Romans 5:1-21
I know how difficult it is for many to accept, believe and embrace that
Christ died for the sins of the whole world. This is what keeps most
people at a distance from what I write concerning God's redemption for
all men. The minds of people has been so conditioned for so many years
by religious doctrines of men to believe that 'good gets God and bad
gets beat,' that they just can't believe that God would redeem, forgive
and accept anyone who has not believed in Jesus or who isn't living
by good moral standards. God knows how many Christians have threatened
me with death because of this Gospel of Grace.
"Eddie, you are crazy. There's no way that God would forgive anyone
unless that person has confessed Jesus as Lord and believed in their
heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead. Sinners will be judged
to hell unless they have repented of their sins and demonstrate that
they have really been saved by their good works. A true believer and
Christian produces good fruit. You can't tell me that God would impute
righteousness to someone who has murdered people, commits adultery,
is involved in satanic activity, does not attend church and is practicing
every sinful act known to man. You need to be born again."
I no longer allow feelings of rejection, false accusations and persecutions
to get to me. I understand many of these dear people who get all bent
out of shape when they read my articles or hear me speak. The reason
why I understand them is simply because I was one of them at one time.
My old legalistic days of preaching consisted of 'Hell for the sinner
and heaven for the saved'. 'Righteousness for the good and right foot
for the wicked'. So why do I now compare so much the Evangelical Christian
Church to be no different from the "Far-you-see and Sad-you-see" of
Jesus day?
The answer is found in chapter 2 of Romans. "Therefore, you are
inexcusable, you self-righteous religious Jews and Christians, who go
around judging other people of sin, and yet you yourselves are doing
no better than those you are accusing of doing all of those thing mentioned
in chapter one." Friends, if there be a chapter that really
exposes the hypocrisy and the self-righteousness of a person, it would
have to be none other than the one found in Matthew chapter 23. Nothing
has really changed.
The Evangelical Christian Church and many other religions like them
are acting and believing no different from those rebuked by Jesus in
Matthew chapter 23. Thus far we have covered 5 chapters in the letter
of Paul to the Romans, and in almost every chapter we find Paul calling
the religious self-righteous Jews of his days on the carpet by asking
them questions such as: "And do you Jews (Christians)
think that by judging those who do bad things, that you
will escape the judgment of God, knowing that you too are guilty of
doing the same?' Romans chapter 2:3
"Are you despising the riches of the goodness of God, His forbearance,
and long-suffering, not knowing that it is the goodness of God (not
the judgment of God) that leads you to repentance?" Romans
2:3. "You therefore who teaches another, don't you teach yourself?
You who go around preaching that a person shouldn't commit adultery,
shouldn't steal, shouldn't worship idols, aren't you also doing the
same? Romans 2:21-22. "What advantage do you think you
have as a Jew (Christian) and what makes any of
you think that you have profited before God simply because you have
been circumcised? Romans 3:1
"So what if some did not believe like you self-righteous two face
religious hypocrites who think that you can be justify by the works
of the law of Moses? Shall the unbelief of those who you accuse of being
sinners and doing bad things make the faith of God ineffective?
God forbid! Romans 3:3. "What then? are you better
than sinners, than the unrighteous, than those who don't tithe like
you, pray like you, church like you, worship like you, praise like you,
act like you, and self-righteously believe like you?" Romans
3:9
"Isn't it written in the law of Moses that there are none righteous,
no not one? For ALL have sinned, Jews, Greeks, Barbarians, wise and
unwise, and there is none that has done good or is doing good? Don't
you hypocrites know that the WHOLE WORLD was found guilty before God?
v.19. Therefore by the works of the law, and anyone who
is still trusting in the law and mixing grace with law, and think that
their good works is what keeps them right with God, no religious person
who thinks like that shall ever be justified before God." Romans
3:10 through 21.
"For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," v.23.
"Where is boasting then? Isn't it excluded? By what law? Is it by
the law of works? No way Jose! It is all by the faith of God. Is God
the God of the righteous (Jews & Christians) only?
Isn't God also the God of the unrighteous, the ungodly and the sinners?
Do you Jews and Christians then make void the law through faith?
God forbid? It wasn't your works or your faith that saved any of you,
was it? Romans 3:27-31.
"So why don't you self-righteous, holier than thou, Jews and Evangelical
Christians who think that you have a special hold on God's robe, "Begging
Hinn," "Joyce Meyer's," "Kenneth Copeland" and "Hanegraff" listeners
and followers of legalism have to say about Abraham? How did God justify
Abraham? Did God justified Abraham because of his goody, goody Christian
fruity works? What about your brother David? What did He say about God
imputing righteousness upon all men? Did God's blessing and forgiveness
come only upon those who had their private shortened?"
"Was this blessing intended only for the Jews and the "Pat Robertson's"
"Jerry Falls-well", "Oral and Richard Robert's", "James "Robe" Kennedy",
"Rod Parsley and lettuce", "Joke Van Impe", "Robert Sheuler", "Tilton",
"Wrinkle Hickey", and all of these other charlatan's that will soon
be making headlines how they all passed away even thou they have preached
that they will not see death before Jesus second coming? Was God's blessings
intended for them only and for all those who are doing good works? Romans
4:1-8
"Well, I got bad news for all you Jews who are still trusting in
the law of dead works, and for those of you who believe that God has
only saved those who have believed. Romans 5:6 says that Christ died
for the ungodly, and He died for all of the ungodly while they were
still in their sins because all of us became sinners by the disobedience
of ONE man, but now ALL have been made righteous by the obedience of
another, Christ Jesus. Inspite of the fact that there have been many,
and will continue to be many wicked and evil men in this world, Jesus
died for the sins of all men."
Friends, I don't like it anymore than you do when men and women
kill, murder, rape and do all sorts of evil things against humanity.
But it was God who decided and chose to conclude ALL of mankind in unbelief,
so that He might justify ALL at the cross of His Son. Sin started at
the tree of the garden, and righteousness nailed sin at the cross of
Calvary. If this Gospel is only for those who have believed and are
doing good works, then Jesus death was in vain, and God is still dealing
with us according to our sins. Sin no longer reigns nor abounds because
the grace and righteousness of God now abounds that much more over sin
through Christ Jesus the Lord of ALL.
To be continued...
Grace N Peace
Eddie Narvaez