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Overcoming Excuses not to Obey the Gospel

Overcoming Excuses not to Obey the Gospel. “Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!” (Luke 14:15-24). “Please consider me excused.”. Only a person with a “good and honest heart” (Luke 8:15) will set aside their excuses. The Gospel is to be Believed and Obeyed.

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Overcoming Excuses not to Obey the Gospel

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  1. Overcoming Excuses not to Obey the Gospel

  2. “Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!” (Luke 14:15-24)

  3. “Please consider me excused.”

  4. Only a person with a “good and honest heart” (Luke 8:15) will set aside their excuses.

  5. The Gospel is to be Believed and Obeyed.

  6. Believing in the gospel is essential for salvation (Rom. 1:16). • Believing in the good news of Christ, of His death, burial, and resurrection is of first importance (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

  7. Obeying the gospel is also essential for salvation! • Becoming a Christian requires obedient faith (e.g., Rom. 6:17-18; 16:25-26). • To be become a Christian then requires not only belief in Christ (John 3:16), but also a confession of faith (Rom. 10:9-10), repentance and baptism into Christ (Acts 2:38).

  8. 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-8 (NASB) 7 … the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

  9. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “I am too young.”

  10. Ecclesiastes 12:1 (NASB) Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them"; - cf. Gal. 6:7

  11. 1 Timothy 4:12 (NASB) Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

  12. Psalm 119:100 (NASB) “I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Thy precepts.”

  13. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “I am not good enough to be a Christian.” • Many mistakenly equate repentance with perfection or some imagined high standard of righteousness. • If we had to wait to be “good enough” no one would ever be ready! (Rom. 3:10, 23; cf. Acts 2:38).

  14. Matthew 9:13 (NASB) "But go and learn what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice, 'for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

  15. We must always remember that Christ died for us while we were all not “good enough” to be children of God (Rom. 5:8).

  16. 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NASB) 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.“ – cf. Gal. 3:27

  17. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “My sins are too great, I cannot change.”

  18. What if Paul thought that way? Acts 9:5-7 (NASB) 5 And he said, "Who art Thou, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do. “ – cf. 1 Tim. 1:12-15

  19. Change is not easy, but with the Lord’s help it can be done! (e.g., 1 Cor. 6:9-11)

  20. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB) 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

  21. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB) Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

  22. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “I am good enough to enter Heaven.”

  23. No matter how “good” or upright you are, good morality alone will save no one (e.g. Acts 10:1-2, 34-48).

  24. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

  25. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “I am too busy.”

  26. “I am too busy.” Many use their work or career as a continual excuse not to obey (Luke 14:18-19)

  27. “I am too busy.” Others occupy their time with worldly activities that choke the Word out of their hearts (Lk 8:14).

  28. 2 Peter 3:4, 10 (NASB) 4 "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." … 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

  29. The shortness and brevity of life teaches us that we should never be too busy for matters that pertain to Eternity! (James 4:14; Heb. 9:27).

  30. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “My Family and/ or Friends Object.”

  31. Family members must not be given more importance than the will of the Lord! (e.g., Luke 14:20)

  32. Matthew 10:37 (NASB) “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

  33. Obeying the gospel may mean replacing old friends with new ones. 2 Cor 6:14 (NASB) Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

  34. Remember, you will have to give an answer before God on why you did not obey and those who objected will not be able to answer for you! (Rom. 14:12).

  35. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “People will ridicule (persecute) me.”

  36. Many do not obey the gospel for fear of what the world may think; they want to maintain “friendship with the world” (Jas 4:4).

  37. To be sure, being a Christian will involve persecution (John 15:19; 2 Tim. 3:12).

  38. 1 Peter 4:14 (NASB) If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.- cf. Mat. 5:10-12

  39. John 16:33 (NASB) "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

  40. The Most Common Excuses Used Today not to Obey the Gospel. • “I am afraid of a long-term commitment.”

  41. To spend our entire lives in service to God may seem like a lot to commit to, yet it is nothing in comparison to Eternity.

  42. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NASB) 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

  43. Romans 8:18 (NASB) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

  44. Revelation 21:3-4 (NASB) 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, 4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. "

  45. Revelation 21:8 (NASB) "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." - cf. Rom. 6:23a; 2 Thes. 1:9

  46. The Call of the Gospel Overrides All Our Excuses (Luke 9:57-62).

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