Thursday 13 December 2012

Romans 5:1-21

This Morning I was studying through the book of Romans.
Particularly through Romans 5:1-21 that speaks of our justification and salvation through Jesus Christ on the cross.


Verses 1-2 read, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have the obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in the glory of God.”  

 
Our salvation is truly an amazing event! Jesus Christ, God’s perfect, holy and righteous Son came to earth and died on the cross for our sins so that we may have peace with God! Now that we are justified through Christ, we obtain an introduction by faith and receive the wondrous grace of our Lord. But why do we need such grace? The reason we need grace is because of our former condition. Colossians 1:21 speaks of as being, “…hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds…” We were enemies of Christ’s cross and lived in opposition and wilful disobedience towards God and His law. Our lives were focused on our self and we loved the world and all that was in it. The wrath of God was against us and we suppressed the truth of God and believed a lie instead. Destined to hell there was nothing we could do.

 
Nevertheless,


Romans 5:6,8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
 

This is the wonderful salvation that the Lord bestowed on us; that we who were enemies are now alive in Christ. Not only were we enemies the verse says we were ‘helpless’, or spiritually dead. Unregenerate sinners are not capable of doing anything to help themselves. This is a wonderful testimony of God’s saving grace in our lives. Verse 11 says, “And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Can you hear the emotion in Paul’s voice, we exult in God! What joy there is in this statement! How humbled we are when we hear of Jesus Christ’s willing death for us so that we can be reconciled and made right before God.
 
The last verse of Romans 5 sums up the chapter nicely.

Romans 5:20b-21, “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

May we be reminded of God’s grace that He gave to us so that we would have eternal life in Christ Jesus, so that we can live for Him and worship Him all of our days. 

Blessings,
        Lucas C.
 

     

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Hello!

Hello anyone out there who might find my blog! Just letting you know that I am new to bloging and for now I am just throwing up a few thoughts that I will edit and revise better in the future. Thanks for understanding!

Blessings,
        Lucas C.

It will Cost You Everything!

It Will Cost You Everything!


This is an excerpt from the sermon 'It Will Cost You Everything'  preached by Steve Lawson at the Resolved Conference in the year of 2007. He speaks of the commitment we must have if we are willing to stand with Christ and be one of His disciples.

What are we willing to give for Christ? He gave us His life so that we might live forever in eternity with Him. Many of us today only give back to Him half-hearted attempts of service on Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights.
Luke 14:33 says, "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions."
We call ourselves Christians so should we not give everything for the sake of the Kingdom of God and our Saviour? We must do this! Are we willing to lay our very lives down if need be so that Christ will be glorified through us? In our North American culture we are not experiencing anything as severe as loosing our life so all the more we should be giving it to Christ.
As you strive to live for God's glory, keep this verse in mind:

Romans 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Chrsit Jesus our Lord."

Remember the cost!

Blessings,
          Lucas C.