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JOHN 8:31-32
[Jesus Christ]: If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. JOHN 6:45-47 Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. |
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| You cannot be saved by your power alone |
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SALVATION—Part 2 Pictured to the left is the Snake River Canyon of Idaho. It's not the biggest, but it's "large." Far wider than any person could hope to naturally jump. How would you like to be given the task of leaping from one side to another—unscathed? That's what so many today think they can do, except their task is far more daunting. They actually believe they can be saved by their own goodness, in spite of their many sins that God has not forgiven. Do people really have the power to forgive their own sins? Of course, lots of people today think they either (a) Haven't sinned against God, or (b) Haven't sinned "badly enough" to need the help of Christ's sacrifice for their sins (more on this in a moment). Such an attitude is going to be more costly for them at judgment than my words can begin to describe. Remember (see part 1) how Christ described the day of Judgment (Matthew 7:21-23)? Remember all those people who would be shocked at their outcome on the Judgment Day? People who were utterly convinced they were saved, but had never truly bothered to find out God's will and put it into practice in their lives? In their own opinions, they were good people, servants of God Himself. In God's opinion, they would be eternally condemnned. If only they could have saved themselves! Your Sins must be forgiven Friend, you will never be saved if you don't have your sins forgiven. It's simply NOT going to happen. They've got to go, and there's a simple way to do it. Your life also needs to change so that sin "no longer reigns in your body," as the Bible says. Jesus Christ came to the earth so we could get rid of our sins. So we could have them forgiven. So we wouldn't have to be accountable for them on the Day of Judgment. (Romans 2:5-11; 5:1-2; 5:20-21) So that you and I could truly be "saved," and enjoy real justification from our past sins, and from crimes against God and man—through the limitless grace of God. And to show His unlimited grace, God made the ultimate sacrifice: He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross for your sins. (John 3:16) Because of this, no sin is too horrendous for God's forgiveness and grace. Your forgiveness is not unconditional God's grace is unlimited, but it is not without condition. In other words, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit have done their part to bring you salvation, but what's your part? Your part is this: To receive forgiveness and salvation, you must have a full and unwavering commitment to Christ as your Lord. You must be sincerely committed to to obey everything He commanded. (Matthew 7:21) This is what it means for Christ to be "Lord" of your life. Obviously, a lot of people aren't willing to make this full sacrifice. But they still want to call themselves "Christians" and claim Jesus is their "Lord." (Luke 6:46) However, Jesus made it clear: only those fully committed will receive eternal life. (Luke 14:33; Matthew 10:37) All others will be eternally condemned. (John 3:17-18) In other words, becoming a true, saved Christian is a major lifestyle change, but certainly worth the sacrifice. But are you really "bad enough" to need God's forgiveness? A lot of folks don't think they're bad enough to need all this grace. They pay their taxes. They don't beat the elderly. They avoid prison time. They even give to charity occasionally. They consider themselves "good people." And they've been told by others that they're "good people." But unfortunately, others don't have the power to save them. Only God has the power to save. The Russians have a saying: "No sin, no repentance." In other words, many of them, like many of us, feel they're "fairly good folks" who haven't sinned and therefore don't need God's help. They believe they have nothing to repent of or be forgiven for through Christ. As far as they are concerned, they could be serving Buddha, Mohammed, or simply living life as a "good person." However, the Bible, the message of God, paints an entirely different picture. It reveals that you were created by God, for God. You were not created by God, for yourself. Nor were you created by "mindless nothingness," free to create your own moral codes and do your own bidding in this world. You were created to do God's will and to "do good works." (Ephesians 2:10) Not the works you or I might define as "good." Not the works society defines as "good." But the "good works" that God defines as good works. This is an important point because lots of folks today think they're doing "good works" that God would surely be pleased with. Hitler thought so. Stalin thought so. Radical Muslims think so. The Babylonians thought so prior to massacring the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Modern homosexuals think so as they advance their agenda. Almost every cause of mankind—good and bad—has been advanced by people who thought they were doing good things for humanity. The problem is, they aren't listening to God and doing their homework to find out what their Creator has defined as "good works." Instead, they are listening to their own hearts and caving to the political and religious correctness of their societies. Fortunately for us, God clearly defined His will in the Bible. We will examine that shortly. IMPORTANT: God considers some things "sins" that you may not When you honestly start looking to God for guidance (instead of yourself or others), you'll quickly realize the magnitude of your sins, and your great need for forgiveness. By examining the Bible, you come to understand that every time you lie, every time you commit sexual sin (mentally or physically), every time you give honor to a false god (thus insulting the true God of heaven; and by the way, God considers greed a false "god"), every time you fail to glorify your Creator (how and when He instructed you to)—you are sinning. (see verses) Every time you hate someone (hatred=murder to God) or blaspheme God with profanity—you are sinning. In fact, every time you fail to do what is right, fail to help people in need when you have the power to do so, neglect your aged parents, etc, etc, you are sinning against God. (see verses) And what shall we say for those who murder, steal, and commit sins more obvious to humanity? Will God ignore these sins too? (see verses) Well, if men wrote the Bible (and most people DO rewrite their own Bibles and are the "gods" of their own lives—if only they could save themselves!), I suppose it would be much smaller than it is. Indeed, it might contain only one command: "As long as I do what is right in my own eyes, God will accept me." What people like this don't realize, is that God warned people NOT to have this attitude. He told us in Proverbs: "All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart." (Proverbs 21:2) What if you decide to ignore God's grace? What if you turn your back on the enormous grace of God? What if you ignore the great sacrifice for your sins? What if you decide that Jesus' sacrifice was all for nothing, that you don't need it? The Bible paints a devastating picture for such people. Even people who think they're "too good" to need much forgiveness. (Romans 3:23; Matthew 25:46; Matthew 7:21) 
PART 3
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