POINTS: 1. Spiritual Death 2. Remove the Hindrances 3. Not By Work But By Faith

The Bible Calendar for 10th August 2024.

1 Samuel  17: 1–31

Isaiah    56: 9–57: 21

Romans  3

POINTS:

1. Spiritual Death

2. Remove the Hindrances

3. Not By Work But By Faith

1.   SPIRITUAL DEATH

There are three types of death against humanity, one is physical death which is inevitable to all human beings, the second is spiritual death, in which the person will still be alive but dead in spirit and the third is the second death which will be the total separation from God and this will be the lot of those that rejected salvation on earth. Spiritual death will put one out from the presence of God, then fear will set in, and such a person will not hear from God, be it from vision, dream, or prophecy. Lack of understanding of the words of God, and many more will be the experience of the person that dies spiritually. This was the case of Saul and the Israelites in the passage read. We will recall that God had rejected him, and the evil spirit from God had been tormenting him, yet the Philistines gathered themselves against Israel, and only Goliath put them into panic for forty days. Funny enough, these people did not ask God how to fight their battle; none was inspired, no vision, no dream, no prophecy, or guidance from God. This is the situation of the people who are dead spiritually, and anyone in such position will continue in answering his name; his title may not change, he will still be preaching on the altar, and he will still do the administrative work, but the backing of God will be far from him. David was sent to the war camp of Israel, for God had anointed him to deliver His people, and nobody had made the move, nobody was provoked to fight the battle of the Lord. No wonder he replied to his brother, “Has it not reason?” Though nobody recognized the anointing of God upon him, he knew God was able; he felt the presence of God and saw beyond what others could see. Anyone alive in God will have a solution to every problem, and he will not be afraid, for he will feel the presence of God. Sin is the major thing that causes spiritual death, carelessness may also contribute to it, for God relates with anyone that relates with Him. But the spiritual death may not come suddenly, it may be gradual. That is why Christians must be careful and be filled with the Holy Spirit all the time. Reading the scriptures and meditating, worshipping God, holy living,  and being prayerful will keep the relationship with God. And anytime that all these are difficult to do, it calls for a serious examination of oneself. And when we experience fear, when there is no dream or we do forget our dreams, when the scriptures are hard to understand, when feeling lonely and you struggle to pray, listening to sermons and teachings of the words of God become disgusting, please be careful with sin will soon come around and if care is not taken one may fall into spiritual death. Let us be careful.

2. REMOVE THE HINDRANCES

Things in the world may create a gap between the Christian and God, and that may prick the mind of God and affect the relationship between him and his God. Yet with the mercy of God, He will not be angry with His people forever, though He will not condone those things that cause hindrances for His people to gain access to Him. He declared through Prophet Isaiah that the sheep and the shepherd had gone astray and no one was seeking God, but He told the people to remove the hindrances from their ways. The watchmen of Israel became dead dogs, gluttonous, drunkards; they did not watch the people. Shepherds, too, were like that to the extent that the righteous died, and no one took note or showed reference. But all of them followed their idols to provoke God to anger; these things served as hindrances to God, for He wants to work, but the people must remove the hindrances. There are many hindrances in the minds of people today: love of money, pride, self-centeredness, disobedience, and many more obstruct what God has in plan to do for an individual and the entire Christians. Unless we remove these things, we will be causing hindrances; for He is ready to revive the brokenhearted and peace to those that are near and far, but all these are not for the wicked but to those that remove hindrances from their ways.

3.  NOT BY WORKS BUT BY FAITH

No one can be saved by law; this is what Paul told the Roman Church, for man was unable to keep the law from the beginning of the world, and that was why they fell from the Garden of Eden. God sealed His covenant with the Israelites with commandments, but they also failed, and He sent His Son to all the world to justify anyone who believed in him. In law, there must be a ransom to justify the sinners, but the ransom had been paid by the blood of Jesus on the cross, which justifies every sinner that confesses Him as Lord and Saviour. The Jews preached justification by the good works, which made people pay for their sins before being declared free. This teaching of Paul was something that gingered Martin Luther to attack the church leaders of his time and declared that the righteous shall be saved by faith, not by works attesting to the message of Prophet Habakkuk. Till today many ministers are still muddling up the doctrine of justification. But no one can certainly be saved through his righteousness, for the righteousness of man is like a filthy rag before God. It is only the blood of Jesus that can cleanse the sinners, and this can happen by faith if the sinners believe in Jesus, who died for him. Justification cleanses the sinner as if he had not sinned before, for it brings man back to his original being and that is done by renouncing sin and the devil and accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior for there is no salvation elsewhere than in Jesus Christ, and those that believe in Him shall not be condemned but have everlasting life. I pray that salvation given to us by His Son will not elude us in Jesus’ name.

Pastor M. O. Shodipe

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