Saturday, September 8, 2007

God has a Plan, Part 4

If you need to go to the beginning, Click Here.

The Cross is the Bridge to Life

Though we find ourselves in the seemingly impossible situation of being doomed in a cesspool of sin & death, there is still hope. This is where we come to see the vital importance of Principle 4 – God has provided a solution to our dilemma.

Realize that your destiny does not rest in you abilities but solely on what God has done for you. Our only hope when we’re in an impossible situation is to turn to the only One who can do the impossible. The following explains what God has done for all of us.

One of the reasons why God created the universe was that He wanted to commune with creature who were like Himself, who bear His very image. God cared so much about us that even after Adam and Eve ushered us into the darkness of sin, He worked out His own plan to save us since we couldn’t save ourselves. There are many passages in both the Bible and the Qur’an that emphasize the fact that God did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves: He solved our sin problem—but at great cost to Himself.

Towrah Isaiah 19:20—When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue (Deliver) them.

Zabur Psalm 49:7-8—No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.

Isn’t it interesting that it is impossible for a person to do enough to ransom oneself from the just punishment for his sins? It’s too big a job. (see also Romans 3:20)

Injeel Ephesians 2:8-9—It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.

Qur’an Rangers 37:107—We (God) ransomed him (Abraham’s son) with a mighty sacrifice.

The term “mighty” is Arabic also means priceless without any limit. Since God is the only one able to provide for man’s ransom, man must look to God in order to be saved. Can you think of a way in history that God has provided this ransom for us? When I survey history from the Far East to the West I don’t find but one example of how this ransom might have been accomplished.

Listen to this story. A man was brought to court for stealing money from his company. As the judge asked him the usual questions, he discovered that this man had been his childhood friend. That put the judge in a predicament. The tender spot in his heart for his friend made him want to not condemn the man to the imprisonment he deserved. But to free him would be unfair to his employer, who had been wronged.

After much thought, the judge himself repaid the company all the money the man had stolen. The representatives of the company were satisfied. The man himself was freed, and was grateful to the judge for the rest of his life.

In the same way, although we stand rightly condemned for our sins, God, in His love for us, took our punishment by giving Himself as a mighty sacrifice for us at the cross.

It is vitally important to recognize the significance of the Cross. The underlying concept is one of paying a ransom for another person. A ransom is the necessary price to pay for the release of a captive. We are all captives of our own sins. We need to be set free but that is only accomplished by having the ransom paid for our sins and as Rangers 37 stated the ransom MUST BE a “mighty” / priceless sacrifice.

The following verses from the Bible and the Qur’an further document that God should be trusted to provide man’s ransom from his sin.

Towrah Genesis 22:13 – Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he was a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Exodus 12:13—“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

Notice in these verses that just as God designated that the blood of a pure lamb (Without defect) would be a sign to protect the Jews in Egypt from being destroyed by a plague of death, so trusting in the pure blood of God’s mighty sacrifice at the cross protects us from being destroyed in hell because of our sins.

Leviticus 17:11—“It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

Pure blood is necessary for our sins to be sufficiently paid for in God’s sight—life for life. Pure blood covered the sin of Adam and Even when God killed an animal and used its skin to cover their nakedness (see Genesis 3:21).

Isaiah 63:8—(God) said, “Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me;” and so he became their Savior.

The point here is that God Himself is the savior of His people.

Zabur Psalm 34:22—The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 31:5—Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

Psalm 56:13—You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

We see in psalm 34 that taking refuge in God will save you from condemnation. In other words, God alone can redeem and deliver us, which we see clearly in Psalm 31 and 56. We can’t redeem ourselves by trying to make our good deeds outweigh our bad ones. Since God Himself is singled out as the One who redeems and delivers, obviously He recognizes that we need that for our lives—being delivered from the power of sin, from having to continue sinning.

Psalm 107:6-7—Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way.

Many Muslims ask God to lead them in a straight path at least five times a day. Psalm 107 shows that the bible agrees with this prayer, and that indeed we have to look to God alone for our salvation and not trust in ourselves.

Injeel Matthew 26:28—“This is my blood (Isa’s blood) of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Romans 3:23-25—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.

