God's War on Sin
(Plan of Salvation and Why Men Reject it)
by Rick Arnold
All Nations Worship Center, Litchfield, IL
July 2006

I. (Romans 1:16) Introduction

1. “Fired Out“ not angry

2. Using analogies not a campaign speech

3. Limbaugh
a) Great communicator of truth
b) Man of principle
c) Exposed liberal agenda that has biased the media d) Like him I want to get back to a pure message

4. Read “I am not ashamed“
a) There is a fire burning in my heart to hold up to you the pure, unadulterated, complete, and powerful gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of this message. There seems to be many today who are ashamed of this heaven sent message in its purest form. They seek to water it down, eliminate part of it, add traditions of men to it, or deny it altogether. But we do so to our own destruction.

I am not ashamed of the message that so many men throughout history have held up as a burning torch to light the way. These men gave their time, money, energy, and even their very lives to the great cause of this message. They were slaughtered like animals by the hands of wicked, cruel, and merciless men who loved darkness rather than light. I am not ashamed of this message that has by itself been the single greatest factor in history to promote truth, justice, mercy, and honor for all.

Where would we be had not this great light first came to us and had not this great light brought us out of the dark ages. And yet sadly, today there are countless numbers of people who are in still in darkness even to this day. There is no reason for it because a great light has come to earth. He came 2000 years ago and the fire He brought still burns today. It still warms the hearts and lights the paths of millions on earth. This light is available to all if they will but seek the truth with an honest heart. There are those that talk about not wanting to have blind faith, but I know of no blind faith, for the moment I believed my heart was flooded with a great light. My eyes were opened and I could see as I had never seen before. No, faith is not blind. We can come to the light and see if we choose to, but sadly many are ashamed and won't come to the light. They love darkness rather than light.

II. (Romans 1:16-32) The Condition of Man

1.(vs 21) Universally and willfully in darkness

2. (vs 18) Suppress the truth to appease the conscience

3. (vs19) God is made known by creation and “in“ us
a) Creation = God is, and He is all wise and all powerful
b) Inward creation = God is holy, loving, just
c) We are keenly aware that because of the law of our own hearts that God has a law and we have broken it
d) All these things we know unless we have suppressed the truth

4. (vs 22-32) Downward spiral into darkness

5. (vs 18,20,32) Without excuse, sentenced to death

III. (John 3:1-7) Man Needs a New Heart

1. (vs 7) Why did Nicodemus marvel
a) Every man who is honest with himself knows he needs a great change of heart if he hopes to know God and to go to heaven. This change needed is what we call being “born again“

2. Definition of “born again“
a) To get a new heart
b) To go from being sinful to holy
c) Process is accomplished by illumination of Holy Spirit and is likened to being made new.

IV. (John 3:16-18) God's Plan of Salvation

1. (vs 16-18) Provision for the new birth came from the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
a) Life - light, word, love manifested to bring conviction
b) Death - Paid the price for our sin
c) Resurrection - Power over death and same Spirit was sent to us

V. (John 3:19-21) Why so Many Reject God's Love and Refuse to be Saved
1. The condemnation is that the light has come into the world and all can see if they want to
a) Light of Jesus
b) Light of His people
c) Light of the Word
d) Light of the Spirit

2. Why? Because men are selfish and love darkness rather than light

VI. (1John 1:5-10) Many have deceived themselves into thinking they love God and are walking in the light
1. We can see a similar deception today the way that liberals say they are for the troops but not for the mission
a) Undermine the commander and chief
b) They say one thing but all their actions tend to aid the enemy
c) They say don't question are patriotism! Why not?

2. Analogy of the war on terror and God's war on sin a) We in the United States have declared war on terror. It is very serious. Some say we are in world war 3. The Jihadist seek to completely annihilate us. There is no mercy in the spirit of Islam. We can not appease them. They want to kill us or convert us. That is what they believe is right. That is a perfect analogy for Satan. You can not bargain with Satan. He has come to steal, kill, and destroy you and to bring you to hell with him. God had declared a war on sin in the earth today. God's agenda is to destroy the works of the devil. The Bible says that Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.

