Good morning, My Friends. This is a bit later than my usual post because when I went to bed last night, in my quali-sleep-awake state instead of setting the alarm I changed the time on the clock. Consequently I’m a couple hours behind schedule, so I’m going to skip the rest of the morning ritual and get started writing…but not without my coffee and Respighi (Roman Festivals) in the background.
As I mentioned in a previous message, the uniqueness of Christianity is found in the Gospel of Grace. It is the cornerstone, the very essence of Christianity. Every other religion in the world is about man earning favor with God through his own effort and through his works. Christianity is about a loving God reaching down to a fallen man and offering to each of us His plan for our salvation, not based on our effort or our works, but based on our faith in Him and in the fulfillment of His plan through Jesus Christ. The Christian belief is based on faith. Not blind faith (because someone told me it was so), but because of evidential faith (we have experienced the manifestation of God’s truth in our own life, so our faith grows.)
To be a Christian means to be a believer in, and a follower of Jesus Christ. What that means is that we have heard the “Good News” that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; that he came as the sacrificial lamb to pay the price for the sin of all mankind, past, present, and future, and through Him we have eternal life. In last week’s message we learned that “when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.” (Romans 5:6) That action on God’s part is his ultimate show of love for us. When we accept that gift it is our ultimate show of faith in Him. This was always God’s plan for our salvation.
When we make the decision to accept His gift, we are grafted into His family. Now when God looks at us he no longer sees a sinner, but he sees his child, washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are now in Christ; our old self is gone (our sin nature), we are a new creation (filled with the Holy Spirit. Much more about this later.) Because we are in Christ, we are heir to all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm. (Ephesians 1:3 and Romans 8:17) That last statement should get your attention!
But why would I accept the Gospel of Grace as truth? The two most common skeptical comments are “why would someone die for my sins?” and “I know I’m not worthy of such a gift.” It’s a challenge to accept, especially if one has not grasped the two fundamental truths I have referenced in each of the previous messages: God is love and God wants a relationship with us… an eternal relationship with us. One of my favorite Christian authors, Neil T. Anderson makes this statement in his book, “Victory over the Darkness”: you cannot have faith in something you do not know anything about. But if we put forth the effort to learn about God (to seek him), his promise to us is…we will surely find Him. (Jeremiah 29:13) The good news about that statement is once we put forth the effort to find Him, He meets us in our brokenness (our sinful state). Then through revelation of truth contained in His Word, we begin to grow in our knowledge of Him and our relationship with Him deepens. First comes belief (revelation of the truth), then hope (confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment) and finally faith (the truth manifested in our own life). The more we experience the truth of God’s word coming alive in our own life, the more our faith grows. Why? Because we know we can trust His word. We know we can stake our life on it!!
With the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, God’s plan for our salvation was revealed to mankind. It has been referred to as the Gospel of Grace or the New Covenant. God’s first covenant with man was the 10 Commandments (or The Law). The problem presented by The Law was that man proved that he was incapable of adhering to God’s standard based on his (our) own effort.” As mentioned in the previous two messages, the only obstacle standing between us and an eternal relationship with God is SIN. If we are not free from the stain of sin, we cannot come into the presence of God. As stated in Hebrews, 8:7, “If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.” But the old covenant, while clearly representing God’s moral standard, became an obstacle in itself. Man’s precarious situation is revealed in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” But the good news is in the following verse (24), “Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty.”
God knows the only way we can enter into a relationship with him and spend eternity with him is by coming to know who he is. That is why he chose to reveal himself to us through his word, The Holy Bible. (For clarity on this statement, refer back to the message dated August 19th paragraphs 6-8) In this book He tells us who he is, what he thinks, what he thinks about us, what his standards are, what his promises are, and how we can reap the benefit of his promises. (Remember, His promises are available only to those who have chosen to accept His Gift of Grace.) The more time we spend with God in his Word, in prayer and in meditation, the more truth is revealed to us. John 15, 4-5 states: “abide (remain) in me and I will remain in you. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.” Our strength comes not from our own effort but from our faith in the truth of God’s word and the finished work of Jesus Christ.
In John 8:32, Jesus said, “if you follow my teachings you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” It is clear from that scripture that the truth is found in Jesus teachings. And what did Jesus teach? The truth of God’s Word. Jesus was the Word ( John 1;1 “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God.) When He was on this earth, he not only taught the word but modeled the word through his behavior. John 1:14 tells us “…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.”
The answer to how we develop faith is found in the truth of the first sentence in the paragraph above. And make no mistake, it all begins with the first two words… “if you”. If you are willing to become involved in the process of abiding with God, He will reveal his truths to you. Why? Because he wants to spend eternity with each one of us – “no matter who we are or what we have done.” (Romans 3:22) As hard as that may be for us to understand, God loves us unconditionally and thinks we’re worth it. After all we’re his proudest creation. But it gets even better. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are elevated to a new position. We become his masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10) Because we are in Christ, we are now capable of becoming the person God created us to be.
Let me close with a life situation. Suppose you are outside watering your grass and you hear one neighbor tell another neighbor, “The burglaries are getting out of control in our neighborhood. Thieves are boldly breaking into people’s homes and robbing them at gun point.” You think, “Wow, I’d better do something to protect me and my family.” So you go home, sit down at your computer and look up burglar alarms. You find one that has impressive credentials and you deem it to be the best, so you make a purchase. You go get it, bring it home, get it installed, and right away you feel safer. The only thing you don’t know for sure is…“does it really do what it says it will do.” Hmmmm… A week goes by, all is well, but one evening when you are watching your favorite show on TV, the lights and whistles on the control panel go off. A person is entering your property from the east side of your house. But before the intruder can get to your porch, a police car shows up and they arrest the culprit. WOW! Now you’re really excited about this new purchase. Two weeks later that same scenario repeats itself. WOWzer! Now you’re even more excited about this system because you know it works. What’s more, you have just become the latest volunteer salesman for that product. Why? Because you know it works. The truth of the purchase has been manifested in your life, so now you have faith in it.
So my question to you: How is your personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ?? Is your faith becoming stronger? Feel free to chime in below.
May God Bless ya,
Dan Presgrave, (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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