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The Wreck

Have you ever been in a car wreck?  Whether it was just a fender bender or not, it probably left your vehicle damaged.  It would be foolish for you to call the car company and complain about the dents when it originally came off the assembly line perfect.  The damage isn't any more their fault than mankind's imperfection would be God's fault. You see, God created man in perfection after His own image.  Everything was great, until man got into a wreck.  Sin, death and the curse entered the realm of man's authority -- this world. The condition that Adam received (not the condition he was created in) was passed down to each succeeding generation. We are born into a world that is cursed, that is dying and that is in a state of rebellion.  We inherited a separated condition from the perfect and righteous ways of God!  Man was the one who had a problem, and God in His mercy provided an answer.

God began His dealings with sinful, fallen man, through "the law" first given to Moses. This law could not fully fill the requirements of righteousness, but instead showed God's people that they could not measure up to God's standard and therefore needed a Savior!  Mankind needed an outsider that could repair what they could not.

God was the only one that could fix our problem. The broken cannot fix the broken.  Along came Jesus, bringing us Grace and saying things like..."under the law you cannot commit adultery, but I say if you even look at another woman to lust after her you have already committed adultery in your heart!"   He said, "under the law you cannot murder, but I say if you have hatred in your heart toward someone you have already committed murder!"  Then Jesus really went straight to the heart by saying, "be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect!"  Huh?  What?  Is He kidding?  How is that even possible?  I don't need a little repair work, I need to be completely re-made!

Jesus said you must be BORN AGAIN!  My first birth brought me into sin, failure, guilt and death. My second birth IN CHRIST is a spiritual birth that re-connects me with real life, a new life, eternal life!  Now there is a new nature that resides in me, a right nature, a righteous nature from the One who is righteous. 

My first birth was in the flesh, and my second birth is in the Spirit. The New Testament writers spent a lot of time explaining the fact that believers have two natures. The flesh is at war with the spirit, but the spirit is at rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ! The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:14, that those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God! He says in verse 9 that we are "not in the flesh", but in the Spirit.

Grace is a popular subject today in much of the church, and it should be!  Over the years I have heard some very confusing teaching on the subject. In Romans 6,  Paul asks a question:  "Should we continue in and be satisfied with living in sin? No," he says, "don't you understand that the sinful nature is dead and it should no longer control you?"  In other words,  Paul agreed with Jesus! 

Jesus came along and told us that we don't need more laws, but a heart change. Jesus spoke directly to the heart. When we are born again, grace changes our heart and this changes everything. You and I were so "messed up" that our only answer was a DEATH!  In Romans 6:3-7, Paul tells us that the old man and the old nature of sin is "dead" in Christ and should be buried in Christ and our new life is in the likeness of His resurrection! The best thing to do with something that is dead is to bury it!  Leave the dead past, the dead sins, the dead fears, the dead failures, the old man buried -- dead -- gone -- in the past! 

Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, that the one thing he consistently did was forget the past and continually press forward in the Grace, Mercy, Strength and Power of God in Christ Jesus! It's time to rise up, shake off the grave clothes and get moving in the things of God!  God's Grace is sufficient! 

Glad Tidings Church

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