Wednesday, June 23, 2021 Some material taken from Father’s Day Is No Joke by Sam Nobles
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Born Losers
Sin is one of those things in life that puts us all on level on the same playing field a couple of times in life – at birth and at the foot of the cross. We are born losers – sinners - all of us. The sin nature does not take long to rear its ugly head in the lives of our children. It is unmistakable. It is the double image that Sam Nobles was talking about this past Sunday. We are created in the image of God, yet also in the image of man. As a result, we are alienated from God by our sin nature.
Being born into a good Christian family, being at church for every service and Bible study, volunteering for every VBS or event or being a kind person, your whole life will not get you into heaven. No matter how good you are during your time here on earth, we are all sinners in need of a Savior, just as we were at birth.
Sin is the great leveler, and since we are all sinners by nature and practice, we all
stand on a level playing field before God – no one measures up. – Sam Nobles
No matter how good we are, sin separates us from our Holy God. If we are sinning, we are going the opposite way from God, against His ways. We are creating the distance between God and ourselves with our sin. Even after we become Christians, sin can continue to separate us from God’s fellowship. Repentance is the only thing that will lift the barrier and restore the relationship between us and God. Until we actually cut sin completely out of our lives, it will continue to eat away and destroy as much as it can. It is a living enemy, working against us and our relationship with God.
Repentance and turning away from our sin to a Savior full of grace, mercy, and redemption is the only way we can get sin out of our life. We have a good God who is kind and loves everyone. He does show goodness and kindness to His children, and to those that are not His children. This is the doctrine of “Common Grace,” that Sam talked about Sunday. Common grace speaks of the kindness of God toward all people –totally depraved and undeserving mankind. God does not release His wrath and destroy us but blesses us all – Christians and not. This is grace – but does not mean we are saved by this grace. Saving grace, that gives eternal life, is a gift given, but must also be received.
We are all sinners – born losers - coming into this world. But by the mercy and saving grace of our Heavenly Father, we win the greatest prize ever when we are born again and freed from our hopeless, sinful condition.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…Romans 3:23 ESV
