The Gospel of Christ, and political extremism, a challenge facing our nation right now (please read to the end)
First, congratulations on your marriage since you joined our forum.
I wish the best for you and your husband.
I'm in agreement that we should not let political differences conflict with sharing the good news of the Savior.
Yesterday I had the honor to talk with a lady who accepted the gospel and trusted Christ for a home in heaven. She was 89 years old and is now assured by God's Word to live forever in Heaven and the renewed earth when He He takes over. I didn't ask what her political views were. It really wasn't the issue.
In your opening statement I was a little confused because I separate political conflicts from the the gospel altogether. I have my opinions on social, economic and political matters. I've never been one to shy away from those topics as a man who should be aware of matters which affect me directly or indirectly. I have seen God get involved to answer my prayers in some of those cases.
However, the gospel is a separate matter that everyone must decide on.
The gospel is very simple and clear.
1. We sin and are therefore not righteous. Romans 3:10,23
2. God is righteous and without sin.
3. We cannot atone for our sins by good works/deeds, whether they are sacraments, obedience to the law (which is commonly called repent of your sins), doing philanthropic works.
As to salvation, these amount to nothing of value.
All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
Isaiah 64:6
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2
4. We can do nothing to save ourselves, regardless of how good we think we are before our righteous God. We are already condemned to hell.
That goes for a monastery full of monks, a church full of saints led by a priest offering mass.
There is none righteous, no not one. Romans 3
How bad does one need to be to miss heaven?
Rev. 21:8
..."
All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. "
Who hasn't lied?
There's not a just man upon the Earth who sinneth not.
That puts us all in a bad place, doesn't it?
This is important to understand since God will only save those who realize that they need the gospel.
5. Jesus Christ alone is the Savior.
Is the person you see in the mirror each day the condemned sinner or the savior?
Most presume they trust Jesus for salvation, but they don't because they think they can be good enough to get eternal life. That would not be a gift if that were true. That would be earning your way into heaven. A sinner is not capable of purchasing everlasting life with a filthy rag. It took a much greater payment than a hundred thousand churches full of saints could earn.
Jesus is the Only Savior and besides Him there is no other. What He did on our behalf is all sufficient, so to add anything to that would be like tossing a filthy rag to the cross during His crucifixion.
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures
I Corinthians 15
You see, the true gospel is not a "social gospel" of political economics as some have mistakenly led others to believe.
It has all to do with the fact that
those who are trusting in their good works are condemned to Hell already. Therefore they need to realize they're wrong and that Jesus is the only One Who saves. He is the only one Who can be trusted/ believed upon for the gift of life in Heaven.
As described, He was tortured and died on the cross as punishment that we deserve in hell. He did this in our place.
He went to hell and after three days arose from the dead. He purchased the gift of everlasting life that we have available IF we quit trusting our good works and make Jesus the complete object of our faith.
You can probably quote John 3:16, give it a try and think about what it means.
It's God's promise. He goes on to say,
18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
That's a promise. You can trust the Lord.
13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10
That's a promise friend. Just call upon Jesus for that gift in prayer with me right now. I will make it easy for you by leading you in prayer right now.
Dear Jesus,
I have sinned all of my life and cannot pay for even one of them.
Thank you for loving me so much that you suffered such torture for the bad I've done. You paid for my sins all by Yourself.
There's nothing that I could add to your crucifixion. You were buried and on the third day walked out of the tomb with the gift of everlasting life for me.
I put all my trust in You to save me for now on and thank You for that special gift.
Thank You so much Jesus .
Amen.
Cbarber, now that you trusted Christ to save you, where would you go if you were to live to be 89 years old?
What if you sinned every day between now and then?
If the gift of everlasting life were conditional upon behavior, you would be trusting in your good works of living up to a standard of perfection. That would be earning it and not the gift God promised you. Here's one last passage with another promise for you. I John 5.
11And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Cbarber, this is a written record of the offer and acceptance of the gift, so you don't have to wait for it. If you sincerely called upon the Lord in faith, that gift is yours according to God's Word. That means you can't lose what you didn't earn.
Does that make sense?
So if you live to be 39 or 89 where are you going?
📖🙂🙏