ. Even the excuse that we look at it, and it seems very legitimate on the surface. I mean, just on the surface, you just look at it. He says, hey, I need to go bury my dad first. He says, follow me and let the dead bury their dead. He says, let the dead bury their dead. I don't have time for you to bury your father. We're leaving right now. The ship's leaving. Either get in or get out. Now, I think what God's trying to show us here is that there is no legitimate excuse for not following Christ. And people have a lot of them. And by the way, Jesus said, if you follow me, I will make you to become fishers of men. And that's what following Christ means. If you're not a fisher of men, well, you're not following Christ. Because he didn't say, if you follow me, I might make you fishers of men. He said, if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. And so, people have a lot of excuses why they don't want to be a fisher of men. Why they don't want to give the gospel. Why they don't want to reach out to others and get people saved. I'm shy. I'm timid. I don't have the boldness. But that's what Moses said. And what did God tell Moses? Who made the tongue? I'm telling you to go. I'll give you the words to speak. I'll give you the boldness. And remember, Moses was timid and shy. He said, I'm not a good speaker. Of course, the Bible says in Acts 7 that he was a man mighty in words and deeds. But he said, I'm not a good speaker. And remember how God said, okay, Aaron will do the speaking for you? But did you ever notice that when they actually get there, Moses starts doing the speaking, not just Aaron? Because God can give you the words. God can give you the boldness. Pray for boldness. Pray for the ability. And by the way, I've seen people who stammer and stutter and are shy do a great job of giving the gospel and getting somebody saved. God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. God uses stammering lips and an unknown tongue to give the gospel to people. And so there is no excuse for not being saved. Number one, there's no excuse for not being saved. Number two, there's no excuse for not following Christ. There's no excuse for not going to church. There's no, oh, there's too many hypocrites in church. There's hypocrites outside of church. The human race is a hypocrite. I mean, I could give you 50 examples right now of how our nation is hypocritical and how people in our nation and people around the world and other nations and how this group's hypocritical. I could list every religion to you right now and list how hypocritical they are. I could list every political party and talk about the hypocrisy of every political party that's on the scene. Because man is a hypocritical creature. It's not just church that's filled with hypocrites. Don't go to the grocery store either. It's full of hypocrites. Don't go anywhere. I'm not going to go there. It's full of hypocrites. Well, don't go to school. Well, don't go to school anyway. Don't go anywhere because it's all hypocrites. That's a lame excuse, is it not? Oh, I'm busy. I've got too much going on. You know what? We all have a lot going on. But we still need to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Here's a way to make sure you always have time for the things of God when you seek it first. Then you deal with everything else. And so there is no excuse for not serving God. And number three is this. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, number three is this. People make excuses for their sins. So number one, they make excuses for not getting saved. Or they excuse other people for not getting saved. But in God's eyes, they are without. He's the one who said it, not me. He said, they are without excuses. And He's even bringing up people who are worshipping animals in another country. They're without excuse. He said when it comes to serving Him, you want to go bury your father? Not going to accept that excuse. You don't have a place to stay tonight? You've got to sleep outside? Well, guess what? That's the way it is. Are you coming or not? And when He entered into the ship, the disciples followed Him. These other people did not follow. It's clear that it was just His disciples that came with Him. But number three, not only that, people make excuses for their sins. And I think this is universal to mankind to make excuses for sins. Now, let's stop and talk about what is an excuse? We talked about people not being saved without excuse, people making excuses about not serving God. What is an excuse? An excuse is basically when you do something wrong, but you've got a justification for it. Well, here's why I did wrong. And fill in the blank. Well, when it comes to sinning, people make excuses. This goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden? And what was Adam's excuse? Well, the woman, which thou gavest me, she gave me of the fruit, and I did eat. So he's basically blaming Eve, and he's kind of blaming God by saying, well, you gave me this woman, and she's the one who told me to eat the fruit. So he makes excuses. Then God turns to the woman, and what's her excuse? Oh, the serpent beguiled me. I was