Preaching the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ to a dying world...

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10

The Problem...Death

After explaining the struggle between the sinful flesh and the spirit, Paul cries out almost exasperated by the seemingly hopelessness of the struggle stating, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 7:24-25a). Jesus Christ is the answer! But how? Jesus made it clear in the third chapter of the Gospel of John when he stated, "...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Jesus was talking about being born spiritually. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" (Hebrews 9:27). We are ALL part of the ultimate statistic... ten out of ten die. The question then becomes, "What next?" Judgment! That is a certainty. We will ALL be judged according to God's righteous standard, perfect and complete holiness. The Bible says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10). Trying to keep the Law (i.e. Ten Commandments) is like hanging onto a ten linked chain dangling over the fires of hell. It doesn't matter which link we break, if we break one, we will fall. So it is with the Ten Commandments. Breaking one will send us to an eternity in hell.

The Reason...Sin

"For the wages of sin is death;..." (Rom 6:23). Also, we see "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Rom 5:12). Death is the result of sin according to the Bible. And we have ALL sinned against God. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23). Because we were born separated from God, in a fallen world, and raised by imperfect parents, sin comes naturally to us. We can't do what we want to do because we we have an enslaved will. In other words, the sinful flesh is more powerful than the desire to do right (i.e. the will). The apostle Paul gives us a picture of this in chapter seven of the book of Romans. It states that we "are carnal, sold under sin." (Rom 7:14). To put it simply, the reason we sin is that we are carnal, living in a body of flesh. There is nothing that we can do to stop this cycle. All attempts are futile at best. Furthermore, no amount of good works can make us right before God. No amount of prayer, Bible reading, baptism, going to church, etc. can save us. We may think we are pure and "pretty good" compared to someone else. But God's holiness is so great that it shows our every blemish, no matter how seemingly small it is to us. The Bible states it this way, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;..." (Isa 64:6). Even the best of us fall far short when compared to God's standard.

The Answer...Jesus Christ

After explaining the struggle between the sinful flesh and the spirit, Paul cries out almost exasperated by the seemingly hopelessness of the struggle stating, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 7:24-25a). Jesus Christ is the answer! But how? Jesus made it clear in the third chapter of the Gospel of John when he stated, "...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Jesus was talking about being born spiritually. The Bible says, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb 9:22). God's pattern was instituted in the beginning after Adam and Eve sinned against God. God told Adam that "...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen 2:17).

At some point thereafter Adam and Even ate of that tree. What happened? Some say they died spiritually. This is nonsense since there are numerous times in the Bible that we encounter unsaved individuals having a spirit. Some say that it was physical death that occurred years later when they died. However, God said, "that in the day that thou eatest..." Therefore, that idea is also nonsense since they did not die physically on the same day that they partook of the fruit. What then? In chapter three of Genesis we find a peculiar verse that states, "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." The next verse we see God making coats of skins for Adam and Eve. The coats were "skins" made of animals which were killed in Adam and Eve's place. Adam demonstrated his faith by naming his wife a name meaning "the mother of all living" even though he knew that in the day that he ate of the tree they would die. He demonstrated his faith in who God was, loving and ready and willing to forgive. So what died that day were animals substituted in the place of Adam and Eve in order to cover their shame. This was the foreshadowing of the requirement of a substitutionary blood atonement that was seen in the following chapter with Cain and Abel and was instituted as an on-going sacrificial system for the Hebrews with Moses on Mt. Sinai. This substitutionary atonement system was foreshadowing a final substitutionary sacrifice of God's son Jesus. There are many verses in the Bible supporting a coming Saviour who would die a substitutionary death. Jesus was that person. John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29b). Jesus lived a perfect life, keeping all of the 613 Jewish laws and never sinning even once in thought, word, or deed (Heb 4:15). He fulfilled myriads of Old Testament Messianic prophecies down to the letter. Statistically speaking, it was impossible to fulfill what He did. He was mocked, ridiculed, and scorned by the religious leaders and by His own people. Finally, declared though innocent by the Roman authority, He was crucified and buried (Matt 27:24). Then, just as Jesus had prophesied to His disciples, He rose from the dead three days later defeating death and Hell. But to simply just believe this information will not help you in the least since the Bible states, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils believe, and tremble." (James 2:19). It is not enough to simply have "head knowledge." The Bible states, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom 10:9). There is a story in the book of Acts telling of Paul and Silas being imprisoned for their faith. In the middle of the night there was an earthquake that opened all of the prison doors. However, no prisoners escaped unbeknownst to the prison guard who was about to take his life. However, when Paul told him that everyone was still there, he changed his mind and asked Paul and Silas, "what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30b). The next verse tells the response, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." We find a good illustration of salvation in the book of Matthew in the story of Jesus walking on the water. The twelve apostles were in a ship in the middle of the sea during a late-night storm when they saw a figure walking on the water which at first they thought was a spirit. They cried out in fear but Jesus reassured them that it was him. Then Peter said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." (Matt 14:28).  in the next verse Jesus says, "Come." Peter proceeded to climb down out of the boat and walk on the water until he realized that the wind was "boisterous" and he  began to sink. As he began to sink, the Bible tells us that he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me." "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him..." (Matt 14:31a). In summation, the Lord Jesus called Peter. Then Peter responded to the call trying to get to Jesus on his own efforts. He then realized that he was in big trouble starting to drown and couldn't save himself. So he called upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save him knowing He was his only hope. Immediately, it says, Jesus saved him. This is how salvation works. "For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matt 22:14). It is necessary to hear the gospel. Then we make a decision... respond or reject. In order to respond, one must first understand the gravity of his sin and the holiness of God (i.e. that we can't save ourselves by our works). Understanding this, by faith we call upon the only One Who can save us, Jesus Christ. Immediately we are saved and become born again.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" Ephesians 1:7

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