Abstaining From Sin – Part II
This leads into the next key factor on how to obtain from sin. We have our strength through Jesus Christ. He is our stronghold. He holds us up. He is our salvation. He is the Lord! When we are weak, He makes us strong. When we are scared, He calms our soul. When we doubt, He gives us assurance. My beloved, do you think when Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” He meant He was done with everything? Certainly not! He finished the act of reuniting us to God by dying for our sins, sealing our salvation, but He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is with us through His Holy Spirit. He guides our path allowing us to discern what is right from what is wrong. Although sometimes our flesh may rise and get the best of us in our walk with Christ, how great is our God that while the entire world may laugh at us while being down in the mud, face covered with dirt, our faithful Lord is always willing to extend His righteous pierced right hand to life us back up. We will fall down, sometimes very hard, but God always lifts us back up. The word of God is beautiful through its Christ centeredness. The law and the prophets and the entire Old Testament looked forward to Christ and the New Testament after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ looks back to what was done on the cross. Through His endurance on the cross, He sets forward the ability through Him to be able to persevere through any given circumstance. The Lord Jesus Christ said to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Lord Jesus Christ foretells us of His Holy Spirit.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:15-18)
Jesus knew we couldn’t keep the commandments on our own due to our sinful fleshly nature which is always self seeking; so to those who believe in Him, with just faith the size of a mustard seed, we will receive His Holy Spirit and He will develop us, and mature us into who He wants us to be. While all other religions tell us we must do all these things to probably be saved, our relationship with Jesus Christ tells us we ARE saved because we believe in His holy name.
This leads into the final section of this part three our series on enjoy our salvation through, from, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. I truly hope at this point, we are starting to enjoy god’s wonderful mercy and gift to us. However, there is an issue at hand; we must make sure we understand how we have obtained this salvation. Many people believe it is obtained by being good person, others believe it is by keeping the ten commandments, but few know it is ONLY by the grace of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.” – Ephesians 2:8. Why is it a gift of God? We will answer that shortly.
First let us examine why we not saved by our good works, good deeds, or just being “good” people. Who is a good person? Our standards are nothing compared to God’s standards. We do not know everything. In fact, we barely know anything compared to the God’s knowledge. We are in no position to call anyone good or righteous by what they do and what we see from an outward expression. We must be concerned with keeping ourselves blameless and righteous before God in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord through His blood on the cross. In all honesty, the only good man to walk the earth is Jesus Christ. He is who makes us good, clean, holy, and a presentable offering before God the Father. Due to our faith in Jesus Christ, we are then able to do good. He is in us and with us to carry us and complete the good work which He has started in us.
“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” – Phillipians 1:6