In Matthew 26:28, Isa Himself explains that pure blood is necessary for forgiveness (That concept is fully explained in Hebrews 9.)

Romans 3:23-25 goes on to emphasize that we are all fallen sinners who need the redemption that is available in Jesus not in our own efforts. The necessity of Pure blood is mentioned again. This shows how amazing God’s plan for us really is, for because of His might sacrifice of Himself through Christ, He cancels out our past sins so that we do not have to pay for them. Why? Because Isa (Jesus) had already done so. (See also I Peter 1:18-19)

Qur’an Story 28:16—He (Moses) said, “My Lord, I have wronged myself. Forgive me!” So God forgave him, for He is the All-forgiving, the All-compassionate.

Some people say that prophets (like Moses) do not sin. But this verse shows that even a prophet needs to be rescued from sin.

Cow 2:38—“There shall come to you (Adam and Eve) guidance from Me (God), and whosoever follows My guidance, no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.”

There was guidance even for Adam and Eve when they sinned—if they looked to the Lord for it. ‘That is, the Lord Himself was their salvation. They couldn’t depend on their own works.

Women 4:110—Whosoever does evil, or wrongs himself, and then prays God’s forgiveness, he shall find God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.

People often believe that their good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds to win God’s favor and to go to heaven. This verse says they must repent and ask for God’s forgiveness of their bad deeds.

Here’s a story that can bring this point home. To get rid of her anger every time her son hurt her, a widow pounded a nail in the back of her kitchen door. One day the son opened the door and saw all the nails. “What is the meaning of these?” he asked her. Reluctantly, she told him. Amazed that he had hurt her so much, he asked her to forgive him. And he removed all the nails.

But the holes remained, reminding him that he had hurt her so much. The nail prints served as a sign to keep him from hurting her again.

We have to come to God ourselves for forgiveness, according to Cattle 6:69. Even when He forgives us, we still have the memory of what we have done to be a deterrent to repeating the same sins.

I know that some of the verses may seem to be repetitive to you and that is for a purpose. They are all to drive home the point that God’s plan for mankind is revealed through the Bible and the Qur’an. That we must submit to God’s plan for us to have salvation and to be delivered from our sin.


What do you think this means? Please comment by clicking the comment link below. Or, email me at jpound777 (at) yahoo.com if you want to comment or have a question.



video: God Has a Plan for You -- Part 4



God has a Plan, Part 3b

If you want to go to the beginning, Click Here.


Our problem is that our bad deeds and thoughts always outweigh good deeds and thoughts—because the best deeds of a sinner are unacceptable. And so, because man is unable to please God, he must trust in Him and in what He says. It’s a matter of a major step of humility and commitment before God. Take a look at what the Bible and the Qur’an have to say about this solution to sin:

Towrah

Genesis 15:6—Abram (Abraham) believe the Lord, and he (God) credited it to him as righteousness.

II Chronicles 20:20—“Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”

Habakkuk 2:4—“The righteous (Person) will live by his faith.”

Zabur

Pslam 13:5—I trust in your unfailing and steadfast love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Psalm 32:1—Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Psalm 85:7-9—Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation…Surely (God’s) salvation is near (at hand for) those who fear him.

Injeel

Romans 14:23—Everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Ephesians 2:8-9—It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Hebrews 11:6—Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Qur’an

Believers 23:109 (Dawood)—“Among My servants there were those who said: ‘Lord, we believe in You. Forgive us and have mercy on us: You are the best of those that show mercy (the most merciful One).’”

Believers 23:109 says in essence that there are people who understand they must throw themselves on the mercy of God because their own deeds are not enough. This is why the Qur’an also says, “Your Lord has prescribed for Himself mercy. Whosoever of you does evil in ignorance, and thereafter repents and makes amends, He is All-forgiving, All-Compassionate” (Cattle 6:54).

From these passages we see that believing in and relying upon God and asking Him for mercy and grace brings forgiveness.

Muhammad 47:19—Ask forgiveness for thy (Muhammad’s) sin, and for the believers, men and women. God knows your going to and fro, and your lodging.

