2004-07-25 - Jesus Died

Open The Door, Part 5

Friends, turn with me to the book of 2nd Corinthians Chapter 2

1. Sin - All Have Sinned
2. Wages - The Wages of Sin is Death
3. Born Again - Made A-new
4. The Way
5. Confess and Believe

6. Jesus Died

   A good question to ask here is "Why did Jesus die?"

   Read with me verse 15 of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 2.

   2 Corinthians 2:15 And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. (NIV)

   We are saved from doing works our way by trying to save ourselves, to doing works of love for the one who saved us - doing works from compassion, as Jesus did a work of compassion to save us.

   Hear this word about our good works of compassion.

   Matt 25:31-46 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in. ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

   ⁴¹ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink.⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (NIV)

   Where is the faith of the person in verse 31-40, versus the faith of the person in verse 41-46? The first one has his faith in Jesus Christ as the way of salvation, and he sees these people as Jesus sees them. The second person has his faith in his own way, and cares not for others, but only thinks of himself and his needs.

   James 2:14-18 says What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself. ¹⁸ But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith from my works. (NIV)

   Matthew 12:30 says that faith without works is nothing less then sin. That’s why faith without works is dead.

   The two greatest commandments are are found in 1 John 4:20: Love the Lord your God with all of you mind, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and the second is Love your neighbor as yourself.

   In these two commandments are the righteousness of God. If a man says that He loves God, but he hates his neighbor, then he is a liar, and the Father is not in him.

   Jesus died that we might live in Him.

Final part, next week.

God Bless You,
Rob

I want my life just to be for the Glory of God.

rob@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org