Pastor Paul Chappell: The Cure

if you have a bible please open it to romans chapter 3. if you don't have a bible that's perfectly fine you should have received some notes on the way in and if i only had 20 minutes or 25 to share with you i would tell you what i'm about to tell you and in these next few moments i would like to share with you what i believe to be the most important message in life i've entitled the message today the cure i think you'll know why in just a moment and i hope that we'll just kind of collect our thoughts and receive this in just a few minutes i heard about a little boy named danny after sunday school he was proudly showing his parents a picture that he had drawn of church and he'd really done a good job he drew the pulpit he drew the pastor everything was very very colorful wild colors in fact but the pastor's eyes were not colored in at all and so danny's mother said to him said danny why didn't you color pastor's eyes and little guy said well it's pretty easy i didn't color his eyes because when he prays he closes his eyes and when he preaches i close my eyes and so i hope you'll not do that this morning i hope these next few minutes you'll you'll stay alert and listen and i think all of us have uh have known through this year that god wants to do something and we want to hear him we want to hear from god during times like this and i hope these uh these scriptures will be a help to us today uh some tougher news and then some better news so listen to the whole message but let's read romans 3 23 and it says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation we'll define that in a moment through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of god to declare i say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in jesus let's gather together and let us pray father we thank you for the opportunity to pause and recognize those who have served so wonderfully this year again we pray your blessing upon their lives and their families and now we ask as we open the bible that you would speak to our hearts and give us truth that we might act upon in this hour and i pray in jesus name amen you may be seated well as you can tell by now we all gather here from different backgrounds different cultures different jobs and most of us are fairly comfortable in cultures of our own understanding uh those with medical backgrounds they're comfortable around medical equipment and in the hospitals and our police officers and sheriffs are their deputies are comfortable in the squad cars and going into their environment each and every day and i hope that you'll all feel comfortable here at lancaster baptist church as god has brought us together this morning but even as some are comfortable in maybe a hospital setting they would not want to drive a say a squad car each and every day they would feel a little bit uncomfortable in that environment and others who are comfortable around the sheriff's station you probably would not want them to put an iv in your arm if that was the case if that was the need above all every one of us would have to say this morning that we have times in our life when we're around these different cultures and environments and we really just need to get some context to try to understand exactly what's going on years ago i did a few ride-alongs with some of our deputies and right at first all the codes would come out it would be a little confusing and you're trying to understand what's happening and you'll maybe hear there's a 415 and you're not sure what that is until you see some guys fighting or you'll hear them call out maybe a 211 or something like that and you'll know later that it's a robbery or the one i'm told is called out the most 273.5 felony spousal assault isn't it sad that one of those that's called the most uh is husbands and wives battling against one another and that's why people need the lord and need a good church but you hear those terms and if you're you know kind of a layman in that squad car you're kind of trying to figure out what all is going on you're trying to learn that culture i think we especially feel the need to understand when it pertains to our health you know we want to know what's being said and what's going on with respect to our our health we want the doctor or the nurse to kind of break the terms down for us and and help us to know what's going on with ourselves or with our loved ones i remember back in december when i was diagnosed with uh covert 19 i went to colorado for my mother's funeral and i was not able to see her for eight months before uh she went to be with the lord because of covet 19 and finally we went back for the funeral and uh and many people as they called it a super spreader type thing uh had covet from that time and i remember driving all the way back to uh california uh feeling terrible and and going into er over at av hospital and as i went in they did one of those quick tests how many of you had the joy of having one of those tests right up the nose isn't that a blessing having that and uh so they did that and and a few minutes later they came out and said yep you've got it and uh and so they they begin to tell me what they're gonna do and they said this is what they were going to give me i've got to put it up on the board because it was bam leniv imab and if i didn't say it right doctors don't tell anybody and so suddenly i'm now trying to figure out okay what is bam leniv and i want to get the context of what's happening they said oh it's something that we're going to put in your body over the next 45 minutes with an iv drip i'm like okay but what is it they said oh that's easy it's a monoclonal antibody and i'm like okay a little more information and then they begin to say well it's a laboratory made protein that mimics the immune system's ability to fight off these dangerous antigens and so i'm you know now i'm sort of getting a little bit of an idea of it and and all of us have been there you know what's going on what what are they talking about what does this mean well this morning i'm not qualified to diagnose you physically and by the way neither are any of the pundits on the major tv stations i'm not really qualified to tell you what's going on medically i won't try to do that this morning but let me say this morning the bible is very clear when it comes to our basic needs in life the bible speaks to those issues i i like what president ronald reagan once said about the bible he said indeed it is an incontrovertible fact that all the complex and horrendous questions confronting us at home and worldwide have their answer in that single book and so this morning i want