Good News to Believe - Romans 3:27 - 4:25

I will paraphrase a message that is covered well by the author of our lesson for today that appears in “Exploring the Bible” published by LifeWay. It is really sad to know that there are older people that have lived great lives and have been a positive force in the lives of many people and have enjoyed being “good neighbors” to so many and are mistakenly banking on their good-works to get them to heaven. They have built an imaginary scale in their mind that weighs good and evil…it is a simple ‘balance board’…and they have placed all their good deeds on one end and their evil deeds on the other, and since the ‘good’ outweighs the ‘bad’ they visualize this as their ticket to life eternal. They only ‘hope’ the plan works, and they have no bible proof that it will. In fact the Bible teaches that it will not work. In fact, the balance board proves that it will not work…because the heavy end of the board “goes down” and not up toward heaven.

The somewhat new phrase “politically correct” has become so popular and accepted by so many that today there are Preachers, Pastors, Church Leaders and Bible Commentary Writers who are afraid to teach the “Whole Truth” which tells us that there is a Hell to shun just as surely as there is a Heaven to gain. Their argument is that if they, as a Bible witness, condemn wickedness strongly, they will not be able to continue to reach their followers, who may be committing some of the sins mentioned and will be turned off, and will not continue to attend and participate. Paul thought that it was necessary for him to teach the truth and that it was his follower’s responsibility to either accept or reject it. In the end, their ‘lost blood’ will not be on his hands.

Salvation has nothing to do with doing what man thinks is correct, [political correctness] nor does it have anything to do with one being good enough to receive God’s approval. Be careful now and do not miss-quote me when I tell you that personal salvation [being saved] is not attained through your belief that there is a God, and that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to redeem lost man. (The Devil believes this to be true and he will never be saved] The Good News is that we MUST BELIEVE…We have been told the truth and we have the opportunity to accept it. This is “faith” and faith is necessary; however one must realize that he/she is lost, and put their faith to work by personally asking Jesus to forgive their sins and to accept them as his redeemed children because of their faith and not because of any good works they have done.

In our lesson today, what is the GOOD NEWS TO BELIEVE and act upon? This lesson emphasizes the truth that God saves people by grace [freely, no pay, or works in exchange] through their personal faith in Jesus Christ; it becomes a “personal relationship” and is not a business deal, and this is the one and only way to make sure that Heaven is your home. Now, some will say that you should not warn people of their sins, it is politically incorrect, and it may offend them and drive them away from you and away from the church. If this is true, then why did Paul spend practically the entire first chapter to the Romans telling them of their sins? He told them they were sinners first and then told them how to be saved. These are people whom he had never met, did not know personally, and has never written to before; and he finishes the first chapter telling them they have degraded their bodies with one another in homosexuality, and are worshipping false gods. He even goes further and singles out the Jews by warning them that all are saved by grace through faith and not by Jewish law. Salvation comes by trusting in what Christ did for us on the Cross only, and has nothing to do with what we have done to earn it Ephesians 2: 8-10].

You may ask why salvation is by faith only. First, it eliminates the pride of human effort because faith is not a deed we do, but a receptive condition of the human heart. Second, faith exalts what God has already done and not what people can do. Third, our faith causes us to admit that we can not keep the law; that we can not measure up to what God demands; we can not reach His standards on our own, without help from Him. And finally and simply faith is based on our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and not our performance for God.

Paul went to great lengths to explain that God’s laws [including the Ten Commandments] were necessary for all who lived before Christ, setting out the guide for them to go by in their dealings with God, the government and each other. Then he chose Abraham as his example; Abraham was made right because of his belief in God; his faith was credited to him as righteousness. Against all hope, Abraham, in hope believed, and because of his faith, he became the father of many [4: verse 18]. There was no earthly way, at the age of Abraham and his wife that he could become the father of many without God’s intervention. However, Abraham was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised, and he believed [had faith] that God would do what he said he would do…and it was credited to him as righteousness.

This truth [and it was credited to him as righteousness] was not written for Abraham alone, but it was written for us today to whom God will credit righteousness if we only believe [trust, have faith, accept] the fact that God raised Jesus or Lord from the dead and that Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. For it is by God’s grace that we are saved, only when we have faith in Him and put our personal life in his hands…for we are dead in our trespasses and sin until he raises us to a new spiritual life of justification. {Justification means: “just as though we had never sinned.”} Further good news is that the Lord “Will remember our sins no more”…there is no double-jeopardy in God’s court.

GOOD NEWS TO BELIEVE is not always plesant new to hear because it is GOOD NEWS to know that even though we are lost, and undone God has given us a perfect plan of salvation that has never and will never fail, and that He has given us a free will to choose between eternal life and death. There are only two roads, one narrow and it leads to Heaven, and one wide and it takes you straight to Hell. You are traveling on the road of your choice as of this moment, so make very sure it is leading you to your chosen destinations.