Last wk. I asked the question, are fundamental, conservative Christians too narrow minded ?

 & I spoke about how Jesus himself said that he is the only way to enter heaven and the entrance into it is very narrow and few will find it

in todays society we have all kinds of people preaching their beliefs of how one goes to heaven

there are some whose concept of heaven is a place that does not include Jesus

some believe its a place where a man gets 70 virgins for his eternal pleasure

 some believe its a place of perfect peace and where meditation and self realization

 for some it only includes 144,000 and the rest will stay on earth and transform it into a new Eden where everyone is of the same religion and anyone not of their religion are annihilated

 for others its just a place where you go and then sent back but in a different type of life and eventually you’ll experience what its like to be a different life form

but for those who believe in the biblical account of heaven, its a place where God and his Son live

 and we have to make a decision before we die if we want to spend it in heaven with God and his Son or reject them 

& this morning we’re going to take a closer look at the narrow way

 We are living in an age of relativism = Relativism is sometimes identified that all points of view are equally valid. In ethics, this amounts to saying that all moralities are equally good; in epistemology it implies that all beliefs, or belief systems, are equally true.

 We of course reject this, because not all points of view are equal, not all beliefs are valid,

 not all morality is good and not all belief systems are equal

 some are not based on truth, some reject God which causes inequality

We looked at some definitions like Social Justice and Social Gospel, these terms are all out of Liberalism, its obvious that Liberalism is anti-God and is destroying our nation.

 

We live in a time of tolerance = The heart of tolerance is self-control. When we tolerate an activity, we resist our urge to forcefully prohibit the expression of activities that we find unpleasant.  More abstractly, toleration can be understood as a political practice aiming at neutrality, objectivity, or fairness on the part of political agents. These ideas are related in that the goal of political neutrality is deliberate restraint of the power that political authorities have to negate the life activities of its citizens and subjects. Related to toleration is the virtue of tolerance, which can be defined as a tendency toward toleration. Toleration is usually grounded upon an assumption about the importance of the autonomy of individuals. This assumption and the idea of toleration are central ideas in modern liberal theory and practice.

 When you look at the definition of tolerance, we agree

 But how our government is forcing its view of tolerance upon its citizens, we disagree

 Our government & its agencies like schools & colleges views are, we are free to do anything we want & no one has the right to say its wrong or sinful thats why they refuse to condemn Islam or homosexuality

 and – American people must be tolerant of those things

 but then they take it farther, not only do we have to be tolerant, but we must agree and accept how others choose to live, no matter how outrages and sinful it may be

 this is what has been called political correctness

 Political correctness or politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,

 According to our Government any ideas, gender race, culture, sexual orientation, other religions beliefs one has to be tolerant of except those who disagree with them, LIKE CHRISTIANS!

 this is where Christianity & our world comes to a disagreement

 there are many things with-in these areas that the bible describes as sin

 Biblical Christianity begins with an understanding of sin which has been rejected by todays world

 today we no longer have sin, we have disorders, addictions, mental health issues, personality quirks, a failure to conform to societies rules or behavior, but no one has sin

Sin is real, it began when Lucifer decided he wanted to take Gods throne & rule Gods creation, God wouldn’t allow this rebellion by Lucifer and cast him from his position and God cursed him & he became Satan

 

Because of Satan, Sin came into the world and as a result, we are all born under the penalty of sin

We must be truthful about our sinfulness, when we deny that we sin, we remove the possibility of receiving forgiveness from God

 but when we acknowledge our sin, this allows us the freedom of walking in the light of our salvation

 

I Jn. 1: 5-8

 

In every courtroom a question is asked of the accused, How do you plead?

 But the words “I’m Guilty” is seldom heard

 no one today feels responsible for their own actions, its always someone elses fault, their parents, society, school or – dog

 Dr. Karl Menniger wrote a book called “Whatever Happened to Sin?”

 He said” sin was a word that once was on everybodys mind, but now, rarely if ever is it heard, no one has committed sin, where did it go? What became of it?

 What happened to it is, its been explained away

today the criminal has become the victim

In NY , Bernard McCummings mugged & brutally beat an elderly man in a subway, as he ran away, a cop shot him & he was permanently paralyzed

 he sued & won 4.8 million the man he mugged a cancer patient is still paying doctor bills 

• court said – mugger became – bigger victim

In San Francisco a man murdered a fellow worker because he ate too much junk food especially twinkies, it caused him a hyperactivity that he could not control

• jury agreed & reduced his charge

we live in a society plagued by victimization in which no one is willing to plead guilty for his actions or take responsibility for the things he does

 no one has sinned, we’re all helpless victims of – forces around us

Can science simply explain away our failures so that we no longer have to deal with them?

 

One by one the evils of this world and the sins of mankind have fallen prey to the most powerful of all scientific weapons,

• explanation

 

anthropology, psychology, and sociology have cast aside sin and guilt for more tasteful alternatives such as:

 political repression, poor living conditions, dysfunctional families and bad inherited genes

 one by one human failings have been removed from the classification of sin & have been replaced under the classification of disease or disability

 I’m sick or I have a disorder is much more preferred than saying I’m a sinner who is committing sin

 

But heres – problem when we say we don’t sin, we become self deceived

 I Jn. 1:8

if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us

 

you see when I can no longer admit that I have sin then I no longer have to take responsibility for the things I do & if I can convince myself that I’m not responsible, then I no longer have to feel guilty over how I act

 

When an entire generation can no longer say they are a sinner, the way into heaven becomes impossible

 for only those who can say, dear Lord, I’m a sinner can receive forgiveness and find their way through – narrow gate that leads to eternal life

 

in Johns time there was a similar mindset, there were false teachers in – church who were saying they were without sin

so John responds to these false teachers by first telling them that they were in darkness in vs:6 and that – truth was not in them

 John is telling them if they deny their sin then their deliberately refusing to face facts

 

We have people do the same thing today, I watch people in our leadership of this country who say they are so smart, actually brilliant, they know whats best for America

just look to them & they’ll guide us, their our role models & I look at these people & how they live, and what they believe

 

& I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t want them for a role model for my cat let alone for me & if I believed the way they do, I might as well pack my bag for hell today

 

John is telling these men that they might as well pack their bags for hell because their liars and the the truth is not in them

folks to even suggest that we have not sinned, is to refute what God has said to mankind since Adam

I Jn. 1:9

 this is the proper attitude that we must have toward sin, never deny that we have sin but rather be truthful & confess it

 & he will forgive us, cleanse us from all unrighteousness