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Castaway

Words of Faith Final

Castaway
Words of Faith 7-15-2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Romans 1
    [28] Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. [29] They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; [31] they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32] Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

         What is the destination or condition at the end of a human journey away from God?
         The destination here is a description of the human condition in which humanity has rejected the full knowledge of God and has been given over or abandoned by God to a "depraved" mind.  
         The word is a strong one.  The greek means "castaway" or abandoned.  Having seared their consciences with deliberate sin and having put God out of their minds, lost humanity expresses itself in a long dark list that starts with four basic forms of active sin: wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. These words describe the condition of the unregenerate human heart.
         Out of such a dark heart comes seventeen specific acts of sin: envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip (assassination by tongue),  slander, God-hate, insolence, arrogance, boasting, invented evil, disobedience to parents, senselessness, faithlessness, heartlessness, and ruthlessness. Saddest of all is the reality that many of these sins remain among those who call themselves believers!   It is, in fact, common to see envy, strife, gossip, arrogance, boastfulness, and envy within the church.  Although we work out our salvation with fear and trembling as the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, we also cannot assume that those within the church are indeed regenerate born again.  Church history has shown clearly that the institutional church has been perfectly capable of murder, deceit, malice, slanderers, and the ruthless treatment of people.  This does not reflect the heart of God or the True Body of Christ, but the heart of sinful man in rebellion.
         All of this serves to describe the condition of humanity or the "problem" that needed to be addressed by God in the person of Jesus.  Humanity is utterly lost and incapable of saving itself.  The great lie of our age-- that humanity will somehow evolve into a 21st-century utopia-- is utterly impossible and ridiculous.  For all our technology and God-given talent, human depravity continues to drive us toward oblivion without God.  
         The resolution of this problem will be the focus of much of our continued study in Romans.  We will be concerned with God's act of grace and offer of salvation to humans in the person and work of Jesus.  Now that we have considered the road away from God, we will begin a study of the road that God has provided back to Him.  Here are the basics of the road of salvation in Romans which we often call the "Roman Road":
1)   SIN.  Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
2)   CONSEQUENCE and GRACE.  Romans 6:23   For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3)   CHRIST DIED FOR US.  Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
4)   FAITH IS THE KEY.  Romans 10:9-11 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

        Dear Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner. Without You, I know that I cannot enter into your Eternal Kingdom. Father God, I believe that Jesus came and lived a sinless life and that he died for me on the cross and He rose again on the third day. Jesus, come into my heart, change me into a new creation, and be Lord over every area of my life. Father, I thank You that by faith in You, I am now born again, and I believe that my name is written in The Lambs Book of Life. Thank You for my new life in You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2021 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.