"GOOD NEWS"!

[sojourner]

BrotherLove,

Notice here that Paul, the human writer of this verse says, "If we believe not". Paul is including himself in this hypothetical situation. Paul is obviously saved and yet he says, "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful:". If Paul for some reason had stopped believing he would still be saved because God would still be faithful and so Paul concludes the verse by telling why he would still be saved. "He (God) cannot deny Himself." To better understand this let us be reminded that once

Once a person makes a true decision to believe the gospel then they, at some point later in their life, CAN NOT choose to not be saved. Once theyve made the decision to believe they are secure in their salvation.

Even if we don't really believe wholeheartedly later, or completely lapse, or even attempt to deny Christ, God will not allow it. We made a decision and now we're stuck with it.

I'm glad that you used the word 'human'. If you read the rest you would think it was God himself speaking.
If it were not a possibility there would be no need to even mention it. You are confusing man's faithlessness or weak faith with the God's faithfulness. God cannot deny Himself because He does not change. He does not renege on His promises. For man, that is a different story.

"He (God) cannot deny Himself." God cannot deny the Body of Christ, which are the believers in this age

Are you equating a single believer to the whole Body? The Body has tares within, Yes? How did they get there. Will they be gathered with the grain?

[Brother Love]

GRACE AND DEBT

By Cornelius R. Stam

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, butof debt.

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:4,5).

As we look back at all the Old Testament types: the phys-
ical types, the narratives, the sacrifices, we exclaim: "The
cross was not an accident, nor an afterthought on Gods
part: He had it in mind all the while." Surely Paul was
right when he said of believers that "[God] hath saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (II
Tim. 1:9).

It is on the basis of the cross, typified all through the
Old Testament, that God now saves us by grace through
faith alone, and the types show that this was indeed His
eternal purpose. Furthermore salvation should be by grace
through faith.

As our text, above, declares: if man could earn his salva-
tion it would be the payment of a debt, not the bestowal of a
gift -- and God will never be indebted to anyone. He will
never be in a position where He owes us, sinners, a debt.
Nor will He ever allow us to disgrace ourselves and annoy
others by our boasting about how we earned eternal life.

But He can, on the basis of the penalty paid at Calvary,
bestow salvation as a free gift. This is why we read:

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

"It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9).

God owed Abraham nothing, but seeing his faith He said,
in effect: "This man believes Me; I will count his faith for
righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). And this He still does for those
who trust Him, only He has now revealed the basis for this
action: Christs payment for sins at Calvary. This is why, in
Romans 4:5, He forbids works for salvation and declares
that the believers faith is "counted for righteousness."

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[Brother Love]

GOD FOR US

By Cornelius R. Stam

Many people, even religious people, suppose that God is
against sinners. "Do what is right," they think, "and God
will love and bless you, but do what is wrong and He will be
angry with you and curse you."

Perhaps this view of God comes from the fact that many
Scripture passages, especially in the Old Testament, reveal
God as the Enemy of the workers of iniquity. But He is the
Enemy of the workers of iniquity as such -- as workers of
iniquity, not as individual persons.

In Ezek. 18:23 God asks: "Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die... ?" And in II Pet. 3:9 we learn that
when God might have judged this world for the crucifixion
of Christ. He delayed the judgment because He is "long-
suffering" and "not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance."

The Apostle Paul, referring to the crucifixion, declares
that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Him-
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (II Cor. 5:19).
How could He have shown sinners more conclusively that
He desires their good than by imputing their sins to Christ
and telling them that He is not imputing their trespasses
unto them? Their trespasses will be imputed to them, of
course, if they reject God’s provision of salvation through
Christ, but for the present it is a wonderful fact that we can
go to any sinner and say on the authority of God’s written
Word: "Your sins have been paid for; God is not holding
them against you. Will you accept His love and receive
Christ as your Savior?"

No, unsaved friend, God is not against you. He loves you
and provided abundantly for your salvation by paying for
your sins Himself at Calvary.  This is the essence of "the
gospel of the grace of God" (See I Tim. 2:4-7). Will you
believe it? Will you trust Christ now, acknowledging Him
as your Lord and Savior?

[Brother Love]

PAUL AND HIS GOOD NEWS

By Cornelius R. Stam

St. Paul opens his Epistle to the Romans by declaring that
he has been "separated unto the gospel [good news] of God"
(1:1). This agrees with Galatians 1:15,16, where he says:
"It pleased God, who separated me, from my mothers
womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in
me..."

The last book of the Bible tells of the coming "revelation
of Jesus Christ" in glory, to judge the world and reign on
earth, but here in Galatians we have "the revelation of
Jesus Christ" in Paul, the chief of sinners, saved by grace.

The salvation of Paul, the one-time leader of the worlds
rebellion against Christ, indicated Gods willingness, yes
His desire, to save sinners. Thus it was appropriate that
God should choose him as the apostle of His grace, making
the good news known "to all nations for the obedience of
faith."

Let us not suppose, however, that Pauls gospel concerned
only himself or Gods grace to him. Apart from Christs
payment for sin at Calvary God could not justly have saved
Paul -- or any of us. Thus the Apostle goes on, in Romans 1,
to explain that this good news which God has sent him to
proclaim is "concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord"
(1:3).

All through Pauls epistles he proclaims salvation by
grace, on the basis of Christs finished work of redemption:

"Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

"Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (4:25; 5:1).

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that... grace might reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord" (5:20,21).

So the message of salvation by grace is essentially good
news about Christ and what He has wrought to purchase
our redemption.


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[Kristi Ann]

nice Good News!  

Can I have some?  

[JudgeNot]

Keep weeping, satan - Jesus Christ WILL be victorious.  It is written.

[Brother Love]

The message of salvation by grace is essentially good
news about Christ and what He has wrought to purchase
our redemption.


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[Brother Love]

You may think this is a strange saying, but it is nevertheless true. There is no salvation in religion. No matter what kind of religion you have, it cannot save your soul, it cannot provide you with a title to heaven.

There is a vast difference between having a religion and having Christ -- a vast difference. Cain had a religion; he brought an offering to God's altar, but he had no Christ. His religion was "floral." appealing to the senses -- as the religion of many a man does today -- but there was nothing in it acceptable to God; nothing in it to atone for sin. So God had "no respect" to Cain for his religion. He rejected it.

Saul of Tarsus had a religion, and excelled his equals in devotion to it, yet he was, as he tells us himself, an enemy of God and an ignorant unbeliever (I Tim. 1:13). If any man could have earned a title to heaven by religion, Saul of Tarsus was that man, but he did not. Neither will you, for there is no salvation in religion, no merit, no gaining favor with God by being religious. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is the sinner's Saviour. His blood can cleanse. His power can deliver. He is willing to save, He is able to keep. If you would be saved, cast your religion from you, and as a guilty sinner, claim Christ as your personal Saviour. Do it now!

But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died "FOR" us." -- Romans 5:8


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[Brother Love]

REPEAT

Once we believe the gospel of God we are saved. Despite our past sins and continual sins we are justified in Gods eyes because Jesus paid our sin debt. Jesus was the complete and perfect sacrifice for our sins. When He shed His blood on the cross our sins were no longer laid to our account. When He arose from the dead life became possible to those who believe Gods good news. Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Through Gods gospel we are offered salvation.

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