Thou must save, and Thou alone.[Jonah 2 v 9 ]

We have been considering the bases of being accepted with a Holy God, we have ruled out two things,the law , because we all without exception break that law,it is impossible for any of us to live and not sin. We also considered good works , how they have no power, to forgive sin, they do not count at all when it comes to being accepted with God. Augustus Toplady wrote,/ Not the labours of my hands, can fulfil Thy laws demands. Could my zeal no respite know,could my tears forever flow. All for sin could not atone,Thou must save, and Thou alone./ In those words, Thou must save, and Thou alone, we have the secret of being accepted by a Holy God, in the book of Jonah we read these words, /Salvation is of the Lord[2 v9 ]/,if we are going to be saved them we must look to God to do it,in other words salvation is not a do it yourself thing,and of course this hits at our pride,and pride is a great barrier in relation to being saved. Consider those words of the prophet Jonah, he prayed when he could do nothing to save himself,he was in the belly of a great fish,he was going to perish, unless God saved Him. So it is in relation to being saved unless God saves us, them we will perish in a lost eternity,our law keeping ,and good works will account for nothing. We will continue on this subject tomorrow.
A prayer .../ Dear God help us to understand ,that Thou must save and Thou alone. in Jesus name Amen /

Good works. [ Ephesians 2 v 8 - 9 ]

We have seen how we cannot be accepted by the law, but what about good works,and of course there is nothing wrong with good works ,and and of course if we are trully born again ,they are an evidence that we are a child of God,[James 2 ] An evidence, but it is not the bases of our acceptance with God,for good works cannot merit us salvation,good works are just what they are, good works,they have no power in themselves to deal with sin.We could do a mountian of good works and those good works would not deal with one sin, our sin would still remain unforgiven, we would still be alienated from a Holy God. Let me stress this again good works have no power to deal with our sin,many people feel that God will accept them because of their good works, but God cannot do this, cannot. The reason being, God is holy and He cannot accept us on the bases of good works,the only bases of acceptance is through our sins being forgiven.When it comes to acceptance with God our good works do not count, it is no good patting ourselves on our back when we do something good,it will not cause us to be accepted with God. It is not a question of the good we do outweighing the bad we do, the good we do, will not ,cannot, deal with the bad.We will continue to consider this tomorrow.
A prayer...../Dear God help us to see our position, that our sins remain ,inspite of all our good works,that they do not count with You, help us to see what does count, in Jesus name Amen ./

Not by the law. [ Galations 3 v11 ]

We saw yesterday why the law was given, to bring us to a realization of our true condition,that we all without exception are sinners [Romans 3 v23 ].In the light of this it is complete folly to try and be accepted by God through the keeping of the law. Then you may ask how can I be accepted by a holy God?, that is the all important question, how indeed?,well how was Abraham Justified, or accepted by God ?, and the answer is by faith,Galations 3 v6, tells us Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. When you are seeking to be accepted by God by the law, that is not faith,no,as Galations 3 v11 tells us,that no person is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for, the just shall live by faith. We move on to explore how are we going to be accepted by a holy God, we see how it is not by law, but by faith, but faith in what or who?. So many put their faith in so many things,the wrong things, the wrong people, the wrong religions, and if we are wrong that is very serious, if the light that is in you is darkness how great is your darkness, tomorrow we will consider this further.
A prayer...../Dear God help us to give up our trying to be accepted by the deeds of the law in Jesus name Amen /

Why the law?. [ Galations 3 ]

C S Lewis wrote, /You cannot make men good by law, and without good men you cannot have a good society/,the law of God was not given to make us good,it is impossible for the law to make us good.If we were good we would not need laws,if we were good then we will always love perfectly, and obey perfectly, but we dont.God give us His law not to make us good, but to show us we are not good.The law of God is good, but because of the weakness of the flesh,we fail to keep it, Israel who lived under the law,were a failed nation, the law never made them good it highlighted,there sinful nature, shown by their sinful behaviour.No one can keep the law of God perfectly[Romans 3 v23 ],the result is we come under a curse[Galations 3v10]. Many religions teach that if we keep certain laws, we will be accepted by God,and so their followers, try to obey, and they are sincere, but sincerely wrong, for a perfect God demands perfect obedience. My study Bible declares the following,/ The law has two functions. On the positive side, it reveals the nature and will of God, and shows people how to live. On the negative side, it points out peoples sins , and shows them that it is impossible to please God by trying to obey all His laws completely/. As we will see tomorrow,we need more than Gods law , we need the grace of God through His Son Jesus.
A prayer..../Dear God thank You for Your law that shows us our true condition before You, that we all are without exception sinners in Jesus name Amen /