to share a few principles from this great book that i believe will give us perspective because the bible tells us that so much of the hurt and the hate in our world really derives from a sin problem in our lives in our culture and in our world but the bible not only shows us the problems it also gives us the cure and so we're going to break down a few terms and hopefully this morning we'll leave here with a better understanding of god's message to each and every one of us i want you to think with me first of all about the cause of separation in this world why is it that so many things are breaking apart why do we see oftentimes a degeneration in our society and spiritually even we see disconnectedness and families that are separated one from another well the bible speaks about it in verse 23 the bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god now that's kind of a basic verse but let's just say it together shall we for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god now you know it's it's common for us to wonder why are these problems existing it's like wondering where did that sickness come from remember when we were at that stage everyone wanted to know the origin of covet 19 so they could work on the cure of covid19 back in january of 2020 there was a doctor in china dr lee wayne long an ophthalmologist you may have heard about him on the news at wuhan central hospital he noticed seven very strange cases of virus and as he studied them he thought they were closely related to sars and it turns out they actually were they also were were related as coronavirus what he did not know was that he had discovered this brand new virus this coronavirus 19 and sadly less than ten days after his discovery he became ill and three days after he went to the hospital he was the first to pass away with coronavirus everybody wanted to know what had he learned and and uh and and what were other uh ideas or indicators of this virus so what is the cause of so much of the hate and abuse in our world well the bible would indicate that the cause is sin for all have sinned the bible says and comes short of the glory of god it's interesting in romans 5 12 the bible says it this way wherefore as by one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned now we don't have time to study the whole book of genesis but some of you might remember that god created male and female novel thought but that's what he actually did and their names the bible says were adam and eve and god brought them together in a beautiful ceremony the first wedding ceremony in world history but adam and eve made choices adam could be referred to as the federal head of the human race and some of their choices were against god's plan and god's revealed will for them and they sinned and the bible says by one man sin entered into the world now that's difficult news but the good news is but by one man jesus christ forgiveness comes into the world and that's where you find god's god's forgiveness for each and every one the bible is clear that sin is a universal problem how many of you have noticed that children are sinners and maybe not your grandchildren but other than your grandchildren i have 11 grandchildren they are not sinners they're just struggling along in obedience but you don't have to teach kids how to sin i mean they figure it out quite easily i heard about a man that made a phone call the other day to a house and a little boy answered with a whisper and he said hello and the man said is your mother there and the boy said she's busy and he said is your father there little boy said he's busy he said is anyone else there the boy said yes a policeman and a fireman well can i speak to them the boy said they're busy the man said well what's everybody doing the boy said they're looking for me you understand and of course parents parents are sinners we parents sometimes transgress heard about a man that was in a hurry he had his eight-year-old in the car with him he does an illegal turn and as he does this illegal u-turn he looks in the mirror he says uh oh i just made an illegal turn and the little boy said in the back seat it's okay dad the police car right behind you did the same thing not good kids are sinners and parents are sinners republicans are sinners democrats are sinners red yellow black brown white it really really doesn't matter in fact you know just from god's perspective there's will really one race the human race and from god's perspective it's a fallen race that needs redemption and that's why the bible says that god sent his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life you know preachers are sinners preachers the bible says in 1st timothy 1 15 this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that christ jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom i am chief the apostle paul said i needed jesus more than anybody needed jesus all of us are sinners cops are sinners and doctors are sinners i'm not trying to be negative i'm just saying there's this universal problem i remember years ago i was going to go out and visit the uh the i believe it was rockwell maybe northrop they were working on the space shuttle over here at plant 42. and so the guy that was going to take me said no pastor this is a real high-end deal he said everybody has a high-end security clearance i mean you've got to really be checked out before you can even go in and make the visit and so they said we need your social security card so i gave them my social security card and i didn't know what all they're going to check maybe my tithing records at the church i wasn't sure you know i was a little nervous about it and finally a few weeks later they came back and they said all right you passed you're going to be able to go in and see all of this and and uh and but remember everybody that works here has really high security clearances i mean they are as clear as you can get i said okay and i was really a little bit nervous about it and we go in and uh congressman you flew in these fighters and we walk in and we have to walk through metal detectors and i said well why why are we walking through why are we walking through metal detectors why are all the employees going through metal detectors and they said well just you know in case they steal anything or take anything home from the tool crib i said oh and they have the highest security clearances in all of the united states of america doesn't that make me feel good and i said why did they have those plastic clear bags with bringing their lunch and these clear bags that you can see through and he said oh that's so that you know no secrets are taken or