b) We, the United States, do not want to destroy Iraq. We are trying to win the hearts and minds of the people. Before we go in and bomb a place we drop pamphlets from the sky to warn the people what we are about to do. Tell me another nation that would do that. We bring food and support the civilians and we end up rebuilding the country. There are some that argue that we should just go over and wipe them out and but that is not our nature here in America. God is the same way. God has dropped a pamphlet from the sky called the Bible and has warned us to flee from the wrath to come. He provides sunshine, food, and rain for us every day rather than destroying the sinful earth. He has rebuilt the lives of millions of people on the earth.
c) There are times however when the assault from the enemy becomes so great that total annihilation is necessary. Hiroshima is an example of that. The threat became so bad there was only one thing left to do and we drop the A-Bomb. God had an A-Bomb once Sodom and Gomorra and there will be another at the second coming of Christ when Christ will slay all those that oppose the gospel. We are presently in a season of grace and God is calling to the hearts of men to repent. We open are borders in this nation and allow immigrants to come in. We say we want you to have a better life and God has opened up His kingdom but only for a season. He asks will you come in? In the old days the immigrants used to assimilate but now days they are doing away with that. God's kingdom is the same you have to assimilate you have to take up the holy culture of heaven, you can't just stay the same and not change.

d) Despite our efforts to be so merciful many people have a blind prejudice and hatred for the United States and particularly for George W. Bush. Despite God's long-suffering to men. Men refuse to repent and come to the light and be holy and the have a special prejudice and hatred for Jesus Christ. If you talk religion no one gets upset, You start talking Jesus and people get upset. Don't you say Jesus in our schools. That is the same spirit and the same prejudiced working in both cases.

e) Many governments and diplomats of sovereign nations talk of peace and pretend to be on the side of freedom and justice for all. Like Jesus said, beware of those that say peace, peace. They are really governed by selfish ambition for power. We are sovereign rulers over our own will. We see the light, admire it, We agree that it is good, but we refuse to come to it because we have selfish ambitions for the pleasures of sin.

f) Many countries, while professing to be our allies, harbor, aid, fund, and encourage our terrorists. We often while professing a love for God make provision for the flesh and literally harbor, protect, and secretly love our sin.
g) It is our expectation that these countries cease from all such activities and immediately devote all of their resources and power to routing out and destroying the terror cells that have embedded themselves in these countries. Likewise it is God's expectation, that we immediately turn and repent from all selfish love for sin and devote all of our resources and power to destroying the strongholds of sin that we have allowed Satan to build in our hearts and minds.

h) Though it may be a long and hard battle and though we may not find every terrorist cell immediately, it is not a complicated issue. You are either for us or against us. That is the Bush doctrine. We expect these countries to open their borders and to be fully transparent. Likewise God, though we may not be outwardly perfect in a moment it is not complicated. We are either for or against God. We can not have it both ways. We must come to the light, let our deeds be fully seen. We must open our borders and let God in. We must get honest and transparent with God and repent and confess our sins to Him.

i) We expect these countries to disarm and to get rid of any and all illegal weapons of mass destruction. Likewise God wants us to disarm and get rid of all of our excuses which are actually weapons used to assault His kingdom

j) Many of these countries say, “We agree that these terrorists are evil and they should be destroyed but we lack the power to overthrow them or the technology to find them. We stand and say we have the greatest fighting force on earth and we have the greatest technology of the day. We are committed and we will stand with you until the battle is won. Many of us say we know these strongholds, these attitudes, these sins, they ought to go, but we have not the power and understanding needed to overthrow them but this excuse will never hold because God says I am the all powerful God and I have given to you all things that pertain to life and godliness through the cross and the supply of the Spirit. I will never leave you nor forsake you until the battle is won

k) Being Americans we have tasted the greatness of freedom and it is hard for us to imagine a country that would refuse such an offer and yet it is happening all around the world. Standing before you here today I am a Christian. I have been born again, and I have tasted of the freedom from sin. I am committed to the cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My entire life is dedicated for one purpose to advance the great Kings agenda in this earth. I will use all of my power, time, efforts, and resources to do what He has called me to do. I tell you today that the same way an American could not understand how a person would not want to have freedom, I can not understand why anybody in this room would not want to come to Jesus and be free from the bondage of sin. There is no sin powerful enough to keep you from Him.

VII. (1John 2:1-6) God's plan to be saved

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