tricked. I was deceived. I didn't know better. God didn't accept either of those excuses. He cursed the man, he cursed the woman. He cursed them both. Because there is no excuse for sin. And so he cursed the man, he cursed the woman, and so forth. Now look at 1 Corinthians 10. This is a great scripture. Verse 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. There have no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. And so God is saying here, and of course he was talking about idolatry earlier in the chapter. That's why he comes back and, you know, homes in on that specific sin. But what he's saying here is that when you are tempted, there is no excuse for giving in to that temptation. Now you will be tempted. The Bible says of Jesus Christ, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. So just because we are tempted does not mean that we have to sit. Jesus was tempted, and I believe it. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. That means that any temptation that you've been faced with, any situation where you were faced with a time that would give you opportunity to sin, or when other people might have justified or made an excuse for sinning, Jesus was in those types of situations. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. And God is saying here that there is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man. Now what does it mean to be common to man? It basically means that if I'm tempted with something, I'm not alone. In fact, it's common to mankind. Maybe not every single person is tempted with that, but the vast majority is. It's just common to man, and basically it's common to all of mankind. You know, you're tempted to tell a lie. Well, you're not the only one because every single person is in a position from time to time where they're tempted to lie. Maybe they're trying to cover up for a mistake that they made. Maybe something, you know, you're at work and something breaks, and it's like, hey, that was already like that. Right? Isn't that pretty common? You know, you're working on something, you break something. Oh, how'd that break? It was already like that. That's how I found it. I don't know. You know, in reality, it was you that, you know, slipped and fell or broke something or whatever, you know. That's the type of thing that, and you know what, probably everybody's been faced with something like that. And we could give all different examples of, you know, you get busted, you get caught, you lie to cover things up. That's probably the most common time in July is when you're trying to cover up for mistakes that you made, cover up for sins that you've done. And God says, you're not the only one who's tempted. Well, I just really, and people say, I just have a real problem with lying. Yeah, but the problem is your problem. I think it's just how I am. No, it's how everybody is. But there are some people who choose to tell the truth. There are some people who choose to make the effort to put off the old man with his deeds, to put off lying and to speak every man the truth with his neighbor. There are those who make the effort to tell the truth and to do what's right and to take the consequences and to get in trouble and have to pay for stuff that you broke perhaps. And then there are others who are going to lie and give in to that temptation. But you're not in a special situation. Everybody thinks they're in a special situation. Everybody's got an exception and everything like that. God says, no, every temptation that you're faced with is common to man. You're not the only one who's tempted to look at that billboard of some scantily clad female. And these billboards are everywhere. And the magazine covers are everywhere and the advertisements are everywhere. And you say, well, I think I just have a really hard time in that area. You know what, though? Join the club, though. Everybody's tempted to lie. Everybody's tempted to look at things they're not supposed to look at. Everybody's tempted to steal. Everybody's tempted toward these things. But the difference is those who resist the devil and he pleased from them. There are those who resist temptation. There are those who put on the new man. They put on the armor of God. They put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible says, Wherefore put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. It's all common to man. Jesus went through a lot of the stuff that we go through. He went through being hungry and not eating. He went through being thirsty. He went through sleeping outside and not having a good place to stay. He went through family problems. You say, oh, you don't understand what it's like when my family isn't saved and they persecute me. Jesus was there. His brethren persecuted him. His brethren blasphemed him. He went through problems in the family. He went through problems in his hometown. He was rejected. He was despised. He was spat upon. He was beaten. He was hated. He was lied about. He was maligned. He was blasphemed. People had him arrested falsely. He went to jail. He was beaten by the prison system. He went through all these things. And you say, well, you know, you don't understand my situation. Jesus does. He went through all of it. And the temptations you're facing are the same type of temptations that are in my life and everyone else's life. And God says that not only are these temptations common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you or not suffer you. That's what suffer means. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So according to the Bible, with every temptation there's a way of escape. There's a way to resist it. No excuse for you. There's always a way of escape. And that shows that there's no excuse for sin. Go to James chapter 1. You know, when you go through so many examples of sin, some people are lazy. You know, and laziness is a sin that the Bible deals with a lot. He talks about the sluggard or the slothful man, the lazy man, as opposed to the diligent and hardworking man. And when he talks about those who are lazy and sluggish so frequently in the Bible, we can know, hey, that is a temptation that's common to man. Nobody likes to get up early in the morning when they've been up late at night working. Nobody likes to drive all night. Nobody likes to get up when the alarm clock goes up. Some keep hitting the snooze button. Others drag themselves out of bed. I remember when I was a very young man and I got a job and I had to start early in the morning. And I remember a guy told me, he said, hey. And I was always on time. I was never late to work. I heard him say, I don't know if he was saying it to me or if he was just saying it to a group or something. He was saying it. And these words of wisdom, I've remembered them and thought about them ever since. These words of wisdom just run in my ears. He told me this. He said, you know what? When you get up in the morning, it's going to be hard to get up no matter what time you get up. Whether it's 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, you've got to drag yourself out of bed. You're not going to like it. It's not fun getting up in the morning. He said, so you might as well just get up early because it's going to be hard no matter when you get up. 5, 6, 7, you've got to just drag. And I always tell myself that. I've always told myself, you know what? It's never fun getting out of bed. Just get out of bed when that alarm goes off. And there are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who get out of bed when that alarm goes off and there are those who don't. There are those who make it on time to work and there are those who don't. I remember one time me and my friend, Brother Roger Jimenez, were going somewhere and we were waiting for a guy to meet up with us. We both showed up, Johnny on the spot, and he said there are two kinds of people in this world. He said there are people who always reliably show up to things. They show up on time. They're there consistently. And he said then there are the people who are always late. Always late. And there's usually not people in between. Usually there's people who are just always on time and people who are just always late. There isn't a lot of crossover. Because if you're looking for excuses and you're allowing things to make you late, you're probably going to be late all the time because stuff always comes up. And then if you're the type of person who overcomes those obstacles and makes a point to be there on time, you're going to be there on time. And it's going to be very rare that you're not there. You're going to be there consistently. But you see, people who are late and people who don't show up places that they're supposed to be, they always have an excuse. They always have a reason why they didn't make it and why they didn't do what they were supposed to do. There are always plenty of excuses. But is that who you want to be? A person who constantly makes excuses. And people who can't work. Usually they're just making an excuse why they can't go to work and why they can't find a job. You know, I looked for one job every day for the last few weeks. I can't find a job. Well, here's an idea. If you want to work eight hours a day, spend eight hours a day looking for a job. Because I always tell this to you. People ask me, I'm looking for a job. What advice do you have for me? I always tell them the same thing. When you don't have a job, looking for a job is your job. Clock in and put in eight hours looking for a job and then clock out and you're going to find a job. Amen. If you go, I put in a couple applications today and then you go fool around the whole rest of the day, that doesn't make any sense. What else are you doing? When you don't have a job, getting a job is your job. And then the rest of you just make excuses why they can't work, why they can't get a job, why they can't pay their own bills. Now, did I ever turn to James 1? Go to James 1, people make excuses for committing sin and giving in to the lust of the flesh. The Bible says in James 1, this is the last place we'll turn, verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. See, don't blame God when you're tempted with sin. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, to bring it forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bring it forth death. Whose fault does it sound like God is saying it is when we sin? Is it God's fault? It's our fault. It's our fault. It's the flesh. It's us. We're the problem when we sin. And so whether it's drinking, you know, people say, well, alcoholism runs in my family. That's why I'm a drunk. But you're the one who chose to take that first drink, or else you would have never even known what it was like to drink. You see, certain people struggle with cocaine and heroin addictions. Why do they struggle with cocaine and heroin addictions? Because they tried heroin. Because they tried cocaine. Now, I've never tried cocaine. I've never tried heroin. I've never even drunk a beer in my life. So do I struggle constantly with drinking beer as a temptation? Or with taking heroin as a temptation or cocaine? No. And you probably didn't wake up today, this morning, and say, I'm not going to snort cocaine. You probably don't have a chart in your home that says, you know, hey, I'm 11,000 and some days cocaine-free. Keep adding a number to it. But there are people who have that chart. Why? Because they've taken cocaine. Because they've taken it. If you don't even know what cocaine is like, it's not even going to bother you, heroin. You know how people get addicted to cigarettes? And they have this excuse, I can't quit, I can't quit, you know, I can't get that. But they started smoking. And who made them do it? No one. They took the choice of smoking that first cigarette to even know what it's like. And now they've made their bed. They're going to have to work hard. I'm quitting smoking is hard. I'm not making light of it. But people who started smoking are going to have to work hard to quit and not make excuses about it. And just say, well, I just can't do it. I can do all things through Christ, but strengthen it with me is what the Bible says. And you say, well, smoking is not a sin. Well, God said that the service of the Lord is supposed to be clean. And smoking is not a clean habit. It makes your teeth dirty, it makes your car dirty, it makes your house dirty, it makes you smell dirty. And everybody can smell somebody when they walk in, they smell like smoke. And not only that, the Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. It's not your own. You're bought with a price. Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Hey, you are to be a good steward of what God gave you, not destroy it and damage it with cigarette smoke or with drugs or with other harmful practices. Destroying your body, that body belongs to God. Don't mutilate it. Don't tattoo it and pierce it to high heaven with all these bizarre piercings. Take care of it. Keep it. Be a steward of it. And it's to glorify God. You know, drinking is another example. Fornication. Oh, people say this, it's just so hard today. With all the billboards, all the magazines, all the music, all the TV, it's just so hard to keep yourself pure today. You know, we just have to realize that people are going to commit fornication and we just need to deal with it. No. No. That temptation has been around for thousands of years. It's always existed. Is it harder in our society? I'm sure it is. When you have all the billboards and the music and the TV pumping all these images into your mind all day long, it is going to be harder. But you know what? You're without excuse. There's still a way of escape. He's not going to tempt you above that which you're able. And maybe you should pray every day like the Lord gave us the example when he said, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. There is a way of escape. There is a way to keep yourself pure until you're married. There is a way to keep a clean mind. You don't just say, Well, I can't help it. These billboards are everywhere. No. You don't look at those billboards. Don't look at the magazines. Don't watch that movie. Don't listen to that music. There's no excuse for it. Quit making excuses for why you're addicted to rock music and why you're addicted to Hollywood and why you're addicted to cigarettes and why you're addicted to alcohol and you're addicted to drugs and you're addicted to pornography. Hey, there's no excuse for that stuff. Jesus paved us the way and left us an example. The Bible says that we should follow in his steps. It's possible to resist temptation. Don't make excuses. And look, we're all sinners. Nobody's perfect. But when you say to admit that you're sinned and confess, that's what confess means, confess it to God and say, God, I've sinned. I'm sorry. Don't sit there and say, Well, God, you know what I'm dealing with out here? Right? No big deal, right? It is a big deal. You know, there's so many different things. I mean, we could go into every... You know, you think of marriage. Today, you know, half of people or 75% of people get divorced. You know, everybody's got a reason to get divorced. I guarantee you that if we took any married couple and we asked that husband, Give us reasons why to divorce your wife. He gets divorced. She did this. She did this. She does this. She does this. Talk to a woman and say, Hey, do you have