nothing i said oh and they have the highest security clearances of everybody in the united states of america now think about that why is that because of the pr the depravity of man all of us have that potential all of us can have fallen the bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god sin is universal and the thing about sin it separates us primarily from god notice what it says here it says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god sin has this way of separating i remember as i was diagnosed with covet i mean the minute they found out ed that i had coveted uh they took me away from the waiting room from all the others in in the er waiting room and they took me through this little plastic uh kind of an area that was closed off and they closed it when i went through and i sat in a green chair with other people who were there in that space of confinement because they wanted to separate anyone with that virus from the general population and you know that's what sin does sin causes people to be separated from one another sometimes from families sometimes people are incarcerated and separated because of sin our deputies see it every single day friends are separated because of sin but the worst separation is that we're separated from god we don't have a closeness to god when there is this sin nature romans 6 23 even says the wages of sin is death it's the ultimate separation from god that results in a man's sin and so all of us need to start there and realize how much we really need the lord maybe it's illustrated here with this just to simply see that if if as a man i want to have a relationship with god according to romans 3 23 what's keeping me from having that relationship is the fact that god is holy and i have sin in my life and by my nature i have sinned and so the cause of separation in this world is sin but i want you to see secondly the good news and that's the cure what's the cure for this problem you know that's what we always want to know the truth is we definitely have a sin problem and i don't tell you something and someone said it earlier we are for our police today you'll never hear me calling for a defunding of police i appreciate what you said we need to defend the police not defund the police but the fact is the police cannot cure sin they're only dealing with the the symptoms of it they're dealing with the externals only jesus christ can cure sin the bible says there is none other name given under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved it is the name and the work of jesus christ that's why at christmas time we read this verse luke 2 11. for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior which is christ the lord the reason we need a savior is because of the sin problem if our greatest need had been education god would have sent an educator if our greatest need had been money god would have sent an economist if our greatest need had been science god would have sent a scientist but our greatest need was salvation so god sent a savior to bring the cure for our sin now let me tell you something about this cure when someone turns in complete faith to jesus christ jesus will justify them now let's break that down look at verse 24 being justified freely by his grace now here's one of those terms like when you go to the doctor well what does that mean let's look at justified for just a minute justified it means to be declared in a right relationship to god through jesus christ all right let's say that together ready begin to be declared in a right relationship to god through jesus christ so justified is to be declared right with god through christ now let me show you how amazing this is and if you have the little notes there or you want to look in your bible first corinthians 6 verse 9 says this know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of god now how many of you would just say that's heavy i mean the bible's saying these people some of those things maybe some of them say i've done some of that are not going to inherit the kingdom of god that's heavy but look at the very next verse and such were some of you but you are washed but you are sanctified but you are justified in the name of the lord jesus christ and so god says look at it doesn't matter what you've done covetousness abusers of yourself it doesn't matter fornication adultery whatever it is he says let me tell you what the church is the church is just a bunch of sinners saved by grace people who have found what it means to be justified before god because of jesus christ and so we see that it doesn't matter what your past holds what matters is this what will we do with jesus christ and his finished work on the cross jesus justifies and by the way he justifies freely did you see that in verse 24 being justified freely by his grace romans 6 23 says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord now think about that verse the gift of god god is not asking you to earn your salvation it is a gift that he has already paid for it is it is free to us but it was not free to him he went to the cross he shed his blood he endured excruciating pain the the most horrific pain that one could ever experience on the cross of calvary is what jesus endured in order that we could receive this gift called justification now back in december when when i had kovid we tried real hard terry and i not not to spread it i didn't want to spread it to her but as things worked out we both we both came to the place where we had coveted together and they had they had told me you know when you get home they said wear a mask have your wife wear a mask i have her stay at one side of the house and we did i stayed in the bedroom and and uh once or twice a day she would bring me my food like a prisoner in prison she'd give it to me under the door and she'd run away from me but with all that precaution she got it too and we really learned how you know covid separated us but now she got it here we were december 27th our 40th wedding anniversary and we're in bed with covin and we had other plans you know i was i was planning a little more romantic time and and i had actually purchased terry a beautiful band to kind of go by her wedding band for her 40th anniversary and and i was going to give it to her maybe a restaurant or whatever and i'd talk to my daughters about it and we picked out just the right one so i got up off my chair and i went over to the closet where i had it and i i put that ring on her finger and i told her how much i loved her and and and she she appreciated it and she she was excited about it but if i would have said now terry this thing cost it cost bank and for