Ever wondered why the Bible's words can pierce the heart with such precision and power? Join us on a profound journey that unravels the Bible's divine inspiration and its role as the ultimate guide in our lives. We explore the enduring truths of Christianity and the Bible's capacity to reveal our true nature through the lens of Hebrews 4 and Proverbs 5, bringing into focus how Scripture acts as a living force in the believer's life.
The concept of salvation often gets tangled in misconceptions, but we're setting the record straight: It's not about tallying up good deeds. We engage with the pivotal teachings of the Apostle Paul and the unequivocal declarations of Christ to underscore salvation as a gift of grace, accessible through faith in Jesus. This episode promises to reshape your understanding of righteousness and impart the transformative power of living by the Spirit, as we reflect on the profound truths found in Romans and John 14.
Finally, we address the tug-of-war between sin and sanctification that believers often face, as inspired by Paul's candid confessions in Romans 7 and 8. We discuss the ongoing battle for righteousness and the promise of no condemnation for those in Christ, offering a message of comfort and hope.
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Ever wondered why the Bible's words can pierce the heart with such precision and power? Join us on a profound journey that unravels the Bible's divine inspiration and its role as the ultimate guide in our lives. We explore the enduring truths of Christianity and the Bible's capacity to reveal our true nature through the lens of Hebrews 4 and Proverbs 5, bringing into focus how Scripture acts as a living force in the believer's life.
The concept of salvation often gets tangled in misconceptions, but we're setting the record straight: It's not about tallying up good deeds. We engage with the pivotal teachings of the Apostle Paul and the unequivocal declarations of Christ to underscore salvation as a gift of grace, accessible through faith in Jesus. This episode promises to reshape your understanding of righteousness and impart the transformative power of living by the Spirit, as we reflect on the profound truths found in Romans and John 14.
Finally, we address the tug-of-war between sin and sanctification that believers often face, as inspired by Paul's candid confessions in Romans 7 and 8. We discuss the ongoing battle for righteousness and the promise of no condemnation for those in Christ, offering a message of comfort and hope.
Check Out My Social Media:
Christianity isn't based on a set of moral principles or theological systems. We believe in one man, jesus Christ, who came to earth fully God, fully man, and died for sinners. All right, welcome to Informed Faith. My name is Patrick, your host. I'm excited and thrilled to be with you here today. If this is your first time listening, go to informedfaithbuzzsproutcom and you can learn more about the purpose of this podcast. But we're going to continue our series on five keys to studying the Bible. The first key was illumination by the Holy Spirit. The second key is preparing our minds for the truth, and there's several truths that we need to be willing to accept. The first truth I want to talk about is the basic fact that the Bible is the Word of God. It is the truth. It wasn't a collection of fables and stories or opinions of a group of guys that got together decided just to write them down. This was inspired by the Holy Spirit from God through men to us. Now, before we get into talking about that, I want to ask you a question as the listener do you believe that the Bible is the truth, the inspired word of God? Answer that question by going to the show notes section and clicking on the link that says send me a text. Click on that and type in your answer. I'd love to hear from everybody your opinions, your thoughts on it. All right, well, let's get into this.
Speaker 1:Christianity is different than any other religion. Other religions are based on systems of theology or principles of morality. Christianity is based on one man. It's based on Christ, and we believe in what Jesus said and what he did. And since we believe those things about him, we should probably go first to see what Jesus thought about the word of God. What did he say about it? If you turn to Luke, chapter 16, and you look at verse 17, he says this it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail. The Bible is unfailing. The word of God does not fail Even one stroke of a letter of the law, he says. And we should also consult other people who were followers of Jesus.
Speaker 1:So if you turn to 2 Peter, if you were in a courtroom and you had an eyewitness on the stand for a crime that had been committed, or you were trying to defend someone and you had an eyewitness, testimony be the best kind of testimony you could have. The person was there and Peter was there with Christ throughout his ministry, witnessed a lot of things. And he says, starting in verse 19 of 2 Peter, chapter 1, he says so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. And in verse 20, he says but know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. In verse 21,. No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God, men moved by the Holy Spirit. It wasn't an act of human opinion, it's not stories and fables. This is men who are moved by the Holy Spirit, spoken from God. Doesn't get much clearer than that.
