| BEREAN BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH |
| John 8:32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." |
Weekly Services
Sunday: 9:15 AM Children's Church
10:30 AM Morning Service
6:30 PM Evening Service/Youth Group
Wednesday: 6:30 PM Bible Study
Sunday: 9:15 AM Children's Church
10:30 AM Morning Service
6:30 PM Evening Service/Youth Group
Wednesday: 6:30 PM Bible Study
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Key #1: You must believe what God's Word says about your present spiritual condition. The Bible says that all men are sinners by nature. Romans 3:10 "As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The expression, "come short," means to miss the mark. God has a perfect standard, and the Bible teaches that no man has lived up to that standard. No one is perfect except the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me briefly illustrate. Suppose that you were to put a target on the wall, give everyone in the room a dart, then instruct each person to do his best to hit the bull's-eye. One by one would take aim and try to hit the bull's-eye. After all the darts were thrown, you could see that one person missed the bull's-eye by an inch, another by two, another by three, and still another by four, and so on. But no one hit the bull's-eye. Looking at the target, you could say there is no difference because all came short of the bull's-eye. Well, that's what God is saying. Though some may live better than others, there is no difference because none of us have hit the bull's-eye of God's perfect standard of righteousness, which is Jesus Christ. Psalm 51:5 says, "In sin did my mother conceive me." Sin is what we are. That's our nature. We were born with it. Sins are the things we do because we are what we are. Not everyone commits the same number of sins, but everyone does have the same sinful nature. Furthermore, the Bible states we're spiritually dead before God (Ephesians 2:1). That's why Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be born again. John 3:3 "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Being born again is the work of God by which a lost, guilty, hell-deserving sinner who receives the Lord Jesus inherits a new nature, becomes a child of God and begins a new life. It is a second birth, a spiritual birth. Physical life begins by birth. Spiritual life begins the same way--not by joining a church and living religiously. You cannot JOIN the family of God; you must be BORN into it. A birth is the coming into being of a new life which has the nature of its parents. When you were born the first time, you were made a partaker of the old nature, the sinful nature we all received from Adam. When you are born again spiritually, you become a partaker of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4). We conclude that we are all lost sinners in need of a Saviour and that not even our so-called righteousness or good works can save us from our present state. The Bible states clearly in Titus 3:5a, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Salvation is the gift of God. If man could save himself by good works, why then did Jesus Christ suffer and die on the cross? Our attitude ought to be one which God, in the Bible, commands--repentance toward God. (Acts 20:21) This means that you must be willing to admit and agree with God in your heart that He speaks the truth about you. Only those who see themselves as God sees them in their present spiritual condition will ever be saved. Your heartfelt response out to be, "I am a lost sinner unworthy of Heaven." "...God be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18:13) Back Go to Key #2 Written by Dr. Joe Miller, Copyright 2008 To order tracts, write JDM Ministries, PO Box 80343, Fort Wayne, IN 46898 All Scripture texts are from the KJV. |
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