From this verse it is clear that no one can escape the need for forgiveness. Even Muhammad had the sin problem based on this verse.

Cow 2:256-257—No compulsion is there in religion…Whoever disbelieves in idols and believes in God, has laid hold of the most firm handle, unbreaking; God is All-hearing, All-knowing. God is the Protector of the believers; He brings them forth from the shadows into the light.

In other words, you cannot force people to accept a a teaching, a philosophy they do not like. Men and women choose to leave idols and believe in God, to lay hold of Him with a sense of commitment—“the most firm handle.” God Himself is your protector, not your good deeds or works. God along is your Savior. He takes people out of darkness (the shadows) into His wonderful light.

House of Imran 3:193—“Our Lord, we have heard a caller (a person calling others to hear, believe, and repent), calling us to belief, saying, ‘Believe you in your Lord!’ And we believe. Our Lord, forgive us our sins and acquit us of our evil deeds, and take us to Thee with the pious (the righteous).”

This verse is plain. In effect it says, “believe and receive forgiveness for past, present and even our future sins.”

I want to pause right here and ask: “How many times have you tried unsuccessfully to change your sinful life, or to conquer a bad habit?” I have tried to and own my own strength, I cannot.

We are all sinners—me, you and everyone else—whether they admit that or not. There are many other sinful people who have succeeded at trusting God to take away their sin and give them a new life. Do you want to be a person who has God’s favor and who trusts in Him alone to forgive your sins? He is the only one who Can. Please consider doing that today. And consider reading the next post here because the 4th principle contains the second half, the need half of God’s answer to our sin problem.

What do you think this means? Please comment by clicking the comment link below. Or, email me at jpound777 (at) yahoo.com if you want to comment that way or have a question.

God has a Plan, Part 3a

If you want to start at the beginning, Click Here.

We Can’t Save Ourselves


When it comes to what we can actually do about our sin problem we find that human efforts won’t work. We must ultimately look to God for His solution.

Did you know that He has a solution to our sin problem? Do you believe that He has a solution? He does. One-half of the solution is principle 3: We are helpless to save ourselves from this dilemma of sin and death.

Please don’t give up here. There is good news coming but we must endure this principle and understand it before we move on to the real answer from God.

We must acknowledge to God that we are sinners and that we know we can do nothing before Him to make ourselves right or righteous in His sight. He is Holy—the most Holy!!

Some people believe that good deeds or works can earn them points or merit before God. However, there are passages in both the Bible and the Qur’an that contradict this concept of merit through goods works.

Towrah

Proverbs 14:12—There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

That is a scary verse to me. If you do not have verified truth to cling to, you could follow a teaching all your life that leads only to death. Death here is existence apart from God.

Zabur

Psalm 125:5—Those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers.

Injeel

Titus 3:4-5—God our Saviour…saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Qur’an

Cattle 6:70—Remind hereby, lest a soul should be given up to destruction for what it (the soul, your soul) has earned (or deserved); apart from God, it (the soul) has no protector and no intercessor; though it offer any equivalent, it shall not be taken from it (the soul).

What Cattle 6:70 is saying, in other words, is “Beware lest you receive the destruction your sinful soul deserves because of what you have done. Outside of God, you have no hope of being saved—no protector and no one to intercede for you. Though your soul tries to offer something ‘big,’ nothing is equivalent to what is necessary to save you. Nothing can save you but God.”

Men plan to remove their sins by being good--pileing up good deeds on one hand to outweigh bad deeds. They attempt religious works, actions that benefit mankind and political activity. But men forget that the only righteousness he can produce comes out of an unclean life, since he is a sinner. So, self-produced righteousness is also unclean. As the Towrah says in Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”

Wearied and miserable due to sinful living, a man decided to take the long walk to ask advice of a godly friend. When he arrived, he immediately explained that guilt, frustration, and fear were tormenting him day and night. He asked his friend, “What works can I do to relieve these feelings, and find peace of mind and happiness?”

Before answering, the friend ordered his servant to bring a cold drink for this exhausted visitor. The servant soon returned with the drink. But before offering it to his friend, the host added a large drop of ink, blackening the drink. The guest asked, “What are you doing?”

