PASTOR'SDEVOTIONAL

Daily Reading for 7/29/2010
Psalm 49-50

These two Psalms together reveal to us clearly, a very valuable truth. In Psalm 49 the call is for man to abandon his trust in riches for only God can redeem the soul from the power of the grave. (See Ps. 49:15) In Psalm 50 the call is for man to abandon his trust in religious deeds and by simple faith call upon God. (See Ps. 50:15) Then in the concluding verses of Psalm 50, comes the call to those who neither trust in riches or religious deeds, but simply go about living in sinful, open rebellion against God. The call to these individuals is that God will judge these deeds with grave punishment. (See Ps. 50:22)
 
My friend, no amount of wealth or good deeds will matter when an individual faces God. If we stand before God to be judged in our own righteousness we all fall short of the demand of perfect holiness. The question is not, "Are you as bad or good as someone else?" The question is are you perfectly sinless? There is only one human being who ever was and His name is Jesus. The wonderful truth of Scripture, though, is that if you and I will believe Christ died for our sins and rose again to justify us from them, if we will confess to God that we are sinners deserving of hell, if we will by faith ask Christ to forgive us of our sins and to save us, His righteousness will be placed upon us. When the redeemed stand before God they do not stand before Him in their own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ. (See Phil. 3:9) Lay aside your trust in everything else and trust in Christ alone to save you!

Romans 1

We are beginning a Book that has been called the Christian Manifesto. While all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, perhaps no other portion of God's Word more clearly explains and defines God's plan of redemption than the Book of Romans. Paul wastes no time in getting right to the heart of the matter. He says in Rom. 1:16, "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." The heart of the matter in relation to Scripture is the gospel. Paul clearly defines the gospel in I Corinthians 15 as the fact that Jesus died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again in victory!

Trusting in the person at the center of the gospel message, the Lord Jesus Christ, will bring salvation to any lost sinner's heart. Rejection of the message of the gospel will cause that lost sinner to slip into greater darkness until man reaches the point that he worships himself as god. I would suggest to you that this self worship is very prevalent in our society today. However, Paul reminds us in II Timothy 3 that this prevailing attitude of self worship we see is a sign of the last days. The return of our Lord certainly is drawing nigh! While we rejoice in that, may it stir our hearts to stand with Paul and not be ashamed to proclaim this glorious message of the gospel! It is the power of God unto salvation!