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Knowing
Salvation
The Romans' Road to
Salvation. Romans: 3:23
6:23; 5:8; 10:9
10
13.
Traditional.
During the
Spanish-American War
Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in
Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her
wanted to buy food for
his sick and wounded Rough Riders. But she refused to sell him any. Roosevelt
was perplexed. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his
own funds. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies
he was
told
"Colonel
just ask for it!" A smile broke over Roosevelt's
face. Now he understood--the provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was
simply ask and they would be given freely.
Our Daily Bread
October 11
1992.
Lord Kenneth Clark
internationally know for his television series Civilization
lived and died
without faith in Jesus Christ. He admitted in his autobiography that while
visiting a beautiful church he had what he believed to be an overwhelming
religious experience. "My whole being
" Clark wrote
"was
irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy far more intense than anything I had known
before." But the "gloom of grace
" as he described it
created a
problem. If he allowed himself to be influenced by it
he knew he would have to
change
his family might think he had lost his mind
and maybe that intense joy
would prove to be an illusion. So he concluded
"I was too deeply embedded
in the world to change course."
Our Daily Bread
February 15
1994.
Graffiti from the 1800s
discovered by workers renovating the Washington Monument has quite a different
tone from that usually found today on the sides of buildings and subway cars:
"Whoever is the human instrument under God in the conversion of one soul
erects a monument to his own memory more lofty and enduing (sic) than
this
" reads the inscription which can now be viewed by visitors to the
monument. It is signed BFB. No one knows who that is
or who left the small
drawings and 19th century dates on other walls.
The markings in the lobby
of the monument were covered over when it was decorated at the turn of the
century. They were found when workers removed marble wainscoting as part of a
year-long $500
000 renovation which was just completed.
Spokesman-Review
June
1994.
In 1981
a Minnesota radio
station reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were staging
an intense search for the vehicle and the driver
even to the point of placing
announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. On the front seat
of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that
unknown to the thief
were laced
with poison. The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait. Now
the police and the owner of the VW Bug were more interested in apprehending the
thief to save his life than to recover the car. So often when we run from God
we feel it is to escape his punishment. But what we are actually doing is
eluding his rescue.
Unknown.
Salvation depends upon
Christ's work for us
while rewards depend upon our works for Christ.
Milburn Cockrell.
A marshal in Napoleon's
army -- a man who was devotedly and enthusiastically attached to him -- was
mortally wounded in battle. As the last struggle drew near and he lay dying in
his tent
he sent for his chief. Napoleon came. The poor man thought his
emperor could do anything. Perhaps he even sought to put him in the place of
God. So he earnestly pleaded with his leader to save his life. The emperor
sadly shook his head and turned away. But as the dying man felt the cold
merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind the curtain of the
unseen world
he was still heard to shriek out
"Save me
Napoleon! Save
me!" In the hour of death
that soldier discovered that even the powerful
Napoleon could not give him physical life.
Our Daily Bread.
Back in 1830 George Wilson
was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged.
President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson
but he refused to accept
it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall
who concluded that Wilson would have
to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper
" wrote Marshall
"the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be
pardoned. If it is refused
it is no pardon. George Wilson must be
hanged."For some
the pardon comes too late. For others
the pardon is not
accepted.
Prokope
V. 11
#5.
A businessman well known
for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain
"Before I die I
mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read
the 10 Commandments aloud at the top." "I have a better idea
"
replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them."
Moody Bible Institute's Today
in the Word
September
1991
p. 32.
The citizens of Feldkirch
Austria
didn't know what to do. Napoleon's massive army was preparing to
attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights above the little town
which
was situated on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summoned
to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white
flag of surrender. It happened to be Easter Sunday
and the people had gathered
in the local church. The pastor rose and said
"Friends
we have been
counting on our own strength
and apparently that has failed. As this is the
day of our Lord's resurrection
let us just ring the bells
have our services
as usual
and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness
and not
the power of God to defend us." The council accepted his plan and the
church bells rang. The enemy
hearing the sudden peal
concluded that the
Austrian army had arrived during the night to defend the town. Before the
service ended
the enemy broke camp and left.
