Psalm
14:1
Romans
3:9-20
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
‘There is no one
righteous, not even one;
11 there
is no one who understands;
there
is no one who seeks God.
12 All
have turned away,
they
have together become worthless;
there
is no one who does good,
not
even one.’[b]
13 ‘Their
throats are open graves;
their
tongues practise deceit.’[c]
‘The
poison of vipers is on their lips.’[d]
14 ‘Their
mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’[e]
15 ‘Their
feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin
and misery mark their ways,
17 and
the way of peace they do not know.’[f]
18 ‘There
is no fear of God before their eyes.’[g]
19 Now
we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are
under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the
whole world held accountable to God.
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous
in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the
law we become conscious of our sin.
You may think of yourself
as a good person. However, the real story, from God's
perspective, is something quite different. The indictment
of scripture is true about all of us.
How does salvation happen?
Salvation means God
Himself came down to our level, right where we are. He
looked up our address, arrived on our street, knocked on our
door. Right in the midst of our mistakes, the Lord
sought us out. Jesus
endeavors to rescue us from our sin &
bring healing to our broken lives.
The Lord wants to rescue
us from the trash can (where we were living), to bring us out of
this world's filth & lift us out of the shame &
degradation of sin.
Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
He turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
4 Blessed is the one
who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
Religion can not make us
presentable. Instead, the Lord Himself, through Christ, on
the cross, offers to cleanse us (gives us a heavenly shower)
which takes all sin away from us. Salvation is like a
really good bath. Following that first
bath, there will be many more cleansings. And a process
called sanctification, by which the Holy
Spirit transforms us, over time, into the image of Christ.
Only God can do these things for
us.
When you were a child (or a baby) who
gave you baths?
The Lord forgives &
washes away all our sin. Why do spiritual infants
think they can cleanse themselves?
Picture God spraying a divine garden hose over us, like the Master Who cleans off a dirty dog who has been outside in the fields & is all covered with sweat, dirt & mud.
These pictures illustrate one of the main effects when God's hand
reaches out to cleanse us through the Blood of Christ & wash
away our filth through the washing of God's Word, bringing
salvation...
Who is doing the cleansing?
Each picture shows a hand appearing from above. Reaching
out. The Master's hand drawing close to cleanse.
The role of the dog is
simply to humble himself, trust the Master & receive.
A well-behaved canine loves to draw close to His Master to
receive food, cleansing, companionship & affection.
The role of the Master is
to initiate cleansing when the dog needs it. The Master will pour
out fresh, pure water upon the dog & cleanse the pup freely. All the contaminants, filth & stench
are washed away. A good Master affectionately
cares for His beloved iro.
Matthew 15:21-28
The faith of a Canaanite woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of
Tyre and Sidon.
22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him,
crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My
daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to
him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying
out after us.’
24 He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of
Israel.’
25 The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’
she said.
26 He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s
bread and toss it to the dogs.’
27 ‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs
eat the crumbs that fall from their Master’s
table.’
28 Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith!
Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at
that moment.
Romans 3:21-25
21 Now apart from the
law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which
the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through
faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between
Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice
of atonement, through the shedding
of His blood – to be received by faith.
2 Corinthians 5:20-21
We are therefore Christ’s
ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.
21 God made Him who had no sin to be a sin offering [b] for us, so that
in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus answered: "I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and His brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people (as fishers of men)." 20 At once they left their nets and followed Him.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
‘Never
will I leave you;
never
will I forsake you.’[a]
6 So we say with confidence,
‘The
Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What
can mere mortals do to me?’[b]
Notice the
following scripture does not say: go to a church, synagogue, temple or parish,
perform rituals, participate in ceremonies & get
religious.
Romans 10:11-18
11 As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[f]
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’[g]
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’[h] 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 18 But I ask: did they not hear? Of course they did:
‘Their voice has gone out
into all the earth,
their
words to the ends of the world.’[i]
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.