Oh,
I praise the Lord today. I am having,
what one of my dear preacher friends says, something called a “holy fit.” When I start to think that the King of Glory
came to man, to live among man, to save sinful man; to give me a hope, a
future, a life. It makes me want to
shout!
The
powerful word of the King is not just judgment against the life of depravity
and the obsessive sinfulness of the fallen human nature. Let us today thank God for the power and word
of the King; it is for our salvation.
Who is as the wise man?
and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face
to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. I counsel thee to keep the king's
commandment, and that in regard
of the oath of God. Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil
thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say
unto him, What doest thou? Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing:
and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
Ecclesiastes
8:1-5 (KJV)
Romans 10:28 read that this “Is…the word of faith, which we
preach…” (Romans 10:8 KJV) It is what we
preach at Rockford Church
“I give unto them eternal life and they will never perish neither shall
anyone, the devil and all the hosts of hell pluck them out of my hand” [John 10:28 ].
The
word of salvation…the word of the power of King Jesus; that is His word to
receive us. We read in John 6: “They
that come unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37) The powerful word of King Jesus! We read in Matthew 26: “This is My blood of
the new covenant,” the New Testament, shed for the remission of our sins.”
(Matthew 26:28) This is the powerful
word of King Jesus, the word to keep us.
In the eighth chapter of the Book of Romans, Paul closes with these
words: “I am persuaded, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities…nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38, 39) Because of the WORD OF THE LORD-KING JESUS-we
are saved forever!
Something
difficult to comprehend at times, but truth all the same. It is something which is hard for us to allow
our minds and our hearts to wrap around; for me to realize how the Lord
emphasizes, not only receiving us, not only washing us, not only keeping us,
but how He is going to raise us up at the last day.
“This is the will of the Father that sent Me” [John 6:39 ].
Just
look at how often He repeats this word: “of all that he has given me. . . . I
shall raise them up at the last day.” (John 10:39) Continue to read, same chapter of John, the
next verse: “And this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who sees
the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him
up at the last day.” (John 10:40) Now, move
on to the next: “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws
him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 10:44) And then again: “Who ever eats My flesh and
drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.”
(John 10:54)
We
have to reason that He repeats this so often in this passage of Scripture, is
emphazie our final triumph, which will come by the power of the King. That is when He will bring us-those who
called by His name-out of that dust of the ground and out of the depths of the
grave; at the time appointed when God is going to raise us up. We are going to be resurrected! We are going to have a new body! What a triumph! What a victory! What a glorious day God has prepared for
those who love Him!
How
do I achieve this wonderful experience of salvation? How do I write my name in the Book of
Life? I know someone who belongs to a
church that believes that it is by your good works that you are saved. You are going to get to heaven by working, by
doing good. By taking care of all of those
things pertaining to work, he believes he will be saved. And he is scared to death. When I look into his eyes and I hear him
speak I will see in him and I will hear from his own voice the fear he lives
with every day. He does not know whether
he is going to make it to heaven or not.
“What if I am not good enough?
And what if my works are not acceptable?”
He
thinks he has to work himself into glory.
Did you know that the majority of the Christian world believes that
doctrine? You work yourself into heaven;
you are saved by your good works.
Practically all of Christendom teaches that doctrine. That is not what the Bible teaches us.
For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works
Ephesians
2:8-10 (KJV)
“No,”
and a thousand times I say, “NO!” The
Bible teaches us that we are saved by the grace of God. It is by faith we are saved. It is not by our own works, but by His love
and grace we are saved in this life and saved for the life to come. Notice what Paul writes in the book of Ephesians
(2:8-9): “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourself:
It is a gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” We are saved by grace, through faith! Any other way and we would be able to say, “I
did it. I came to Christ in my own
strength. I have eternity because of
what I did. I did my way!” No,
sir! That is not the way it is
done.
When
we stand in His presence, we will sing the song of the Lamb. He did it!
We will say, “I am here by the love and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He did it!
There is no other way to the Father, but by Jesus Christ and accepting
His payment and forgiveness for your sin.
That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not
be ashamed.
Romans 10:9-11 (KJV)
For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13
(KJV)
If
all of that is true, why do you work?
Why do you try? If Jesus is going
to save us, why don’t we just let Him save us and then we go out here and live
like the devil? Or, God help us, like
the world, why don’t we just go out here and live like they do? Why, well the answer is as plain as the nose
on you face. I may not be working for my
salvation but I am working because of it!
You see, the story is simple: Jesus died for me; Jesus saved me; Jesus
poured out His blood and His life, for me; and out of love for the Lord, I seek
to serve Him both day and by night. I
seek to serve Him and be a witness for Him in the good and the bad times of
life!
Jacob
is a great example for us. The Bible
tells us that he worked fourteen years for Rachel; and then was not given her
hand in marriage. He was tricked and it
was an awful thing. But his desire was
for Rachel and it never wavered. So he
worked seven more years, and he after seven more years he was tricked, again. At the end of seven years, he worked seven
more years. Why? Most of us would have given up after the
first fourteen, or maybe not even tried the first year. But the Bible say it was just as a day because
of his love for Rachel.
You
do what you are doing just for the love of God.
It is not because you are working your way into heaven, or trying to be
good enough to stand before the King, but doing what you do just for the love
of the Lord.
Here
is a picture, if you will, of what being born again like. You have a boy, he will not comb his
hair. He will not wear a belt. He will not tuck his shirt into his pants. So he goes around-all over town-and looks
like a bum; a stray. Here he is, his
pants around his ankles and he looks like he has slept in his clothes for a
week-and there is nothing in the world you can do to change him. Then, all of the sudden; one day you walk by
the hall bathroom and there he is, in there primping before the mirror. He is putting some foreign looking foam in
his hair, spraying his hair, styling his hair.
He is tucking his shirt in and you take note that he is wearing his
pants at the proper place. He even bends
over and is shining his shoes. He is
dressing up. Before you pass out on the
floor, you see him spraying something that smells wonderful…
What
is the matter with him? I will tell you
that it is because of love he is doing all these things. He has fallen in love. There is some pretty check waiting for him at
McDonalds, where they will stare into each others eyes over a milkshake, with
two straws. Afterwards they will go to the
movies, spending a few hours together in each others company. Yep, he has fallen in love, and he is a new
creation. He is a new man. He is somebody else.
That
is a picture of you and me, friend. That
is a picture of what it means to be born again.
You have fallen in love with Jesus and you are a new man. You are a new person. You are somebody else. That is what love does. And that is what Jesus puts in our hearts
when we fall in love with Him.
.
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