JESUS DID IT ALL

 

JESUS DID IT ALL

Rom. 4:4-5 When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive. But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work. NLT

The Apostle Paul is making it clear here that we cannot work our way into God's favor. Salvation is a gift from God and to see it any other way will prevent us from being saved. We are made right with God by receiving what He has done for us at Calvary. Jesus did all the work needed for our salvation. He took upon himself all of our condemnation for sin. He satisfied the law's demand of death for he who would sin against God. He alone was able to do it because He alone was able to live a sinless life on earth. He did all that there was to do for us to be forgiven by God and accepted by Him into His family.

We do not, nor can we ever, earn our way into heaven. We live in Christ to work, but we don't work to live. What we do proves that what Christ has done in us is for real. We live in Christ and live for Christ. All of our living should be a reflection of our salvation. We work out our salvation, but never for it. No one is made righteous because of what they do.

It is also true that no one who is truly saved will fail to show it in how they live. Works always follow salvation. We cannot live in Christ without living for Him. As long as we are able to move, we show the righteousness of Christ in us. We serve Him in all we do. We cannot be saved and do nothing for Him. He gives everyone of His children tasks to do. He equips us to do our tasks and sends us out into the world to do them. If we fail to live for Christ, we are disobeying Him and it is sin.

WHAT JESUS DID

 

WHAT JESUS DID

Rom. 3:27-28 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. NLT

There is absolutely nothing that you can do to be accepted by God. You will never be good enough or do enough to cause God to accept you as His child. The only way anyone can be accepted by God is by faith in what Jesus has done. Jesus offered up His life as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He alone was able to do anything about sin because He lived a sinless life. His death was our death. He took upon himself all of our sins and God’s wrath for our sins. He made things right between God and us. His work on the cross to make us righteous before God is not lacking in any way. His was the perfect solution to an impossible situation. Man can now have a relationship with God free from guilt and shame.

You cannot do anything to save your soul and you can’t do anything to keep your soul saved. Jesus does it all for us. He is quite capable of getting us to heaven. All we have to do is to live in Him. We must stay connected to Him, allowing Him to be both our Savior and Lord.

Have you allowed Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sins? Have you committed your life to Him and let Him be Lord of it? If Jesus is not your Savior and Lord, don’t put it off any longer. He is the only hope you have of ever making it to heaven.

BOAST IN GOD'S WORK

 

BOAST IN GOD’S WORK

Rom. 3:27-28 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. NLT

We have nothing to boast about when it comes to our souls. We owe our salvation to the Lord, and we owe His workings in our lives to Him. There is nothing we can take credit for. We are saved by grace, kept by grace, and will make it to heaven by grace.

Jesus did all there was to do for our salvation. There is nothing left to do on our part. He started and finished the work of salvation at Calvary. He didn't need our help then, and He doesn't need it now. All we can do is accept what He did for us by faith. We trust in His finished work. We confess our sins to Him, repent of them, and by faith claim His forgiveness, righteousness and holiness.

We cannot take credit for keeping our souls saved. It is by faith that we let go of the control of our lives to the Holy Spirit and let Him work in us our salvation. We simply give Him the freedom to make us holy. We put into practice the faith we have and let the Lord do the rest. He will only work with a willing and yielded vessel. He can only do in us what we are willing to let Him do.

When we live by faith and obey the Lord, the Lord will see us through unto heaven. Our readiness for heaven is guaranteed when we live by faith in His finished and ongoing work in us. He makes us holy, a people after God's own heart, a people fit for heaven. If we must boast, let us only boast in the working of Christ on our behalf at Calvary and the workings of the Holy Spirit in us daily to make us holy.

JESUS TAKES AWAY SIN

 

JESUS TAKES AWAY SIN

Rom. 3:22 We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. NLT

Two things of great importance are found here in today’s verse. The most important truth that anyone can know is that we are made right with God when we trust in Christ to take away our sins. If we do not trust in Christ for our salvation, we cannot be right with God. Jesus is the only way we can get rid of our sins. He alone has the power and authority to forgive. He alone has the right to take them away and throw them into the sea of God’s forgetfulness. To trust Jesus to save us is to confess that you have sinned, take responsibility for it, acknowledge that He alone can forgive you, ask Him to forgive, accept His forgiveness, and live like you are forgiven by not living the life of sin anymore.