Unknown.
Several years ago a man
and his wife were found frozen to death in their car. A blizzard had dumped
tons of snow in the area
burying their vehicle. Before she died
the woman
scribbled a note on a piece of paper and stuffed it in the glove compartment.
The note read: "I don't want to die this way." Tragically
less than
six feet from their icy grave was a stranded bus
whose festive passengers
remained warm throughout the night.
Today in the Word
October
1990
p. 28.
"The life of
Christianity consists of possessive pronouns" says Martin Luther. It is
one thing to say
"Christ is a Saviour"; it is quite another thing to
say
"He is my Saviour and my Lord." The devil can say the first; the
true Christian alone can say the second.
Resource
July/August
1990.
In May
1963
in an
interview conducted by Sherwook E. Wirt
C. S. Lewis said
"There are
many different ways of bringing people into His Kingdom
even some ways that I
specially dislike."
Quoted in His
November. 1976.
The devil and his cohorts
were devising plans to get people to reject the Gospel. "Let's go to them
and say there is no God
" proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every devil
knew that most people believe in a supreme being. "Let's tell them there
is no hell
no future punishment for the wicked
" offered another. That
was turned down
because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin
must be punished. The concave was going to end in failure when there came a
voice from the rear: "Tell them there is a God
there is a hell and that
the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is plenty of time to decide
the question. Let them 'neglect' the Gospel
until it is too late." All
hell erupted with ghoulish glee
for they knew that if a person procrastinated
on Christ
they usually never accept Him.
Resource
July/August
1990.
Three elements of
personality are involved in making a decision to become a Christian
or in
making any significant decision for that matter. They are the emotions
the
intellect
and the will.
For example
a young man
meets a young woman. They are immediately attracted to one another. They both
say to themselves
"Now there is someone I'd like to marry." At that
point
if the emotions had their way
there would be a wedding. But the
intellect intervenes
questioning the impulsive emotional response. Would we be
compatible? What is she really like? Can I afford to support her? Both conclude
it would be better to take some more time and answer a few questions before
they proceed. So the two begin spending more time with each other. He
eventually concludes that she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the
outside. Now his intellect has sided with the emotions on the idea of marriage.
But the final and heaviest
vote remains to be cast -- that of the will. It stops the march toward the
altar with the questions
"Am I willing to give up this lifestyle for
another? What about my freedom -- is it worth the trade? Am I willing to assume
the added responsibility?" The marriage will occur only when the will
finally agrees with the emotions and the intellect. And so it is in coming to
Christ.
Jim Peterson
Living
Proof
NavPress
1989
p. 170.
Normally the flight from
Nassau to Miami took Walter Wyatt
Jr.
only sixty-five minutes. But on
December 5
1986
he attempted it after thieves had looted the navigational
equipment in his Beechcraft. With only a compass and a hand-held radio
Walter
flew into skies blackened by storm clouds.
When his compass began to
gyrate
Walter concluded he was headed in the wrong direction. He flew his
plane below the clouds
hoping to spot something
but soon he knew he was lost.
He put out a mayday call
which brought a Coast Guard Falcon search plane to
lead him to an emergency landing strip only six miles away. Suddenly Wyatt's
right engine coughed its last and died. The fuel tank had run dry. Around 8
p.m. Wyatt could do little more than glide the plane into the water.
Wyatt survived the crash
but his plane disappeared quickly
leaving him bobbing on the water in a leaky
life vest. With blood on his forehead
Wyatt floated on his back. Suddenly he
felt a hard bump against his body. A shark had found him. Wyatt kicked the
intruder and wondered if he would survive the night. He managed to stay afloat
for the next ten hours. In the morning
Wyatt saw no airplanes
but in the
water a dorsal fin was headed for him. Twisting
he felt the hide of a shark
brush against him. In a moment
two more bull sharks sliced through the water
toward him. Again he kicked the sharks
and they veered away
but he was
nearing exhaustion. Then he heard the sound of a distant aircraft. When it was
within a half mile
he waved his orange vest. The pilot radioed the Cape York
which was twelve minutes away: "Get moving
cutter! There's a shark
targeting this guy!" As the Cape York pulled alongside Wyatt
a Jacob's
ladder was dropped over the side. Wyatt climbed wearily out of the water and
onto the ship
where he fell to his knees and kissed the deck. He'd been saved.
