by Jimmie Warren

IT’S NOT BY LAW YOUR SAVED, IT’S BY GRACE!

by Jimmie Warren

　

Paul knows that even though we might try to obey all the Laws of God, we are just weak human flesh, hopelessly enslaved to the sins that the commandments forbid. We always seem to fail to do the righteous things we want to do, and despite our best intentions, we go ahead and commit the very sins we hate. Still, the religious formulas and equations of the scribes and pharisees and theologians demand that we avoid God’s punishment and earn our own salvation-- deserve our own salvation-- by obeying to the letter all the rules, regulations, and rituals of religion. But it’s hopeless, Paul says. Every personal effort at holiness is doomed to failure ALL OF YOU WHO WANT TO KEEP LAWS WHY NOT KEEP ALL 613 FOR IF YOU BREAK ONE YOU DIE"BUT THROUGHT GRACE ALL WILL BE SAVED,NOT ONE LOST--WHICH SIDE YOU WANT TO BE ON?

The only way you and I will ever enter the kingdom of God is not marching in righteously on our own two feet, but carried in as helpless sinners, held in the loving embrace of those same arms that were stretched out on the hard wood of the cross for our redemption.

(Words from sermon of fellow brother Michael Connelly, Boston Mass).

 

The Ten Commandments are loving warnings written on our hearts and minds, they are there to protect us from harm. They are not a set of stone-cold regulations imposed on us by some divine policeman. The Decalogue is literally "The Ten Words" according to the Greek roots: DEKA, ten, LOGOI, words. Ten profound spiritual revelations spoken to us by a loving God to keep us from what will harm us. Ten spiritual paths that help us grow more fully and deeply human in all of our relationship with God our Father, with our fellow human beings, with creation, and even with ourselves.

The fourth commandment is for man to rest a day and give his creator praise for giving him time- out to thank GOD for being alive. The word "Sabbath" just means REST. Some churches make way to much about Days, meats, Holidays ,all which where shadows, pointing to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the laws and days when he returns to set up God’s kingdom yes that is Y’shua Messiah also known to us as Jesus Christ!.

 

You see when rules and days become more important than relationships or when laws are more important than love, or when the size of your steeple or how high the cross is on your church becomes more important than your love for God or your compassion for another human being is, we can expect God breaking through our self-righteousness. You can’t pay your way into God’s kingdom no matter how much money you give to the church.

You can’t obey your way into God’s kingdom by keeping laws which all man have broken or will break sooner or later. If you try to get closer to your minister or rub shoulder with the board of elder’s it doesn’t matter, for Jesus said even to his own disciples "Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."That message is still true over 2000 years later You can’t even pray your way into the kingdom, for it is by the GRACE OF GOD any of us can make it there. We all need to be servants to one another with a loving attitude towards all our brothers and sisters. After all we are all children of One God!

All we can do is accept the fact, that Jesus himself, hanging bleeding on the cross in his foolish love for you, has already paid in your name, obeyed in your place, and prayed on your behalf. He offers his hand and pulls you from the fire. Jesus was always reaching out to those around Him, even in death. He was crucified between two thieves. They were guilty as charged, unlike Jesus. One of them spoke to Him from the cross, believed and asked Jesus to remember him when He came into his kingdom. Jesus recognized his faith and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."Jesus had compassion for sinners and helped them unconditionally. No matter how disgusting, disenfranchised, or diseased they were, Jesus was willing to serve them right where they were-in the middle of great need-when they had no one else to whom they could turn. He is still reaching out to this very day. And once you know that, your whole life changes. When you obey in love and in the spirit of the law, you obey not out of legal obligation, but out of humble gratitude and faith.

If you fail to obey, you realize that there is nothing in the world that you can ever do to earn God’s love, and there is nothing in the world that you can ever do to lose God’s love, no matter what. That is the simple salvation. That is the rule of Grace. God's foolishness for us is always wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness for us is always stronger than human strength.

From all eternity, God has known what our sins would be, how we would use and abuse God’s gift of free will. So, have you ever wondered why God even let us be born, knowing our future sinfulness all too well? For the same reason, probably, that any woman brings a child into the world: love. God’s foolish love shatters tablets of stone, overturns tables, collapses and rebuilds Temples. God’s rule of Grace destroys our sins even as we are busy committing them. God’s relentless, foolish, spendthrift Grace sets us all free.

 Each one of us, you and I, is the one that God has been drunk and crazy in love with from all eternity. There is nothing more we need to do to earn God’s love. There is nothing we can ever do to lose God’s love. And that is the Good News -- the astonishingly Good News -- of our salvation.

That my friends is what being a Christian is all about. It's not about titles, affluence or us. God has the impression that Church is about Him. So let us act like it and start serving others, by doing so, we will be serving Him. That's when He can look on us that day and say, "well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the kingdom of our Father. Are you ready to stand face to face with Jesus and give an answer for what you have done in this life? If not repent now and ask Jesus into your heart and mind right now,