King James Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: By Good Deeds Or Faith?
Date: Sunday November 20, 2011
Chapters: Romans 4-7
Click Here to Read Them or Go to: http://imfollowingjesus.com/bible-november-20
All Scripture quoted comes from the King James Version.

Hello My Friend,

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” - Revelation 21:3-8.

If you can imagine what it would be like to be in hell imagine something far worse, being cast into a lake of fire, a death so horrible that you are in constant, pain and torment for eternity. This is the fate awaiting every soul that is in hell right now, the second death of those who never accepted Jesus Christ. I do not care who you are, where you have come from, or what religion you were brought up in no one wants to imagine themselves in that kind of torment. People who genuinely try to do good hope that their good deeds will somehow keep them out of hell, while people who know they have done somethings wrong hope that they can do somehow escape that horrible fate. Even atheists and people who do not believe there is a hell fear death and while they try to convince themselves that when they die it's all over deep down they are scared of what will come of them. This is all human reasoning and let me tell you it is a good thing that God, who is no respecter of persons, is in control of everything. Why? If we had control over ours and other peoples fate we would all be in hell. The flesh is way too emotional and self-righteous of itself to make the right judgment of ourselves or others, just think of how many times you assumed something of someone and then you will understand what I am talking about.

Paul explains to the Romans that righteousness has always been obtained by one's faith in God alone, beginning with Abraham. “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin..Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” - Romans 4:3-8,15-17.

A lot of people will not accept Christ because they believe that they are not sinners, the most common reply when asked if they know they are going to heaven is, “Well, I try to be good.” The truth is this, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” - Romans 3:23. While we try to do good, no amount of good that we do will ever measure up to God's good. Why? Because what we think is good is something completely different in God's eyes. How many times have you done something thinking that it was the right thing to do only to find out that it was wrong. Therefore, God determined that it is not what we do for Him or anyone else that shows us righteous before Him, but only by believing in His Son that we show Him righteousness. Paul explains how we are justified by faith, not good deeds.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God...For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” - Romans 5:1,2,6-10.

So, how is it that God sees all of us as sinners? Sin is any wrongdoing that we ever did, even a little white lie, thoughts of hate, or living in worry and fear, is all sin in God's eyes. Now, we can get scared or angry, but when our emotions control us to the point that we act upon it that is when it becomes sin. We are all born with a sin nature that stems from our first father, Adam. Paul explains this further, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:.Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 5:12, 18-21.

By one man's sin, being Adam, death and hell (condemnation) was passed down to all of us. To explain this further we have to look at where sin began with Adam and Eve. God gave them one command, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” - Genesis 2:16,17. God was not referring to a physical death, but a spiritual death. However, because Jesus was not born as we are, (conceived of the flesh, Mary was conceived of the Holy Spirit not of a man of the flesh) He was not born with the sin nature that we have. Hence, His ability to be the only sinless man in the world that was capable of saving mankind. When Jesus died for us, He paid the wages of sin for all who believe in Him, that is why salvation is a gift and not something we work for. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 6:23.

Everyone is free to choose whether or not they believe in God, Jesus, heaven, or hell, God will not force anyone to believe and He certainly does not need anyone to say that they believe in Him for Him to exist. God was, is, and will always be God, He never changes, He does not change His Word, nor does He deny anyone who comes to Him, believing, regardless of their past. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” - I John 5:11-13.

Today's Prayer:
Dear God,
Lord, as we confess with our lips and believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins, rose again on the third day and is now seated at Your right hand in heaven we are confident that we are saved and going to heaven. To acknowledge this truth comes so naturally with great enthusiasm, boldness, and conviction when other believers are standing nearby lifting their praises in agreement right alongside us in a church service or a gathering where there is freedom of worship. But the real test of our faith comes when we publicly acknowledge these Biblical truths among those who don’t agree bringing about ridicule or persecution. No matter the setting and no matter the testing, by Your grace let us boldly declare Your amazing grace and keep believing in that blessed hope of eternal life with not more tears and suffering. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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