“Just answering your question,” he replied, “You won’t accept this drink because I spoiled it with a drop of ink. Yet you want a pure and holy God to accept your good deeds when you have defiled them with the filthy sins of your heart and mind!!!”

The man understood the lesson. Right then and there he asked God for His pardon and cleansing. Understanding the bad news of sin led him to seek out the good news of God that effectively deals with that sin.

What do you think this means? Please comment by clicking the comment link below. Or, email me at jpound777 (at) yahoo.com if you want to comment that way or have a question.



Video: God Has a Plan for You -- Part 3





God has a Plan, Part 2b

These messages appear in reverse order. To start at the beginning Click Here.

Qur’an


Rome 30:10—The end of those that did evil was evil.

Cow 2:30—When thy Lord said to the angels, “I am setting in the earth a viceroy.” They said, “What, wilt Thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood?”

Here God is telling the angels before the Garden of Eden creation that He is going to put someone on earth to represent Him, namely man. “What?” the angels say. “But man will ruin the earth with his sin.”

Cow 2:36—Then Satan caused them (Adam and Eve) to slip there from (from the Garden of Eden) and brought them out of that they were in.

Battlements 7:22-23—Their Lord (the Lord of Adam and Eve ) called to them, “Did not I prohibit you from this tree, and say to you, ‘Verily Satan is for you a manifest foe’?” They said, “Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if Thou does not forgive us, and have mercy upon us, we shall surely be among the lost.”

There is nothing in these preceding passages about good deeds saving us from our sin. They say that we are sinners and that if God does not Forgive and save us, we are lost. Teachers of Muslim theology do not typically mention original sin, but here it is in the Qur’an. Some say the Christian church invented sin in order to have Chrsit as a Savior. But Muhammad serves as a witness against this interpretation. Decide whether to leave in here…..

Ta Ha 20:121—Adam disobeyed his Lord, and so he erred.

Abraham 14:34—Surely man is sinful, unthankful!

Confederates 33:72—Surely he (man) is sinful, very foolish.

Same as Romans 3:23.

House of Imran3:11—God seized them because of their sins; God is terrible in retribution.

Creator 35:10—Those who devise evil deeds—theirs shall be a terrible chastisement, and their devising shall come to naught.

Bee16:34—So the evil things that they wrought (or made) smote them, and they were encompassed by that they mocked at.

Sin reaps more sin.

Crouching 45:7-8—“Woe to every guilty impostor who hears the sings (miracles and or message of God) of God being recited to him, then perseveres in wxing proud (goes on sinning), as if he has not heard them.”

Cow 2:276—God loves not any guilty ingrate.

Talk about defilement here. Person must get the point that they are a sinner and be wiing to admit it now.

Talk about my sin. Admit that I am a sinner. Ask the person where they stand before God right now? If they died, would they go to heaven for sure?

You may be Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, agnostic, or other, and have a need for forgiveness from sin. Truly, this is our greatest need.

I am reminded of the story of Dr. Paul Gupta, born is a very high caste in India and carried the name of a Hindu god. Though he had from his family inheritance everything he could want in life, he was over and over again from childhood made keenly aware of his sin. Though he searched, he could not find freedom from His person sins. Early life in his life he sought ways to relieve the pain and guilt of sin. Those included swamas and Hindu teaching about how to deal with the problem of sin. Thus, many people are well aware of their personal sins, and even burdened down with those sins.


What do you think this means? Please comment by clicking the comment link below. Or, email me at jpound777 (at) yahoo.com if you want to comment that way or have a question.

Jump to the end with this short presentation:

God has a Plan, Part 2a

Start on message #1. They are in reverse order. Click Here.


The greatest of all our problems is that although God is our primary need, we are faced with this seemingly impossible dilemma which is stated in the second principle. Sin separates us from the pleasure of God’s company and all the resulting benefits. The results of sin can be seen everywhere. I worked in a hospital at one point. I saw health problems that resulted from sin. Gun shot victims in the Emergency Room. Murder, rape, selfishness and many other things are all around us to point to the fact that man is sinful.

