Monday, April 21, 2008

Works Vs Faith

I'd like to address an important issue.
This is a big one that has trapped many, causing alienation from Christ and a falling from grace! No. I'm not making that up. It is scriptural;

Gal. 5: 4 You who are trying to be justified by law, have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

I was once trapped by the Old Covenant. I have family members who are still trapped.
When I began to discuss, with one family membere, the issue of being free from the Old Covenant laws, she couldn't buy it, "It's
TOO easy!” she said. That's the aspect we're going to look at in this post.  One of my siblings has recently broken free from that yoke.

You may think it’s too easy to receive salvation by faith rather than by works (Sabbath keeping, Holy Days, et al.), but consider Naaman who had leprosy; 2Ki 5:10-14. When he was told to simply dunk himself seven times in the Jordan to receive healing, he was angry. He expected some great thing, a big show.” Why dunk in the Jordan when there are better rivers?” He wanted to know. But when he did as he was told, he was healed with youthful skin. –Yes, that easy!

This story is similar to Gideon; remember how the enemy was so numerous they looked like an infestation of locusts covering miles of land? (Jdg 7:12). And how God sent him against them with an army of only 300 men? (Jdg 7:7). God wanted Gideon and Naaman, (all of us), to clearly understand that what was accomplished, (winning the battle, healing), was done so, by God, not by the individual, by their own doing, not the number of men, nor the quality of a river.

Again, consider the Israelites in the desert; (Nu 21:4-9), when the Israelites began to grumble and complain against God and Moses, God sent venomous snakes in among them and those bitten died. They got a clue real quick-like and asked Moses to pray for them because they were sorry for their sin. So God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten, they could look up at it and be healed. –Yes, that easy!
Jesus said 
Jn3:14, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.


Let’s think about this. There is a powerful parallel here.
In the desert, God didn’t remove the snakes. Did you notice that? Why did he have Moses make the bronze snake, rather than remove the snakes? It’s symbolic!
The snakes are ‘sin’. Once bitten, infected by the venom, you die! We can’t remove sin. The penalty for sin is death. Once infected by sin, you die. See the parallel? But, what God DID do, was to offer up an escape from death – just look up at the bronze snake on the pole and you won’t die! Just look to Christ Jesus on the cross and you won’t die! See the parallel?

Faith! It’s all about faith – trust in God. – Yes, it’s that easy.

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