Can good works save us? ( Matthew 7 v 21-23 )

 When one witnesses to different people you get different reactions,some do not want to listen,don't say anything, others give a brief reply,here is a reply by one lady I spoke to,she served in a charity shop. I started by asking her did she go to church? she replied no,then I asked was she was a Christian?,she replyed,I think I am ,I help people.I commended her for that,and her work in the charity shop,and then  I went on to tell her about my wife,who is a carer,helping many,but that would never save her.It is said that there are two types of religions ,one is based on their works, and the other based on faith in the work of Christ alone to save them.The first one is what many people think,that their works must count for something in God's eyes.But they are tottally wrong ,sad to say they keep persisting with that belief ,though the lady said she would think about I said. Works cannot save us they are not meant to ,yet we cannot discount them, and think they are not important,they are. but not as a means of our salvation,but as an evidence that we are saved, as James tells us in his epistle,'show me your faith',  ( James2 v18).It is only the work of Christ on the cross that saves us, nothing else.This is not a trivial matter,it is vital that we see that the best we do is not  good enough to save us,our best efforts cannot blot out one sin,if you think  you can be saved by climbing the ladder of good works that will take you into heaven,they won't,not if one did good works for a million,million,million years, it will all be in fain and will end in tears, give it up as a bad job,and turn in simple humility and faith in Jesus to save you.

                                                      

The Fatherhood of God ( Isaiah 64 v7/ 1John 3 v1 )

 One of the most precious prayers we have is the one we call the' Lords prayer',it was our lovely Saviour who taught us this prayer,each Sunday in our church we pray it. There is so much in that short prayer to instruct us as regards prayer itself. It starts,'Our Father who art in heaven', One of the most precious truths we have,is the 'Fatherhood of God'.When I was a child my mother and father seperated on bad terms, it meant I never really had a father,that's a big loss to a young child. I remember lying in bed and praying, about it, and I said to God,your my Father, that was a great comfort to me,and has stayed with me all my life,not only is He my Father He is my loving heavenly Father. Just recently a certain minister said calling God  Father was inappropriate,because some children have been abused by their fathers. It's very very sad when children are abused by their fathers,someone I love was abused ,so to some degree I understand the awfulness of that. Our Saviour taught us to recognise God as Father,He  used that term many times,so we have no right to rob us of the wonderful truth the,'Fatherhood of God'.Do we change everywhere in the Bible where  God is called Father,I think not,we must be true to the word of God,in all things.

                                                      'Our Father who art in heaven hallowed

                                                                        be Thy name'

                                                                       Matthew 6 v 9

What a mess. ( Psalm 34 v 6)

 I think of two men who got themselves  into terrible difficulties,one is Jonah the disobedient prophet,and David the adulterer and murderar.They were both men of God but they blew it big time,and found themselves in a mess of trouble.Put yourself in their place,imagine finding yourself in the belly of a great fish,in the depths of the ocean,what a mess he got himself into,a mess of his own making.Then imagine David,a man after God's own heart,who give in to his lustful thoughts, even though  he knew Bathsheba was married to Uriah one of his mighty men; when Bathsheba told him she was pregnant,he tried to cover it up by having Uriah that noble man murdered.He thought he had got away with it,not so, God saw what he did, as a result Nathan the prophet spoke to him,told him a made up story about a great injustice,David was indignant,imagine how the blood as it were drained from his face,as he heard the words ,'you are the man'. (2 Samuel 11-12) What a mess he had got himself into, these two men's experiences are not unique could it be that you are in that situation? your marriage is fallen apart or whatever,whats the answer?,well those two men did something,they sought the Lord . The Gaithers  have written a lovely song of a man who got himself into an awful mess,here are some of the words.' I havn't slept since midnight,because of my foolish choice.the night is so very dark, Ive spent so much time in misery .'Lord can you undo the terrible mess I've made?' The answer is He can, He did it for Jonah ,and David ,and He can do it for you because God is merciful, be you saved or unsaved.

                                                            'Remember mercy flows through

                                                                             JESUS'

 

It's impossible.( Matthew 19 v 16 -26 )

Most people have heard of King Canute,the story goes that he set his throne by the sea  side and sought to stop the tide coming in,was he a fool?, I don't think he was,I believe he was making a point,'that his powers was nothing compared to God's power. Deluded leaders often forget that,to their own destruction.When anyone whoever it is seeks to dethrone God,then they are utter fools,it was Christ that could walk on water,and calm the storm, no wonder the calming of the sea  terrified the disciples, and they asked the question,'Who is this? even the wind and the waves obey Him!' We often hear said, the sky is the limit meaning  there  are no limts and that anything is possible.Yes people can rise to great hights in politics ,buisness or whatever.it is possible,but there will always be limits,for we cannot do the impossible only God can do that,we can try to delay death.but it is impossible to stop it, no one can beat death, people have their bodies frozen,in the hope that a discovery will be made to bring them back to life.,unlike King Canute they fail to see that they can't stop the inevitable,they are just fooling themselves.Here is something else that man cannot do they can't save themselves,it's impossibe,here is another thing they cannot do they can't get to heaven without trusting Jesus as their Saviour,yes it's impossible,but with God all things are possible. 

