What a day that will be.( 1 Corinthians 15 v 35ff)

 The fact is I am 78 yrs of age, yes I am old,my sons are getting older,they are not very old,but they are like me showing signs of  wear and tear. That's the nature of life,but thankfully as a Christian we are assured that one day all will be changed, our dear Saviour assured us that when the body finally gives up ,we will be resurrected / John 11 v25/.Now what that means for those who are believers?. in 1 Corinthians 15 v35 ff,we read that we will have a new body, a heavenly body,the old perishable body ,will be replaced by  an imperishable body, Paul likens our death to a seed that sown in the ground ,it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory;it is sown in weakness,it is raised in power,it is sown a natural body,it is raised raised a spiritual body.He tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We are creatures of time but  in our  resurrection body we will put on immortality,then the saying that is written will come true,' Death will be swallowed up in victory'.Yes death will die ( Revelation 20 v 14), imagine what that will be like,what a wonderful future we will have as children of the living God.

                                          'What a day that will be ,when my Saviour I will see

                                           And I look upon His face,the one who saved me by His grace;

                                          When he takes me by the hand, lead me to that promised land.

                                           What a day, glorious  day that will be, '

                                                                    Bob Joyce.

                                            

What must I do to be saved? 3

 To include works in salvation ,is to say that His sacrifice is not sufficient to save,when Jesus cried it is finished,He meant just that.So let's consider the importance of works,they are  not important  for salvation,  but they are important.In his letter James points out that faith without works is a dead faith, bear in mind that James is writing to believers,so he is stressing what they should manifest after they are saved, so in 2v 18, he declares ,'Show me your faith', in other words he is saying ,show me the evidence of your faith. They are but an evidence that we are truly Christians,but a very important evidence.on judgement day,no empty profession will be be accepted, CP Matthew 25 v 34 ff. Our Saviour expects us to help people,to show them practical love. John the Baptist declared,'produce fruit in keeping with repentance',Luke 3 v 8.He went on to say say ,it is not enough to say Abraham is your father v8,so it is not enough to mouth words,like I am a Christian.I would just add living a debauched life,is an evidence that one is not a Christian. Matthew 24 v 48ff. We must take these things seriously,just to get a little bit   balance into what I am saying ,these are extreme examples, so let us not get paranoid. If you profess to be a Christian do your best to help others,and seek to be holy,none of us will be perfect,but we must seek to be.

What must I do to be saved?2

We continue on in considering the question what must I do to be saved?,it is vital that we get this right,if we don't we will not be saved. Any so called,' adds on's', undermine the finished work of Christ, must be rejected,because it becomes another gospel . The book of Galatians was written to a church that were in  danger of turning to another gospel ,which in fact was not a gospel,there were those who were teaching that faith in Christ was not enough you needed to be circumcised.They were seeking to draw back these believers to a gospel based on the law, so they are told,' Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God , because the righteous shall live by faith . ( 3 v 11) How was Abraham justified?,the answer is,'He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness'. ( 3 v 6)So like Abraham ,the moment we trust Jesus, we are saved, there can be no add on's. We read in the book of Jonah that salvation is of the Lord ( 2 v 9)it means what it says,the man who said this ,could do nothing to save himself,God had to do it all.  The work of salvation is unique without equal or like,we read in Hebrews 9 v 22,'Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness'. When Christ died on the cross, it was a sacrifice for sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus can save ,when I say nothing I mean nothing. It is important to add,that sacrifice cannot be repeated,Christ was sacrificed once to take away sin ( 9 v 22), Christ put an end of sacrifices, by His one time sacrifice. CP Hebrews 10 v 1 - 14 .So were do works fit in?,we will look at this next time.