any reason to divorce your husband? Well, yeah, you do this and this. And that's why this doctrine that makes all these excuses and exceptions and says, Well, you can get divorced in this situation and you can get divorced in this situation. You know, everybody's going to find a way to make their situation fit that situation. I talked to a guy who's Roman Catholic and he said, you know, Well, the Catholic Church doesn't allow divorce. But he said, But they do make exceptions. And he said, in cases of alcoholism, abuse, unfaithfulness, he had this big list. And I was thinking to myself, Is there a Catholic who doesn't drink alcohols? If alcoholism's the excuse, I mean, Oh, yeah, he's a drunk. Well, okay, that's most of Catholicism. Can I get divorced tomorrow? Granted by the Catholic Church or whatever? You see what I'm saying, though? People are going, Oh, abuse. Oh, he was verbally abusive to me. Oh, and people literally, you know, it's abuse because, you know, they, Oh, they're beating each other. He's beating her. She's beating him. You know, because this is like, you know, or like hitting somebody with a pillow. I talked to people that were married that literally hit their spouse with a pillow. And the police were called. And now as a kid, we thought that was fun to beat each other. It's a pillow. I knew a situation where the police were called because a woman threw a raw hot dog at her husband. The police came and picked her up and took her to jail for assaulting her husband, for spousal abuse, for domestic violence, because she threw a raw hot dog. And guess what? She missed. First of all, I'm lucky if the hot dog was cooked. And another if it would have made impact on the target. Neither of those things took place, Your Honor. But this is the world we're living in. When people are looking for, oh, he abused me. He spoke roughly to me. He hit me with a pillow. You know, he tells, you know what? It's till death do us part. It's for better or for worse. It's for richer or for poorer. Oh, he looked at porno. That's my, I can divorce him. No. Wrong. There's no excuse for getting, the Bible does not condone this stuff. It's a man-made doctrine. I'm not going to, I preach whole sermons, I'm not going to do it. I'm just using it as an example. I'm sure that every woman who's divorced with their spouse could probably point to, hey, here's where he looked at something pornographic. Or here's where he got drunk. Or here's where she got drunk. Or here's where she, you know, spit in my face, or slapped me in the face, or socked me in the face, or socked me in the gut, or whatever. It's called marriage, folks. Single people are like, oh, man. If the case of the man be so with his wife, it's not going to be fair. But, yeah, I'm just kidding. You know, I'm exaggerating. But honestly, though, these things do take place in people's lives. And, you know, everybody's got an excuse. Everybody's got an excuse for why they have a bad marriage and why they can't love their wife. And I just don't love them anymore because of X, Y, and Z. I don't love her anymore because of X, Y, and Z. I guarantee, if I wanted to, I could sit down and make a list of things about my wife. And I'm sure that she could sit down and make a list about me. But you know what? We're still married. And we're going to stay married. Amen. Till death. Okay, why? Because it's the right thing to do. And, you know, is my marriage perfect? No. Is your marriage perfect? I'm sure it isn't. I hope so. Probably not. But the bottom line is, we love each other. We have a great relationship. We can do all things through Christ that strengthen me. I love my wife more today than I did when I married her. We have the best marriage. And we were just talking about this the other day, how marriage gets better and better. You know, I mean, you got to go through the hard times to get to the really good times. Amen. Honestly. And I'm happier now being married than I was in the early days. And I was happier then, but I'm happier now. But there have been times when you're not as happy, and then there are times when you're more happy. But you know what? It's not about being happy. It's about keeping your word. It's about doing what you said you would do. And so I encourage you that maybe you're here this morning, and you're married, and you're struggling. Let that be an encouragement to you. You know, weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. And let me say this. There's always an excuse for the unsaved, always an excuse not to follow Christ, always an excuse why you can't join a church, always an excuse why you can't serve God, always an excuse why you commit sin. God says, be without excuse. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and we thank you for setting us the example, being tempted in all points like as we are, yet being without sin. We know that you were totally without sin, and that's why you were able to die for us and be our substitute. Father, please help us not to be people who make excuses, but rather help us to own up and do what we're supposed to do and be true to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.