So, even though we want to enjoy God’s light, we have this problem that blocks us from that goal. The problem is sin. That is the bad news. There are many scriptures in the Bible and the Qur’an that deal with this sin problem.

From the Towrah:

Isaiah 59:2--Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Zabur

Psalm 66:18—If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Injeel

I John 1:10—If we claim we have not sinned, we make him (God) out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Qur’an

Cow 2:81—“Whoso earns evil, and is encompassed by his transgression—those are the inhabitants of the fire; there they shall dwell forever.”

Cow 2:81 is very similar to a passage in the Injeel, Romans 6:23, The wages of sin is death. By sinning, we earn or get paid out just “wages” of evil consequences. Cow2:81 says a sinner is surrounded and overcome by his sin. So he goes to hell forever. Man was created to enjoy a continuous, close relationship with God. But he stubbornly abandoned Him to go his own, independent way. The Bible calls such rebellion or passive indifference toward God by several names, including sin, disobedience, and breaking God’s law.

What is the difference between active rebellion and passive indifference toward God? Why do you think, passive indifference is also counted as sin? Which in your opinion is more common: active rebellion or passive indifference toward God?

Sin is not only bad news—it is the worst possible news. Why? Because it separates us from God forever!!! As a result of that separation, we have feelings of fear, frustration, emptiness, guilt, lack of purpose, lack of peace, and unhappiness. If we actively pursue sin, it shows that we are addicted to it and leads to self-destruction. But even if we simply passively ignore God, we set ourselves up as our own gods, that is, as the ultimate judges of what is right and wrong.

Zabur

Psalm 51:5—Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Psalm 130:3—If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

Psalm 143:2—Do not bring your servant into judgment for no one living is righteous before You (God).

Injeel


Romans 3:10—“There is no one righteous, not even one.”

Romans 3:23—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Galatians 6:7—Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

I John 1:8—If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Qur’an

Winds 51:59-60—The evildoers shall have their portion, like the portion of their fellows; so let them not hasten Me (God) ! So woe to the unbelievers, for that day of theirs that they are promised.

Spider 29:40—Each (person) We (God) seized for his sin; and of them against some We loosed a squall of pebbles and some were seized by the Cry (plague), and some We made the earth to swallow, and some We drowned; God would never wrong them, but they wronged themselves.

The Winds and the Spider Qur’anic passages have much to say about the progression from sin to judgment. Winds 51: indicates that those who are evil and do evil will get their punishment. But Don’t rush God to punish them, because it will be a terrible day for them when God starts giving them their punishment. In Spider 29 we see that God catches each person for all the sins that person commits. Some of the people referred to in this verse were stoned and others were seized by a plague. Some were swallowed up by the earth, and some were drowned. The point here is that God deals with sin. Everyone is dead in his sins. God does not wrong them when He punishes them, but they wrong themselves by sinning, which inevitably bears the fruit of the punishment.

Some people say there is no sense of sin in the Qur’an. But these Quran verses clearly show differently. They stress the consequences of sin.

SIN DEFINED

When we think of sin many times we think only of robbery, murder, adultery, etc. The Bible tells us that sin is anything that doesn't please God or is a transgression of his law. Anything we do that we shouldn't, like losing our temper or stealing - these are sins of commission. Anything we should do but don't, like failing to pray or read the Bible or to truly love our neighbor - these are sins of omission. There are not only sins in deed, but also sins in word and thought like lying, cursing, lust, pride, and hatred. The Bible says these are all sins.

THREE SINS A DAY

Suppose I sinned only ten times a day, or even five, or even just three. Why, I would be practically a walking angel. Imagine if no more than three times a day did I think unkind thoughts, or lose my temper, or fail to do what I ought towards God and man - I would be a pretty fine person, would I not?

Even if I were this good, I would still have over 1,000 transgressions a year! If I lived to be the age of 70, I would have 70,000 violations of the law of God on my record. .Think what would happen to an habitual offender in a criminal court with 70,000 transgressions on his record.

This illustrates that not only am I a sinner, but also that my sin is a very serious issue.


What do you think this means? Please comment by clicking the comment link below. Or, email me at jpound777 (at) yahoo.com if you want to comment that way or have a question.




Video God has a Plan for you -- Part 2