DougsStudyDesk

The Apostle Paul wrote of his fellow countrymen, (the Israelite of his day; ) Romans 10:1-4,Brethren, my hearts desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about Gods righteousness and seeking to establish their own , they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end (goal) of the Law for (resulting in ) righteousness to everyone who believes.

I believe the same indictment holds true today against the Gentile, Religious, Professing world of our day. But just as the indictment is the same, so also is the fulfillment of Gods promise of the gift of righteousness in life to all who believe. Which life, is the believers, IN CHRIST, not in his or her self effort.

The Lord Jesus Christ had taught, as recorded by the writer of the Gospel According to Matthew, Chap. 7:22 Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? An then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.

Jesus had declared as John the apostle records it, Chap. 5:39-40, You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.

John records in the 10th: chapter the words of Jesus as he continues to enlighten His followers, 10:9-11,I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, and to kill, and destroy; I came that they might HAVE LIFE, and might have it abundantly. I Am the Good Shepherd, the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Ver.14-18, I Am the Good Shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; (gentile believers), I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice, and the shall become one flock with one shepherd.(Jew and Gentile believers in the body of Christ, the Church).

Hear the words of the Lord Jesus once again, John 6:33,For the bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world. Ver. 37-40,All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that he has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For, this is the will of My Father, that every one who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

Mankind in the person of Adam, the head of the human race, through one disobedient act had forfeited his life, which had been given to him by God the Father and Creator. He then passed that tendency toward disobedience,resulting in death, to all his posterity. Read Romans 5:8-6:12. Jesus came, as we have read, for the purpose of returning that life, (eternal Life) unto the race of humanity, as a gift. He gave Himself, so the Apostle John could say, 1John 5:11-12,And the witness is this, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son,(as the source of their life,) has life; and he who does not have the Son of God,(as their life,) does not have life. But the wrath of God abides on him.

Nothing that you or I do or can do, avails, benefits, profits, us, as to obtaining salvation, except just plain simple childlike faith in the entirety of the accomplished work that the Lord Jesus Christ performed in our behalf. Joining a Church doesn't procure salvation, nor does going forward in an evangelistic meeting, answering a call to dedicate ones life to the Lord, or to one kind of Christian work or another. Going to seminary or Bible School, being ordained into one group or another doesn't constitute righteousness in the sight of God. Being immersed in water baptism, teaching a class, performing the duties of an office in the church, paying your tithes, or giving all your possessions to the poor, doesn't procure salvation.

Salvation is the Gift of Eternal Life, in the Person of Jesus Christ, and this Life cannot be superimposed upon the old sinful fleshy life of either Jew or Gentile. Death as a consequence of Sin, was decreed for Adam, the first man, and death is decreed for each of us, therefore we must avail ourselves of Gods so great salvation. All died spiritually in Adam, and all must die physically. The only way to bridge the gulf for either, is through the vicarious, (indirect-surrogate) death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reality of it all only comes by Faith, and the Holy Spirit of God makes it a living reality for the true believer. Hear the Apostle Paul as he gives enlightenment to Titus, one of his co-laborers in the effort to spread the truth of the Gospel Message. Titus 3: 4-7. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His Grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

When by simple faith, any or all who will become obedient to the faith of the Gospel,these truths will impact you, and the realization that when Jesus died in your behalf, you died, and when he was buried, you were buried in Him, and that is the end of the old dominating, willful, selfish, self-centered, person you were all of your natural life. When Jesus arose from the grave, you arose from death to the old person, to a New Life in Him. (To Newness of Life. Rom.6:4.) A life to be lived with Jesus Christ, Him, being the source, the provider of Life, and from then on you have a life of an altogether different quality, to be lived to the glory of God. With this reality impacting upon you, how is it possible to put a monetary value upon it? How is it that man now becomes consumed with the idea, that it can be turned into a merchandising gimmick, and begin to charge others who are endeavoring to hear the good news as well? Oh, I know the privilege is provided for by God, that those who proclaim the Gospel may live off the Gospel, but when you are given the abundance of life, freely, gratuitously, no cost, without strings attached, how is it that you aren't compelled, by the generosity of God to just as Paul, not be moved to work for your own livelihood, that you might freely give to others, everything that you have been so freely given. The only answer is, that the goodnews doesn't really mean as much to our modern day proclaimers as they seem to imply. And just as Jesus declared, by their deeds shall you know them. It appears quite evident, the main thrust of the effort put forth today is to build monuments to man:s glory, as a testimony to all they are deceived into thinking, is doing a great work for God. Everywhere you go today people are stumbling about not really being shown or taught, what the Gift of a Holy, Righteous, Life, from God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ is all about. The name of God in Jesus Christ, is being blasphemed before the whole world today just as it was in the day of the Apostles, by the self styled religious leaders and their followers of our day. Oh God; bring about a Spiritual Awakening.
To the end that perhaps there are those of you who per-chance might be struggling with the confusion of babble, that is mudding up the stream of living water flowing from the throne of grace, as I have, and are endeavoring to make sense out of all the religious jargon, and to do it without charge, no strings attached, just as a gift from the Lord Jesus Himself, I offer the effort put forth in this Web Page for your benefit and enlightenment. This is my motivation, Freely given, freely you have received. Freely received, freely it is given.