November 10, 2024
Get Right With God
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Have you ever wondered if God is for you?
“I smoke weed and I am a lesbian. So, I’m guessing God does not want to talk with me.”
We were all created for a connection with God.
Luke 18:9 NIV
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
Luke 18:10 NIV
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”
Luke 18:11 NIV
“The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”
Luke 18:12 NIV
“I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
Luke 18:13 NIV
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”
Mercy literally = cover over my sin.
How do I “atone” for my wrongs?
1 John 2:1 NIV
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
1 John 2:2 NIV
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus is both my atoning sacrifice and my advocate before the Father in Heaven.
Romans 3:25-26 NIV
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Hebrews 2:14 NIV
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil
Hebrews 2:15 NIV
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Hebrews 2:17 NIV
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2:18 NIV
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Because Jesus has connected us to God, it frees us to connect with others.
Luke 18:14 NIV
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”