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Romans 4:1-5, “Works Won’t Work” Romans 4:1-5, “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.’ Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” “Have
you ever been on a vacation? Raise
your hand. Some of you are lying
or you’re not with it. How many
of you have ever told the story, you’re married, how many of you have
ever told the story more than once of how you met your spouse?
Ok, we’re all sick of hearing it by the way.
How many of you have repeated some little favorite story of what
your kids did before, and you’ve repeated it again, you know, it’s a
favorite family story? Of course,
I never do anything like that. How
many of you have a favorite drink? You
know, you get really thirsty, this is what you want to drink.
Raise you hand. It might
be water. This is like the gospel. Ok? You’ve
taken a vacation more than once. You’ve
told that love story more than one time, haven’t you? You’ve had more than one drink of water, haven’t
you? Why?--because it’s good,
and you enjoy it. And you know
where we are in the book of Romans right now, is a place where we’re
going to hear the love story of how our Lord met us.
We’re going to hear it again, we’ve heard it the last few weeks. But you know, I never get tired of it. Do you? I
never get tired of water when I’m really thirsty. I never get tired of kicking back and relaxing
on a vacation. I never get tired
of hearing how much God loves me. And
so as we open our Bibles to Romans chapter 4, we’re going to see again
the story of how God loves us. You
have to understand, the way the book of Romans is written, is that the
first half of the book [Romans 1-8] is telling us what God has done
for us. And then, the last half of the book talks to
us about how we can respond to what God has done for us [which I added
to the end of the last transcript to fully answer the question: “What
About the Law?”]. Romans chapter
4, Paul has told us already his message that Christ has paid the price,
he’s redeemed us, he’s declared us not guilty, and it’s all been on
the basis of his grace, through the gift of faith that he’s given to
us, and that plus nothing. Now not everybody buys that. Of course there are many people today, many
religions, many even Christian groups, cultic groups, that teach that
the gospel is what Jesus did plus something you do.
That’s one of the marks of a cult today.
They always have a different gospel.
It’s not salvation by grace through faith plus nothing. It’s always that plus something you add. In Paul’s day, the Jews of his day had a very
difficult time believing what Paul was saying.
And one of the biggest reasons was because one of their national
and religious hero’s, they thought, had been saved by good works. Believe it or not, the Jewish writings from
the time of the apostle Paul, taught that Abraham had gained a right
standing with God because he was a good man, because he had done good
things, because he was a righteous man.
In fact, the Mishna says that Abraham was so good that he didn’t
even need to repent. And that he had obeyed God perfectly, and that’s
why God declared him righteous. And
so the thought in Paul’s day was, ‘Well if it’s good enough for Abraham,
then it’s good enough for me.’ You
know, that was just the way it was.
‘He’s our hero, we are children of Abraham’ they claimed to be,
‘So we’re going to be saved the way Abraham was saved.’ And then Paul in a stroke of genius, gang, writes
chapter 4, and what he does, is he takes the national and religious
hero, Abraham, who’s the one that they’re saying is why they won’t believe
this gospel, because they say ‘he was saved by good works’—he takes
Abe, and he uses Abraham as an example and a proof that God has always
saved people according to the gospel of grace.
There’s never, ever been a different way to save, and he uses
their hero, Abraham, to prove his gospel, and I say--Awesome--it’s probably
one of the greatest gospel strategies ever recorded.
It’s classic, and I love it.
And so he says, ‘let’s take Abraham as an example.
Let’s look at father Abraham.
How was he saved? What did he learn about salvation? Let’s see how he was saved. And he learns a couple things about Abraham. The first thing in chapter 4 verse 1,
“What shall we say, that Abraham our father according to the flesh is
found, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast
about, but not before God. And
what does the scripture say? And
Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
So he says, ‘Ok, let’s look
at father Abraham. How was Abraham
saved? Was it by grit, or was
it by grace? Was it by works
or was it by faith?’ And he uses Abraham now as a supreme illustration
of salvation by grace. The first
thing he says is, ‘Dear beloved Romans, Dear Jewish listeners’, Paul
says, ‘I want you to know that Abraham was not saved by his works. Abraham was saved by faith, or belief.’ Verse 3 says, “For what does the scripture
say? And Abraham believed God,
and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Well
what exactly did Abraham believe? Paul
is quoting from Genesis chapter 15, where God says, ‘Don’t fear, Abe,
your reward shall be very great, I’ll be a shield to you.’
