2006-05-20 - What You Get Paid

Part 2 - Originally Published 2002-12-18

Hey My Friends,

In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the father but through me."

This is a completely foreign concept to you and I, not to have to work to receive the forgiveness of sin, and to receive eternal life. It's good to know that we have a God who knows us and our needs better than we know ourselves, for from the foundations of the world, He commanded His love towards us. As John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life."

So, to be saved and go to Heaven, we must trust in the work that God did when He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. He paid a debt that we could not pay. He died the death that you and I deserve.

According to Hebrews 10:10: By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

According to Romans 8:1-2, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

The Law of Sin and Death is the wages of sin and death.

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal Life in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

The Apostle Paul says it best in Romans 1:16, when he boasts of the only thing any of us can boast about as far as our life and salvation:

Romans 1:16-17 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it, God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

According to the Apostle Paul, we must change our mind about how we are being saved from our sin.

Romans 12:1-2 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We must be transformed in our understanding of how we are to be saved, by the renewing of our mind, through washing our mind with the truth of God's Word.

We must believe that Jesus is who He says He is. (He claims to be literally God in the flesh.) Moreover, we must believe that He died for our sins personally, repent and ask him to forgive us of our sins. We must personally ask Him to forgive us of our sin, and ask Him to come into our hearts. We must live by faith, believing that the work that He did on Calvary, and God's resurrection power, are what saves and sets us free from our sin, and nothing that we do can save us. Just before Jesus died on the cross He said, "It is finished." Jesus completed the work required for us to be saved. All that we have to do is believe in Him, and the power of God will save us.

Now works are not apart from faith, but works are fruit that flow from this great love in the sacrificial gift of Jesus Christ, that God gave for all who believe. Our works are not done to save us, but they flow out of love for God and people. Our works are of the image of the gift we have received. They reflect the sacrificial love and gift of God. Jesus said that the greatest commands are "Love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself."

God Bless you my friends!
Rob

CFDRobW@aol.com

Rob - I want my life to just to be for the glory of God in Christ Jesus.