The Oasis Church of Rawlins
Menu
Grace Blog:
I heard it again this week. A good Christian man, who after 60 years of going to church still blurts out, "Well we're all just sinners. And like the Apostle Paul, I'm the chief of sinners, but, at least I do this and that and these other things right. God's still working on me."
Whenever I hear a statement like that, it makes my heart hurt. Maybe that's the pastor in me, but it grieves me to hear someone strive so heard to obtain something that has already been given to them. It is quite obvious that person does not yet fully understand the grace of God that came to us in the form of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we once were alienated from the promises of God, but that we are now reconciled to God through His blood. Colossians 1:21-22 "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight" That word "alienated" in the original Greek meant to be a "non-participant." He is saying that at one time we rightfully thought of ourselves as a non-participant, not able to receive the blessings of God. But not anymore. God did what He needed to do to make us right and ready to receive. We've been talking on Wednesdays about how Paul addressed so many of the people in the churches he wrote to as "saints of God." Last week I even preached a sermon that was titled, "The Saints of God" to help people see the blessings God has called us to, by making us Saints of His. Considering yourself to be in the "sinner" category when God has called you and made you a Saint will lead you to live a defeated life, never seeing yourself as worthy to receive the goodness of God. Believe me, being in the "sinner" category is not where you want to be. God told Abraham, Genesis 13:13 "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." If you remember the story, Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom if there were even a handful of righteous people still there. But did God destroy Sodom once those who had found mercy in God's eyes were come out of it. Like God has said under the New Covenant, "Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord…" The destruction of Sodom is a picture God was painting for us that He WILL spare the righteous, but destroy the wicked sinner. So to have a sinner mentality is to continually expect God to judge and destroy you. Psalms 104:35 "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord." God's plan was not that you live feeling guilty, condemned and unworthy, but that you lift up your head as a child of God, made righteous by the sacrifice of His Son and allow your life to give glory unto God. To continue hanging your head in shame is to lump yourself back into the category of the wicked and unrighteous. No lost person is going to look at your life and say, "Yeah I really want to be like that person, who even though they gave their life to Christ is still just as guilty before God as I am!" No. Jesus bore our shame and punishment on the cross and with His very last breath before He died He said, "It is finished." You've been set free! Even Jesus, when He was addressing the people implied that when you follow Him in faith you are righteous, but once you're in the kingdom as a child of God you are no longer in the sinner category. Luke 6:32-35 "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Jesus is pointing out that there is a difference between you and a sinner. We are to pray in faith right? Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." To think of yourself is a sinner will cloud your mind with doubt that God even hears you when you pray. John 9:31 "Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth." How can you pray in faith when you still think of yourself as an unworthy sinner? James 5:14-15 "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." People that see themselves as unrighteous often like to quote the Apostle Paul when said he was the "chief of all sinners." But, the problem is, that if you read the very next verse, you see that God showed mercy on him and changed him from a sinner, to a saint to set the example for us. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." The Apostle Paul obtained mercy. He grabbed hold of, received and accepted the mercy of God. He was simply saying that he WAS as bad a dude as you could find, but even HE was made righteous by simple faith in Christ. He was making the point that if there was anyone out there who thinks they have been too evil to be saved, they have not. He considered what he had done…killing Christians for their faith in Christ, to be the ultimate in wickedness, yet wants the whole world to know that God even saved HIM! My point with all this is to try and help you to stop striving to obtain something that you already have, so you can live out your righteousness while on earth, and stop thinking that you're only going to be right with God when you squeak your way into heaven. One of the main reasons people can't break free from the bondage of guilt and shame is that they are mixing the keeping of the law, and being saved by grave together. I am going to make a pretty bold statement and show you that the Bible says that grace and the law cannot coexist. You're either saved by grace, or you're not. Everybody remembers Abraham right? He is known in the scriptures as the "Father of… Faith." He is called that because he believed on God and walked in righteousness BEFORE there were even laws to keep. He didn't have the 10 commandments posted up on His wall and check them off every day to make sure he was still in right standing with God. He lived with a continual reverence of God, knowing that God was with him. Genesis 15:5-6 "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." He walked with God and talked with God and lived out His faith in a relationship with God the same as we are now to do. Romans 4:3-5 "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Abraham was not perfect on the outside, but his heart was right with God. He was loved, blessed and highly favored by God. And the same as we want God to do with our lives, God used Abraham's life story to teach lessons to others about faith in Him. God had told him that he would be the father of many nations, that his seed would be as many as the sand along the sea shore and as numerous as the stars in the heavens above. God uses the story of 2 of Abraham's 8 sons to show us how faith and law keeping, or legalism cannot coexist. You remember that Abraham and Sarah were getting up there in age and still had no children. None. So Sarah comes up with an Eve-like idea that God must be going to bless them with children by Abraham having relations with her Egyptian handmaid, named Hagar. That is the first clue that we get that Hagar is going to represent the bondage of the law, because we now know that God's people were later enslaved to the Egyptians for 430 years. God had told Abraham that this was going to happen a few verses earlier. If you think about it, for a man of faith to engage with bondage is not going to be a good scenario. God's people have been doing this to this day. God has made you free from the bondage of the law, yet people seem to be drawn into carnally thinking that keeping some of the laws will somehow keep them in a better place with God. Romans 10:1-4 "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." People strive to be "pleasing to God" by doing certain things and not doing other things, but the scripture tells us that without FAITH it is impossible to please God. Romans 4:13-14 "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect" Galatians 3:13-14 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." The promises of God are yours by Faith today. You will not be blessed more by trying to do outward things to please God. He is moved by Faith. Today was just the introduction to "Freedom or Bondage?" We are just getting to where Abraham and Hagar and Sarah and their sons Ishmael and Isaac will be used by God to make the point that Grace and Law cannot coexist. When we mix the two, then we discount Grace and our Faith is weakened.
0 Comments
|
AuthorGary Gilbert has been serving in the ministry of Christ since 1995 and is the author of "The Narrow Road- What it takes (and doesn't take) to go to Heaven" and "The Covenant of Grace.". He is currently a loving husband, father of 2 wonderful sons and a full time Pastor. Archives
December 2018
Categories |
Contact Us:
Services:Sunday 10:30am
Wednesday 7:00pm |
TelephoneOffice:
(307) 328-5500 Pastor Gary Cell: (307) 321-0475 |
EmailOasischurchofrawlins@gmail.com
Like Us On Facebook |