Journey: Sinner needing a Savior
This summer, our theme is Journey– the adventure disciples live out as they follow Jesus. Spoiler-alert! It is a winding path full of twists and turns. It’s exciting, fulfilling, and leads you to a place no other journey could ever take you. But in some places, the path can seem incredibly difficult or even impossible. In fact, Jesus said-
Matthew 7:14 | But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Truth be told, if we knew everywhere our journey with Jesus would take us on day one, some of us may have turned back. But you can be sure that every moment of the adventure, easy or hard, is worth it.
Hebrews 12:1 | Therefore… let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race (or the journey) God has set before us.
Our hope is that you will embrace the journey and excitedly join or continue your adventure with Jesus!
To begin, we first need to understand why we need to journey with Jesus in the first place. In the beginning, God actually created mankind with the purpose of journeying in a relationship with Him [Genesis 1], but man quickly decided to redirect that journey by forging their own path. Just a page or two into your Bible you can see that mankind has managed to take a perfect world (Genesis 1 and 2) and turn it into a place full of hostility (Genesis 3:15,16), pain (Genesis 3:16), struggle (Genesis 3:17), and death (Genesis 3:19). This happened when the first man and woman- Adam and Eve, chose to go their way instead of going God’s way. Disobeying God’s command to not eat the fruit in the Garden (Genesis 2:16-17) derailed the entirety of mankind for all earthly time.
Romans 5:12 | When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Instead of starting at birth on the journey with Jesus God created us for, sin meant we were born spiritually separated from Him instead. Through Adam, sin spread to everyone and just a few more pages into Genesis, we see that sin becomes a major issue that wreaks havoc among mankind–
Genesis 6:5 | The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
Left on their own, mankind couldn’t do anything about their sin problem. Instead, it just grew into something that couldn’t be contained.
Looking back at the people at the time of Noah, it can be easy to think that times have changed. After all, you probably don’t only think and imagine things that are consistently and totally evil, do you? You might even be a pretty good person who follows the rules and tries to do what’s right. But friend–
Romans 3:10 | As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.
Isaiah 64:6a | We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.
Romans 3:23 | For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
We all go our own way instead of God’s way through our thoughts, words, and actions. Even our best “good” does not change that. Whether you sinned once a long time ago or feel like you can’t go more than a few minutes without messing up, the result is all the same–
James 2:10 | For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.
One sin or one million sins – it is all the same in God’s sight – both represent a person who needs a Savior because–
Romans 6:23a | For the wages of sin is death…
Just like Adam and Eve, because we sin, we all deserve spiritual death- separation from God for all eternity. We are left utterly helpless, unable to do anything about our sin problem on our own. The good news? Realizing this is exactly where you need to be. Just look to Jesus’ parable of the pharisee and the tax collector–
Luke 18:10-14 | “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Salvation is only possible when you first recognize that you are a helpless sinner in need of a Savior. The person who realizes there is something they need that they don’t have on their own begins seeking or looking for help. This attitude is what draws them to Jesus so their journey can begin.
Are you a sinner? Why or why not?
How does thinking about your sin (the wrong you have thought, said, and done) make you feel?
Why is recognizing or admitting your sin so important for God’s followers?
Has your sin driven you (or made you want) to follow Jesus? When or why not?
Teens & Adults: Have you ever tried to feel better about your sin problem through something other than Jesus? If so, what? What was the result?