A man stood outside the open doors of a church looking inside. He could hear people singing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
As he looked in, he thought about his life. He wondered why God would consider allowing him to walk into this church. He was known as a thief; he was dishonest in most of his dealings with people. Yet today he stood outside the doors of the church staring inside wanting to know this Jesus who is a friend that sticks closer than a brother and will change his life for the better.
He had nothing to offer Jesus that would cause Jesus to care about him. Nothing he had ever done would merit Jesus taking notice of him. Just prior to stepping into the church, he cried out to the Lord, “Be merciful to me, O Lord, a sinner.”
Jesus tells a similar story in Luke 18 when he speaks of a tax collector who acknowledged he had nothing of value for his salvation. Because the tax collector acknowledged his utter dependence on Christ, he was saved. Not because of anything he had done but because of Jesus.
The Bible tells us that when a person acknowledges that their hope for salvation is in Christ alone, they become part of the family of God. John said, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (I John 3:1)
Christ doesn’t ask that we pay for our salvation in any way, because we cannot. It is a free gift from God.
Because of the work of Christ, we are “holy and blameless before him (Jesus).” (Ephesians1:4)
No matter what Satan or any of his associates might want to say about us, because of Christ we stand blameless before God. God holds no record of our wrongs when we acknowledge Christ for our salvation.
The apostle Peter talking to the early church tells them that when we are in Christ, we are a prized possession of God. (1 Peter 2:9).
God, who has no need of anything or anyone, says that all who believe in Him are a prized possession.
In Christ you are ...
Subhead
Built on a Rock
By
Paster Walter Moser, First Baptist Church, Luverne