Abraham says, ‘How can this be?’
And the Lord says, ‘Well, I’m
going to give you a descendent. I’m
going to give you seed, Abraham. And
go out and count the stars if you’re able, because your descendents
are going to be more than the stars of the sky.’
And Abraham says, ‘This is impossible Lord, because I don’t even
have a natural heir yet, we can’t have children, we’re childless. And it looks like the heir of my house is going
to be my servant, Eleazer from He says, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” I am what?!
‘I am’, you see, it the name of God, from the book of Exodus. Did you know that? Look at Exodus. Keep your finger here, I’m not done. But look at Exodus. Moses is about ready to, the Lord’s going to
use Moses to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt, and Moses
just asked the question, ‘Well, this is great Lord, standing here at
the burning bush with you, but ah, who should I say has sent me?
What’s your name?’ Exodus
chapter 3, verse 13 and 14, “Then Moses said to God, behold I’m going
to the sons of Verse 4, “Now to the one who works,
his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due.” KJV “Now to him that worketh is the reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt.” What would happen if you went to work, you get paid
like on the 15th and the 30th, something like
that, maybe. Do you get paid
weekly? WEAKLY, [chuckle]. Doesn’t matter when you get paid if it’s like that, does it? But let’s say, your boss, your employer came
to you, and it’s the 30th, and he’s going to give you your
check, and he says ‘Mark, I’m bringing you a gift, here’s your gift’ ‘Oh thanks.’
And there’s your regular paycheck.
You’d say ‘You jerk.’ ‘What
do you mean you gave me a gift, I earned this, I worked 40 hours, 50
hours, 60 hours (some of you for that), you’re giving me…’ Or it’s Christmas time, ‘Here’s your Christmas
bonus’ and it’s your regular
check. You’d grumble and murmur,
‘This guy has a dumb sense of humor, doesn’t he?!’
You see, when you work for something, then your employer becomes
indebted to you and owes you something.
Right? Now if you were
working your way to heaven [or into the kingdom of heaven], that puts
God in the place of being indebted to you or to me, and [then] God owes
me now, for salvation? I’m sorry,
God’s not indebted to any man. God
doesn’t owe you anything. I mean,
you watch the Olympics, who hasn’t watched the Olympics.
I never watch sports, but I’ve been glued to the Olympics at
home, you know, up till midnight, watching the diving and the running,
I mean, I don’t even like some of the sports I’m watching.
I don’t know why I’m watching them.
And you know, the moment they get that gold medal, what if someone
said, “Now here’s your gift”?--“world class diver, here’s your gift,
the gold medal, here’s a gift, a present.”
A gift, a present? They’ve
been working, some of them, decades for this--15, 16, 18 years for this
moment. They’ve earned that
gold medal. Haven’t they? It’s not a gift. That they deserved and they earned. But the Bible says that eternal life is a gift.
It’s not a wage, it’s not something we deserve or something we
earn, it’s a gift. And so a gift can only come by grace, through
faith [and that faith, not of your own (Ephesians 2)]. [cf. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.” What are our wages?
Romans 3:10-19, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no,
not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh
after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together
become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their
tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift
to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way
of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”] You say, ‘Well, I just think I’ll go with what
I deserve, I’m going to earn my way, and I think my life has been pretty
good, you know, I’m a Lodge member…I’m a moral man.’ And you know, I know Lodge members that are
very moral people. Or maybe you
say, ‘Well, I’m not a Lodge member, but I’ve never done any of the Big
ones, you know, no adultery, no stealing, never killed anybody, I just
live by the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto
you.’ Bless your heart, don’t you know, if you’re
going to ask God for what you deserve, you’re going to get a check in
the mail that looks like this. I don’t know if you can read this, it’s
check 144,000, it’s one of the last checks in the book, it’s from Mount
Zion Bank in New Jerusalem, ah, the signer on there is God, he’s signed
his signature on it, here it says, ‘Pay to the order of sinner’ and
if you want what you deserve from God, if you want what you’ve earned,
it’s nothing, it’s zero. See how many zero’s will fit on the line? That’s what you deserve. [I think Romans 6:23 was more to the point—we all are sinners, we all deserve death.] Nothing, absolutely nothing. You don’t deserve to be in the kingdom of heaven,
you don’t deserve eternal life. You
don’t deserve anything. In fact,
actually what you’re going to get is written out, it says eternal separation from God. [no, actually in Romans 6:23, it says death,
“the wages of sin is death”.] There’s a memo on the check.
