This world is so full of religion. Every time I start thinking about the religion of this world it brings my blood to a boil. Sin being as bad as it is, at least leads to a person feeling guilty and seeking relief. Religion gets in between a sinner and the forgiveness he needs, and offers him a cheap substitute that doesn't work.
That might offend someone but the truth is, you could go on a pilgrimage, you could finger some beads, you could walk an aisle, say a prayer, become a member of this church or that church, do this ritual or that ritual, but it won't satisfy the demands of a holy God. Religious activity will not make right all the wrong we've done. It just won't satisfy the wrath of God our sin incurred. What we need is peace with God but all our efforts will never be enough to remove the stain of our sin. God had a board meeting and condemned the entire human race. We need someone to get us out of this mess we're in. We need someone that can mediate between us and God, and put an end to this war.
The great news is, God already made peace with us. That's right, it's already done. It's not in what we do or how we live but what's already been done for us. This acceptance is found outside of ourselves, has nothing to do with our righteousness, and requires us to believe something, not do something. It is hard to wrap ones mind around because it is contrary to all religion and natural law. The truth of the matter is, God found acceptance in only ONE place. God found acceptance only in ONE PERSON. God made peace with mankind, but not in a church, an aisle, a prayer, repenting of all your sins, or flipping beads, but in a Person. We cannot find acceptance with God in keeping commandments or keeping a bunch of rules, but rather in believing something that's already been done. God made peace with mankind on the cross, at Calvary, in Jesus Christ 2000 years ago AND NOWHERE ELSE. God finds acceptance ONLY in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we can have peace with God THROUGH Jesus Christ BY FAITH. God will look at our faith, and count it as if it were perfect righteousness.
To summarize... God finds peace in what Jesus did on the cross. The question now is to each individual... Do you ma'am, or you sir, find peace with God in Jesus Christ? It's no longer a question of personal performance or religious activity. The question now is, do we find peace in what God did... Or not? We could at this point ignore God's method of peace, and continue trying to selfishly earn salvation by our own righteousness and be damned as a result, or we could accept what God's already done for us, live by that faith, and be saved. The question then is... DO YOU FIND YOUR ACCEPTANCE IN JESUS CHRIST? If yes, then salvation is assured. If not, death, the final judgment and hell are only one heart stoppage away.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Summary of the Bible
Summary of the bible... God creates the heaven and the earth. He then creates the first man Adam, and gives him and his descendants dominion over the earth and everything that dwells in it. That means that God made mankind and relinquished control of the earth to them. God cut the strings, so to speak.
Satan comes in and convinces the first woman to disobey God who in turn convinces the man, and when they do, they by default become followers of Satan and he becomes the god of this world. It is now a usurped kingdom. God has given man dominion and the ability to chose good or evil, and they have chosen evil, and through the sin, have become followers of Satan. All men after that, are born into a world of scepticism and doubt, apart from God, and all become the children of the devil through following after the flesh, the world and Satan. The world becomes a place without hope. Wars, violence and sin crescendo on the earth as all people rebel against the rule of God and follow after the devil.
Judgment must fall on the disobedient or else the Moral Ruler of the Universe would be unjust. The wages of sin is death... The soul that sinneth, it shall die. God doesn't have the ability as God to save mankind, because He has given up His authority on this earth to man. What does God do? He becomes the MAN CHRIST JESUS! Why? To get the dominion, authority and glory back that the first man Adam lost and to rescue man that are slaves of sin. Jesus Christ lives without sin. Right from a child, he always does what is right and what pleases His Father in heaven. If He were to sin, everything would be lost and he would just be one of us... Children of the devil. He lives perfect. Through his overcoming life, He shows to all the people of the world God's perfect standard of righteousness. He reveals the true character and righteousness of God, because He is the express image of God. He came to die though. The law stated that those that sin should die. He was sinless in Himself, but He came to die in the place of those that had sinned. God places mankind's sin on Jesus and His blood runs to the ground on Calvary where He is nailed to the cross. The devil and his demons shout with glee. God in the flesh was dead. But wait! What they don't know is that God's justice has been satisfied for mankind's sin! Three days later, having paid the penalty for our sin, He comes out of the grave, ALIVE! And because He has eternal life and is also God, he can impart that life, FREELY, to everyone that believes in him with all their heart.
This is the story of the bible. It is a fantastic history of mankind receiving dominion, glory and authority on this world and then relinquishing that glory and dominion to the devil. Jesus Christ comes at the most opportune time and becomes only the second Man, the last Adam, to reverse what the first man did, and to rescue those that would be free from this world and the devil, and have eternal life.
Satan comes in and convinces the first woman to disobey God who in turn convinces the man, and when they do, they by default become followers of Satan and he becomes the god of this world. It is now a usurped kingdom. God has given man dominion and the ability to chose good or evil, and they have chosen evil, and through the sin, have become followers of Satan. All men after that, are born into a world of scepticism and doubt, apart from God, and all become the children of the devil through following after the flesh, the world and Satan. The world becomes a place without hope. Wars, violence and sin crescendo on the earth as all people rebel against the rule of God and follow after the devil.
Judgment must fall on the disobedient or else the Moral Ruler of the Universe would be unjust. The wages of sin is death... The soul that sinneth, it shall die. God doesn't have the ability as God to save mankind, because He has given up His authority on this earth to man. What does God do? He becomes the MAN CHRIST JESUS! Why? To get the dominion, authority and glory back that the first man Adam lost and to rescue man that are slaves of sin. Jesus Christ lives without sin. Right from a child, he always does what is right and what pleases His Father in heaven. If He were to sin, everything would be lost and he would just be one of us... Children of the devil. He lives perfect. Through his overcoming life, He shows to all the people of the world God's perfect standard of righteousness. He reveals the true character and righteousness of God, because He is the express image of God. He came to die though. The law stated that those that sin should die. He was sinless in Himself, but He came to die in the place of those that had sinned. God places mankind's sin on Jesus and His blood runs to the ground on Calvary where He is nailed to the cross. The devil and his demons shout with glee. God in the flesh was dead. But wait! What they don't know is that God's justice has been satisfied for mankind's sin! Three days later, having paid the penalty for our sin, He comes out of the grave, ALIVE! And because He has eternal life and is also God, he can impart that life, FREELY, to everyone that believes in him with all their heart.
This is the story of the bible. It is a fantastic history of mankind receiving dominion, glory and authority on this world and then relinquishing that glory and dominion to the devil. Jesus Christ comes at the most opportune time and becomes only the second Man, the last Adam, to reverse what the first man did, and to rescue those that would be free from this world and the devil, and have eternal life.
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