All quotes are from the Easy to Read Version unless
otherwise stated.
Genesis 3
We are all familiar with the account of Adam, Eve, and the sin
of eating the forbidden fruit.
God
created a good world but disobedience of man introduced sin into that good
world.
When
sin entered the world God had many options:
- Destroy the people and start over
- Ignore sin and choose not to act in the world (dooming His creation to an early death
- Instead, God chose to get to work: He told the serpent that a man would strike him down (that man was Jesus – Rom 5:19)
Romans 7:24
“What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body
that brings me death?”
Romans 5:19-21
“One man disobeyed God
and many became sinners. But in the same way, one man obeyed God and many will
be made right. The law was brought in so that more people would sin the way
Adam did. But where sin increased, there was even more of God’s grace. Sin once
used death to rule us. But God gave us more of his grace so that grace could
rule by making us right with him. And this brings us eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.”
Romans 7:25 AMP
“Thanks be to God [for
my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I
myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my
human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.”
Without
Jesus perfect sacrifice of Himself we would still be fumbling around in the
darkness of sin – never knowing that God wanted us to be reunited and
reconciled with Him. From
the very beginning God assured us that He loved us and would provide a way for
anyone who believed to come back into a right relationship with Him. God
provided Jesus.
Does
that mean everyone in the world has been reunited to God because Jesus died for
their sins? Sadly,
no, only those who exercise their faith in Jesus will gain this reconciliation. Here
is the issue though: many people think that faith is merely believing a
fact.
James 2:19 (The Message)
“Do I hear you
professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you
complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just
great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?”
Many people agree that Jesus Christ lived and died, and they
even believe in His resurrection! But, they have not turned from sin and
trusted Him.
Acts 4:12 (KJV)
“Neither is there salvation
in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-2
“Now, brothers and
sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I told you. You received that
Good News message, and you continue to base your life on it. That Good News,
the message you heard from me, is God’s way to save you. But you must continue
believing it. If you don’t, you believed for nothing.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
“ I mean that you have
been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a
gift from God. You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is
nothing to boast about.”
So, true faith steps
further than believing…it requires action: turning from your sins and
trusting in Jesus alone for your eternal salvation! So, like the song "I Lift My Hands" says, "Let Faith Arise"!
"I Lift My Hands" by Chris Tomlin