Ever write memo’s? This memo says, “Death.” Now this is what you’re going to get in the
mail. If that’s what you want,
you want what you deserve from God, here’s your check.
It’s all signed, we got it ready for you, you can get it today
at the end of the service. OK? Death, eternal separation from God, the Bible
says, “The wages of sin is death.’’ Here’s your check. This is what I deserve, this is what you deserve,
death, eternal separation from God.
I don’t want what I deserve.
I don’t want to be separated from God.
Then what can I do? Then
you can stop coming to God, asking for what you deserve, offering God
your puny bit of works, and instead you can accept the work of his Son,
Jesus Christ, in your place. It
says, “Abraham believed God” verse 3,
Verses 4-5, “Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned
to the favor, but what is due, but to the one who does not work but
believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for
(or reckoned as) righteousness.” Well someone says, ‘Well, that’s OK Mark, but you Christians, or you at
that church, you’re not reading the whole Bible. Because the Bible says that we are not justified
by faith alone, but by works. I’m
glad you brought that up, because I was thinking about that too this
week. Let’s look, the Bible does
say that. Let’s look at James
chapter 2. James chapter 2. You come to a big book called Hebrews, and keep
going, fly through Hebrews and you’ll come to James, chapter 2. In James chapter 2, there is a verse that throws
a lot of people, and every cult I know uses this to prove that you’re
not saved by what Jesus did alone, but that you have to join their group,
and start doing their things, in order to be saved. And
they use verse 24, “You see that a man is justified by works and not
by faith alone.” ‘So there! Rip up those crosses’ No, I’m not ready to rip them up yet, buddy.
Let me tell you, you do err not knowing the Scripture.
The problem that people make, the number one problem I see, is
people taking a text out of context, and not reading--why don’t you
read the verses around it? Why don’t you read chapter 1 and 2 of James,
and you’ll understand. He’s not
talking about how to get saved. His
whole point is he’s writing a letter, he’s a little unhappy with what’s
going on in the church. He’s
saying, “Some of you, you get a rich man coming into your church, and
boy, you escort him to the best chair in the place.
You get a poor man in the church, you sit him in the back.
You don’t treat everybody alike.
You’re not taking care of the widows in your fellowship. You’re saying, ‘Well if people don’t have enough
food, that’s tough, I’m going to go and gorge myself.’” He says, “Wait
a minute, how can you say you’re Christians and live like that. You say you’ve got faith, show me your faith.”
And James’ whole point, if you would take the time to read the
first two chapters, is not how to get right in God’s eyes, his point
is how to get right in men’s eyes. Romans,
Romans is all about how to get right with God. [i.e. James
is a book about Christian living, using the Law of God as a spiritual
mirror--and the Holy Spirit’s power within us to wash the dirt we see
off of ourselves and out of our lives--James 1:22-25.]
In James, James is saying how to get right with men and women. In James, the point is, the world’s looking
at you, and the world is saying ‘show me, that what you’re saying is
real.’ But God doesn’t have to
see you do something to know it’s [“it’s” = His Holy Spirit within you]
real. Can’t your God scan your heart? What kind of the God do you have?--a God that
doesn’t know what’s going on in your heart?
You see God can see your faith, Boom, he sees it. But I can’t see your faith. [And this faith is generated by the Holy Spirit’s
presence within a person--and this Holy Spirit is invisibly glowing
within a believer in Jesus, Yeshua.
Demons and holy angels, and God can see the indwelling Holy Spirit. But the world can only judge us by our actions.
You know the saying, actions speak louder than words?
James is about Christian living, how a Christian is supposed
to use the “Royal Law” as a spiritual mirror, and then use the “water
& hyssop” of the Holy Spirit to wash the dirt away, creating a Holy
Spirit empowered Christian lifestyle of obedience in faith.
What is the God’s definition of the new covenant?
Hebrews 8:6-10; Jeremiah 31:31-33--it is God writing his laws within the hearts and minds
of believers in the church age, and then all of the collective Houses
of Judah and Israel in the Millennial age to come. But James brings
out in James 2:14-26, that if
you are
a believer, your faith will be accompanied by the actions of obedience--God,
Holy Spirit enabled obedience--that the whole non-believing world will
be able to see.] I have to see
your works to know if there’s real faith going on.
