John Newton wrote the song Amazing
Grace in 1779. By his own words he was a vile
and wretched man until he gave
his heart to Jesus and followed Him the rest of his life. Mr. Newton knew of
the amazing grace of God, and every true Christian has also a personal
experience of that same amazing grace.
We were all vile and wretched
before knowing Jesus as our Savior and Lord, but then He cleaned us up and put
us on a new pathway to follow Him.
As it is written: “There is no
one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one
who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there
is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their
tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their
mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed
blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18)
But thanks be to God “Blessed
are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count
against them.” (Romans 4:7-8)
To understand just how
awesome God’s grace really is, perhaps we should stop and consider the utter
hopelessness of our predicament without Him. Every man, woman and child (past
the point of accountability) is doomed for an everlasting hell, a place apart
from God, in absolute darkness and fiery torment.
The common thought among
fallen man is that our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds and we will be
accepted into the Heavenly realm upon our death. Also, I am convinced more and
more than many today believe that it doesn’t matter that we live in sin, we
still to go Heaven. Several well-known people have died over the past years
that have lived a life in the sewer, but because they are loved by family,
friends, and fans it is believed by these same people that the deceased will be
welcomed in Heaven.
Now before you open your
mouth, I am completely aware that there is only one thing that can be done to
reward us with Heaven when we die; i.e. true belief in Jesus Christ. Works do
not save anyone. Nothing can save but the death, burial and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. By Him we are saved and Him only. He is the only way period. Now
that that is settled, I’ll move on.
Having faith in Jesus or
believing in Him, both are the same, is more than a movement of the mouth based
on a half-hearted response to the Gospel. Anybody can say, “I am Christian.”
Since only God knows for sure who is and who is not, we’ll certainly leave that
area up to Him. I’m sure that’s not in my ‘pay grade,’ and most certainly it is
not in yours either.
The point is, I’m hearing
more and more say or imply that they are Christian, but other than that,
nothing is evident in their lives that this is true. Again, we’ll leave the
final determination to God. It is in His ‘pay-grade.’ The Bible does however
make it very clear that when you plant an acorn you will get an oak tree. I’m
not seeing many oak trees. Are you?
Sins do not send anyone to
hell, except for the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. Works, good or bad, do not
get us to Heaven. Jesus is the only way to Heaven. He is the door, the life,
the light, the only pathway. So no one should be flippant about claiming to be
a Christian when their very life proves they do not believe in the only one
sent of God for salvation.
The power of God in a man,
woman or child is a life changer. God changes lives. All through our lives He
is sanctifying us, bringing us to our final perfection once we arrive in
Heaven. Since we have nothing within us to make us righteous on earth, we are
clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In Him we are always righteous,
clean without spot, from the day of our salvation to all eternity. So obviously
Christians, in our mortal bodies, still sin, but we strive through the power of
the Holy Spirit within us to follow Jesus simply because of our ever growing
love toward Him.
Think about this. Jesus said
on numerous occasions, “Follow Me.” I repeat, on numerous occasions He said,
“Follow Me.” Jesus is not going to lead us into sinful thoughts and actions.
For example: Jesus is not going to lead us into homosexuality, adultery, illicit
drug use, child abuse, fornication, lying, greed, lust of money, jealousy,
murder, theft, pride, etc. He will lead us away from them.
When a person is truly saved,
Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, will lead that person out of that sinful state.
Jesus will not lead us into sin folks. He will help us flee from it. Will we
still sin occasionally? You bet your sneakers we will, but a Christian knows what
sin is, is miserable in sin, and runs from it. We may get snagged in it again,
but again our goal is to run from it once more with the power of God on our
side.
So if your life is consumed
with sin (disobedience to God’s will) and you have no desire to repent of it,
don’t try to convince me that you know Jesus. The only way you will ever know
Jesus is that He will be your judge at the white throne judgment.
If you identify yourself as
clergy and homosexual in the same breath, you have no business behind that
pulpit. You need to be on your knees in repentance before God and get saved.
When people who claim to be a
Christian are lying, stealing, gossiping, murdering, on drugs, alcoholics,
homosexuals, adulterers, hateful, greedy, etc. it is no wonder that people are
confusing a lie straight from Satan with real bona fide Christianity.
Now for the Good News of God’s
Amazing Grace: Anyone, I repeat, anyone can be saved and thereby a true
Christian by really trusting in Jesus. That person can say, “Here I am Lord. I
believe you and will follow you, and I trust you that when I fall you will pick
me up.” No matter what you ‘were,’ God can change you.
“Or do you not know that the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such WERE (emphasis mine) some of you; but you were
washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Notice that Paul says, “Such
WERE (emphasis mine) some of you.” God changes lives. Now that’s grace folks.
God can take our lousy messed up lives and completely turn us around. It
doesn’t matter what you were. God can change that. However, if you think you
can just claim the name of “Christian,” but have no desire to follow Jesus,
you’re just fooling yourself. You may call yourself a sheep, but you’re still a
pig, continuing to wallow in your own sinful slop.
Jesus will never lead anyone
to the pig sty. He will only lead us to be holy.
“For I am the LORD your God:
ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:
neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. For I am the
LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall
therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44-45)
“But just as he who called
you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for
it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
Have you ever tried to change
your life from bad to good? Have you ever tried to stop a sinful action? You
can’t do it can you? That’s because it’s a heart problem, and only God can mend
a heart. Only God can truly change a person. When a person legitimately comes
to Jesus to be saved, they will be changed. It may not happen overnight,
and it will be slower for some than others, but it will happen. But for those
who have not changed, and don’t want to change, stop identifying yourself with
Christ. You don’t know Him, and until you do, you are not one of His.
Now consider what God can do
if you are willing.
“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, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
(Ephesians 2:8-10)
God is holy and does not walk
in sin. He will lead us in righteousness away from sin. He makes us holy by His
righteousness. So let us not claim his holiness, when we live in sin and refuse
His gracious gift of grace through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