us to afford this guardiness you're going to have to get a part-time job and if i would have if i would have said and by the way it'd be nice if you'd throw in like a couple shoulder rubs a day just to you know help me with the stress if i would have said that to her at the moment i asked her to do something it ceases being a gift it's no longer a gift if she has to work for it ladies and gentlemen religion says do jesus says done it's really important to understand that salvation is really a gift it's all of grace in fact that's what it says in verse 24 justified freely by his grace he gives us freely this salvation and i ask people all the time do you know for sure that heaven would be your home someday and everyone normally says something like well i hope i sure hope so but god wants us to receive a gift and to know surely that we possess his salvation he wants us to know it's free he wants to give it to us by grace it's not something that we deserve john 1 17 says for the law was given by moses but grace and truth came by jesus christ you see jesus was born of a virgin he he lived a perfectly sinless life he was tempted in all points like we are but he never sinned and yet uh for his love for us he went to the cross of calvary and there the roman soldiers placed the nails through his hands and through his feet and the crown of thorns upon his head and the spear through his side and and the blood came flowing down for the bible said without the remission of the shedding of the blood there's no remission of sin and jesus shed his blood and paid the price he became our first responder for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost jesus christ came to bring the cure for sin that no church and no religion could ever bring jesus brought it when he shed his blood upon the cross that's why he came you see the cause of pain and separation is it's from sin the cure of sin is found in the work of jesus in the justifying work of the cross of jesus and then i want to say as we close this morning what is the condition of the saved that word saved is a bible term for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved it's a bible word i hear people in hollywood make fun of it it's because they they're not saved yet they don't know christ but when you know christ that word saved has meaning to you it means i've been redeemed by his blood what is the condition of the saved well after someone accepts jesus christ as their savior once they ask him to come into their life the bible tells us here in verse 25 whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood speaking of jesus the first thing that happens when someone accepts jesus christ as their savior is that their sins are covered their sins are covered now here's another word just two vocabulary words today one is justification here's another one propitiation it's kind of a big word if you if you look at it it has a great meaning it means to turn away anger by offering a gift to cover or gain favor jesus christ when he shed his blood provided a sacrifice for our sin even though we deserve the wrath of god the judgment of god the wages of sin is death jesus says i've got you covered by my blood i want uh to appease the wrath of the father and to give you forgiveness and a covering and so second corinthians 5 21 says for he god made him jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin jesus knew no sin yet he we maybe made the righteousness of god through jesus christ so jesus christ took upon himself your sin and mine and when he shed his blood he became the covering the propitiation for our sins so when someone accepts christ as savior their sins are covered now listen to me you can climb up the steps of churches until your knees bleed that will not cover your sin you can give money until it hurts that will not cover your sin we do not work our way into heaven or cover our own sin jesus has it covered but we must believe on the name of the lord jesus christ and so our sins are covered when we turn to christ and we are saved from wrath when we turn to christ romans 5 and 9 much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath to come there's a lot of fear in this world and there's a lot of fear about how this world will end and god says know this when you trust my son as your savior that you will be saved from the wrath to come and you will be given eternal life your sins are covered you're saved from the wrath to come and you will receive eternal life now if you have your notes look at first john 5 13 it says this these things have i written unto you that believe on the name of the son of god that ye may know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the son of god here we see a promise in the bible he that has the son has life here it says that you may know that you have everlasting life friend do you know that today do you know that you've been covered do you know that you have everlasting life we've all seen the the fragile nature of this world in which we live most of us have seen someone slip off into eternity this year this is the most important question like i said if i had just 20 minutes with you in in my office or in your living room this is what i'd want to talk with you about because we must prepare do you know that you have everlasting life the bible says you can know it now people like to talk about uh vaccinations and and and so forth and let me just say this about the vaccinations i'm really thankful for every scientist that works so hard to get them ready so fast and we've all watched the news as they've rolled out and some they've said are 95 ethical some are 94 ethica some are maybe 86 percent some are other other percentages given but let me tell you about the blood of jesus christ the blood of jesus christ is 100 percent efficacy to cover your sin and mine when you accept jesus christ as savior you can know that you have everlasting life when you believe on the name of the lord jesus christ you have a guarantee from the bible that you can know that you have everlasting life and when we take this uh this uh vaccine and and we're hoping that it's a good one and most of the time it has been praise god for that but what i'm telling you is there is no doubt in the bible that when someone turns to jesus god's son that god is pleased with what jesus did on the cross and that you are covered by faith when you trust jesus christ as your savior and so as we close this morning how does someone receive that cure we all i'm sure would agree that we're sinners we all have a need don't we but how do you get that cure how do you how do you get the covering and how can you know that you