Selfless Faith

Today we finish the last section of Abstaining from Sin and conclude our brief series on Enjoying Salvation.

Now, why can’t the commandments and laws of God save us? Simple answer: we are all sinners. We were sinners before the law was even given. The law was given to expose us of our wickedness and how far we fall from the glory of God. I heard Vernon McGee say, “the Word of God is a mirror, it reveals us as we really are.” That is very true. We are not saved by trying to keep the Ten Commandments or trying to be righteous. We have all broken all of the commandments of God. How so? Well, if we break one law, we are guilty of breaking all the laws. If we kept all the laws on earth, and then we break one later on in life, we will still be punished. The punishment of sin is death. If we say we haven’t broken one of the commandments, but we have broken another three, it is still an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. We are just as guilty as breaking them all. Now, let’s say it was even possible to keep all the laws of God, (meaning you do not need Christ as your Lord and Savior), you will spend a lifetime tiptoeing around making sure you keep everything single commandment. There is no enjoyment in that. My beloved that is why we need Jesus Christ in our lives! He does it for us and through us, giving us the strength to live for God, glorifying our Heavenly Father.

So why are we saved by grace and there is nothing that we can do to see the Kingdom of God based on our own strength? Well, as it is commonly misused, “God knows our hearts.” In that sense, God knows how prideful and wicked we are. His grace will prevent us from boasting to one another about what we have done. God makes salvation a gift to all who believe upon the name of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us with His righteous blood, interceding on our behalf to protect us from the wrath of God in which through Him we have obtained salvation. He is the author of our faith and on that promise we can peacefully rest upon.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:4-10

God tells us exactly how and why we are saved in these verses.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:8-10

Conclusion

We have reached the end of our journey on how to truly enjoy our salvation that we have been given in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord. My beloved brothers and sisters, God gave us this beautiful gift of salvation through Jesus Christ to enjoy, not to make our lives miserable. However, by not staying on the track and following the will of our Lord, we will not lose our salvation, but I can guarantee we will not enjoy it.

In closing, to recap the way to gain and maintain the joy of salvation we have in Christ, let’s move from being “don’ters” into being “doers” of the Word of God. We must also be content knowing that we are living for God and not for ourselves; we will all face trials and tribulations, going through good times and bad times, but we must give thanks in all situations for the will of God is perfect for us!

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content – Phillipians 4:11

The biggest challenge for us as humans is to abstain from sin. It is not easy because we are all sinners through our first nature, the Adamic nature, but we are redeemed through Christ, in who our strength to do all things lie. Being that we are saved by grace, there is nothing we can do to be saved because it has already been done on the cross. We just need to believe it. That is the foundation of our faith.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. – Phillipians 4:11

My beloved, if we do these things, made simple to us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will enjoy the life we have been granted through Jesus Christ and called to live to glorify God. Until next time my dear brothers and sisters, may God richly bless you!

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing Spirit to sustain me. – Psalm 51:12

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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

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Now, we come to the third and final part of our series on enjoying salvation. To briefly recall, in part one we discussed the difference between the “doers” and the “don’ters” and how to make the transition. In part two, we discussed the topic of being content by remembering we live for God and not for ourselves; that while we have ups and downs, whatever may happen, we must always rejoice and give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Part three may be the most difficult part for all of us. To enjoy our salvation, we must abstain from sin. Why is that so difficult? Well, although we are born again, we drag along that old fleshly nature with us for the rest of our lives until we depart from the earth to go join the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must recognize that we are all sinners. Anyone who can boldly say they are not a sinner is committing a sin by lying. We have all fell short of the glory of God. However, the difference when a child of God sins and a non-believer is the child of God feels terrible about their sin, while the non-believer is planning their next sin. Since God has taken out our heart of stone, and put the heart of Jesus Christ within us, our heart breaks for what breaks His heart. God’s biggest enemy is sin. We may say God’s biggest enemy is Satan. I don’t think so. Satan still has to report to God. God does not want to sin and He comes into our hearts to keep us away from temptation. Now, when we sin, if we ask for forgiveness, forgiveness will be granted because we have a wonderful, merciful God. However, that does not mean we will not have to deal with the consequences of our sins. A child of God cannot live in sin and will not get by with their sins. Notice how when the non-believer has been involved in the same particular trespass for a long time and it just seems they are not being punished or judged for their actions, yet later on in life they come down with some kind of infirmity or illness and they do not know why. My friends, God deals with sin and ungodliness. While we may not see it, no sin goes without consequences. O the non-believer who rejected Jesus Christ, the ultimate consequence is death and eternal damnation, but God deals with those who are His.