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What must I do to be saved? 1

 Yes ,what can one do be saved?,it is a very important question, is it faith and works?did the reformers get it wrong when they declared we are saved by faith alone,or  did the Roman Catholic Church get it right when they said faith and works save?. Surely the Roman Catholic church were right,after all they were the established church,what right had anybody to question,what the church said?.I have mentioned before the book  called ,'The Bad Popes',it is not a anti Catholic book,the writer is just telling how it was,it was deplorable,in the extreme.The foundation on which the reformers based their belief that one is saved by faith alone,was the word of God.The Roman Catholic Church  foundation for their beliefs, is built on the Word of God ,plus church tradition,and church teaching,in their eyes they are all equally valid. The question is this, what does one do if church tradition,and church teaching goes against the word of  God?. In Ephesians 2 v 20,we read,that the foundation of the church  ,'is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,with Christ Jesus Himself  as the Chief corner stone.'The truths that we have  been given are to be found only in God's word, inevitably those,'add on's', contradict God's word,and must be rejected. We will continue this next time.

A thief. ( 1 Timothy 1 v 15 - 16)

 Let use our imagination ,lets come to hill without a city wall,there's three cross'es ,there are two thieves hanging on cross'es,and Jesus is in between these two thieves.Both of these thieves are angry,the religious people around the cross taunted Jesus mocking Him, and the two thieves did the same.But something strange happened ,one the thieves stopped insulting Jesus,he had a change of heart,and he rebuked his fellow thief,he acknowledged that unlike Jesus that they were receiving their just deserts.He looked at Jesus,the person he had been mocking, and he found himself saying,'Jesus,remember me when you come into your kingdom', Luke 23 v42.Jesus spoke to him,'Truly I say unto you,today you shall be with me in Paradise'. v 42.For Jesus the cross was necessary, that's why he came, to be a sacrifice for sin,that effectively deals with the sin of all those who put their faith in Him, He bore the wrath of God ,that all who put  their faith would not experience.that wrath You may be a thief, a murderer,adulterer,sex offender, and so the list could goes on, and on,yes we are all on that list, for we are all sinner,we all need  Jesus,that means you and it means me.

                                                          'Man of sorrows what a name

                                                           In my place condemned He stood,

                                                           Sealed my pardon with His blood;

                                                            Hallelujah what a Saviour!

                                                                      Philip P. Bliss.

What's the point? ( Roman 8 v 26 -28 )

A friend spoke of  someone  he knew,who told how his prayers were not being answered, he said what's the point of praying. What can one say to that?, is he right?, he thinks he is. As one who has been following the Lord for 58 yrs, I know that God has not always answered what I prayed for,like a wife not to die of cancer, and she died. I can think of so many other things, in which the thing I asked for was not granted,things that caused me a lot of pain, but it did not happen. So should I agree with that person ,and  say,' what's the point?', no I do not agree with him,it is a foolish think to say. CP Job 2 v 9- 10.I think sometimes we are so intent in our prayers,and we feel that our  prayer should be answered, God has to answer it. Consider the following words ,'We do not know what we ought to pray for', Romans 8 v 26.In our weakness we often don't know what's best for us, only the triune God knows what's best, let me repeat that,He knows what's best for us.As a parent ,we realise that our little children don't know what's best for them,and so we often have had to say no to their requests.So it is with our loving heavenly Father, He knows what's best for his children,so its no good having a tantrum, our heavenly Father, really does know what's best for us, trust Him.

Worship 2 ( Romans 12 v 1 - 2 )

 What would you think if I said to you that all our lives should be an act of worship,in Romans 12 v1 we read,'Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters,in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living  sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship'. In Revelation 1 v 6 ,we are told, that the Lord ,' has made us to be a kingdom  and priests to serve his God and Father. CP also 1 Peter 2 v 9.a priest offers up sacrifices. John Stott comments as regards what Paul writes in Rom12 v 1,' He represents us as a priestly people, who, in responsive gratitude for God's mercy, offer  or present our bodies as living sacrifices,and JS adds,' Such an offering is our spiritual act of worship'.He further adds,' 'This spiritual worship is not to be found in the temple courts or in  the church building, but rather in the home  life,and in the market place'. he further says,' No worship is pleasing to  God which is purely inward, abstract and mystical; it must express itself in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies'.

                              'A life lived in serving God, is the most acceptable act of worship'.