Mankind is fallen and stands guilty before a Holy and Just God. Romans 3:10-18 gives us the description, "As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Man is depraved and in need for God to save him by His grace! Not one person on this planet can accomplish their own salvation or work their way to God. It is impossible. Our sin has put a great chasm between us and God. Jesus is the only one to bridge that gap. " For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus." ( 1 Timothy 2:5)
Jesus has accomplished all the work necessary for man to be made right with God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says this: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus got our sin...and we can gain a right standing before God now. What is required of us then?
We must respond to the only way for us to be forgiven and saved from the penalty our sins deserve. That is to accept and fully trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He has said on the cross. "It is finished!" He paid in full the penalty that our very sins deserved. God is not only loving, but Holy and must judge our sin. We need to appropriate this by responding to the call and throwing ourselves on Christ.
For those who decide to accept Christ's free offer of forgiveness, he give us His Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory." ( Ephesians 1:13-14)
You will then become a new creation in Christ! "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"( 2 Corinthians 5:17)
In Ephesians 2:1-10 it describes how we are made alive in Christ: "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
So the choice is yours! Accept or reject this. There is no middle ground, no purgatory, no second chances, no fence sitting. Hebrews 9:27 makes this very clear: "And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment." This life is your probationary period for you to get right with your Creator. We are all guilty, not one of us is innocent. The Ten Commandments are there showing us that we have broken God's and are unable to keep it! Have we not lied? Have we not stolen? Have we not lusted in our hearts? We must all give an account to God! Spend some time today thinking about eternity and where you would like to spend it. Heaven or Hell. Eternally in God's presence or eternally cast from His presence. It is the biggest decision you will ever make and the most important one at that!! In Christ -Dustin
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