SCRIP-BITS

Just six more days to that momentous occasion Friends! Yes six days from today, there’ll be much rejoicing, singing and story telling about Christ’s Birth. Isn’t it a wonderful story my people? It sure is! No other religion can boast of their God caring so much for them that He came to earth, humbled Himself in lowly human form, then sacrificially offered His life, so that we awful sinners might have life eternal. Wow!  It sure says a lot about Christianity. While other religions look to some distant, far away deity, Christians have their God living right within them. It can’t get any better than that my brethren! And the Christmas season is important because that’s where it all began. Without Christmas, without Christ being born we would have none of the benefits of Christianity, with honourable mention to justification, righteousness before God. In our Bit, Bruh David pleads with the Lord: ‘And enter not into judgement with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified (righteous).’ And he was quite right Friends, as we heard from other men of great faith yesterday. On our own, we could never even come before a holy and just God, much less consider ourselves righteous. But then my people, a most wonderful thing happened; Jesus was born in a seedy manger in the backwater town of Bethlehem on Christmas Day, and that got the ball rolling in a simpler, more personal, godly direction. Oh Friends, before Jesus came we had no real choice. Yes, we could believe in God before, but then the focus was on works. The law directed that only through good works could we obtain salvation, and how many good works did that take eh? But with the coming of Jesus, with His sojourn here on earth, all of that changed; we were granted a choice to believe or not to believe in Him. And if we believed that He was indeed the Son of God, and that His sacrificial death on the cross paid for our sins, then Hosanna! We were made righteous by the precious blood of Jesus shed on Calvary, and could now stand before a just and righteous God and claim righteousness through His Son! What a great day that was for mankind! Now listen to Bruh Paul hold forth on the subject: ‘Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without (apart from) the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned and come (fall) short of the glory of God; Being justified freely (without any cost) by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (a mercy seat) through faith in his blood, to declare (demonstrate) his righteousness for the remission (passing over) of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified (declared righteous) by faith without (apart from) the deeds of the law.’ (Rom.3:19-28) Oh Friends, what moving and intense passage of scripture. Let’s see if we can break it down a little. The man-made law that Bruh Paul talks of was never meant to justify man, but to convict him, to prove him guilty. But with Jesus’ sacrificial offering, a new age of dispensation of grace came into being, a gift of a personal relationship, and the old law no longer held sway. The focus was no longer on guilt and conviction, but now on righteousness through faith in Christ. For all of us have sinned; either done what we shouldn’t (commission), or didn’t do what we should (omission) and thus fallen short of God’s standards. But thanks be to Jesus, we have been made righteous at no cost to us, through the unmerited favour of God’s grace, and our redemption paid for by Jesus with His shed blood. Jesus’ sacrificial death satisfied God’s righteous demands: He remained just and righteous and our sins were pardoned. However Friends, in spite of propitiation, that act of God driven by His great LOVE for us, where Christ’s shed blood was deemed sufficient to pay for the sins of all mankind, the full set of benefits from that merciful act can only be attained by those who accept that provision for sin, through faith in Jesus Christ. Only then are we justified, made right with God. And it’s certainly surprising and foolish too, that so many people refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, for in that state of unbelief, they will never see God’s face through salvation and eternal life. What a waste! Unfortunately though, it’s our job to go out into the evil world and spread the good news of Jesus, and make believers of everyone. It’s not an easy task, but one that Jesus commanded us to do. So with the joy and thankfulness that comes from being justified before Almighty God, through belief in Jesus, let’s go out into the dark, evil world and brightly shine our light nuh.  Our renewed efforts to spread His Word will certainly please Jesus. Much LOVE!…without the light of Jesus…starting with His birth on Christmas Day…all mankind would have been convicted and sentenced …to eternal separation from God…to eternal death and darkness…