Romans 10:13 "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!"
This week's stop is for those who think that they have done too much in their life to be forgiven. It is for those who think that God could never forgive them.
Read it again...read it again...read it again...
If you call on the name of the Lord you will be saved. One of my favorite verses is Psalm 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."
If there was a sin that you could not be forgiven for then that means that Jesus' only died for certain sins and that His resurrection and power over death is not as strong as we think.
I guess you know that I am going to show you from scripture that that is just not true ;-)
Colossians 1:13-14
"He has delivered us from the power of darkness band conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
2 Timothy 2:10
"but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"
Philippians 2:9-11
"Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Revelation 1:18
"I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."
Romans 6:8-10
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."
Now does that sound like Jesus died for only certain sins?
Does that sound like Jesus has no victory over death?
No does that sound like He won't forgive you if you ask?
Last verse then I close...(you may see it again next week)
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Call on the Lord and be saved today!
God Bless,
Mike
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
ROMANS ROAD - THIRD STOP
Romans 5:8"God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"
Well, so far we have discovered that we are all sinners and that because of that sin, we deserve death and eternal separation from God forever. But instead of getting what we deserve, our wage, God has given us a gift, something we don't deserve and something we didn't ask for.
This week's verse expands on that gift and the feelings and love that are behind it. Notice that I didn't say "were" behind it? The love that God has for us was present 2000 years and is present today. Paul didn't say "demonstrated" as in past tense. The word for "demonstrates" in the original text is in the present tense and means that it is occurring in real time as in God is continuing to demonstrate His love toward us because we still can choose to live for Jesus Christ even after all the bad things we have done.
People will rarely sacrifice themselves for a good person, let alone for a rotten person, but Jesus died for every rotten person and for every rotten sin.
That is how much He loves us!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
ROMANS ROAD - SECOND STOP
Romans 6:23a "...The wages of sin is death..."
Well here we are at our second stop along Romans Road. Last week we learned that we are all sinners and need a savior. No amount of good works could ever be enough to reach God's glorious standard.
So what next? What happens?
This verse tells us what we deserve because of our sin. We deserve death. Not just physical death but a spiritual death - Eternal separation from God forever.
There is a false idea that God "sends" people to hell. That is not true. We are already heading there on our own if we do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The choice is ours.
Do we get off this highway to hell (thank you AC/DC) and take that exit for the eternal rest area that is in Christ Jesus?
The word "wage" in this verse means that we are given something we deserve. If you have a job, you earn a wage or a salary. You are paid for the work you do. You deserve it, therefore you get it. It is the same way with sin. We sin therefore we deserve to die.
That is the bad news...
Romans 6:23b "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus"
Here is the Good News. The good news is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and has paid for them in full.
Notice the difference in words here. "Wage" versus "Gift". We said a wage is something that you earn, right? Well a gift is something that is given to you. You didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You didn't ask for it. It was just given to you by someone who cares about you.
They always say that "it's not the gift but the thought that counts." But in this case, the thought and love that was put in the gift is reflected BY the gift. God loves you so much and cares about you, that He sent Jesus to bear YOUR sin, become sin and die on the cross that YOU should have been nailed to. That is love and that was a free gift. Next week we will talk more about the love of God and what He did for us.
Look at the difference in the words in the two parts of this verse and you will see the two choices you are faced with:
Wage --------------Gift
Sin-------------------Eternal Life
Death---------------Jesus Christ
The choice is yours...
Well here we are at our second stop along Romans Road. Last week we learned that we are all sinners and need a savior. No amount of good works could ever be enough to reach God's glorious standard.
So what next? What happens?
This verse tells us what we deserve because of our sin. We deserve death. Not just physical death but a spiritual death - Eternal separation from God forever.
There is a false idea that God "sends" people to hell. That is not true. We are already heading there on our own if we do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The choice is ours.
Do we get off this highway to hell (thank you AC/DC) and take that exit for the eternal rest area that is in Christ Jesus?
The word "wage" in this verse means that we are given something we deserve. If you have a job, you earn a wage or a salary. You are paid for the work you do. You deserve it, therefore you get it. It is the same way with sin. We sin therefore we deserve to die.
That is the bad news...
Romans 6:23b "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus"
Here is the Good News. The good news is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and has paid for them in full.
Notice the difference in words here. "Wage" versus "Gift". We said a wage is something that you earn, right? Well a gift is something that is given to you. You didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You didn't ask for it. It was just given to you by someone who cares about you.
They always say that "it's not the gift but the thought that counts." But in this case, the thought and love that was put in the gift is reflected BY the gift. God loves you so much and cares about you, that He sent Jesus to bear YOUR sin, become sin and die on the cross that YOU should have been nailed to. That is love and that was a free gift. Next week we will talk more about the love of God and what He did for us.
Look at the difference in the words in the two parts of this verse and you will see the two choices you are faced with:
Wage --------------Gift
Sin-------------------Eternal Life
Death---------------Jesus Christ
The choice is yours...
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Romans Road - First Stop
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (NKJV)
This is our first out of five stops along our journey down "Romans Road."
No one usually goes to a doctor until they admit they are sick, right?
(Okay, check ups don't count for this illustration)
Well, the first step of salvation is admitting they you are a sinner. This verse in Romans tells us that we have all sinned: you, me, your sweet little grandmother, Mother Teresa, the Pope, etc. ALL have sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard.
Since man's fall in the garden we are all S-I-N positive with no cure expect the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. We can all run around telling our self that we are all good people and that God wouldn't send a good person to hell, blah, blah, blah...
The hard truth is that it doesn't matter what we think or what we believe in, we do not measure up to God's standard. Before Jesus' death on the cross, God instituted the sacrificial system as a covering for the sins of the people. All of this was designed to foreshadow the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ for not just the sins of Israel, but for the whole world.
We may look real good when we compare ourselves to other people or criminals on TV, but how good would you look standing next to Jesus?
I will tell you. Every little thing you ever did that was wrong would stand out like a gigantic oil stain compared to the pureness and sanctity of Christ.
And you thought the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 looked bad...
So on this stop along Romans Road, we need to realize that no matter how hard we try, we will never measure up to God's standard.
Next time we will talk about what we get for our sinful ways versus the gift that Christ gave us...
In Christ,
This is our first out of five stops along our journey down "Romans Road."
No one usually goes to a doctor until they admit they are sick, right?
(Okay, check ups don't count for this illustration)
Well, the first step of salvation is admitting they you are a sinner. This verse in Romans tells us that we have all sinned: you, me, your sweet little grandmother, Mother Teresa, the Pope, etc. ALL have sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard.
Since man's fall in the garden we are all S-I-N positive with no cure expect the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. We can all run around telling our self that we are all good people and that God wouldn't send a good person to hell, blah, blah, blah...
The hard truth is that it doesn't matter what we think or what we believe in, we do not measure up to God's standard. Before Jesus' death on the cross, God instituted the sacrificial system as a covering for the sins of the people. All of this was designed to foreshadow the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ for not just the sins of Israel, but for the whole world.
We may look real good when we compare ourselves to other people or criminals on TV, but how good would you look standing next to Jesus?
I will tell you. Every little thing you ever did that was wrong would stand out like a gigantic oil stain compared to the pureness and sanctity of Christ.
And you thought the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 looked bad...
So on this stop along Romans Road, we need to realize that no matter how hard we try, we will never measure up to God's standard.
Next time we will talk about what we get for our sinful ways versus the gift that Christ gave us...
In Christ,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)