Speaker 1:And if you go to Hebrews, chapter four, I like this verse as well. The word of God is living and active. This isn't an old, dusty book that isn't applicable anymore. It's living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow. Think about it. You can't cut any deeper than that into meat. You get down to the joints and then through the bone into the marrow. That's the very center and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. In verse 13, there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him, with whom we have to do. So the Bible lays us bare. The Bible cuts to the very, very heart, the very center of our intentions and behaviors and our thoughts.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's why people don't like to read the Bible. I know that's been a lot of times in the past why I have not liked to read the Bible. I've been involved in a life that was focused on immorality, on sin, and when I was caught up in that sin, when I was practicing sin or unrighteousness whatever you want to call it, man, I didn't want to be called on the carpet for that. I definitely didn't want to be laid bare in front of God to see all of that. In fact, even Adam and Eve didn't right. They were hiding in the garden After they had sinned with the serpent. What'd they do? They hid. They clothed themselves and hid, and God, in kind of a funny section of Scripture, is asking a question where'd you go and they said we're hiding and God knew where they were. The Bible lays us bare and shows us the true intentions of our heart.
Speaker 1:I wonder also if the writer of Hebrews had this other passage in mind. If you turn to Proverbs, chapter five, the writer is talking about actually this is a father talking to his son about the pitfalls of immorality. He starts off saying my son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding, listen to me that you can observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge. And he's talking. He starts to explain the um thisess and he says for the lips of an adulteress, drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood. And listen what he says next sharp as a two-edged sword. Sharp as a two-edged sword. But remember back in Hebrews, where the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. I wonder if he was thinking about that Proverbs passage.
Speaker 1:The word of God is convicting, it lays us bare. God sees everything. In fact, back in that, I apologize back in that Proverbs passage, proverbs 5, it goes on to actually say for the ways of a man this is in verse 21, are before the eyes of the Lord and he watches all his paths Verse 22, his own iniquities, sins, will capture the wicked and he will be held with the cords of his sin Verse 23, he will die for lack of instruction. And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. He will die for lack of instruction and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. He will die for lack of instruction. I wonder if that's for an unwillingness to go to the word of God, to be in the word, to listen, to read, to study, to meditate, meditate on the word, in fact, in Psalm.
Speaker 1:Turn to Psalm chapter one. Psalm one is great because it really holds the themes and key for all of the Bible in it, just this very short Psalm. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. That's his joy being in the word of God and in his law. That's his joy being in the word of God and in his law. He meditates day and night.
Speaker 1:That meditates means basically just repetition of thought. It doesn't mean that you know, like you're sitting there cross-legged, just humming, clearing your mind of everything the world wants us to clear our minds of all thought and all understanding, all discernment and just. You know, whatever comes into your head comes into your head. No, we need to be meditating on the Word of God. That's our delight Repetition of thought, reading passages over and over again. And it says if we do this it says verse 3, he will be like a tree firmly planted actually a tree firmly transplanted by God, by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does, he prospers. So the first truth that we need to prepare our minds for is the fact that the word of God is true. It's not just a collection of stories and opinions. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit through men for us.
Speaker 1:There's a passage also in Timothy. I think it's 2 Timothy in chapter 3. If I can find this real quick 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. It says All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. That's Paul writing to young Timothy. This is what it's for.
Speaker 1:The Bible is there for a guide, a teacher. We're to love it. We are to delight in it, have joy in it. It's there to help us get through trials and stresses, through sin and temptation. It's there to be a light for us to our feet so that our path is straight. Be a light for us to our feet so that our path is straight. Our path is not just straight, but, because life is full of trials and pitfalls, the Word can be there to help us navigate.
Speaker 1:So the first truth as I said, that you have to get straight in your mind and accept is that the word of God is true, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The second truth that we need to prepare our minds for is the fact that we are sinful, sinful by nature. We were born into sin because of the original sin of Adam, sin because of the original sin of Adam. And because of that original sin, all men have been condemned to death. And there's nothing we can do to earn our way out of that condemnation Nothing, and I want to start this in Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9. And it says this the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick and the verse ends with a question who can understand it? We don't come into this world ready to go to heaven. We don't come into this world full of the Holy Spirit and living a life of righteousness. We come into this world as babies, selfish and looking out for number one, and if you've had children, you know this to be true.