He didn't need encouragement or better techniques. Nothing less than outside
intervention could have rescued him from sure death. How much we are like
Walter Wyatt.
Peter Michelmore
Reader's
Digest
October
1987.
The thief had nails
through both hands
so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot
so
that he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a foot
toward his salvation
and yet Christ offered him the gift of God; and he took
it. Christ threw him a passport
and took him into Paradise.
D. L. Moody
"Day by
Day with D.L Moody
" Moody Press.
When the author walks onto
the stage
the play is over. God is going to invade
all right; but what is the
good of saying you are on His side then
when you see the whole natural
universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This
time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will
strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It
will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for
choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have
chosen
whether we realized it before or not. Now
today
this moment
is our
chance to choose the right side.
C.S. Lewis.
A.B. Simpson is reported
to have said that the gospel "Tells rebellious men that God is reconciled
that justice is satisfied
that sin has been atoned for
that the judgment of
the guilty may be revoked
the condemnation of the sinner cancelled
the curse
of the Law blotted out
the gates of hell closed
the portals of heaven opened
wide
the power of sin subdued
the guilty conscience healed
the broken heart
comforted
the sorrow and misery of the Fall undone.
M. Cocoris
Evangelism
A Biblical Approach
Moody
1984
p. 29.
Despite the efforts of
evangelists
parachurch ministries and local churches
the percentage of
American adults who are born again Christians is no different now than in 1982
according to a study by the Barna Research Group. The study found that 34% of
all Americans can be identified as born again--that is
they have made a
personal commitment to Jesus Christ
and say they will go to heaven because
they have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior. Among those
surveyed
62% said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is
still important in their lives today. However
among those who have made a
commitment to Christ
only 55 percent believe they will go to heaven because of
accepting Christ as their personal savior (the basic belief in the "born
again" movement)...Most of those surveyed said they would go to heaven
because of living a good life
or obeying the 10 commandments
or because all
people will go to heaven. Others who said they had made a commitment to Christ
said they were unsure about what will happen to them after they die.
Reported in Inland
Northwest Christian News
March
1990
p. 3.
According to a recent poll
of American young adult men
48% believe that most of the problems in the world
today are a result of man himself. Only 41% indicated agreement that Jesus has
provided the way to know God personally. Only 29% could correctly state how one
becomes a Christian. But 67% were interested in knowing more about
Christianity.
What's Gone Wrong With The
Harvest.
The Roman's Road to
Salvation has been a traditional way of leading persons to faith in Christ for
many years. Here is a brief outline of that plan.
1. Every human is a
sinner. Romans 3:23
2. God's penalty for sin is death. Romans 6:23
3. In His great love
God has made provision for the salvation of sinners.
Romans 5:8
4. Each person must put his trust in God's Son
Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10
13
CHRISTIANS
ARE TO BE FILLED--
Ⅰ. With the Spirit. “ Be
filled with the spirit” （Eph.5:18）.
Ⅱ. With the comfort. “ I am
filled with comfort” (2 Cor.7:4).
Ⅲ. With joy. “ Greatly
desiring to see thee
being mindful of thy tears
that I may be filled with
joy” (2 Tim.1:4).
Ⅳ. With fruits of
righteousness. “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness
which are by
Jesus Christ
unto the glory and praise of God” (Phil.1:11).
Ⅴ. With the knowledge of His
will. “ Filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding” (Col.1:9).
Ⅵ. With good things. “ He
hat filled the hungry with good things” (Luke1:53).
Ⅶ. With all the fullness of
God. “ That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph.3:19).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
CONVICTION
OF SIN.
