| Sunday School 9:45 AM | 1616 W Fairview Rd |
| Sunday Morning Worship 10:50 AM | Paragould, AR 72450 |
| Sunday Evening Worship 6:00 PM | (870)240-8139 |
| Wednesday Evening Bible Study 7:00 PM | email: pastor@paragouldmbc.com |
Salvation
Confession:
Considered the most important decision in a person's life. A question posed in the book of Acts is simply put “What must I do to be saved?” This question is considered by most people at some point in their life. This is also the approach taken by the ruler in Luke 18:18. The ruler asked Jesus “Good Master what must I do to inherit eternal life.” This man as so many today is focused on doing something for eternal life. Doing good works. Jesus answered the rich young ruler "there is none good except God." Jesus continued and told him to keep the commandments. The ruler answered that he has kept them all. Do you believe you have kept them all? Before we can be saved we have to recognize our sin and so Jesus responded to the rich young ruler with another work. He should sell all he has and give to the poor. Selling all you have for the benefit of the poor is not required by the law, but it forces this rich young ruler to make a choice, and that choice is what Jesus is using to convict the heart of this young man. The ruler went away sad for he was very rich. This shows the attitude among the religious rulers at the time: self-sufficiency, pride, and greed. His concern was only that of mansions and streets paved with gold, greed. The need to give all he had away to earn these things was too great a price. In his eyes it was better to have wealth now and had no interest in helping the poor with any of his riches. And that was his sin. But the rich young ruler refused to face his sin. Further, he had undoubtedly broken many of the other commandments and refused to face those sins as well. The sin of this ruler is even better seen in a similar question posed to Jesus in Luke 10:25. This question came from a lawyer who asked “What shall I do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus simply asks him to answer his own questions based on the law. He used two commands from the law that summarizes the law “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. The law the ruler in Luke 18 thought he kept instructed him and all living under that law to love their neighbor as their self. Yet that ruler did not love the poor. The sin of this ruler in one part of the law was sufficient to make him a sinner in need of a Savior. No matter how much good he did otherwise, he was a sinner. You may keep 99 laws out of 100, but the 1 out of the 100 you break makes you a law breaker...there is none good except God. This is what we must learn. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” We need to be honest with ourselves. We have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Faith:
Since we know we've sinned, we must now try to somehow pay for this sin to reconcile ourselves back to God. But Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The only payment for sin is death. There is no payment we can make in this life to reconcile ourselves for the afterlife. However, notice the last phrase takes the focus off paying for our sin ourselves and reveals eternal life to be a gift through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:8 explains the purpose of the cross “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The word commendeth means to exhibit. God doesn't tell us he loves us, he shows it. God's sacrifice while we were yet sinners shows his love for us. It also shows that God's mercy and forgiveness can be given to sinners such as us. So, how do we receive this mercy and forgiveness. Romans 10:9,10 says “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”and verse 13 of the same chapter says “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. ”
Prayer:
God gives us three elements to accepting his mercy and forgiveness in Romans chapter 10 quoted above:
Confession: This includes acknowledgment of sin, sorrow for it and a desire for God to set you free from the bondage to it.
Faith: This includes Trust, not just believing in God but of trusting in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as payment for your sins.
Calling: This is how the other two elements are expressed...in prayer.