Speaker 1:My wife has worked with early childhood development with children for about 20, 25 years. She loves working with kids, always comes home with great stories about 20, 25 years. She loves working with kids, always comes home with great stories and the kids are wonderful. Her favorite class is the babies to be in and she's got some babies that are five, six weeks old and man, they're wonderful and they smile. But they also have a lot of moments where they are not happy. And if they are hungry, if they are wet, if they are tired, if they just want to be held, they don't want to be laid in a crib, they don't feel like sleeping. If somebody takes their toy, if whatever, they let you know right away. And if you're parents, you understand this.
Speaker 1:In the middle of the night doesn't matter, everyone else is trying to get sleep. The baby wants their food. They don't even have a concept of someone else necessarily other people's needs of someone else necessarily other people's needs. Those concepts of other people's needs, manners, being unselfish, kind, self-controlled, patient, loving, gentle, the fruits of the spirit all that stuff is supposed to be taught to kids by their parents. Amen, we're supposed to be disciplining our children. This says in Ephesians, chapter 6, disciplining and teaching. We don't come out that way.
Speaker 1:In fact, if you go to Psalm, chapter 51, psalm 51, this is a Psalm of David. This is a prayer. It's a contrite sinner's prayer for pardon. This is after David's sin with Bathsheba and he murdered, you know the murder of her husband, uriah. David is praying to God and he's very interesting. He makes a comment in verse five. He says behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin. My mother conceived me. He wasn't saying that his mom was some kind of prostitute or something and he was brought forth out of a sinful. No, he's saying I was born sinful, I was born into sin, we're all born into the sinful.
Speaker 1:Clear Romans 5, verse 12. Starting in verse 12, says Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world, talking about Adam and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin. There you go, plain and simple. Therefore, just as through one man, adam, sin entered into the world, we are able to see in this next few words, next four words and death through sin, the tolerance and patience of God for sin. All it took was one sin and all of mankind was condemned to death. That's it. And so death spread to all men because all sinned. And it goes on there, verse 13,. For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness or in the same way of the offense of Adam. So it doesn't matter what kind of sin it was, all have sinned. In fact, romans 3.23, you probably know that one too. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yeah, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Speaker 1:So the second truth, the first truth we said, is that the Bible is true and inspired by the Holy Spirit. The second truth that we have to prepare our minds for is that we are sinful. We were born into sin, our heart was sinful. We came into this world that way, and because of the original sin of Adam, all of us have been condemned to death, all of us. Which brings us to the third truth that we all need to prepare our minds for there is nothing that we can do to earn our way to heaven, Nothing.
Speaker 1:And there's a myth that's going around that if you're good, if you do good things, if you go to church, if you go to Bible study, if you say the rosary, if you're perfect with attendance, if you walk, you know elderly people across streets, if you give to the poor and you're great with philanthropy or whatever, if you do certain things, you will get into heaven. But if you are not a good person, you won't get into heaven. That is not the truth of the Bible. The truth about going to heaven is found in the same section of Romans, 3.23, where it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It doesn't say anything about just you know good people.
Speaker 1:It says in verse 24, though being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. It's a gift. We are redeemed, we are justified, we are made clean and worthy of a relationship with God and going to heaven, worthy of eternal life, by the sacrifice of Jesus. It was the free gift to you and to me. You ever heard the word imputed? Imputed is an accounting term. It means gifted. It means, instead of being in the deposit line of a ledger, it would be in the gifting line of a ledger. You were gifted something. It was nothing that you earned. It wasn't a paycheck. This was gifted to you. So we are justified as a gift by grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:And it goes on in verse 25, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood, through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. That's what Jesus is the justifier of those who have faith in him. I love that. Is he the justifier in your life? You have to accept that truth of the Bible in order to study it, that there is no other way to get to heaven. There's no earning. In fact, if you go on in Romans in verse 27,. It says this where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.
Speaker 1:Paul says by what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith, for we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from works of the law. He was. You have to understand Paul here in this section of Romans 3, he's talking to those who are Jews and they've had the Ten Commandments, the law of God, for a long time, and a lot of them were saying hey, I do this stuff pretty well.
Speaker 1:You know, I go to Bible study every week. I go to church every week. I'm friends with the pastor. I go to a men's breakfast, I go to the women's club. You know, I mow at the church. I do all kinds of things. Right, I'm godly On the outside, I'm godly. That's what these people were saying I'm godly. People were saying I'm godly. And Paul is saying it's by nothing that you do. This is apart from acts of works, things that you can earn, you can't earn your way to get into heaven.