The things that
come to the heart and produce conviction of sin are a consciousness of—
Ⅰ. The law broken by us
(Gal.3:10).
Ⅱ. The heart defiled by sin
(Matt.15:19
20).
Ⅲ. The nature wrong (John 3:6).
Ⅳ. Failure to come up to
God’s glory (Rom.3:23).
Ⅴ. Helpless condition (Rom.5:6).
Ⅵ. Hopeless state (Eph.2:12).
Ⅶ. Indebtedness to God (Luke
7:41-42).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
HEAVENLY
PEOPLE.
1. Cor.15:48.
Israel is God’s
earthly people. The Church is God’s heavenly people. They are—
Ⅰ. Born with a heavenly birth (John 1:13).
Ⅱ. Seated in heavenly places (Eph.2:6).
Ⅲ. Blessed with heavenly blessings (Eph.1:3).
Ⅳ. Called with a heavenly calling (Heb.3:1).
Ⅴ. Kept for a heavenly inheritance (1. Peter 1:4).
Ⅵ. Belonging to a heavenly citizenship (Phil.3:20
R.V.)
Ⅶ. Represented by a heavenly High Priest (Heb.9:24).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
"A REASON FOR OUR HOPE"
INTRODUCTION
1. In 1 Pe 3:15
we find Peter giving the following command: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts
and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope thatis in you with meekness and fear;"
2. Here we learn that we are to always be ready to explain the basis of our hope... a. What reasons are there for the hope we have in Christ? b. We must be ready to provide such reasons! 3. In this lesson
I wish to share with you a reason for MY hope... a. There are many reasons I could give
for the evidences for my faith are many b. But this is where I would begin if I were called upon to give a reason for my hope 4. In sharing with you a reason for my hope
perhaps I can... a. Strengthen and confirm the hope of my fellow Christians b. Create faith and hope in the hearts of some who may not yet be Christians [Let me begin by suggesting some facts which no one can deny
even ifone is an atheist or an agnostic...] I. FACTS WHICH CAN'T BE DENIED
A. JESUS LIVED... 1. Only the most ignorant or prejudiced skeptic would question the historicity of Jesus 2. The reason? The evidence from unbiased sources: a. Roman historians attest to this fact 1) Tacitus (112 A .D.) in his "Annals" 2) Pliny the Younger (112 A .D.) in his letter to the emperor Trajan 3) Seutonius (120 A .D.)
a court official under Hadrian b. Jewish sources
while denying His deity
attest to His historicity 1) Flavious Jospehus (b. 37 A .D.)
a Jewish general and historian makes several references to Jesus 2) The Talmud a) Books of Jewish law
they speak frequently of Jesus b) Denying not that Jesus lived
only that He was not what He or others claimed c. Thallus (52 A .D.)
a Samaritan historian who tried to explain away the darkness at the crucifixion 3. So overwhelming is the evidence
even atheistic historians admit Jesus lived a. "One is obliged to say
'Here was a man. This part of thetale could not have been invented.'" (H. G. Wells Outline
Of History) b. Will Durant spent two chapters on Jesus in his book
The Story Of Our Civilization B. EVIDENCE FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT AS A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT ISREMARKABLE...
1. Its authors claim to write as historians or even eyewitnessesto real events
a. Luke
the physician 1) His gospel (Luke) and history of the early church (Acts) compose over a third of the New Testament 2) He wrote as one describing historical events - Lk 2:1-4;Ac 1:1-3
b. John
the beloved disciple 1) His gospel (John) was written as an eyewitness account - Jn 20:30-31; 21:24-25 2) In his epistle (1st John)
he claimed to be an eyewitness - 1 Jn 1:1-4 c. Paul
the Jewish rabbi 1) Half of the books of the New Testament are his personal letters 2) He claimed to have been an eyewitness
along with others - 1 Co 15:3-8 2. As a historical document
it's evidence is remarkable! a. It was written soon after the events it records 1) As stated by Nelson Glueck
former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati opinion
every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the First CenturyA.D."
2) "We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament