I have through out the years bought Bible study books with great intentions but sadly, they sit on a shelf only half read. I've been really convicted lately of how I've been living my life not truly studying the word of God. I read it (not as much as I should) but I haven't been studying it. I've been reading The Passion of Jesus Christ. It's 50 reasons why Jesus came to die.
Today's reading: "Christ suffered and died to cancel the legal demands of the law against us." In the Old Testament, people had to live by the law and perform things like sacrifices because Jesus had not yet come. I can't even tell you how glad it makes me that I don't have to live my life practicing certain deeds to get to Heaven.
"The second reason it is folly to hope in good deeds is that this is not the way God saves. If we are saved from the consequences of our bad deeds, it will not be because they weighed less than our good deeds. It will be because the "record of [our] debt" in heaven has been nailed to the cross of Christ. God has a totally different way of saving sinners than by weighing their deeds. There is no hope in our deeds. There is only hope in the suffering and death of Christ."
The record of our deeds was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Christ became our damning record. He endured my damnation. He is my only hope and faith in Him is my only way to God.
I am ever thankful that there is nothing I can do to get to Heaven except believe in what Christ has done for me. There is no action or work that I can do that is going to get me any closer to heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 says we are saved by grace through faith, not of works. Praise God because as a sinful human, there is no "works" I could do to make me worthy to enter the gates of Heaven.
What a relief! That takes some weight off our shoulders! Nothing we can do ourselves makes us worthy. Only the blood of Christ makes us worthy. That, my friends, makes me smile :0)
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