Grace Works Through Faith – Part 2

Fountain of His Word — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 13:28:42 +0000

Grace Works through Faith

Since Jesus Christ died for our sins two thousand years ago, when are our sins forgiven? Were they forgiven two thousand years ago when he paid the price for them, were they forgiven when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, or are they forgiven when we confess them?

What does the Bible say about this?

1 John 2:2 says, “He himself is the SACRIFICE that atones for our sins—and NOT ONLY OUR SINS BUT THE SINS OF ALL THE WORLD.” 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, NO LONGER COUNTING PEOPLE’S SINS AGAINST THEM. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”

The two verses mentioned above say that Jesus’ sacrifice took care of the sins of believers and non-believers. God is not counting our sins against us. Read again 1 John 2:2 and 2 Corinthians 5:19. Now, John 16:8-9 make sense. The Holy Spirit CONVICTS THE WORLD OF ONE SIN ONLY BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST TOOK CARE OF ALL THE OTHER SINS. According to John 16:9 the Holy Spirit convicts the world of THE SIN OF NOT BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST. John 16:8-9, “8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 OF SIN, BECAUSE THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN ME”.

So, the grace of God has provided the forgiveness of our past, present, and future sins. Hebrews 10:10, 14 “10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, ONCE FOR ALL TIME. 14 For by that one offering he FOREVER MADE PERFECT those who are being made holy.”

To access this forgiveness one simply needs to believe (faith) what Jesus did for us. Romans 10:9-10 says, “9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For IT IS BY BELIEVING IN YOUR HEART that you are made right with God, and IT IS BY OPENLY DECLARING YOUR FAITH [confession] that you are saved.” [Emphasis mine]

This is what Paul and Silas told the jailer who wanted to know what he should do to be saved. THEY DIDN’T TELL HIM TO CONFESS HIS SINS. Acts 16:30-31, “30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS AND YOU WILL BE SAVED, along with everyone in your household.”

So, when are our sins forgiven? Our sins were forgiven when Jesus paid the price for them. We access that forgiveness when we believe what Jesus did for us.

Does this mean that everybody is saved? No, GRACE ALONE DOESN’T SAVE. Ephesians 2:8 “For by GRACE you have been saved THROUGH FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”. As a believer in Christ my past, present, and future sins are forgiven. SIN IS ACTUALLY A NON-ISSUE WITH GOD!

We all have the opportunity to receive/access forgiveness of our sins, we simply need to accept that the price has been paid on our behalf and confess Jesus Christ as Lord: Philippians 2:8-11, “8 And being found in appearance as a man, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF AND BECAME OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and GIVEN HIM THE NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME, 10 THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”

“REST IN THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS CHRIST!”

Love Revealed Part 6

Fountain of His Word — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 11:39:28 +0000

Fountain of His Word Ministries

Saturday, February 6th, 2016 at 4:25am

Love Revealed – Part 6

The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ was not killed just because satan and some people wanted Him dead, His death was planned by God the Father so that He could redeem mankind from sin (1 Peter 1:18-21, 1 John 2:2). Sin separated mankind from God, when that happened God promised that there was going to be a Seed of the woman that was going to destroy what satan did by getting Adam and Eve to disobey Him (Genesis 3:15). When God had a man to bring this Seed through He proclaimed blessings over this man, Abraham, and his Seed (not seeds). The Bible tells us that the Seed God was talking about was Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16).

We learn from the Bible that the Law was introduced after the promises God made to Abraham and it did not nullify the promises. THE PURPOSE of the Law was to make mankind understand their sinfulness (Galatians 3:16-19). The Law aroused sinful passions in their bodies (Romans 7:5). It introduced knowledge of sin, and then sin hijacked the Law to produce all manner of evil desires in mankind (Romans 7:7&8). Before the introduction of the Law sin was dead, sin came alive when the Law was introduced (Romans 7:8&9). The way to destroy the power of sin in your life is to dissociate yourself from the Law as the New Testament tells us to (Romans 7:6, Romans 6:14, and Galatians 4:30).

The Bible calls the Law the ministry of condemnation and death (2 Corinthians 3:6-7&9). Verse 7 tells us that Paul was talking about the Ten Commandments as we know that those were the only laws that were written on stones. As you subject yourself to the condemning voice of the Law you will not enjoy your relationship with God because you think He remembers your sins, even though He does not (Hebrews 10:16-23).

When we have this understanding we can see what happened in Exodus 19. Remember that we use the New Testament to interpret the Old Testament. In Exodus 19 we see God wanting to continue dealing with His people without the Law but they told Him that they would do everything He tells them to do. When they told Him this, God changed His tone toward them (Exodus 19:3-13). Verse 5 tells us that God repeated what He said to Abraham (Genesis 17:1-2,10), Israel didn’t respond the way Abraham responded hence God gave them the Law (Exodus 19:7-25, and chapter 20). Abraham didn’t look at his capability to meet God’s standard but focused on the ability of God to fulfill His promise.

God wanted to continue dealing with Israel the way He dealt with Abraham; by grace and mercy (Romans 4:13&16). Jesus took care of the penalty that was supposed to come to all mankind because of the sin of Adam (Romans 5:17-21). He nailed the law at the cross (Colossians 2:13-18). We have been legally set free from the Law (Romans 7:4-6). God is not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

When God removed the Law from His dealings with us He was not saying we can live as we wish. In the following articles we will talk about how God gets us to live right without the Law.

(To be continued…)

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grace – Fountain of His Word Ministries

Grace Works Through Faith – Part 2

Love Revealed Part 6