In my last blog, http://musingsofasenior.com/s-i-n/ , I wrote about how sin separates us from God. At the end of the blog I left us separated from God. It’s a gap that we can not bridge on our own. We can do good deed after good deed and it will not do anything to counter our sin and bridge the gap. It’s not a balancing act where our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds and thus we bridge the gap and earn our way to heaven. So if we can’t bridge the gap ourselves then how can it be bridged?
The good news is that it is by God’s gift of grace that we are saved and the gap is bridged. Ephesians 2:8-9 says ” For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” If we could earn our way to heaven then we could boast that it was our works that gained us access to God. That would take glory away from God.
What is grace? An acronym for “Grace” that I heard a very long time ago: God’s Riches At Christ Expense. It was the blood of a sinless Jesus on the cross that paid the penalty for our sins.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 3:25 “God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.” (propitiation means: to appease)
The following verse may be one of the most well known Bible verse: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. “
Repentance: the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse. We also need to repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness. Part of repentance is a change in our lives, a 180 degree change.
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord ” When we do this the chains of sin are gone and we are set free.
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’ ”
There are NOT many ways to God. The ONLY way to bridge the gap is through Jesus! If you would like to learn more about the Good News of God’s Grace please send me a message.
Leave a Reply