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So many
so called "religious" folks think they understand God's way of salvation
and they have not a clue. Many of the "major" churches still teach that we
have to be good to get to heaven. Not true.
Right about now you are saying to yourself, "Then
we could all live a life of sin and still get to heaven" and you would be
right! The Romans were so shocked when they heard this from Paul, they
said that we can then sin even more so that God's grace will abound even
more to cover all the sins. And they too are right. For a Christian to
reach this point of Faith is to be weaned off of milk and come to eat
meat. You mean to say that I can go out and sin all I want and I will
still go to heaven if I just simply BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, that He is
who He says He is and that He accomplished what He claims to have
accomplished? Yes.
Surprise, Surprise! Shock!!! I was in shock when
I first realized this is what Paul was teaching in the book of Romans. My
next question as I am sure is yours was, "Then why don't we all go out and
sin up a storm?"
Stop and think for a minute now about your
relationship with Jesus. You have just come to a deeper realization of
what sacrifice Jesus made for us. An
irresponsible child might take his new liberty and run like a gazelle. But
as an adult, I just sit here in awe and wonder at just what Jesus
accomplished for ME through HIS bloody sacrifice at Calvary. Jesus says we
(believers) can call Him friend, we can call Him "brother." Jesus is my #1
best friend in the whole wide world. I love Jesus more than I love anyone
else including my own flesh brothers and sisters and yes, even my own
parents.
I have to take this one step further. In the garden of Gethsemene, when
Jesus was about to be arrested, He knelt down on both knees and prayed to
His Father. Jesus was very anxious for what was about to happen. He knew
He was about to be arrested and crucified. Jesus was so anxious that He
even got angry with His disciples for not staying awake. Jesus even prayed
that the Father take away this cup but that the Father’s will be done. A
"cup" for Jews meant what he was about to go through. Jesus sweat blood.
He was terrified of what was about to happen to Him but not for the reason
you most likely think.
We cannot even begin to imagine God’s greatness, His righteousness, His
perfection. Jesus is and always was a perfect God and a perfect man. Jesus
has always been 100% pure both as God and as man. Imagine Jesus standing
in heaven wearing His pure white robe.
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Jesus
could not even come close to sin. Yet, a perfect God who knew no sin was
about to BECOME sin for you and for me. He was about to accept upon His
shoulders the sins of the world. A perfect God, about to have dumped on
Him the scum of the world. His perfectly white robe, about to become the
filthiest in existence. THIS is why Jesus sweat blood at Gethsemene. Not
because of apprehension of the pain or even the death He was about to
endure. THIS is HIS sacrifice for you and for me. This is what most folks
never think about in terms of His sacrifice for us. At the cross, Jesus
cried out, "Father, why have you forsaken (abandoned) me?" The answer is
that at that moment, Jesus had the sins of the world upon him and His
Father had to turn His back to Jesus. Jesus was abandoned by His Father.
How painful that must have been for Jesus. Because Jesus did this for us,
we will never be abandoned by God.
Knowing that I am free to sin, that all my sin is
paid for already by the risen Jesus Christ, how could I add to the blood
He had to shed for me at Calvary. How? How could I add to the trauma of a
perfect God taking upon Himself, my filthy sin? I cannot willingly do so.
Yet, I continue to sin. This issue will be addressed elsewhere.
Now, Jesus has changed everything. Our motivation
for keeping the commandments is no longer FEAR of losing salvation but
LOVE for Jesus. Fear was never a good motivator, but LOVE is the perfect
motivator and this, Jesus has provided for us. What a perfect God we have!
So, to bring this all together into what this all
has to do with salvation thru Faith alone and not by our works or deeds,
Jesus did it all at Calvary. We died to sin and at the resurrection of
Jesus, we have been born to life everlasting simply by believing.
Anything less than Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary
would not gain heaven for us and anything more is not needed. For if
salvation could be gained thru the law (keeping the commandments) then
Jesus’ death was for nothing (not enough) Gal 2:21.
We are saved by Faith alone. This Faith THEN
produces good works in us which God has prepared in advance for us to do
before the foundations of the world. Where there is Faith, you will see
HIS good works being performed through believers Eph 2:8-10.
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