Excuses, Excuses!
Life In His Name
June 1, 2025
Rev. Dr. Gabe Sylvia
To judge spiritual truths rightly we must make no excuses—rejecting deflection, dismissal, and destruction—receive Christ by faith, trust God's sovereignty instead of worrying, pray for greater faith, and find assurance in the Lord's Supper.
Summary
Using a West Point lesson on integrity as a starting point, the sermon warns against making excuses in the face of spiritual truth: unbelievers (and sometimes believers) deflect, dismiss, or even seek to destroy the truth about Jesus. True right judgment means receiving what the Spirit reveals by faith, resisting the old sinful self that manufactures excuses, and trusting God’s sovereignty rather than trying to control outcomes through worry. Believers are urged to pray for larger (or even small but real) faith and to take comfort and assurance in the Lord’s Supper, which strengthens and confirms God’s grace and inheritance in us.
Key Points
- Integrity: the hardest, most honest answer is “no excuse.”
- Right judgment: make no excuses when confronted with spiritual truth.
- Three categories of excuses: deflect, dismiss, destroy.
- Unbelievers can recognize truth yet deflect or reject it; such rejection is unjust and spiritually captive.
- Believers also fall into excuse-making because the old self remains alive.
- Worry tries to usurp God’s sovereignty; instead we should welcome His rule.
- By faith receive what the Spirit reveals; Christ persistently presses saving truth.
- Pray for growth in faith—large faith is good, but small real faith suffices.
- The Lord’s Supper nourishes and assures us of grace, inheritance, and the Spirit’s presence.
- Keep praying for the unsaved rather than giving up on them.
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