Let’s take David’s sin with Bathsheba. There he broke four of the Lord’s commandments (murder, adultery, lying, covetous) and it seemed like David was going to get away with breaking those commandments. The Lord sent Nathan to open David’s eyes to his sins against God. As a true and faithful believer, David owned up to His sins, not denying it or having the prophet slain. As Christians, we are to accept responsibility and be accountable for our mistakes and open to any consequences that result from them. Notice God forgave David of his sins, but still made David suffer the consequences. My friends, we must face consequences for our transgressions against the Lord our God. When we do wrong, we are to be punished so we can grow and learn from our mistakes. The cost of our sin for Jesus Christ was death hanged on the cross. Let’s face the truth, we are all sinners, shameful in the eyes of the Lord Almighty, but we have been redeemed through the blood of the unblemished Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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As we move along in our Enjoy Salvation series, today we close finish up the topic of “Being Content.”

Now the other aspect of being content is to give thanks in all things. A lot of times God will put us in situations to see how we will deal with them. Will we be thankful in the harder times as well as in the better times?  We often say “God knows my heart,” which is one of truest statements of all time man can make. That is the reason He sends us into the storm to reveal and expose our hearts to ourselves. God knowing our heart is a weak excuse people use so we can do our own things and feel free to live in sin. If we can appropriate sin, this proves that God does know our heart, but we really don’t know His. If we knew our hearts as well as God knows them, we would be in utter disgust, on our knees begging for forgiveness of the thoughts that come from our hearts into our minds. The apostle Paul wrote “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh), nothing good dwells; for to will is present within me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” (Romans 7:18) If the apostle Paul went through such a struggle, we know we are in for a bigger fight. However, Jesus Christ sustained him and strengthened him in his weakness just as He does for us.

The foundation for being thankful does not rely upon what happens every day around us, but it started 2,010 years ago when God sent His only Son to the world as a sacrifice for sin to be our reconciliation to Him and for our redemption. We are to be thankful for the display of God’s love by allowing His only Son to be offered for us on a cross while having the capability of stopping it at anytime. He could have easily sent a legion of angels to rescue His Son, yet He remained silent. Our thankfulness lies at the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. He is alive. Since He is alive, so are we. We are thankful for the freedom we have received. We are freed from our bondage, from our slavery, free from death. We went from living in fear to living in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ thanks to God Almighty. We are to be thankful for the people used by Jesus Christ, His apostles and disciples and all the men (and women) who boldly proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. “ (Romans 1:16)

Our list of reasons for being thankful can go on for pages. We must also be thankful even before God’s will has be done.  We must understand our petty little issues are nothing compared to what it cost all the people who took part in bringing us the gospel and leading us to the narrow gate where our salvation begins; for that cause we must be thankful with every single ounce of life that we have to the Lord Jesus Christ for His love for us and the cost of His love to bring salvation to us. Through that love, we have been reconciled and forgiven by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

My beloved, give thanks to God for the love He has for each and every one of us. All that has happened in our lifetime symbolizes God’s love for His children. If we step out of line, He deals with us; if we do His will, He spiritually rewards us. He is loving, faithful and just. If it wasn’t for the love of God, we would never be able to experience the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

My brothers and sisters, as we wrap up part two of our series of having the joy of our salvation restored, we went in depth on being content with what Christ has set for us. Always remember, we surrendered our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ so He can work His perfection through us. We are to give thanks in all circumstances and situations, through the good times and the bad. Of course, we will all face ups and downs, but remember our life is like a vapor.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to be about. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” Philippians 4:11-12

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Last time, we reviewed part one of enjoying the salvation we have in Christ Jesus. We discussed in depth the misery that Christians who do not do anything go through, and the joy that those who are eager and willing to seek after the will of our Lord Jesus Christ experience. Also, we discovered how to make a transition from not doing anything in Christ to becoming a person who serves the Lord, our God, Jesus Christ whom we love because He first loved us.

We have now arrived at part two of our three part series on how to enjoy our salvation. We will discuss why and how to be content in any given situation we face. We have divided part two into two sections. Please let us open our hearts, minds, eyes and ears to allow the Holy Spirit of God to speak to you and make an eternal difference in our lives. May the Spirit of the LORD rise amongst us! Continue reading