INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

Gal. 6:5

INTRO:

1. Ever since Adam and Eve, men have tried to shift their responsibility upon the shoulders of others. "Passing the Buck".

2. Adam said, "This woman you gave to be with me, she..."

3. Eve said, "The serpent, he..." Gen. 3:12,13.

4. So it is today, we fail in our obligations to God and man, and when questioned about it; we try to blame others for our failures.

I. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY:

A. Each person is responsible for his own sin. Ezk. 18:19-24; 2 Cor. 5:10.

B. This is in opposition to Calvinism, that says that man is foreordained and predestined to be either lost or saved, and can do nothing whatsoever to change that condition of himself, but that it is all left up to God.

C. In Luke 15:11-32, we have the case of the prodigal son, in reading this, one will note that "he came to himself" and he said to his father, "I have sinned."

1. He left the far country and came home to his father.

D. Obedience to the gospel must be accomplished individually.

1. "A man must be born again" Jno. 3:3-5; Acts 2:38.

a. It is not to be a group process with the idea, "If you will be baptized, then I will be baptized." "If you will repent, then I will repent."

E. Each Christian is responsible for working out his own salvation with fear and trembling. Phil. 2:12,13.

1. Each man must bear fruit in and of himself before God. Jno. 15:1-10.

a. Not each church or each denomination.

2. When we stand before the judgment bar of God, if we hear Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant", it will be because of OUR righteous activities, OUR individual obedience to Christ, not because of someone else's work.

a. And not because of the perfect obedience of Christ being imputed to us or to our account.

3. But, on the other hand, if we hear Him say, "Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I never knew you." That also will be because of OUR own individual activity or lack thereof.

a. Not because of the sin inherited from some one else, such as Adam.

F. Even though we are commanded to come together to worship the Lord on specific occasions, with specific elements of worship, we still will be held responsable because of our individual participation or lack thereof. Gal. 6:1-10.

1. We will be responsible as to how we engage in the different elements of worship.

a. Studyiing, Singing, Praying, Giving, Partaking of the Lord's Supper.

b. Also responsible for our own part in accomplishing elements of the work of the church.

G. Each individual Christian is responsible for living the Christian life and keeping himself unspotted from the world. Jas. 1:27.

1. "Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness." 2 Tim. 2:19; Eph. 4:17-32.

H. Each must answer for himself when he stands before the bar of God.

1. There will be no way that one can lose himself in the great multitude at the judgment, he will still be confronted as an individual. Rom. 14:10-13.

a. It seems that it is always "We" if it is a good thing, but "They" if it is bad.

2. Raccoon John Smith, left the Presbyterian Church to preach simple New Testament Christianity.

a. His mother was highly disturbed that he had left the religion of his fathers.

b. She begged him to return.

c. At this, he told her if she would stand before the judgment and be judged for him, he would come back.

d. She said, "You know that I cannot do that."

I. Each will have to pay according to his deeds.

1. Achan, after disobeying God, could not so hide himself among the multitudes of Israel that he could not be found.

a. But he was pointed out and punished severely for his deeds. Jos. 7.

CONCLUSION:

As we close this service at this time, you as an individual will either accept the Lord or reject Him, which will it be with you?

By Jim Sasser

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