                                                        'Salvation is of the Lord'

                                                                Jonah 2 v 9

 

Search me. ( Jeremiah 17 v 9-10)

 In  chap 11 of the book of Hebrews we have a list of people who lived by faith,and  followed the Lord in spite of the challengres they faced, v35ff, tells of the awful things they had to endure,to say the least it was no picnic,being tortured ,being imprisoned,flogged,stoned ,sawn in two,being destitute and so on,yet they did not give up. They and all the people mentioned in this chapter are witnesses to the Christians the letter was written to, and to every generation of Christians ,who follows in their footsteps.So the writer in Hebrews 12 v1 encourages his readers to deal with every thing that would hinder them,and the sin that so easily entangles them, in following the Lord. Maybe we need to stop and ask God about the things that are hindering us and the sin that so easily entangles us. Here is a prayer we could pray.,

                                                      'Search me ,God, and know my heart;

                                                       test me,and know my anxious thoughts.

                                                       See if there be any offensive way in me,

                                                       and lead me in the way everlasting.'

                                                                    Psalm 139 v23 -24.

                                                        

Faithful words ( Psalm 16 v 5-8 )

I recently visited two dear elderly Christians, one has Parkinson,and the other is not able to walk,I have known them a long time.The brother with Parkinson and I ,were joint leaders of a church for a number of  years. So there they are,the one with Parkinson does not talk much,so I mainly converse with his wife.Before leaving I usually pray and read a scripture, I read from Proverbs  3 v 5-6 ,in those two verses we have so much to think about, I prefer the AV ,here they are,

                                                   'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart

                                                     and lean not unto thine own understanding.

                                                     In all thy ways acknowledge Him in all our ways,

                                                      and He shall direct thy paths.'

It starts with trusting the Lord, this is where the Christian life  begins,,and where it contiues ,every day and every hour of every day,there are no days off.It goes further than that, For we are told  that this trust is not a half  hearted ,there should be no letting up  whatsoever.' Next we have,'Not leaning on our own unerstanding, we err by leaning on our understanding,in doctrine,and so many ways.Why do we not acknowledge Him in all our ways?why do we not bring Hin into every aspect of our lives?, for if we do, He has promised to direct our paths.

                                                   ' Take time to be holy,let Him be Thy guide;

                                                    And run not before Him,whatever betide;

                                                    In joy or in sorrow still follow Thy Lord,

                                                   And, looking to Jesus,still trust in His word'  ( Words  W.D.Longstaff)

He gave up everything. ( Philippians 3 v 1-9)

 One of the most dominate people in the New Testament is Paul the apostle,it is in that lovely book of Philippians chapter 3, that has this title over it,'No confidence in the flesh' Paul is warning his readers against being taken in by by people he calls dogs,evildoers,and mutilators,not very complimentary. William Barclay says' that wherever Paul taught, the Jews followed him,and tried to undo his teaching',They tried to draw the Christians back into a religion of works, so Paul uses very strong words and clear teaching as to the folly of that,and he uses his own experience to refute them.The challenge he brought to them can be summed up in the following  words ,are they going to put their confidence in religious works,including being born an Israelite ,to be saved,or are they to going to put their faith in Christ alone and His finished work to save them. Pual writes out of his own background, he was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin,that tribe stood with Judah (1 Kings 12 v21)and after the exile formed the nucleus of the nation reborn   (Ezra 4 v1)  . He was circumcised and was a Hebrew of the Hebrews a true Israelite.,and he was a Phariisee a separated one,a strict keeper of the law.If a Jew had that sort of background he would be very proud of it.But Paul did not think like that ,for when he met Christ he realised that the righteousness he professed counted for nothing,so he cast it all aside as rubbish,or  dung,now he declared ,to be in found in the righteousness of Christ was everything .

                                                       ' Christ's Righteousness Alone'

                                    'Not the labour of my hands can fulfil Thy law's demands;

                                    Could my zeal no respite know,could my tears forever flow,

                                     All for sin could not atone,Thou must save and Thou alone.

                                                                  ' A.M.Toplady'