Sunday, 8 September 2019

More than a saved sinner

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The question of the day: Why did the last phrase of Nehemiah 10 capture my attention?

Answer: In the previous verses, the people had heard what it meant to obey God's Law. They make a commitment in saying ... Nehemiah 10:40b "We will not forsake the House of our God."

This is a commitment they would break (and it wouldn't even take that long). In fact, they are not alone ... Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And earlier in the same chapter ... Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is no one righteous—no, not one."

But, by the time we get to Romans 8, there is a new standard ... Romans 8:3-4 "For what was impossible for the Torah - since it was weakened on account of the flesh - God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh - so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach."

That's right! We can no longer claim to be "just a sinner saved by grace.” Romans 8:4 makes that clear. God's righteous standard is more than "just a sinner." Rather it means being an "overcomer."

Revelation 12:10-11 "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Anointed One, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters - the one who accuses them before our God day and night - has been thrown out. They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death."

What a mighty God we serve. We can say it and mean it, "We will not forsake the House of our God." In Yeshua's name, Amen.