13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13, NASB)
We don’t save people by prohibiting alcohol, abortion, drunk driving, nor do we save people by feeding the homeless, providing healthcare or job security.
WE don’t save people.
We preach the gospel.
We disciple.
We love and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ because we love God. But we don’t save them by doing good deeds for them. We are the salt and the light they see in the world that reflects the person of Jesus Christ and His work to save. If we lose our desire for God, if we lose our light, our flavor, we fail to draw people to Christ. God works in us and through us to shine and glorify Himself. So let your light shine! The true church is not tasteless and dark. We are of the Light!! We point people to the One who saves.
We point to the Savior!!
The gospel is the means by which people are saved. We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins and we preach His resurrection, how He was raised to life by God the Father to eternal glory. When a person confesses with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believes in his heart this good news about Jesus, he will be saved. He then at that moment is given new life, he is born again and indwelt by the Spirit of God (He is the Spirit of Truth) and will also be raised to eternal life.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
In the gospel we learn that Christ is the only righteousness we need. We are not righteous enough in ourselves to get to heaven on our own. We need Christ’s righteousness. We cannot be as righteous as God is and He is our standard of righteousness. Can we measure up? No. He is God, we are not.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." (Romans 1:16, NASB)
We are made righteous by Christ. Jesus Christ clothed us in His righteousness while He was clothed in our sin.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB)
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13, NASB)
GOD does the SAVING work.
No comments:
Post a Comment