7/28/19 Romans 6:1-23
A good starting point for our approach to understanding the gospel is accepting the reality that we are dead men walking… and women of course.
We are dead in our sins. (Eph 2) We’re not sick. We’re not mostly dead. We’re dead.
If we are stubborn and have unrepentant hearts, and God is holy and hates sin, we are storing up wrath for the day of judgment (Romans 2:5) Only God can reconcile this through His grace.
Our only hope is in extracting that old sinful self and crucifying it with Christ (v6) and replacing it by grace with a new heart and spirit – the gift of salvation.
We don’t need to figure out some reparation project. This is just like my situation with my cracked tooth. I’m already on the other side of having it removed. It’s gone. The tooth was cracked and the prognosis was that it would only continue to get worse. Like a crack in a windshield, it was only a matter of time until the crack lengthened, eventually to reach the root of my tooth. It would be at that point when the pain would be unbearable. There is also the possibility of an infection because of the crack. So there was no smart plan that included trying to repair the tooth because it was a dead tooth walking - or a dead tooth chewing. Whichever, it was going to die and needed to be removed before more damage occurred.
This is truly the spiritual state in which we all find ourselves. Our sinful state of decay and dying requires a savior that will take our old sinful self and replace it with a new self that has a new capacity for love and righteousness.
If you just think God should forgive everyone (or at least those who deserve it) or that since He is loving that He somehow has to forgive us (after all if you were God, that’s what you would do) or that you don’t think most people’s sins rise to the level of deserving death, you’re missing the boat.
There seems to be a growing trend for defining a god as we would have a god ,rather than as the bible, (the word of God) defines Him. This is dangerous ground to tread upon. We don’t need the grace of God, unless we need the grace of God. (in other words if we can in any way earn our approach to God then we do not need God’s grace). It’s kind of that simple.
Comments