In Romans we have the roots of the whole thing--how to be saved. But in James we have the fruits that comes from those roots. How to stand before God, that’s what Paul is
talking about in Romans. How
to stand before men, that’s what James is talking about in the book
of James. And so he’s saying, “Look, you tell me you have
faith, show me your faith.” I
mean, what if somebody got up and blabbed about how much they loved
God, and how the Lord has the control of their life, and how wonderful
this life in the Lord is, and then you watch them at work, and they’re
cussing and their swearing, and they’re the most knarly person to be
around. And everybody hates them.
What would you think? You’d
say, ‘Look buddy, you keep your mouth shut, we don’t need the Word,
you show us by your deeds that that’s real.’
OK, that’s what he’s saying.
James is talking about, ‘Hey, a man is justified by works--that
is in the sight of other men--and not by faith alone.’
I was talking to somebody this week.
A guy was doing my upholstery.
Just the neatest guy. Not my upholstery, he was cleaning my rug in
my van. And I couldn’t get the
sand out of it, you know. And
so this guy came and did a beautiful job.
Just the nicest guy, and we were talking, and he says ‘Hey, do
you work at that church like Mike does?’
I said ‘Yeah.’ I didn’t want to tell him I was the pastor,
because as soon as you say you’re the pastor, people get weird on you,
just totally weird out. Ever see that Star Trek show where there are
these beautiful beings, and you think they are these beautiful beings
until all of a sudden the beautifulness is a mirage, and actually they’re
these horrendous hideous looking things.
It’s like when you say you’re a pastor, all of a sudden--ooh,
gross, sick--or it’s like they see a Martian, Oh--you know, it’s weird.
So I try to hide the fact, I just try to hide it.
And so we were doing fine, we were just talking and he says,
‘You know, I’m not religious. I
hope it doesn’t bother you that I don’t go to church?’
I said, ‘No, doesn’t bother me.’
‘But my wife’s Catholic, she goes to church, once in a while.’ That’s great, to have a Catholic in the family,
you know. Awesome. And we were going along, like I say, he’s a
swell guy. I really liked the
guy. Just talking, and we were communicating. And the point of all this, he said, he never
said anything about the church preaching the gospel, people getting
saved, etc., or missionary outreach, all he says, “You know, the churches
that I think are so neat are the churches like yours, they’re out there,
they’re feeding people, helping people with their problems, you’re there
to provide food to people, I know you guys help with utilities for some
of your people. That is so neat,
that’s what the church ought to do.”
I mean, here’s a guy by his own admission knows nothing about
the church whatsoever. But he’s
judging us by our works. You
see the world looks at us and judges us by our works.
People at work looking at you, and you can blab your mouth off,
but if you live a godly life, you work hard, you be fair and square,
and I tell you, they’re going to take notice. And then he asked the question.
He says, ‘Well, who is the pastor of that church?’
I said, “I am.” “Awwgh!” Up
until then I was a pretty nice guy. So, well,
knowing the gospel, knowing that there’s one way of salvation, it changes
your life. I never get tired
of hearing how I met my wife, or telling how I met her, going over that
story, that love story one more time.
I don’t get tired of talking about my precious little kids, I
don’t get tired of that refreshing drink of water.
And I never get tired of hearing the gospel.
Now I need more than water to survive, right?
But on a day like this, isn’t water what you want [must have
been a hot day out in Arizona when this was being preached].
Great grace of God is so refreshing, it’s like, aah, I can go
out and live for the Lord, ‘I really got excited Lord, to see again
that you love me, not based on my Bible study, not based on my giving,
not based on my sharing my faith, you just love me and you’ve accepted
me just as I am. I want
to tell you a story that Donald Barnhouse used to tell a lot, he was
pastor of the 10th Presbertyrian Church in Philadelphia for
years, and just a neat guy, and for years he had been witnessing to
this fellow that lived down the street from the church.
And the guy never wanted to have much to do with the gospel,
‘he didn’t need a church’, he said, he didn’t need religion, incidentally,
he kept saying, because he’s a member of a Lodge.
And every time Barnhouse would try to share his need for Christ,
he’d just sort of put him down and laugh.
‘Well I don’t need that, I live a moral life, I live according
to our code of conduct, I’m right with God.
