Good Morning, My Friends. It’s a cool fall morning in St. Louis so today’s walk required a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Pam has a swollen foot (perhaps a fracture), so it was just me, Cliff and Glenn. This cool weather gets them charged up, so they were indeed a handful. But I’m back home (gym tomorrow instead of today), coffee is at hand and the recording of the last Saint Louis Wind Symphony concert is playing in the background. Already it’s a grrrreat day and I’m anxious to start writing.
For the past two blogs I have written about salvation. The first was September 23rd, “What Does It Mean To Be Saved?”, and the second was September 30th, “The Salvation Package”. The uniqueness of Christianity lies in how we reap our reward at the end of life’s journey. Every other religion in the world is about man reaching up to God, trying to earn His favor through our actions. Christianity is about God reaching down to man and providing a Savior to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. The former is about our actions, which translates into a list of “do’s” and “don’ts”. The latter is about faith; not faith in our own actions, but faith in what Jesus Christ did for us 2000 years ago. He was the final atonement for our sins!
Romans 3:22-25 states: “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us “NOT GUILTY”. He has done this through Christ Jesus who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe (trust) that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.” I personally love these three verses because it is a complete and concise presentation of the first part of the Gospel, the cornerstone of Christianity. When we accept Jesus’ death on the cross as the payment for our sins, God says in Hebrews 8:12, “I will remember your sins no more”. And again, Romans 10:9-11 states: “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.” Being saved is accepting Jesus Christ as who he said he was, The Son of God; that he came as the sacrificial lamb to die in our place for the forgiveness of our sins; and that he was raised from the dead on the third day and through Him we inherit eternal life.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we inherit a salvation package that not only includes forgiveness of sins, but also makes us acceptable to God. In other words, now there is no barrier between us and that perfect fellowship with Him, because the spiritual connection that was severed by the “fall of man” in the Garden of Eden has now been restored. We are also “justified by faith”, meaning when we accepted God’s “gift of grace” we have been grafted into his family as a “Child of God”. And again, we are made righteous with God, meaning when He looks at us, he no longer views us as a “sinner” but instead sees a Saint (without sin) because we are covered by the blood of Jesus. As stated in Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation for those in Jesus Christ!”
In the Gospel of John, 14-16, we get a close-up picture of Jesus’ final hours with his disciples in the upper room after the Last Supper. Jesus told his disciples about his impending death and what it would mean to them as he laid out the series of events that would occur within the next few hours. He could tell they were shocked and frightened, but he also knew the men in front of him were, of their own volition, a weak lot. (He was also keenly aware that the responsibility of carrying the message of salvation to the world would rest on their shoulders). So when he told them he was “going away”, he also told them it was better that he left them so he could ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to be their comforter, counselor, teacher, and a guide who would lead them into all truth. This is key…he told them they did not need the Holy Spirit at that time, because He was with them. Jesus knew that for the past three years the men drawn whatever strength they had from him, so he promised them he would not leave them as orphans. Instead would send the Holy Spirit to live in them; to empower them to accomplish God’s will. (For a picture of the transformation that took place in these disciples, I would direct your attention to Acts, 2-4. These same men who were in hiding during Jesus crucifixion became giants among men in terms of spreading the truth of Jesus death and resurrection. On the day of Pentecost, Peter – the same Peter who recently denied Jesus three times – converted 3000 Jews to believers.)
So what is the Holy Spirit? It is the essence of Jesus Christ (it is the action part of the Trinity) that indwells every person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Jesus knew that as Christians – especially new Christians – we would also need to draw our strength from Him just as his disciples did. Why?…because as Christians we are called to live to a higher standard than the world around us. We are called to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our might, and to love our neighbor. (In a fallen world, that often presents a challenge!) In fact, those are the only two commandments under the New Covenant. But when we are living our lives focused on fulfilling that directive, we automatically live the remaining Ten Commandments. For instance, how can we steal, murder, lie, cheat, and commit adultery if we are engaged in loving God and our neighbor?