Speaker 1:Man's justified by faith, apart from works of the law, just faith in Jesus Christ. And he says or is God the God of Jews, only those who have the law? Is he not the God of Gentiles? Also, gentiles would be the Greeks or those who are not Jewish. Yes, of Gentiles also, since, indeed, god, who will justify the circumcised, who would be Jewish by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith is one. They're the same. He's saying.
Speaker 1:Jesus in John chapter 14 confirms this. He's talking with his disciples, he's trying to comfort them because he has let them know that he's going to be going away. I go to prepare a place for you, he says in John chapter 14. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am there, you may be also, and you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to him Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way? Jesus said to him this is in verse six I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. There you go, in Jesus' words. No one comes to the Father but through me. There you go, in Jesus' words. No one comes to the Father but through Christ.
Speaker 1:We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. We have imputed grace, gifted grace from God, so that we are no longer condemned to death. In fact, if you go back to Romans, go to Romans, chapter 8. Romans, chapter 8, says this. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was, through the flesh, god did, sending his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. It means we produce fruit, we walk in righteousness, for the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. So see, there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and if you repent of your sin, if you turn from your sin back in faith to Christ, to God, you are saved, you are now no longer condemned to death, and that sentence, by the way, had already been passed. It's not like you were waiting for sentencing from the judge, you were headed for death. So there's three of the truths, the first one being that the word of God is true and it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. The second is that we are sinful. We are born into sin. Because of Adam's original sin, we have been condemned to death. And the third was that there's no other way to get to heaven. There's no way to earn your way to heaven. You cannot be a good enough person, you cannot follow the law, the Ten Commandments, good enough in order to earn your way there. Jesus Christ and a faith in Jesus Christ being the Son of God and dying on the cross for your sins, is the only way there and now, because of your belief in Christ, there is no condemnation for you. And the fourth truth I want to bring up that you need to prepare in your minds is that that freedom from sin not only includes past sins and present sins, but future sins. You will sin as a believer.
Speaker 1:There are some who are under the belief that when you become saved, sin no longer happens, or God takes all sin from you. God has taken even the desire to sin away from me. I no longer have any desire to sin. Now listen, that is not possible. We go on being sinful, we go on with a desire to sin, and I can prove it. I can prove it, paul, if you go back to Romans.
Speaker 1:There's a section in Romans where Paul actually talks about his struggle with sin, starting in verse 14,. He says for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. Got to pay attention to what he's saying here. I am doing the very thing I hate, but if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good, verse 17,. So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh, for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not For the good that I want. I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. He goes on in verse 21,. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. It means I believe in the law of God, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members, wretched man that I am Now.
Speaker 1:Some people have read that passage from verse 14 and these laments that he gives as meaning that this is a non-believer who is saying this. Paul is describing a non-believer here, someone who is struggling back and forth between believing in God and sin and all that kind of stuff. No, no, that's not what I believe to be true here. I think that this is a believer talking, and if you listen to what he says, you can hear the struggle of the believer he says here I know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold into bondage to sin For what I am doing. I do not understand why this is happening, why I'm struggling, for I am not practicing what I would like to do. I'm not practicing what I would like to do. Listen to that statement.
Speaker 1:The person talking here does not want to do these things, but I am doing the very things that I hate.
Speaker 1:This person hates their sinful nature, things that I hate.
Speaker 1:This person hates their sinful nature, the sin that comes out of their life. I agree with the law, he says, confessing that the law is good. So here this person is a believer in living righteously and in God's law. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. So this person is a believer, struggling back and forth with sin. They're doing things they don't want to do and the things they do want to do they don't do. It's a war, he says, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. And you wonder, in this section, back in the days when Paul was around in Tarsus, if someone was murdered, someone, one of the sentencing that they might receive of death would be by being roped or tied to the person that they had murdered. You'd be tied to the person you murdered so that the decay from that body would slowly overtake not only that body that was dead but overtake the murderer as well, and they would die a very slow, painful death. But you wonder if that's what Paul had in mind when he wrote this the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members, wretched man that I am.
