Ephesians 4:22-24 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Pastor Herk continues: We are all part of the human race, created by God with body, soul and spirit. But, when our original parents sinned in the Garden of Eden, the spirit died within us and broke our spiritual connection to our heavenly Father. So many do not know this fact. They may say that they do not feel that it is not fair that they have to pay for the sin of Adam and Eve, but then sin themselves almost every day in thought, word and deed. God is pure, just and perfect, so cannot commune with sin. Sin is defined as: The voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression [a revolt (moral or religious), rebellion, sin, transgression, trespass] of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act. Sin is evil wickedness. The Prophet of Habakkuk 1:13 declares of God, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” Sinners are separated from God and spiritual discernment lost. The Lord Jesus proclaimed in John 3:3 that, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The Apostle Paul confirms in 1 Corinthians 2:14 That, “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The Lord Jesus explains in John 3:19, “this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Ephesians 2:1-3 authenticates the fact, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” The God-given spirit of man is dead within us and our souls deservingly sentenced to eternity in Hells lake of Fire by a just and holy God for our sin. But, in John 3:6-7 Jesus tells us of God’s Plan of Salvation, stating “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” By God’s grace alone, a path to redemption through Jesus Christ in the spiritual exchange of our sin for His sinless by His death on the Cross was provided.
In Romans 10:8-10 the Apostle Paul tells us the process of this being born again by the Holy Spirit as, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The Apostle explains in Ephesians 2:4-8, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is restoration of our Garden relationship with God.
This rejoiceful Gospel gift offer of eternal Salvation by faith through faith conversion by the Holy Spirit is the born-again regeneration of the spirit and transformed life process spoken by the Lord Jesus in John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:36 plainly declares, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Clearly, there is an eternal choice to make with both belief in God and repentance of sin is the key to accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord. Either we pay for our sins or we give them all up for Jesus to pay for them in our place.
In Matthew 7:13-14, the Blessed Savior of the World, Jesus paints the true picture of the situation and instructs us, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus is the narrow gate. Because of sin in our lives, everyone is on the Highway to Hell. But, everyone has the choice to take the offramp provided by the mercy of God for straight and narrow path to Heaven instead. It is a difficult way because, though sin is bondage and death, sin is the easy way and being a lawless god unto ourselves, responsible and accountable to nobody, is in our fallen nature. Willingly turning lordship over to God is both unnatural to fallen humanity and supernatural as it leads to life abundant in Christ and life eternal.
To those who accept Jesus and receive the gift of God as a born-again Believer, this earthly life is as close to Hell as they are going to get. But sadly, to those who reject the gift of God in Jesus Christ, this earthly life is as close to Heaven as they are going to get. Some errantly believe that everybody is going to Heaven when they die, and by 2 Peter 3:9 obvious that, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”, but most do not. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, but did not save the world; He provided the opportunity for us to be saved. John 3:19-20 Jesus explains, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” The Lord Jesus states clearly in Matthew 22:14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” The gift of God must be accepted and received. All must choose.
Creator God said to the first man Adam in Genesis 3:17, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree [the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”] of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake.” Because of the Fall of Man, sin entered the world and the fleshly hearts of man; the earth is corrupted. Because of God’s Plan of Salvation, redemption, restoration and reconciliation is possible and obtainable. The world is still corrupt in sin, and perishing are those who are of this fallen world, because of not repenting of sin nor believing God and rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. By repenting of sin, believing in God, choosing to accept and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, these converted disciples of Christ, transformed from the inside out, are not of this world; they are citizen of the Kingdom of God and given the indwelling Holy Spirit being dressed for the wedding banquet of the Lord in order to navigate through this world knowing Light and Right while growing into the likeness of the Lord every step. Sin kills, but Jesus saves.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on dressing the part of being a Christian in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment