On March 5, 1994, Deputy Sheriff Lloyd Prescott was teaching a class for police officers in the Salt Lake City Library. As he stepped into the hallway he noticed a gunman herding 18 hostages into the next room. With a flash of insight, Prescott (dressed in street clothes) joined the group as the nineteenth hostage, followed them into the room, and shut the door. But when the gunman announced the order in which hostages would be executed, Prescott identified himself as a cop.
In the scuffle that followed, Prescott, in self-defense, fatally shot the armed man. The hostages were released unharmed. God dressed his Son in street clothes and sent Him into our world, joining us who are held hostage to sin. On the cross Jesus defeated Satan and set us free from the power of sin, and we can escape unharmed. -- Greg Asimakoupoulos, Concord, California. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3.
God's Part
Romans 8:1 - 4 (NIV) 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
"We who should have - didn't. He who didn't have to - did, so that we - can
" What does condemnation mean? When a building is condemned it means that is no longer useful and safe for habitation and normal usage. When a life is condemned by God it has no longer any righteous usefulness. For those in Christ the clear understanding is that we are no longer in jeopardy of condemnation for our worthless efforts and self centered living before we turned to Jesus and asked for forgiveness for what we have been doing wrong, and for what we HAVE NOT BEEN DOING RIGHTEOUSLY.
Romans 8:31 - 39 (NIV) 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here is one of the greatest promises of the Gospel.... that no external thing has the power of determining our destiny and our future with God. That is left solely to a personal decision that each of us makes, and God honors. If you have set your heart on Christ, then the only one who can turn you away from Christ, is you yourself..... by ignoring Him, hardening your heart, or rebelliously returning to sin.
John 16:7 - 11 (NIV) 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
The scriptures call the Holy Spirit a Counselor. What is a counselor? One who helps you understand your problem, then helps you understand the possible solutions, and who then becomes your advocate to represent you to those who might make accusation against you (in the mannerof a legal counselor)
Hebrews 10:15 - 18 (NIV) 15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." 17Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
When the laws of God are impressed on us, there is no room for sin, and there is no need to remind us of our sins. Where forgiveness is given, and righteousness is being pursued, there is no need for additional sacrifice(s) to re-establish a right standing with God. We have moved from being subject to the judgement reserved for rebels to the loving discipline of s child of the family of God who is learning to live like a King's kid.
Revelation 3:11 - 13 (NIV) 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The temple in the Kingdom to come is not a "house" but a dwelling place for God's presence. That is not an inanimate place, but in the living sea of those who are upstanding before their God in the love and devotion to Him.
A poem often quoted several years ago was "Invictous" by William Ernest Henley.
Someone wrote a Christian answer to "Invictous," and it goes like this.
About Salvation - My Part - Starting the Walk and Walking the Walk
Romans 8:13 - 17 (NIV) 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Paul reminds us again of our freedom of choice - the one freedom of choice that really is ours..... to obey God or to follow our own pleasures. The destiny of the one is eternal death. The destiny of the other is dwelling with God as a joint heir with Christ.... Incredible that we should be grouped with Him, since Ke had to die to make it possible to be an heir with Him
Revelation 3:9 - 10 (NIV) 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
In the troubled and troubling days to come, those who patiently walk in righteousness will be spared the trials that many will face on this earth. What a marvelous promise!!!
Revelations: 21:7 (NIV) 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
God isn't interested in just helping us escape sin. Escaped sin can overtake us. God wants us to overcome sin.... to be victorious in renoucing all sin and any perceived pleasures of sin.
1 John 5:18 - 21 (NIV) 18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Walking in Christ does not include looking the other way about persisting sin, but John reminds us that the gift of salvation does not allow for clinging to sin and trying to walk in righteousness. The two things do not co-exist. When we need anything else by Christ, we have raised up an idol which we worship and adore as much or more than Him. He is to be our only God. He is the only God.!!!
Mark 8:34 - 38 (NIV) "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Earthly success is an American obsession, but dies here. What persists is letting go of earthly success to walk in full obedience to Christ. That endures eternally.
2 Peter 1:5 - 9 (NIV) 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins..
Thee is a progression in the attributes that Peter mentions. Faith is the foundation of obedience. Then we must begin to act in obedience (goodness), then we need to understand the depths of what obedience and righteousness are (knowledge). Next we need to learn the parts of our heart that need to be restrained to keep us from sinning (self-control). Beyond that in the tough times, the times of testing, the times that challenge our faith and obedience we have to hang tough (perservence). But more than avoiding the wrong, we need to learn to do more of the right that we didn't have the time to do before (godliness). From Godliness comes compassion for the struggles of others around us who are seeking to resist sin, but don't always succeed (brotherly kindness) and most of all we add love- -the appreciation for the hidden and yet to be revealed value of every person that God has created but man has covered with the filth of sin (Love). Add these progressively to a life, and you have someone who is growing up in Christ as God intends.
As Man alone, Jesus could not have saved us; as God alone he would not. Incarnate, he could and did. -- Malcolm Muggeridge in Jesus. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 15.