Most churches and most people are focused on the issue of sin, sin, and more sin. We have been taught that God hates sin, so often times we spend our entire life wrestling with our sin-nature while trying to live up to God’s standard. That battle will never end, and in fact can cause us a lifetime of consternation unless we have an encounter with Jesus Christ. The truth is, if we have been born again (meaning we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior), that issue – the SIN issue, is a non-issue now. It was resolved when Jesus paid the price for our sins 2000 years ago. Only when we understand our new identity in Jesus Christ (that we are a new creation in Christ; our old self – our sin nature- is taken away and we are filled with a new spirit – the Holy Spirit), can we shift our focus from the matter of sin to the matter at hand: how to live a new life. As new Christians, the new life we are called to live is one not based on our own effort, but one that allows Jesus to live his life through us. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to empower us to be the person God created us to be. When we begin to grasp that truth, the scripture found in 1John 4:4 comes to life: “The Spirit that is in me (Holy Spirit) is greater than the Spirit (Satan) of this world”. That scriptural truth tells us we are already victorious because we are in Christ.
As I stated last week, God’s plan for our salvation was perfect! Nothing needs to be added to or subtracted from His plan to spend eternity with us. From creation to 2000 years ago man proved his inability to live according to God’s standard. Why?…because God’s standard requires perfection. As stated in 1 Peter 1:16, “You must be Holy (without sin) because I am Holy”. His standard is not a sliding scale; it requires 100% purity. Why…because sin contaminates, spreads, kills and destroys. In other words, just “being good” is never going to be good to get through the pearly gates and into God’s Kingdom. (Remember…before our salvation, we were subject to our “sin nature”, meaning it was our nature to live for ourselves instead of for God. We just did what comes naturally, and what we saw everyone else around us was doing.) The solution to man’s dilemma is found in Romans 5: 6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” God’s plan was always to provide a Savior to do for us what we had proven, without a shadow of a doubt, we were incapable of doing for ourselves. Utterly helpless, as stated above, means totally lost. The finality of that statement is revealed in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” (spiritual death; eternal damnation!)
Let us now turn our focus from the subject of sin, which is really a non-issue for those in Christ, and focus on the real challenge facing new believers: how to live a new life, the life Christians are called to live. Let me again reference Romans 23, “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” The truth is…we are still going to fall short of God’s glorious standard. Why…because there is no mental delete button to push to relieve us of past memories; because we still live in a fallen world; because we are still living in our fleshly bodies; and because Satan, the great deceiver, goes into overdrive to shipwreck our new life. Consequently we will still continue to stumble and at times even feel like a miserable failure. Don’t panic! Apostle Paul dealt with the same issues in Romans 7. He wrestled with his own humanness and his shortcomings and cried out in vs. 24, “….Oh what a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this life dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (A-men! He nailed it!!)
Here is the good news, the truth and the answer. As Christians we have the power of the Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above the trials, tribulations, and temptations we face in this world. When we fall short, and we will, instead of begging for forgiveness for our shortcomings (remember, we are already forgiven because Jesus paid the price for our sins), we call on the Holy Spirit to empower us to be the person God created us to be. We ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, courage, strength, patience, perseverance, whatever we need, to overcome the world. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us that whatever we ask for, that is in line with God’s will for our life, will be granted. God wants us to overcome; to prosper; to live the abundant life Jesus promised. God wants us to begin experiencing the glory of His Kingdom right now. We don’t have to wait until we die! That glorious life is available to us right now, and will bring us a peace, serenity, confidence and joy never before experienced. As Jesus said in Matthew 3:27, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
My question to you today is: Do you realize the power you have as a Christian? Do you call on the Holy Spirit to empower you to be the person God wants you to be? How does this manifest in your life?
May God bless ya, and we’ll meet again next week.
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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