"Suck it up and DO it!"
On Thursday nights I attend Grace on Campus bible study. GOC is an offshoot of Grace Community Church, which I have chosen to be my home church. Our shepherd for the group is Peter, and tonight he, as usual, had a provocative and very relevant message.
Salvation is no more for us than it was for Lot's wife if we try to take it on our own terms, if even in being rescued from our sins we knowingly and willfully turn back and long after our sinful ways.
Peter has been going through Romans with the group, particularly Romans 8:
"Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in human flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."
Last week we hit on accepting that we cannot save ourself by lists and works of our own - that we can't do anything to deserve the full grace and glory of God that we are promised by our faithful walk. This week we were reminded of the 'By no means' that follows most assertions that our works cannot save us.
Does this mean that we should live meaningless lives of sinful conquest? By no means!
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if the Spirit in you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."
This is where this week rested. "If you put to death the misdeeds of the body . . ."
This is not a change that any of us can make on our own, but it is a choice that we make every time we decide to or not to indulge in worldly pleasures.
Salvation is no more for us than it was for Lot's wife if we try to take it on our own terms, if even in being rescued from our sins we knowingly and willfully turn back and long after our sinful ways.
Peter has been going through Romans with the group, particularly Romans 8:
"Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in human flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."
Last week we hit on accepting that we cannot save ourself by lists and works of our own - that we can't do anything to deserve the full grace and glory of God that we are promised by our faithful walk. This week we were reminded of the 'By no means' that follows most assertions that our works cannot save us.
Does this mean that we should live meaningless lives of sinful conquest? By no means!
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if the Spirit in you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."
This is where this week rested. "If you put to death the misdeeds of the body . . ."
This is not a change that any of us can make on our own, but it is a choice that we make every time we decide to or not to indulge in worldly pleasures.
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