Yesterday (2/18/19) we had market ministry. One of my teammates Shiloh had brought his travel guitar with him so we started off our day in the park worshiping and inviting others to join us. As I was walking around talking to random people, I met a man in his 80’s. We said a quick greeting and then he went about his day. Hours later, I was sitting near the park again and he walks up to me and exclaims “You’re still here!”
Yep, hours later and I was still hanging around town talking to people. So he asks me what I do and I tell him that I am a missionary. He then tells me that he goes to church and has a relationship with God. So we talk about our faith for a while and then I started to ask about his family.
He has two daughters still living, three that have now passed away, and his wife has also passed away two years ago. But he said that he can still be happy because she is in heaven. To which I told him that he’ll be reunited with her one day. And he said, “Well I hope so. If I can can continue to be a good person and do enough good works then I will see her again one day.”
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When I was a freshman, there was a Bible Study where we talked about the assurance of our salvation. And we were asked to go around and state what percentage we believed we would go to heaven when we died.
I remember sitting there not sure of what to say. I knew I was going to heaven, but could I be so prideful to say 100%? So I said 90% or something like that confident in my passing grade of life. But then the older girls started saying 100%; they all did. And I realized that I was still trying to earn a place in heaven.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23a
I was sinful by nature, I deserved death and separation from God. And this is not just me, this is all encompassing. ALL have sinned, ALL have fallen short, ALL need to make the payment in death or spiritual separation from God.
“ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous (Him) for the unrighteous (me and everyone else), that he might bring us to God (un-separate us), being put to death in the flesh (paying our wage) but made alive again in the spirit (we are born again in Christ).” 1 Peter 3:18
He took upon Himself all the sins of the world. Past, present, and future and payed for them all.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Did I deserve that act of kindness? Not at all. I was deserving of death but instead I received HIS grace, HIS dying on the cross to pay for my sins, HIS free gift. And there is nothing that I could do to have earned that act of love and kindness.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in his body of the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:22-24
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood” Romans 5:8-9a
God saw our condition. He saw that we were sinful and destined to spend forever apart from Him. But he made us to have fellowship with Him. So He sent Jesus to bridge that gap and give us a hope. To pay the price for our sins. To give us this free gift. To die on the cross for sins He never committed. To make relationship with Him possible once more.
And what must I do to receive such an act of love? Believe in Him.
“For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7
I am now seen as righteous. I am justified (made righteous) because of what Jesus did for me in love. He took all my sins and I took His identity. I can now be seen as righteous because my sins are paid for by Jesus. In that moment, He took upon himself my identity as a sinner, bore my sins on the cross, died to pay for my sins, and three days later defeated death by rising again. All so that me and everyone else has the opportunity to be a new creation in Jesus. To be born again, to have a new identity in Him. One that says we are made new, we are holy and set apart, and that we are righteous. And so that I may spend eternity with Him.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
“Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:9-10
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
I am no longer subject to a future that is separated from God. I no longer need to pay for my sins. I believe in Jesus and the cross. I recognize all that Jesus and that act of love has done for me. I accept this free gift and recognize Jesus as my savior.
And I am sure of my salvation because it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him. I can in full confidence say that when I die, I will go to heaven.
And when I said goodbye to that man for the second time that day, we walked away both rejoicing in the truth of that freedom.
Another quick fundraising update! I am now $1,200 away from being fully funded! I you feel it put onto your heart to give towards this mission, you can donate above!
