Running To Win on Oneplace.com

If life became unliveable and you felt suicidal, the one thing that might keep you alive is the thought that someone loves you. To be hopeless is to see nothing but darkness at the end of the tunnel. But God pours out His love in our hearts once we believe in His Son. Then we have a hope that can outshine any pain life can deliver.

There is more to being saved than most people realize. It involves being given a series of wonderful gifts from the hand of God. Those gifts include the trials we experience -- trials that produce perseverance, character, and hope -- all wrapped up in the love of God poured out in our hearts. Today, the basis for the hope of the Christian -- the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.

Two obvious opposites are war and peace. When someone is at war with himself or others, he can have no personal peace. And when one is still under sin's penalty, they're at war with God. Thankfully, Romans 5 says that those justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is just the first of many gifts all wrapped up in being justified by faith.

Recently, almost 37,000 Americans saw no way out of their misery and committed suicide. These people had one thing in common: they'd lost all hope that things could get better. They saw ending life as their only alternative. One of the great blessings God confers on those who believe in Jesus is hope -- a hope that Paul says "does not disappoint."

How important is our faith? It's a very big deal to God, as we read in Genesis 15:6, "Abraham believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness." This concept, amplified by Paul in the book of Romans, tells us how to be declared righteous by a holy God. What is more, Abraham's faith kept him going up the hill to Mount Moriah with his son Isaac.

Many people have gone through religious rituals that they believe made them Christians. Are these people misguided? When Paul wrote to the Romans, he gave conclusive evidence that no ritual can confer salvation. He let his Jewish readers know that their father Abraham was not justified through circumcision. Today, more on why believing in rituals is to have misplaced faith.

Think of this, the value of placing your faith in something is all about the object of your faith, and not about the faith itself. You can believe that an idol is God, but that does not change the fact that the idol is made of stone. Faith in the wrong place is worse than no faith at all because it creates false confidence. And when it comes to salvation, the last thing we need is false confidence.

As a youth, Martin Luther was terrified of a holy God. He entered a German monastery to try to gain God's approval, but only after reading the book of Romans did he understand this: God's favor and forgiveness are freely granted to those who believe in His Son. Faith, not good works, is the key that opens heaven's door. Today we will hear the lessons we can learn from one man's journey to faith.

Like barnacles on a boat, traditions had attached themselves to the Christian faith for well over a thousand years. It took a man like Martin Luther to free the church from darkness. Luther found salvation by reading the book of Romans, and used his newfound faith to change the church's course toward a biblical understanding of salvation. He rediscovered the meaning of grace, justification, and faith.

When Martin Luther comprehended the meaning behind "justification by faith" in the book of Romans, he unleashed a religious firestorm, his actions led to a great Reformation -- a breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church -- that altered the landscape of Europe. Long-held tradition gave way to a resurgence of faith in the Word of God, a faith possessed by every believer, not just the priesthood.

The book of Romans has played a major role in world history. By reading its pages a man came to faith in Christ -- a man whose actions began a tidal wave of spiritual power across Europe and the entire world. His name was Martin Luther, and today we will begin tracing his story -- the story of a man desperate to know how he could be right before a holy God.

Fact: all of us are sinners. Fact: all of us are under condemnation. Fact: no one can save themselves. Fact: God did something about this. Fact: God's justice was satisfied in the death of His only Son. Fact: God's mercy flows freely to all who believe in Jesus. Fact: those who believe in Jesus are as righteous as Jesus. Fact: you can believe and be saved.

If you want to stretch your mind as well as your heart, set aside the time it takes to read the book of Romans. Paul's reasoning is complex, but clear. He proves that all of us are under a just condemnation for sin, but that all who believe in Jesus are rescued from that condemnation and given a robe of righteousness by God Himself. This is the best news anyone has ever heard.

The Apostle Paul was trained in the Law. His writings reveal a mind keen enough to argue before the Supreme Court. In Romans 3, he builds a case for the revolutionary idea that God demands perfect righteousness from us. God then supplies what He demands by conferring the righteousness of Jesus on those who believe. This process is called justification.

No matter how much we try to improve ourselves through education and cultural sensitivity, it's never going to be enough, the best we can do will never please God, who sees every act of human goodness as a filthy rag, especially when compared to His own righteousness. That's why through the gospel He confers His own righteousness on those who believe in His Son. Now that's truly "amazing grace."