"We're not saved by what we do but by what God has done completely, wholly, and fully. We do not
contribute to salvation at all. How could that be?
"The answer is when Jesus Christ came, he came to live the life we should have lived and die the death we should die. He lived a perfect life, the only human being who ever lived a perfect life. Therefore, he earned God's blessing. But then at the end of his life he went to the cross and took the curse that we deserved. He earned the blessing of a fully obedient human being but then he took the curse and punishment of imperfect disobedient human beings. That means that when you become a Christian, when you put your faith in him, all of your sins and what you deserve fall on him. But then all of his blessing, what he deserves, comes to you. God treats you as if you've done everything that Jesus Christ has done. That's radical! Now because we have this complete salvation, a complete gift, all accomplished by him; we contribute nothing to it and now we have received it.
"There's a freedom first of all that we're free from any sense of condemnation, Romans 8;1 – “Now there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Do not fear ever coming into condemnation from God. We're also free not just from condemnation but from what you might say compulsion. We now want to obey God. We want to please him. We no longer are obeying the law of God out of a sense of duty or a sense of being forced or compelled. Instead, we want to please the one who did this for us. We want to resemble the one who did this for us."
No comments:
Post a Comment