Trust

Hebrews 3:12-15 - Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

I listened to a sermon the other day, presumably for Resurrection Sunday. It was by Alistair Begg. It was about the question of Jesus' resurrection: What If It's All True? If Jesus didn't die and was raised up again, then there is no such thing as forgiveness of sins by our God.  I just want to share a part of this sermon. Throughout there was a word so prominent, like I'd never heard it before...trust.

*******
If you are a Christian today you believe in the risen Lord or you wouldn't believe at all. But the Jesus who died on the cross is the Jesus who died an atoning death for your sins. 
By His death and resurrection, writes Paul in Romans 4, Jesus has achieved salvation for all who trust in Him. 
He was delivered over to death for our sins, and raised again from the dead to secure our justification. 
He has achieved salvation for those who trust Him.  
He did not achieve salvation for those who say, "Yeah I believe there was a Jesus."
He did not achieve salvation for those who say they think the Sermon on the Mount is a good document. 
He did not achieve salvation for the person who says, "I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and be a much better person than I have the past 20 years of my life."
He has achieved salvation for those who TRUST in Him. 

Here's a question for you: 
Have you ever come to Jesus Christ and trusted Him? 
In the words of an old song from childhood:

He did not come to judge the world, 

He did not come to blame, 

He did not only come to seek, 

But it was to save He came. 

When we call Him Savior,

When we call Him Savior,

When we call Him Savior...

We call Him by His name.

*******

He is the only one who can break us of the bonds of our inherently sinful natures. Only He can set us free from sin and spiritual death. Life is not perfect on this earth. Our physical bodies will still deteriorate and we will still die, we will still have life's struggles, but Jesus asks us to trust in Him, call out to Him and seek Him.

If we put our trust in Jesus now we can have peace. We focus on Him. We learn to trust in Him. We know our eternal security is real and it's those eternal rewards, in Christ, that we look forward to. Then, with others who have done this, as life goes on, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) 

Begg continued by saying the reason Jesus died, and we've heard this over and over, is because we have sin in our lives. None of us is righteous, nor are we good in our own strength. But when we call on Jesus Christ to become our Lord and Savior, He removes the unrighteousness within us and our sinful natures and He creates a new person. We still aren't perfect because we live in these human, fleshly bodies. We have our own minds, our own wills which Jesus works to transform. But the only way that will happen is by giving our lives to Him today. 

I can only plant seeds of His truth. I cannot turn a person's life over to Jesus Christ myself. That is up to each individual. It is my responsibility to do what Christ would want us to do and that is share the gospel of Jesus Christ, His life, His death and His resurrection for our sins, of which we are all guilty. 

The Bible tells us:
1John 1:8-10 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Matthew 11:28-30 - Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Mystery of Reconciliation

Ephesians 3:14-19 - For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

I read this this morning. In the Bible it was entitled Appreciation of the Mystery. What He has done is a mystery. My heart wept and also rejoiced. It wept for those who do not know Christ Jesus. Who do not know the love He has for every person. And I rejoiced because I have had a glimpse of it. And I know there's more. It's never ending. It's all encompassing.

...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory... Not our own idea of riches, but His. Not our own idea of achievements, but His. It has everything to do with Him and not ourselves. He is the one who gives as we need, not we who look to our own desires for what we need.

We must be rooted and grounded in Him. We must be found in Him in our last days to receive everlasting life. If we have any doubt about this we must reconsider His words.

His love, which passes knowledge, was nailed to a tree 2000 years ago. He did this for each of us. He suffered the the agony of all our sins. Can you imagine this? This too surpasses all understanding; we cannot imagine. We cannot imagine.

And yet He did this that if we would lay aside our lives for Him He would fill us with more than we could ever know. If my heart cries out for people to understand this it is only a very small amount of the desires of the Lord. Very small.