The second great truth we find here that all must know is that no one is excluded from the possibility of being saved. All who desire salvation can be saved, regardless of who we are or what we have done. There is no sin greater than God’s ability to save us from it. It may matter to man what we have done, but it doesn’t matter to God. He can and will forgive the vilest of sinners who sincerely come to Him for forgiveness.

Jesus came into our world to take away our sins. He is no respecter of persons. Salvation is available to anyone who sincerely seeks Him regardless of the sin. All have sinned against God. There is no sin that can keep you out of heaven if you turn to Christ in sincere repentance.

Don’t let sin rob you of the joy of salvation in this life or in the life to come.

MADE RIGHT WITH GOD

 

MADE RIGHT WITH GOD

Rom. 3:22 We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. NLT

This is the greatest news mankind has ever heard. It is shouting news that should be proclaimed everywhere to everyone who will listen. We are made right with God when we trust in Christ to take away our sins. Our sins can be taken away from us, and Jesus is the only way it can be done. It is a horrible thing to have to carry around with us our sins. They make us ugly and robs us of peace that our souls long for. God has shown His great love for us by putting our sins upon Jesus as He hung on the cross. Jesus can free us from all of our guilt, shame, and bondage that sin brings.

Jesus alone can take away our sins. No man can stand before God on our behalf and declare our sins are forgiven. Nothing we can do can make our sins go away. We can't bury them and make them go away. Only Jesus can rid our souls of sin's infestation and the certain judgment of God because of them. Only Jesus can make us righteous before God.

No one has a corner on salvation. Anyone who comes to Jesus can have their sins taken away. God has no favorites amongst people. He doesn't care who we are or where we are from; we can all be saved. No one is excluded from God's offer of salvation. No one. All who come to Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins are made right in God's sight, and their sins are taken away from them, as far as the east is from the west, to be remembered no more.

HOPELESS AND HELPLESS

 

HOPELESS AND HELPLESS

Rom. 3:19-20 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God. For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it. NLT

The Law was given to those who do not know Christ on a personal level. All who try to live life without Christ are subject to the Law’s demands and punishment. We who live in Christ are subject to his laws and demands, which lead to holy living.

The reason why God gave us His Law was to help us understand our sinfulness and to understand that we can never live in relationship with God on our own efforts. It is impossible for anyone to think they don’t need God based on the Law. God clearly exposes our sin. He is perfect holiness, and we are perfect sinfulness.

The more we study the Law of God, the more frustrating it becomes to those of us who try to live by it. We are constantly confronted with the fact that we aren’t living by it. No one can do on his own what God commands us to do.

However, God did not leave us hopeless and helpless. He came to earth in the form of a man to do what we could not do. He became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He displayed His power over sin by living a sinless life and then taking our place on the cross. We deserved to die because of our sin, but Jesus did it for us. Jesus took every sinful act and thought of man and rendered them powerless over us. He stripped Satan of his hold over us. He made it possible for us to be righteous before God without keeping the Law. Every mandate of the Law was fulfilled in Christ.

If you are trying to satisfy God’s wrath by legal means, you will never have peace with God. You will never know that your sins are forgiven and you will never have the confidence that you will go to heaven when you die. Our only hope and help is in the righteousness of Christ. Jesus is the only way we are ever going to live obediently to God.

CHRIST, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

CHRIST, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Rom. 3:19-20 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God. For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it. NLT

The law was given by God to keep people from having excuses for their sins and to show everyone that they are facing the judgment of God. The law clearly states that those who keep it are made righteous before God. The catch is that no one is able to keep the law perfectly. No matter how hard a person may try to live by the law, he will fail miserably and fall short of God's perfect standard.

Paul makes it even harder when he says that the more we discover about God's law, the clearer it becomes that we are not doing it. The law of God is very demanding and to fail at just one point makes us guilty of breaking the whole law.

Even if by some miracle someone were to be able to perfectly obey the law, Jesus makes it even harder when He made it clear that God judges the motives of the heart as well as the letter of the law. Why we do what we do matters as much as what we do. And, no one can honestly say that they always do the right thing with the right attitude.

Our righteousness is never in what we do or don't do; it's only in Christ. The soul is made right with God only through the finished work of redemption of Christ on the cross of Calvary. So, if you are trying to make things right with God by what you do, stop it now and trust in Christ alone. He alone can save you and keep you saved.