Jesus Saves!

I’ve seen a disturbing trend in the church that is evidence of the cultural influence infiltrating God’s people. It is the “victim mentality” which says I am not to blame for my mistakes and failures and it has made its way into the teaching of the church. We even have a Scripture to support us. Grab your Bible and read Romans 7:7-23. Paul confessed his struggle with sin in these verses.

He said that his sinful nature takes every opportunity to indulge itself – even the very commands of God intended to lead him away from sin become temptation instead. He wrote, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (v. 15). He lamented his sinful nature, saying he wanted to do good, but kept on doing evil. I can relate, and I am sure you can too.

Here is the verse that cultural Christianity has claimed as its own: “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (v. 20). There’s our excuse. “It’s not my fault.” “I was born this way.” “It’s just who I am.” “I can’t help myself.” We somehow separate our sinful nature from ourselves as if it is an entity all on its own and outside of our control. I am sure Paul would not be pleased with how we have twisted his words to approve of sin.

If you did read the passage I suggested, you will notice that I stopped you short of the end. That’s where cultural Christianity stops. But Paul continued and laid the blame squarely where it belongs: “What a wretched man I am!” It is all me. I am a sinner. I am responsible for the evil I keep doing. Paul owns it – but he doesn’t stay in his misery. First, he pleads for someone to rescue him “from this body of death” (v. 24) then breaks out in praise for the answer to his petition: “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (v. 25).

Jesus is the answer to our miserable state! Jesus can rescue us from sin and our constant pull to evil. And above all, Jesus can rescue us from the condemnation that hangs over our sinful heads. Beloved, you do not have to give in to sin. Thanks be to God—Jesus will save you. Just as He saved a wretch like me.

Faithless People, Faithful God

Last night I was working on my Sunday School lesson – we’re beginning the book of Exodus, which is full of intrigue, mystery, history, and edge-of-your-seat drama. It is also full of faithfulness. No, not from the fickle Israelites, but from their long-suffering God. It is evident over and over in the entire Old Testament.

You can see God’s faithfulness to Israel as He rescued them from bondage, parted the sea to enable their escape, destroyed their enemies, and accompanied them through the wilderness. And you can see the Israelites’ faithlessness as they turned back from the battle, failed to keep His covenant and laws, and fell into rebellion and sin over and over and over.

Their sin was tied to one root. Unbelief. Psalm 78 illustrates the point perfectly.  The psalmist said that the Israelites “willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, ‘Can God spread a table in the desert? When He struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But can He also give us food? Can He supply meat for His people?” (v. 18-20). Read that again. They questioned God’s ability to provide, admitted that He had provided, then questioned Him again. The psalmist gets to the core issue: “For they did not believe in God or trust in His deliverance” (v. 22). Their wishy-washy unbelief rendered them faithless.

I am a fallible human. I have been unfaithful to God. I have lost my way because of unbelief. Will God abandon this faithless wretch? No. Paul said, “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself” (2 Tim 2:13). Look back at Psalm 78. “Yet He gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heaven and rained down manna for the people to eat . . . the grain of heaven . . . the bread of angels” (vs. 23-25). God was faithful.

I want to be faithful to God and trust Him in all things. But I’m prone to doubt when things get hard and everything seems out of control. Be honest, so are you. Here’s the good news: God will still be faithful to you and me. He has to. It’s His very nature. If you’ve stumbled in your faith Beloved, I can assure you, based on His Word and my own experience, God will not abandon you. I’ve given Him a thousand reasons to walk away. He’s never taken the out. Because He is forever faithful.