Reason enough to give up.[ John 21 ]

Yesterday we wrote of the grace of persevering and how important it is in life in general, but especially in the Christian life.The fact of the manner is there is always a reason to give up, if you are married and you are having difficulties, or a multitude of other situations, we may consider giving up. The whole generation of Israel failed to perservere, and they lost out big time, oh yes there were the giants ,[Numbers 13 v33]reason enough to draw back, and go back, which they did.Alright what are the giants in your life? , financial, people, your thorn in the flesh, unanswered prayer, your weariness, your failures with temptation. Let me say this again there will always be reasons to give up, always , make no mistake about it,one just has to consider the saints in the Bible, Job, who lost so much, suffered so much, yes he had plenty of reason to give up but he did not. Peter had a a great reason for giving up ,he of all people had denied his Lord, the very thing he said he would not do, never in his wildest dreams did he think he would deney his Lord, but he did. This was Peters darkest hour, he wished that he could undo what he had said, undo his cowardly act, and so we have him saying, I go a fishing[ John 21 v 3 ].Yes he was going back to his old trade of catching fish,instead catching men,yes there is always reasons to give up. But listen there are greater reason for going on, for persevering, ,I will mention two, the one who loves you,even Jesus, and the glory that awaits you, these are reason enough to persevere.
A prayer....../Dear God help us not to give up,grant us the grace we need,to be faithful in all things, we love You but sometimes our love grows faint,we often loose sight of the eternal glories,oh God fill us afresh with Your love,and a renewed vision of eternal glories in Jesus name Amen/

Perseverance [ 2 Corinthians 11 v 23 ff ]

If you do not succeed the first time, then try,try again,very few authors have books accepted the first time, by publishers, so they try and try,and often they succeed. There are so many people who keep trying,if you read the life of Abraham Lincoln ,you discover a man who had many setbacks ,even as president many thought him a failure. But everyone now remembers him as a great president ,honest Abe, a man who tried,and tried, and in the end he succeeded.Consider God ,does He not persevere with mankind, and even with those who are His children, and He will not stop until He succeeds. If you love someone then you will lovingly persevere with them, every parent does ,many will be coming to particapate in the Olympics, this year in London,who had a desire, for that very thing. What did it mean for them? perseverance ,getting up when others were in their bed sleeping, and going out for a run when the rain was pouring down. One of the precious qualities mentioned in 2 Peter 1v6 is perseverance[ niv ]this is one of the most vital qualities in the Christian life,if you ever read Pilgrims progress ,you see Christian facing so many difficulties,but he kept persevering,until the end,likewise our dear Saviour persevered to the very end until He fulfilled His Fathers will.
A prayer..../ Dear God grant to us all the grace of perseverance,in Jesus name Amen/

Marching to heavens drum beat [ Philippians 2 v 5-11 ]

I am ministering twice today the first place I am going to ,has about 5 people who attend, on my last visit there were only two present,so I would not preach, what preach to only two people, and I stormed out, and went home in a huff. No I did none of those things, I just ministered to two dear souls , and felt privileaged to do so, let us remember heavens values are not earthly values. This applies not only to ministering but to all of life ,in India they have people who are despised, they are given the name untouchables, these dear people endure so much, and many of thier children suffer, often abandoned, left to live alone seeking food from from garbage bins, many abused, living lives of destitution and rejection. Does not heaven cry out against such things, we in the west strive for riches,we trot up to the shop counter buy our lottery ticket, thats earths values, not heavens. We who are Christians follow One called Jesus, who was rich yet for oursakes became poor,the challenge daily is to follow in His footsteps.
A prayer....../Dear God in a world of distorted values help us to march to the beat of heavens drum beat, in Jesus name Amen /