Years went by, and one day, you know it happens to us here frequently,
we get a word in the office, ‘so and so is dying.’
One of us, several of us, drop everything and we’re right there.
Barnhouse got word that this fellow was dying and probably wouldn’t
make it through that day. Barnhouse
arrived and there in the room, sitting in the room was one of the Lodge
members, because according to the Lodge rules, you never let a brother
Lodge member die by himself. I
mean, that would be awful, to have to die by yourself.
So here’s the Lodge member sitting there at the foot of the bed
reading a newspaper, a real comfort to the guy, but he’s there, not
alone, he’s ‘fulfilling the law.’ Barnhouse
walked in just about the time the Lodge members were changing shifts
and another one was coming in. And Barnhouse realized that the situation was
desperate, and decided on a bold course of action, no time to be diplomatic,
no time to mince words, he sat down by the bed, and this is what he
said, he said: “You don’t mind me sitting here for a few minutes, do
you, and watching you? I’ve wondered
often times what it would be like for a person to die without Jesus
Christ. And I’ve known you for a number of years, and
you’ve always said that you don’t need Christ and that your Lodge obligations
are enough, so I’d just like to watch you end your life and see how
it is for a person to die without Christ.”
The man on the bed opened his eyes, took a gasp of air, and he
pointed his finger at Barnhouse and he says “You
wouldn’t mock a dying man, would you?!” And Barnhouse
asked him the classic question, in fact, he coined the question, he
says, “Well, buddy”, he says, “if you were to die, and God were to ask
you why he should let you into his kingdom, what would you say?” The old man there in the bed stared off into
space for awhile, chin began to quiver, tear rolled down his eye and
he said nothing. And then Barnhouse
shared the gospel with him, how God will accept you right where you
are. Maybe you’re not on a bed dying, but you feel
like you’re flat on your back, and there’s no way you could come to
Jesus, there’s nothing you could do that was by good works, you couldn’t
do a good work right now, you’re life is so messed up.
Or you’re so down, or you’re so helpless, you need God so much,
and you know it. You know what? You can come to Christ. God put all your sins on Jesus Christ. God did it loving you. And God will accept you right where you are,
if you’ll come to Christ, he’ll put Jesus’ righteousness on you today,
and you can be saved like Abraham was.
Works won’t work. Faith
in Christ, grace alone, that’s all that can save you.
I don’t think it’s a chance that you are here.
Christians have come, they’ve come to be fed, to get built up
in the Lord. Maybe you’re not
a Christian though you’re an American, yes, but you really don’t know
Jesus. And it’s not by chance that you came today,
already, an hour and a half ago. Three
people realized that it wasn’t by chance that they came here today. They realized that it was actually a Divine
appointment. Out of all the churches
you could have gone to, where would you hear what would hit you right
between the eyes? Where would
you hear that God would accept you?
I mean, just that you are at the right place at the right time,
it’s not a chance, it’s God’s appointment for you today.
And Jesus said that if you will come to him, just as you are,
he will accept you. He doesn’t care who you came with, he doesn’t
care what your background is, he will accept you right now. You don’t have to get better [on your own, through
your own efforts--which is works]--you can’t get better till he comes
into your life. You can’t change
until he begins to work a change in you.
But right now, he says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary, you
who are heavy laden, come to Me, and I’ll give you rest.”
If you come to Christ, Jesus says you need to believe in him. How do you do that? You ask him to be your savior, and you put your
whole hope of heaven in Jesus Christ.
What would happen to you if you died today? Where would you go? Are you sure you’d go to heaven? What are you going to do with the guilt that
you feel? How are you getting
the emptiness filled in your life? I
tell you, what you need is Jesus. And
you can come to him and he will give you eternal life, and if you died
today, you would go to heaven. He
will give you a fulness on the inside, he will give you freedom like
we talked about earlier, he’ll set you free.
How do you come? You come by praying and asking Jesus to be your
savior. You say, “I don’t really
know how to pray, I’m not a good pray-er.”
Simple. When I pray, I
just talk to God like I talk to a friend.
We’ll make it even more simple for you, I’m going to ask you
to just pray after me. If you
want you your sins forgiven, if you want to know if you died tonight
you’d go to heaven, and you want to have your sin and your guilt taken
away, then you’ve got to ask Jesus to cover you with his righteousness.
