The Utter Helplessness Of Man (endless Life Festival Europe) by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Salvation begins where your strength ends

There are two things you must master as it pertains to salvation. Number one, the utter helplessness of man. Salvation begins where your strength ends, and it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there, God will wait for you. Blessed are the poor in spirit, this kingdom is not for people who think they are strong in themselves. When we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.

The prodigal son, part one: ending the story too early

Most people know the story of a rascal child who wants to be without his father but with his father's benefits. Asking for his inheritance early was, in that culture, effectively telling the father, "I can't wait for you to die, I prefer what you have over who you are." Because most inheritance was in livestock, the fact he liquidated it and left the next morning means he sold in distress, undervalued. He ended up eating pig's food, ritually unclean, the height of degradation for a Jew.

He decided to return not out of genuine repentance but survival, planning to offer himself as a servant rather than a son. It wasn't even genuine repentance that was taking him back, it was a business bargain. This is counterintuitive: many of us don't come to God when we're most vulnerable because we assume we already know how he'll respond.

Luke 15:20-22. While the son was still a long way off, the father saw him and ran to him, in that culture undignified for an older man, before the son could finish his rehearsed speech, the father called for the best robe, a ring, sandals, and the fatted calf. The father totally ignored the son's rehearsed apology, and if you come back, there is always more, God is not limited to "second chances," his love is boundless. He separated the person who sinned from the person now standing before him.

The prodigal son, part two: the real point of the story

The parable was told in response to Pharisees complaining that Jesus received sinners. Read to the end: the older brother, working for the father the whole time, refuses to enter the celebration for his brother. The goodness of God annoys legalistic, religious people.

This story is really a comparison between moral failure and legalism, and Jesus is saying legalism is worse. Trusting in your own devotion, feeling more qualified than others because of your discipline, is self-exaltation by Jesus's own definition. Many struggling church members are preferred by God over their pastors.

The Samaritan woman: faith over morality

Jesus sent his disciples away to buy food specifically so he could speak alone with the Samaritan woman at the well, whom his overly religious disciples wouldn't have let him talk to. Despite her moral failures, she had faith, anticipating the Messiah even while talking to a stranger. Jesus consistently prioritized people who had faith and were struggling morally over those who were legalistic. Paul had more grounds to boast in the law than anyone, but counted it all loss for the excellency of knowing Christ.

Two men praying, Luke 18

A Pharisee prayed boasting of his fasting and separation from "sinners." A tax collector wouldn't even lift his eyes, beating his chest, saying, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." The tax collector went home justified, not the Pharisee. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

Weightier matters

Matthew 23:23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites... you pay tithe of mint and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law."

1. Justice

2. Mercy

3. Faith

In the parable of the good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite, high in religious office, passed by. A Samaritan, considered theologically incorrect by the Jews, was the one who helped. There are people who are theologically incorrect but have a more vibrant relationship with God than those correcting them.

Matthew 21:31-32 and John 8

"Assuredly I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you... because John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him."

In John 8, a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus. He said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone," and one by one, her accusers left, convicted by their own conscience. Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you... go and sin no more." The sanctimonious, morally upright accusers left condemned. The woman in moral sin left forgiven.

Two extremes to avoid

1. Legalism

   Trusting your own righteousness and devotion.

2. Antinomianism

   The belief that grace means believers are no longer bound by moral law, using grace as an excuse for ongoing, unrepentant sin.

Romans 8:1-3, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, for the law of the Spirit of life has made us free from the law of sin and death.

If someone believes in Jesus but is still struggling with vices, they are deficient in three areas:

1. Revelation

   Paul's answer to the Corinthian church's sexual sin was "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." Revelation changes behavior.

2. Association

   Galatians 6:1, if anyone is overtaken in a fault, restore them in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Evil association corrupts good manners, don't put yourself unnecessarily in situations of temptation.

3. Discipline

   2 Peter 1:5-9, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to kindness love. He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten he was purged from his old sins.

Hebrews 10:24-25, let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Verse 25 cannot be separated from verse 24, showing up and staying connected to other believers is itself what stirs up love and good works, iron sharpens iron.

Be vulnerable with God

There is no gentle way to overcome besetting sin, you need aggressive tactics of accountability and discipline. But when you fall, remember it was always by grace. A newborn learning to walk doesn't apologize to its parents every time it falls, the parent is the one helping it walk. He remembers our frame, he knows we are dust. He's not a boss who only cares about deliverables, he's your father encouraging and nudging you. Keep on keeping on in perseverance. Seeing what he has done for you infuses a surge of divine life and grace to stop what you couldn't stop before. A righteous man falls seven times and rises again.