“THINGS THAT KEEP US ALIVE SPIRITUALLY” ROMANS 1:17B

“The Just” This word means “to bring in line with”. This was actually an old accounting term in old England that meant “to balance the ledger”. Now, we still use this principle today.

Bringing this definition down to us tonight, we are made just by our Blessed Savior! Now, we do not justify ourselves. It is the Savior that justifies us though His Blood. So we that are saved by the grace of God are called “just” or “justified”.

“Shall live” Notice with me the word “shall”. This is an imperative. There is no questioning this statement. God said that those who are just will, with no exceptions, live by faith.

Now, let me ask you a question, and answer it honestly in your heart. Do you always walk in perfect faith before the Lord? None of us do! There are times when even the best of us stumble in this area called faith. This verse says that those who are justified will live by faith, no exceptions!

“By faith” This is the faith that is spoken of in Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

I believe that the emphasis here is not on “the just”, nor is it on “by faith”, rather, I think that the emphasis is on the words “shall live”: There are Christians who are living, and Christians who are dead! There are people who have no spiritual life to them at all! The Bible here makes plain a principle that Christians need to have some life about them!

The Bible gives us some things as a prescription from dying spiritually!

I.                   CHRISTIANS NEED A VISION TO KEEP THEM ALIVE!

Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”

Now, we often use this verse to mean that if we do not have a vision, that others will perish without Christ. I agree with this meaning. But I believe tonight that if we as children of God, and collectively as a Church, do not have a vision for our Church, that our Church will die!

I believe we should all seek to see what is going on outside the walls of our Church. One of the greatest dangers in the world is when we get so comfortable inside the walls of the Church that we lose our vision for the things outside the Church!

There are children this evening, within a mile of our Church that were not in Sunday School this morning. There were young teenage mothers this morning in our community that are confused and need someone from the Church house to love them and not condemn them! There are drunks in our county tonight that want so badly to hear that Jesus loves them and that He died for them, yet many times Churches have lost their vision!

·         We need a vision for lost souls.

·         We need a vision for broken hearts.

·         We need a vision for people whose lives are messed up!

If they don’t find help here, they will get help somewhere else! If they are too embarrassed to come here for help, then we need to go to them and offer help! We are ambassadors for Christ while here on this earth!

We need a vision! Without it, our Church will die! Without it, we as Christians will die!

II.                CHRISTIANS NEED FAITH TO KEEP THEM ALIVE.

Romans 1:17, our text verse. Faith keeps us alive as children of God! Without faith, we are dead! We have no life at all without faith!

Faith is what will keep us going in the hard times in our lives!

Where would we be without faith? Have you ever thought about that? Where would we be if we had nowhere to turn in life’s problems?

There are things coming ahead for us that we know nothing about. There are problems coming ahead for us that we cannot see! There are things coming for us in our “short home” that we will not be able to handle on our own!

Beside the hospital bed, I can trust Him!; Beside the coffin, I can trust Him!; In the midst of the storm, I can trust Him completely with everything that is coming my way!

·         I may weep, but I will trust!

·         I may despair, but I will trust!

·         I may have it hard, but I will trust!

III.             CHRISTIANS NEED THE BLESSED HOPE TO KEEP THEM ALIVE!

1 Thessalonians 4:13- 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

We should remember that the worst thing that could ever happen to us is to go to that “long home” that I preached about this morning!

This is our hope. Without Hope, we die spiritually! If we are not looking for Christ to return for us, then we are in the process of dying spiritually!

1 Corinthians 15:19 – “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”

Without the hope of His soon return, we are no better than the other religions; we are just a way to live! But Christianity is more than that, we have a blessed hope!

Titus 2:13 – “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

The return of our Lord is our Great Hope, the greatest hope we have!

Conclusion: Are we “growing in grace”, or dying on the vine? Are we excited about our Christianity, or just biding our time on a Church pew?

I have reason to be excited tonight, and to show my life to the world.