I read the following verses. They were entitled Reconciled in Christ. What Jesus did for us. What happens when we come, starting out as enemies...enemies...of Christ, to the saving knowledge of Him...and reconciled. Our works, achievements are considered wicked before receiving Christ. We are saved by grace through faith in Him and nothing else. If it were not so Jesus would not have had to die at all. It would have been a pointless act if we could achieve sinless lives on our own.

If you have read more than one of these blogs you have heard the Gospel and what is necessary. I may not present it the best way all the time, but God's Word can stand on its own. I know what is necessary, what happened to me and what can happen to anyone who puts their trust and faith in Christ and not self.

Colossians 1:19-23 - For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. 

What's It All About?

Matthew 27:51 - At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

We are about to celebrate what may be considered the most important time of the year for Christians...Easter. This ends holy week. It commemorates the last week of Jesus' life before He gave His life for all mankind.

When He died scripture tells us the ground quaked, the skies grew ominously dark and the veil in the Temple that separated the people from the Holy of Holies, God's earthly dwelling place, was torn from top to bottom. 

The veil represented the separation between God and man. The fact that the veil was torn from top to bottom could only mean that God did the tearing. No human could have torn it because of it's size and thickness. This bring us to what Jesus' death meant: that no longer would man have to be separated from God. There was a Way, if we would just believe and follow. The way was and still is open for all...if we confess our sins and let Jesus into our lives.

Imagine Him if you will. Somewhere in His childhood came the revelation that He was to give up His life, that this was His calling. It did not stop Him from His ministry. It did not keep Him silent with His words of truth about salvation and about who He was...that He held the key to eternal life.

Jesus first made an appearance into Jerusalem. As He humbly rode in on the back of a donkey, people worshiped Him. Did He look like a king? Did He dress like one? How could it be that these people worshiped? I'm thinking they were so enthralled with His words, His demeanor that His physical appearance meant nothing. He was just plain captivating. He is just as captivating today when we encounter Him in our lives at just the right moment.

Not long after His entrance He was arrested, taken captive, put through a ridiculously unfair trial, then scourged and endured the long walk to Golgotha with His own cross on His back.  All this brought anguish into the lives of those who had followed Him. How could this be? He was to be their Savior. How is it He was allowed to go through all these false accusations? How could He be crucified? Were these people confused? I'm sure many were. This gentle Man never said a word in His own defense. How could He do this? Oh, the questions that must have gone through the people's minds...especially the disciples' who had walked with Him for three years, had been taught by Him, who believed He was the Son of God, but didn't understand the concept of His being He who "takes away the sins of the world." 

They didn't understand the concept of having to die to live...both His and their own...and ours. Soon they would be so confused, so frightened that they would abandon Him...the men who listened to His teachings for three years and knew Him so well. 

This last week of His life He spent preparing His disciples for His end. Most of what He said they could not fully understand. They could not understand why He would have to leave them. He told them that when He was gone, a Helper would come to show the world that all He had preached was true, that this Helper would empower them and bring to mind all they had learned, all the truth of His words. Right now all they knew was God, the Father and Jesus, the Son. This Helper or Comforter He spoke about was the Holy Spirit.

Lord God, the depth of what You have done for us is incomprehensible. That one Man's death could bring life to the rest of us who choose to believe in Him. And it's a free gift. We cannot do anything to earn this gift. We cannot because we just will never ever be good enough...until we take that gift as our own and let Jesus' blood which was spilled that one day cover our sins. Even this is hard for human minds to comprehend.  1Peter 1:18-19 - ...knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Jesus died for us. He put an end to all the old time sacrifices (works) for forgiveness of sins and He made access to God our Creator possible for all mankind. All the sins of the world on one Man's body. The torment and yet the love. His death has allowed us to experience the peace only He brings through salvation. Do you believe? Will you believe? 

This is what Easter is all about. It's not about bunnies and candy and eggs. It's all about Jesus' love for all mankind...so much love that He willingly died to save our sorry souls. 

John 10:18 - "No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."