04/23/2019
Do you worry about earning your salvation? Do you look at your life and try to find ways to defeat the sin you see there? If you are doing that I have to ask “How is that going for you?” If mankind, from the time of Adam, has not been able to perfect themselves then what makes you feel that you can do it now? If we were capable of doing this on our own do you think God would have sent His Son to die for us? No, it is only through Jesus, and God’s grace that we can be victorious over sin.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:31-32 ESV
Jesus is the instrument that removes our sin, and He is also the source from which all of God’s gifts flow to us. Even in our suffering there is victory in Jesus, and by our faith in Him not even death can hold us down. Friends, Righteousness requires nothing of us beyond our faith in Jesus Christ... all the rest is icing on the cake.
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Romans 8:37 ESV
At funerals and during the Easter season my pastor sings a wonderful old gospel song that thrills me each and every time I hear it. There are several verses to this song but the one that I love best is this:
“Oh, there was a battle, a war between death and life
And there on a tree, the Lamb of God was crucified
And He went on down to hell, He took back every key
He rose up as a lion and He set all captives free”
Although the various verses sing of Jesus conquering such things as our shame, fear, and the like, the chorus shouts of our victory through Him over death itself, and reassures us that by our faith in Him we have victory.
“There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
And when I hear that trumpet sound
I'm gonna rise up outta the ground
There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down”
Listen as Molly Skaggs sings this old Appalachian gospel song by clicking on the link below ; the lyrics, and the chorus that follow sing from the depths of our own hearts about the empty grave, about Christ’s victory over sin and death, and of the triumph we have by grace through Jesus.
https://youtu.be/cGoBJ6R18qg
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
There is no effort on our part that can secure our salvation, and eternal life, except faith in Jesus. When we take our sin and lay it at His feet sin and death can be defeated. But, when we neglect to call on the name of Jesus and place our sins before Him we are lost. Isaiah spoke these words regarding our own efforts at achieving sanctification..
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Isaiah 64:6 ESV
So stop trying to dig yourself out of the pit of sin that is your life, and let the grace of God through Jesus Christ lift you by His love from your sinfulness. There is no power on earth capable of rescuing you except Jesus Christ, and nothing that can remove you from His hand once you have placed yourself there...
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your love that sent Jesus, your Son, to die for me, and to redeem me from my sin. Thank you Holy Father for the unwarranted grace that flows from Him, and the power of His blood that defeats all sin. Help me lord to not only establish my faith in Jesus, but to trust in its ability to bring me into righteousness. Forgive me Father for I have sinned, and deliver me by the name, and blood, of your Son Jesus from its grip. Open my eyes Heavenly Father to the fact that I am helpless in my own efforts against sin, and that only Jesus is capable of lifting me from where I am mired in it. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who loves me so much that you would send your own Son to suffer, and die that I might be cleansed of my sin, and freed of the clutches of death. Great are you in deed, and greater yet is your glory that shines about you in Holiness. Praised be your name Father... now, and forevermore!
A sinner’s prayer for faith and salvation:
If you have not accepted Jesus, or need to express your renewed faith in God, then add this to your prayer this morning..,
Receive me now Father, cleanse me of my sin through my faith in Jesus, and by my penitence and contrition. Accept me as your child Lord. Lead me into a deeper faith in you and Jesus with each passing day, and by the name and blood of Jesus take these sins from me that have ruled me for so long. Hear me now I pray! - Amen
Rich Forbes