No Distinctions

Jesus Loves The Little Children of The World (Including the Ones Right Here In Hickman County)

Rom 3:22d— “…to all and upon all who believe, for there is no difference…”

1. Introductory Thoughts—

a. There are NO exceptions to the absolute need to be saved, to be justified, by faith in Christ

(1) NO one is too good to need salvation—Rom 3:10-12

(2) No one is too bad to receive salvation—(1 Tim 1:12-16) "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…”




(3) No race, kindred, tribe, or tongue is restricted from salvation—(Rev 7:9) "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands..”


(4) There are few qualifications for salvation—you must still be alive, you must be willing, and you must be convicted by the Holy Spirit that Christ is a great Savior and you are a great sinner…(John 16:8) ""And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…”

(5) There is only one author of Salvation—(Heb 12:2) "… looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”

(6) God will reject no one who comes for salvation—(John 6:37) ""All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

(7) There is no price for it that we can pay—(Isa 55:1) ""Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price."

(8) There is no line waiting, come today—(2 Cor 6:2) "For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

(9) The ground is level at the foot of the cross—come to Him now, or suffer eternal loss.

b. There is no difference—our context

(1) There is no difference between people because we have the same greatest need—righteousness put to our account.

(2) There is no difference between people because we all have the same spiritual ability—none

(3) There is no difference between people, because there is one Solution to our problem, no matter who are what we are or think we are—and that Solution rests in the Person and Work of Jesus, the Son of God and God the Son, the Savior of the World.

(4) There is no difference because no matter who we are, the only way to have this righteousness of God apart from the Law is through faith in Christ Jesus.

(5) No matter who we think we are this salvation comes as a gift of God’s Grace through the voluntary blood sacrifice of our Savior.

(6) No matter who we are or who or what we think we are, we must turn from your sins to Christ, we must bow the knee to the Master. There is no difference.

(7) But people surely act as if there were differences.

2. There is no difference—but man creates artificial barriers.

a. Paul lived in a world of great differences—

(1) Roman Arrogance, Greek pride, Jewish exclusiveness, prejudice against the “barbarians”

(2) This problem existed in the churches too.

(a) Jews who had professed Christ often thought they were several cuts above the Gentiles in the same church—this false idea actually led to the beginnings of the first cult—the Judaizers

(b) Greeks thought everyone else was a “barbarian.”

(c) The majority of the church were slaves and the poor, and according to James, there were tensions and problems in this relationship between the rich believers and the poor. (James 2:5-6)

(d) Then, of all people, there were within some of the churches people named Scythians, a barbarian tribe of hooligans and outlaws

(e) And yet, these people had one great thing, the greatest thing, in common—they were blood bought, born again believers in Christ, brothers and sisters in a great communion that the Bible says should transcend all other differences— (Gal 3:28) "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

(Col 3:11) "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all."

b. Even today, we live in a world of man-made differences—race, nationality, incredible wealth and incredible poverty, a world of blue bloods and red necks, of people with nothing and people with everything

c. Yes, there are Many Differences within mankind, but all are false

(1) There is no difference by (worldly) wisdom or intelligence—(1 Cor 1:17-23)

(2) There is no difference because of Family or Name

(a) To Him, we all came out of the same dust— (Gen 3:19) "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.""

(b) A perfect example—Paul’s background— (Phil 3:7) "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ."

(3) There is no difference by human religion or religious upbringing—again, consider Paul—

(4) There is no difference because of race, color, or nationality—Because

(a) All men are made of one blood—Acts 17:26,

(b) All human flesh is the same kind of flesh—1 Cor 15:39

(c) Jesus died for all mankind—(1 John 2:2) "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

3. There Is No Difference Because—“…all have sinned…”

a. First of all, why is the Bible bringing THIS up again?

(1) Because we can never hear this enough

(2) Having made the point that there is no difference among people,

b. Here we are looking at the negative side of the righteousness equation—the fact that we have sinned against God and man, every single one of us. If nothing else unites the world, it is this: we are all sinners by heritage, by nature, and by choice

c. In the Greek, the verb is in the aorist tense, a snapshot. This strongly implies three things

(1) Viewed as one snapshot, one block of time, it is as if God is looking at this and seeing the entirety of human activity throughout the ages as one huge mess of sin.

(2) When the first man sinned (Rom 5:12, also an aorist), we all became guilty through him.

(3) And when the first man sinned, we also became sinners by nature—(Eph 2:3) "… we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

d. The Apple Does Not Fall Far From the Tree

(1) Every human being is conceived in sin—(Psa 51:4-5) "Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight; That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."

(2) Every human being is a liar from birth—(Psa 58:3) "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies."

(3) Man’s heart is evil from an early age—(Gen 8:21) "…the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth…”

e. But sin is not the whole story—there is also a complete lack of moral actions and good works

4. All Fall Short of the Glory—(Rom 3:23) "…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…"

a. We fall short of the standard, we all fail to measure up.

(1) Jesus, distinct from all other human beings, could say at the end of His life: (John 17:4) ""I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."

(2) He alone is the Standard of righteousness—(Acts 17:31) ""because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."" In God’s judgments, Jesus will not only be the Judge, He will be the standard


b. God’s Glory defined A very large topic

(1) The Meaning of the Words

(a) OT, “kabod”: weight, or worthiness, splendor, wealth, reputation.
(b) NT, “doxa”: reputation. “…its chief use is to describe the revelation of the character and the presence of God in the Person and work of Jesus Christ…” (New Bible Dictionary)

(2) Hundreds of References

(3) The Glory of the Lord is spoken of as a burning light which no sinful man may see. Exo 33:18-22 "And he said, "Please, show me Your glory." 19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." 20 But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." 21 And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 "So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by."

(4) The Glory of God is seen in His creation…Psa 19:1 "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork."

(5) The Glory of God is spoken of as a vision of His Presence…Acts 7:55 "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,"

(6) The Glory of God is the light which will light heaven itself. Rev 21:23 "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light."

c. The Glory of God is the burning light of His Presence, revealing the absolute perfection of His Being, and encompassing all of His attributes, but the particular emphasis of this term here is on Christ:

(1) He is the Standard by which all others are compared.

(2) The moral perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ is beyond all others—He alone has fulfilled the Law—Mat 5:17

(3) He is fit to be our Savior, because he is the Lamb without blemish, without spot.

(4) The Power and Authority of Christ

(5) The Manifested Glory of Christ through His Person and Work

(6) We behold HIS glory, we put all our trust in Him, we follow Him.

d. But we all fall short of Him, which is why we need Him as our Lord and Savior.

e. Comparisons You might look good compared to your neighbor, but how do you look next to Christ?