Messiah Is Coming : Being Delivered From Death to Life

Do you ever feel like no matter how much you want to do what’s right, you do wrong again and again and again? It hurts, doesn’t it? Do you know that Paul felt this way, too?

One time Paul wrote a letter to some Christians in Rome. He talked to them about how the Deal of Rules was perfect, right and spiritual. But we are none of those things. We mess up all the time.

But he also reminded them of the Answer, a Deliverer — Jesus.

Do you remember us talking about what it means for something to be delivered? Right… It’s getting something from one place to another place.

Moses with the shadow Deal of Rules delivered people from slavery to the doorstep of the Promised Land. And Jesus with the Real Deal of Faith delivers people IN to the Real Promised Land. But what is the real thing Jesus is delivering people from and the real thing He’s delivering people to? It’s time to Listen and find out.

Paul told them:

“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be Set Apart as Holy,

“Your faith is ringing out all over the world. By Faith, the righteous will LIVE. The Good News of Jesus is the power that delivers us, if we believe it, in faith.

“Since the beginning of the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities are clearly seen and understood. People have no excuse! They knew God; they just didn’t glorify Him as God. They were not thankful. So their thoughts became useless and their hearts dark. They traded the Truth for a lie. So God let their minds continue to twist and get all knotted up, so that they do all kinds of filthy, death-deserving sins.

“But let’s talk about you. Do you do or think the same sinful things that ‘bad people’ do?

“Knowing the rules or hearing the rules doesn’t make you better than others. The punishment for sin is death. If you break even one rule, then that’s a death-deserving sin, and you’re doomed to death in the same way that ‘bad’ people are.

“No matter who you are or what you grew up knowing, everyone gets all tangled up in sin’s power.

“‘There is no one who is righteous, no one who understands, no one who seeks God… There is no one who does good, not even one.’

“The rules made us aware of our sins, but the rules don’t make anyone right with God.

“But now something new has come. What Moses and the prophets said all along would happen, has happened. I’m talking about a Righteousness that has nothing to do with being able to follow all the rules.

“To all who really BELIEVE, by Faith in Jesus, being made right with God is given to them as a gift.“

Did you know?

Yes, a gift. But it takes Faith. Did you know that the original Bible word for faith is a word of action?

Did you know that just because someone believes true things about God and Jesus in their mind, doesn’t mean they have faith?

Satan believes in God and knows more “true” things about God than most people do, but satan is not a Christian and does not have any faith because he just wants a world that revolves around himself; and many people are in this same position.

So you can see, Faith is not just something you believe in your mind. Oh, no, no, no.

Now don’t misunderstand me. “FAITH” involves completely believing Jesus was born to a mommy with God as His Father, believing He was completely sinless, yet was crucified to wash away our sins. Believing He rose from the dead, went up into the clouds, and is going to crack the sky and come back to judge the living and the dead.

Believing all that is part of Faith. But Faith is also what you believe in your heart so confidently that you’re willing to ACT on it. You’re willing to DO something, not just think something. Faith involves obedience and a deep, deep Trust in the Father.

Paul told the Romans that everyone has a chance to See through the glass window of this beautifully created world, and to recognize that there is a God. And not only that, but we can choose to see the world His way, instead of our own way.

What that means practically is that instead of walking into a room and thinking about yourself and all the fun things you want to do or thinking about what others are thinking about you and whether they like you or don’t like you or whatever… Instead of all that, Faith is putting on your God-glasses. Choosing to see things through God’s eyes — through Jesus’ Eyes.

And what do you see when you choose to walk into a situation with your God-glasses on?

Instead of walking in and thinking, “Oh, that person is so fun,” you think, “They are reading something God said in the Bible. I want to hear more, too.“

And instead of, “Oh I like his shoes,” you think, “He looks a little sad. I wonder how I can be a friend.”

And instead of, “Ohhh, I love that game!” you think, “It looks like they could use some help in the kitchen.“

And instead of, “How could she say something like that? That hurt my feelings,” you think, “I think something is bothering her today. I will ask her.”

Are you starting to see how having Faith and Following Jesus means taking action? It takes completely abandoning our self-life and self-love and self-wants and self-views.

So the way to receive this gift of being right with Him… is not based on our ability to be good enough or to obey all His rules. We will never be good enough. But, it is based on what we believe in our heart about Him and whether we are willing to completely give up that yucky self-life and Follow the man, Jesus.

Paul continued, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Everyone sins, blowing any chance they have of Heaven-life.

“But in Jesus — Justice is done. By His grace, He bought out of sin the faith walkers and faith talkers, justifying us freely.

“For a while, God held back His Justice and let our sins go unpunished… so that now He could show us both His Justice and His ability to justify us at the same time!”

Did you know?

Did you know that the words “just,” “judge,” “judged,” “judgment,” “justice,” “justify,” “justified,” and “justifier” all come from the same root word meaning something is “right or fair”? Well, God is Just. He is the Almighty Judge who decides what is right. And He is right in every judgment, and He makes sure that justice… happens. Justice demands that the punishment for sin is death. So Jesus came and took the punishment of death for us, so that by Faith we could be justified — made right with God.

“By faith, we can be made right and have peace with God through Jesus.

“You see, at exactly the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Do you know how rare it is for someone to be willing to die for even a good person? But God showed just how much He loved us because He died for us while we were filthy sinners, His enemies! He made peace with us and brought us close through the death of His Son. And once we are brought back together, we are saved by His LIFE.“

In the next story I’ll tell you some more things Paul said. But right now I just want you to think about these things, because I know that many of you are growing up and are becoming more aware of your own sin. You’re beginning to see and feel that you are one of those filthy sinners yourself, who messes up again and again and again. I know it hurts (and it hurts me to see you hurt). But it only hurts when we care, so it’s actually good to hurt in this way. Because the very, very bad news of who we are without Jesus is the beginning of the very, very good news of Jesus.

Because once we realize how baaaaad we are without Him, then that’s when we really start to see our need for a Deliverer, a Messiah.

When that day comes when He breaks through and you see who Jesus is and the terribleness of your life away from Him — then it will cut to the secret places of your heart, and you’ll know right where to fall — on Jesus, the Anointed.

So don’t be worried, my little ones. The Shining Rescuer is coming for you. He is coming.

Jesus, the Deliverer, is coming to save you from both the punishment of sin, and the power of sin.

He’s not just delivering us from hell to Heaven when we die. He’s not just washing us of sin. Jesus didn’t die so that we could behave better or have some magic way to get to Heaven.

He died so that once you see you can’t really do or be good… once you see and feel the deep need for a Savior, a Messiah, then He can come into your life, and move you (deliver you) from Death to an Overcoming LIFE — a Conquering LIFE in Jesus where our character is actually changing to become more and more like His character.

So once you’re born again in baptism, that’s not the “end of the fight.” In fact, you’re entering into a Holy War. You don’t just become part of His Family, but you become part of His army. There’s still a battle. And that’s okay because He gives us everything we need to win that battle — by His Spirit. So get on over to the next story to hear about how to fight that fight like Jesus fought it.