have a home in heaven well i'm going to share very quickly a verse or two and we'll be done acts chapter 20 and verse 21 says this testifying both to the jews and also to the greeks repentance toward god and faith toward our lord jesus christ it's kind of a simultaneous thing salvation salvation comes when someone repents that is they turn from whatever else they were trusting they turn uh from a life that is against god and they turn in faith to jesus christ repentance toward god a spirit of remorse perhaps a sense that i am a sinner and i turn to jesus christ as the one who can cover my sin and i recognize it's not a church that i'm turning to it's not a prophet that i'm turning to it's not a teacher it is jesus christ god's son and when someone has that conviction of heart and they turn and believe on christ they are saved the bible says i i've spoken to lots of county health and county supervisor and and our mayor and so many others throughout this last year especially in the early portion of the pandemic and and our mayor we spoke probably once a week for a good stretch there maybe more than that he was and is he's been very concerned for our community and on january the 1st i called uh our mayor rex paris and i said rex i have a friend who might be able to help us with this and i told him about franklin graham i told him about samaritan's purse and and he said any any help we could get would be great and i called franklin and i said franklin i said i know you were mistreated for your faith by new york city some of you may have seen that in the news they were because of their faith and their belief regarding home and marriage they were treated very very poorly i said i think if you'd come to lancaster california if you'd if you'd consider us that our city would treat you very kindly and be very appreciative of it and most of you know the story i mean just within four days they had flown a dc-8 jet with a field hospital that was placed right outside of the antelope valley hospital and and they were able to tend to many many patients i think ed this was referred to as the fifth floor for a while if i remember correctly and it was just a wonderful moment of collaborative teamwork in our community to help others who were sick and last week i was preaching in north carolina and i uh took some time after the meeting and i drove over to see the samaritan's purse operation and i spent some time with franklin graham there and we had lunch terry and i with he and his wife jane and we were talking about america he knows a little bit about our country and what's going on and we were talking about the spiritual needs of this land he showed me a little video that he's going to be putting out on news channels with the gospel and he said i i want to mention the blood atonement of jesus and and the resurrection and and he said did you know something else he said paul i really think we need to get back in this country to the principle of repentance in fact he said i feel the emphasis on repentance is necessary now more than ever he said people need to turn from whatever else they're trusting in you see if we don't have a heart of repentance it would be easy to say well i'm a pastor i'll go to heaven i'm a good guy i'm a cop i help other people i'm a i'm a surgeon i've saved some lives surely i will go to heaven because of what i do or what i try to do and yet the bible says no all of our righteousness is as filthy rags it's not of our works it's by his grace and so being saved is really just coming to that place where you say i can't save myself i'm not good enough and i turn to the lord jesus christ i must have a heart repenting of sin confessing of sin and then finally i must believe on the lord jesus christ romans 10 and verse 9 but if thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thine heart that god hath raised jesus from the dead thou shalt be saved let me say that one again if you will believe in your heart so it can't just be lip service but you really believe this and you'll say it with your mouth lord i confess to you that i i am a sinner and you died and you rose again and no one else did that and i believe you're god's son and you died for me and you've got me covered i ask you to come into my life and save me when someone says that from their heart the bible says whoever will call upon the name of the lord shall be saved it's the gift that god provides through jesus now when i was in the hospital i can't say that i completely understood all the science behind bam that's what i'm going to just call it bam i tried to understand it you can ask my doctor i like to google stuff and figure stuff out but i didn't understand it all look at here i just knew i was sick i knew i didn't feel well and i made a decision that day sitting in that green chair to put my arm out and to take some medicine to get some help you may not know all 66 books of the bible you may not even be able to say the ten commandments it's okay if you believe that you are a sinner and that jesus christ did something that was never done before he lived a perfect life he died he rose again and if you would be willing to turn to him in childlike faith and say lord jesus i recognize that i'm a sinner and i ask you to come into my heart the bible says he will come in he will cleanse you he will cover you and he'll give you a home in heaven you see i guess it can best be illustrated with this illustration of a man who so wants to know that he's with the lord for eternity but every man and every woman here must decide who are we going to trust to come to god don't trust a church don't trust me as a man don't trust religion but i can recommend to you to trust the perfectly sinless son of god and when you do you too will be saved by grace you will receive the cure for the sin problem when you accept christ as savior it doesn't mean you'll never sin again how many of you have noticed christians sometimes mess up but what it means god has you covered by his grace and by his love and so i want you to think about this with me why so much separation why because of sin what's the cure for that sin the cure is the justification the propitiation of jesus christ and then the condition of the saved well we're covered and we're heaven bound through jesus christ i pray that many today will seek that covering in christ

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

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Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, cure, Romans 3

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Length: 35min 55sec (2155 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021