Forward In Faith 5: You Can’t Earn Salvation A Communion Reflection

Maybe you try to live a good life, maybe you even try to live a godly life.

Maybe you try your hardest to remain faithful, to be an obedient disciple of Jesus.

Maybe sometimes that is easier said than done.

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Maybe its safe for me to assume that we all seek to at least keep the 10 commandments.

or Maybe your aim is to follow the two greatest commandments that Jesus emphasised:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength and your neighbour as yourself.”

Maybe we try to do what Jesus commanded us to do...

but how many of us really succeed, 24 hours a day 7 days a week?

My assumption is that none of us fully keep God’s law or commandments.

We might not physically murder someone,

but do we murder by our attitude, looks or words?

We might physically avoid adultery,

but where do we allow our thoughts to travel?

We might avoid outright blasphemy from our lips, but what do we allow ourselves to read, watch or listen to?

We might be very honouring to our parents,

but every one of us have probably upset or disobeyed them at some time in our lives.

We might not be blatant, deliberate liars,

but do we avoid even little white lies.

We might all be guilty of wishing we had something that someone else has.

And if we are really honest,

none of us really gives God our whole heart and mind and strength all the time, do we?

So what can be done about our situation?

We want to be better at living godly lives.

We want to be acceptable to God.

We want the results of our shortcomings and sins to be overcome, wiped clean.

So how can we do it?

We’ve heard the bad news.

We’ve looked in the mirror and we don’t like what we see.

What can be done? What’s the good news?

We can find the answer in the passage I would like us to focus on this evening in the Book of Romans.

Romans was written by The Apostle Paul.

You could describe Paul as the Jew of Jews.

He was a Pharisee who had been brought up to live by the law.

When it came to meeting the demands of the God’s law and Jewish tradition Paul was the top of the class.

But God revealed to Paul a great truth about the law.

It was evident to Paul that the more he understand the law, the more he discovered his own failure to obey it.

The more Paul tried to live a righteous life in his own strength, the more he realised his own shortcomings.

Let’s read Romans 3:21-28

21God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

27Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

(Romans 3:21-28)

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God has worked a miracle.

Jesus Christ came into this world, not just to show us how it’s done, but to do it on our behalf.

We are not under the curse of the law, we are saved by the Grace of God.

Salvation is not something we can earn it is a free gift to everyone that accepts Jesus as Saviour.

When we turn to Jesus for salvation,

when we believe that he is the one sent by God to take us back to God, then we are forgiven,

we are saved!

Despite our short comings, because of His sacrifice Jesus’ righteousness will be considered to be ours as well.