The last few posts I’ve written about how to usher Christ into our lives. We have been using the acronym F.R.O.G. Faith, Repentance, Obedience and Gratefulness as an outline of how to usher in Christ. We have already gone over faith on my last post and how to determine proper and improper faith and then holding on to and standing on the faith that lines up with the Word of God and discarding any faith that does not point directly to Jesus.
So, going back to our acronym "F" being faith, next is "R" which is repentance. That is what I will be writing about today: The importance of repentance in our journey to usher in Christ.
When I wrote on faith I explained to you that one of the first steps is humility and that you must have enough humility to know that you need faith in a higher being and your not it. Repentance is much the same in that you have to have enough humility to see that you are a sinner and that you yourself can do nothing to atone for your sins. Even the Israelites in Moses day knew they had sin and had to offer sacrifices to God in order to be clean or righteous in the sight of God. This can be difficult because your flesh will want to say, “I’m not so bad. I’ve never killed anyone, I try to be nice to everyone”.
I’d like to show to you from the book of Romans that it is not just I that is saying this but it is in the word. We are going to practice what we learned about faith last time and take the information that someone is telling us and then test it by the scriptures so that we know that this is something we should have faith in. Then when we have determined that it is according to the word we grab a hold of it and don't let go.
Romans 3:10 says... as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Rom 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
Rom 3:13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps(a type of snake) is under their lips."
Rom 3:14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
Rom 3:15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Rom 3:16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
Rom 3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.",
Rom 3:18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
As you can see we all have a pretty long rap sheet. The text as we read above says none and no one not some or a few.
The whole world is accountable to God.
We are accountable to God yet we have nothing of ourselves that is worthy as a sacrifice for our sins. Nor is there anything we can “do” that will justify us. As you can see we are all sinners and Gods’ forgiveness is necessary for our righteousness and only the righteous will be with Christ in eternity. Lets continue looking in Romans.
Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
It is not through the law that we achieve righteousness, there is no animals sacrifice that can make us righteous anymore but through Jesus Christ’s atoning blood we can be considered holy and blameless to God. It is only through Jesus and our repentance to Him that we can experience any amount of righteousness.
Lets apply that to ushering in Christ. We can see, using John the Baptist’s ministry as an example that repentance is necessary to usher in Christ. All those people had come to John out of faith to enter the waters of repentance by baptism. So we have our faith and because we now have this assurance we can ask for repentance and know that we will have forgiveness because it is promised in the Word in…
1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jo 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Lets re-cap
We have to start with humility, know that you are a sinner, know that you must be righteous to enter the kingdom of God, know there is nothing you can do to obtain righteousness, know that repenting to Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain the righteousness required for entrance into heaven. Now lets put it together with faith and you are now in the process of ushering Christ into your life. Obedience and gratefulness will follow.
We are accountable to God yet we have nothing of ourselves that is worthy as a sacrifice for our sins. Nor is there anything we can “do” that will justify us. As you can see we are all sinners and Gods’ forgiveness is necessary for our righteousness and only the righteous will be with Christ in eternity. Lets continue looking in Romans.
Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
It is not through the law that we achieve righteousness, there is no animals sacrifice that can make us righteous anymore but through Jesus Christ’s atoning blood we can be considered holy and blameless to God. It is only through Jesus and our repentance to Him that we can experience any amount of righteousness.
Lets apply that to ushering in Christ. We can see, using John the Baptist’s ministry as an example that repentance is necessary to usher in Christ. All those people had come to John out of faith to enter the waters of repentance by baptism. So we have our faith and because we now have this assurance we can ask for repentance and know that we will have forgiveness because it is promised in the Word in…
1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jo 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Lets re-cap
We have to start with humility, know that you are a sinner, know that you must be righteous to enter the kingdom of God, know there is nothing you can do to obtain righteousness, know that repenting to Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain the righteousness required for entrance into heaven. Now lets put it together with faith and you are now in the process of ushering Christ into your life. Obedience and gratefulness will follow.
9 comments:
Hey, you got ahead of me...
" We are accountable to God yet we have nothing of ourselves that is worthy as a sacrifice for our sins. "
There is a song on the radio that Joy FM has been playing, I found myself singing along with it, it's just a catchie tune, then one day recently I listened to the words that were being said. It said, " Would you take the place of this man, would you take the nails from his hands"?
I answerd out loud, NO! I can't do that and even if I could I wouldn't! AS you have stated, Dan, "none are righteous". And even if I could take His place I am still far from the perfect lamb.
And even farther from being God.
Great Post, Dan, I decided to start a new comment to seperate what I wrote from telling you how much I like your Post. It is sharp, truthful and to the point. "Steal sharpens steal" but like I have said in the past, it's only at the proper angle will steal sharpen steal. Any other angle and all you get is dull steal with chips taken knocked out of it. Bless you Dan.
Hi, Dan. I think you are doing a good job explaining how we usher Jesus into our lives. Faith, Repentence, Obedience and Gratefulness are the keys to a victorious Christian life. Keep posting, I'll keep reading. Love and prayers, JD's Mom
Thank you everyone for your comments. It really encourages me to continue.
Hey Dan! Great post! This picture of the frog looks like a cheerleader, he's doing a split jump. :) Go Dan Go!!!
Heavenly Warrior Says.... I'm going to make guess who this is Dan. :) Very nicely put. Simple an to the point about we need to Usher Christ into our lives. Especialy to those who are coming to know The Savior for the first time or getting back to where (He) wanted us in the first place. Cause (He) will let you try it you're way for so long before (He), as JD puts it, spanks you like a disaobedit child or worse put you on your face. So you can realize you can't do it with out (Him) an to get your life right you must turn to (Him) an say ok Father no more I've had enough of trying to do it on my owne. I give all to you. Yes it hard, buts it better than being truly disobediet an not asking for forgiveness. I still have my stryggles, but thankfully there getting easier to deal with. I thank you an Cindy for you're support an always keeping us, especialy me, in prayer. Still confused to who this might be, a hint than. I'm younger than you, but i have more white in my hair. :) Thanks Again to All
Thanks for your comment and visiting my blog Nathan. That was a pretty big hint at the end there.
Anyway keep reading the posts. There are quite a few and if you have any questions feel free to ask or comment. There should be a new one coming shortly on happiness and joy that I think will help you some to.
This is Heavenly Warrior. I thought you would get a kick out of that little (big) hint I left for ya. I left a commit on JD's blog site too. Thought since I'm reading the post I'd comment on the way I've experienced them or how they're helping me. Looking forward to your next one. My Love an Blessings go out to you an your family an may God continue to Bless us all in (His) glory.
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