When Jesus came to earth He made the greatest sacrifice of self-abnegation and self-denial possible. He humbled Himself and renounced His Divinity. In other words, Jesus went out of Himself in order to enter into fellowship with us. So why are we so against doing the work to enter into relationship with Him? We’d like Jesus to just save, change, and sanctify us without lifting a finger in the process. Or we’d rather bargain with Him first – (“You do this for me first God, and maybe then I’ll start working on myself.”) The bottom line is that we also must go out of ourselves in order to enter into a right relationship with God…and waiting around until He does all the work in our lives (that we need to be doing) will never happen.
Tag: saved
Isaiah 45:22 ” Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
The Lord says to you today…come back. Turn around and face Me, for it’s only by Me that you can be delivered from all the evil that still clings to you. You may have accepted Me in the past, but you are still a slave to things you have not been able to give up. You have been set free of those things, but you either don’t fully realize it or just don’t want to leave them behind. Change directions today… for those chains that have bound you in the past have been broken off – you are no longer a victim…you are a victor.
Philippians 3:8-9 ” What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
You may think you live a blameless and upright life, but it will never measure up before God. It’s not until you recognize that you can’t save yourself. No amount of right living and good deed doing will save your soul from hell. That’s because the only way to God is through Jesus…the only way to salvation is by believing that Jesus died for your sins…the only way to heaven is by uniting yourself with Jesus by faith. And this saving faith will never disappoint as you learn to trust in Him.
Isaiah 45:22 ” Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
Come back to Me, says the Lord. Isaiah 44:22 says, “Return to Me, for I have redeemed you”. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer…our Savior, and redeemer of our souls.
Nehemiah 9: 27-28 ” But when they were oppressed they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies. But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in Your sight.”
We humans have such short memories. When life is going well…we put God in the corner – kind of like disaster insurance…there just in case we need it. And when we get ourselves in trouble, we call out to Him for help…only to quickly forget again when life quiets down. This roller coaster ride isn’t what God desires for us. He wants to be our focus in good times and bad…in happiness and sadness…in calm and chaos.
Psalm 68:20 ” Our God is a God Who saves; from the sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
The Lord saves us from what? In a single word – condemnation. John 3:18 tells us that from the womb we are condemned already…destined to Hell. No amount of good works will ever save you. Nor will you ever make it to Heaven on your believing Grandmother’s shirt-tails. But most strikingly, you will never be able to save yourself. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can deliver you from the wrath that is to come. Only He can offer you freedom from an eternal sentence of Hell.