Have you ever done that? If
you haven’t you’re not going to heaven.
The only righteousness that will get you into the heavenly gates
is this righteousness right here. I’m
going to ask you to bow your head, pray a prayer with me, and ask Jesus
into your life. Let’s bow our heads. “Father God, we thank you for your Word today,
for the power of your Word, we thank you Lord that this isn’t just a
salvation message, this is a living message, Lord. And I need the gospel to get me through this
week. I need to know your grace
and your love all my life, Lord. Lord,
help us as Christians to rightly divide your Word so we’re not deceived. Help us Lord to see the power and experience
that power of yours to set us free in our lives. Father, now I pray that you would grant faith
to those that you are calling to yourself this minute Lord. That your Spirit now would just draw very close
to them and draw them into the kingdom of heaven, in Jesus name, Amen.
[Transcript by permission Calvary Community Church, Pastor J.
Mark Martin, P.O. Box 39607, Phoenix, Arizona 85069.] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is excerpted from Dr. Mark Eastman’s
“Creation by Design” and answers a vital
question many non-believers have once they have seen God’s existence
in Scripture and seen his Word in Scripture proven beyond a doubt. Many may wonder, what next? What should I do with this vital information? “How to Become a Christian” [4 steps] First of all, you must
recognize that you are a sinner. Realize that you have missed the mark. This is true of each of us. We have deliberately crossed the line, not once,
but many times. The Bible says,
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God” (Romans 3:23). This
is a hard admission for many to make, but if we are not willing to hear
the bad news, we cannot appreciate and respond to the good news. Second, we must realize
that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. Because of
sin, God had to take drastic measures to reach us. So He came to this earth and walked here as
a man. But Jesus was more than
just a good man. He was the God-man--God
incarnate--and that is why His death on the cross is so significant. At the
cross, God Himself--in the person of Jesus Christ--took our place and
bore our sins. He paid for them
and purchased our redemption. Third, we must repent of
our sin. God has commanded men everywhere to repent.
Acts 3:19 states, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord.” What
does this word repent mean? It means to change direction--to hang a U-turn
on the road of life. It means
to stop living the kind of life we led previously and start living the
kind of life outlined in the pages of the Bible.
Now we must change and be willing to make a break with the past. [I would like to point out here, that this initial
repentance, U-turn, is not anywhere near the total life-change that
Jesus will enable within you later on.
This only comes after this next “fourth step”, mentioned below. It is not really possible for humans to follow
God’s will, expressed by his perfect law of liberty, until after receiving
Jesus Christ into one’s life. That
is why the saying, “Come as you” are is spoken so often by most pastors,
in context with this understanding.] Fourth,
we must receive Jesus Christ (Yeshua haMeshiach for our Jewish readers)
into our hearts and lives. Being a Christian (or Messianic believer) is
having God Himself take residence in our lives.
John 1:12 tells us, “But
as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children
of God.” [Also be sure to read John 14, where Jesus
explains how He and the Father dwell within us by the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit.] Jesus said,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in…” (Revelation 3:20).
Each one of us must individually decide to open that door. How do we open it? Through prayer. If you
have never asked Jesus Christ to come into your life, you can do it
right now. Here is a suggested
prayer you might even pray: Lord Jesus,
I know I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sin.
I turn and repent of my sins right now.
Thank You for dying on the cross for me and paying the price
for my sin. Please come into
my heart and life right now. Fill
me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to be Your disciple.
Thank You for forgiving me and coming into my life.
Thank You that I am now a child of Yours and that I will receive
Eternal life. In Jesus’ name
I pray. Amen. When you pray that prayer, God will respond. You
have made the right decision--the decision that will impact how you
spend eternity. In the meantime,
find peace and the answers to your spiritual questions.
[This website is loaded with answers. I.e. Who is Jesus?--log
onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm
.] If you
just became a Christian, it is recommended that you find a Christian
church to fellowship and grow spiritually in.
You are now part of the body
of Christ. You are a young Christian needing spiritual
food to grow on. Fellowshipping
with other Christian brothers and sisters is also an essential part
of the Christian’s growth and life.
It is therefore recommended that you find some evangelical Christian
church (or Messianic congregation) that your feel comfortable attending.” [To learn more about making an intelligent choice about
which Christian or Messianic congregation to attend, log onto
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/choosingachurch.htm
.] |