Speaker 1:Because it's not that we have two different people in us. This isn't schizophrenia or something. It's not like we have a good side and a bad side. It is. We have our sinful flesh. Sin has been jailed to the flesh, and you'll see that here in just a second. He actually says it. Sin has been jailed in the flesh and present within us is the Holy Spirit. We have the new vitality. We have a new direction. We have, of course, this justification of faith through grace of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We have this new self, new life, but still we are in a sinful fleshly body. Now we don't get rid of that sinful fleshly body until glorification.
Speaker 1:Justification is the initial justification Throughout our lives, trying to live a righteous life. That's called sanctification, or separating yourself from the world. It's trying to live a righteous life. It means you are not sinless. You sin less. So just because you get saved doesn't mean that sin will not be present in your life. It doesn't mean you won't have a desire to sin. It means that, hopefully, nine times out of 10, you will not give into it. It'll mean that you're not habitually sinning still like you used to. You're not planning sin over and over and over again. You are planning righteousness. You're planning good things. You're wanting to be meditating in the word. It means repetition in the word, over and over again and making better decisions, right Prayer, praying more accountability with other believers, being a part of a community of believers, things like that. You're doing the right things, but sin is still there. So don't think for a second that just because you become saved, sin disappears. It does not. That will always be a struggle and you can find that in Romans 7.
Speaker 1:But I love the part in Romans 8 where it says there's now no condemnation. But it does say in there for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh God did, sending his own son through the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. Now you know what that means Sin is still there, but it's condemned in the flesh. So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. That means you have to walk according to the spirit, for the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. It does not subject itself to the law of God, it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's why I think that section in Romans, chapter 7, that couldn't be describing a non-believer, because the person is obviously concerned about their sin.
Speaker 1:In verse 9 here of chapter 8, however, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. If Christ is in you, though, the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness, but the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, in light of all of that I just said, he says in verse 12, brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if, by the Spirit, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Speaker 1:For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba, father, it's the most personal of names you can call God. The Spirit himself in you testifies, with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, we're heirs, also Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him, so we will suffer with him in this world. While we are alive, we will have the battle with sin. Remember other section of scripture to say the battle is not with flesh and blood, but with what? The principalities of this present darkness. We will battle with sin. We'll battle with the devil. Even if we are saved, we will make mistakes. You will not be perfect.
Speaker 1:To summarize, there's four truths that we need to prepare our minds for when we're going to study Scripture, and the first one was that the Word of God is the truth. It's not just a compiling of fables and stories or opinions by a group of guys. This was inspired by the Holy Spirit through these men to us. It is true, and Jesus himself said that not even a stroke of a letter of it would fail. The second truth is that we are all sinners, have a sinful nature, hearts that are evil. We were born into sin, just as David said in Psalm 51, born into sin because of Adam's original sin, and because of that sin, all of man was condemned to death. God's patience and tolerance for sin is very, very short. It just took one, which leads to the third truth that you have to prepare your mind for, and that is that there is nothing you can do to earn your way into heaven. You cannot be a good enough person.
Speaker 1:That myth does not hold water. Getting into heaven, having eternal life with God in heaven, all has to do with our belief in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for our sins. It says in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him would have eternal life. And if you go back to Romans 8, it says there is now no condemnation right For those who are in Christ Jesus. And if you have Christ in your life or you would like to have Christ in your life, all you have to do is pray that prayer and repent. Just turn from your sin and turn in faith back to God and you can feel good and confident that you will spend eternity with Christ in heaven.
Speaker 1:And the fourth truth is this that just because you do that, just because you ask Jesus into your heart, that does not mean that you will not sin. So do not hold yourself, not that you don't try and be holy and righteous in your living, that you have a new volition, a new direction in your life from how you were living. But you will still sin. And if you do make mistakes, it's okay to. You should feel remorse for your sin. Right.
Speaker 1:Jesus said blessed are those who mourn, for they shall receive comfort. He was talking about comfort in him from their sin. So it's okay, you will have sin, though, in your life. You will not live the perfect life, and he died for us, though, even though we are yet sinners. Isn't that a great thought? Aren't these great promises for us to prepare our mind for? We need to get real, we need to get into the word, we need to be informed, not only so we can have assurance and confidence, but so that we can give others confidence in their faith. That's important, that we share this gospel with other people. So thank you so much for your time for listening to this. Once again, go to the show notes. Click on the link that says send me a text. I'd love to hear from you your thoughts, your answer to today's question. I hope you have a great week. We'll be getting into the third key to studying the Bible in the next episode. Take care.