“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
In the latter half of the 1980’s, my wife and I were living in Wilmore, Kentucky while I attended Asbury Theological Seminary. While there, I was blessed to work part-time for a home-owned and operated office supply business in Nicholasville, Kentucky which was located several miles away. The road that connects Wilmore to Nicholasville is a picturesque road lined with big and beautiful horse farms in the heart of Kentucky’s horse-county.
One winter morning I was on my way to work before afternoon classes without a thought as to what was about to happen. There was snow on the ground, but the roads appeared to be clear until, after having traveled a few miles, I hydroplaned my AMC Concord to the left in an attempt to make at 90-degree right turn. I had encountered a patch of “black ice” which had sent my car through the fence of a large horse farm to my left; the car stopping short of a tree, and myself being thrown out the passenger front seat door onto my right arm on the snow. As I stood to my feet, I had remembered seeing a group of horses located on hill straight ahead run off in all directions before I crashed.
It wasn’t long until a young husband and wife who lived there were running up to help me. They took me to a big barn that was finer than most houses I had been in: complete with plush horse stalls and all. After I sat down, a ranch hand ran in and the husband asked him, “Is she alright?” To which the ranch hand responded, “I was able to stop her, but she’s cut pretty bad because she ran through another fence!” And then I thought to myself, “I have injured a multimillion-dollar racehorse!” After that, I asked the husband who had identified himself as the manager of the farm, if I could talk to the owner and tell him how sorry I was to have caused all these problems to which the husband said, “Oh no!” “You don’t want to do that!” And then he told me the owner wasn’t there to which I nervously asked, “Where is he?” To which the manager proceeded to tell me he was away in Chicago because he owned a big Chevrolet dealership there. He added that he would contact him and then he and his wife left me with a couple of other folks who were in the barn at that time.
Here’s the good news and the-bad news! The bad news is that I was scared to death because, when I heard about the boss I thought, “Mafia!” “This guy has connections to the Mafia!” The money, the expensive horses, the mansion, the car dealership; Mafia!” “And I’m just a poor seminary student living in a duplex and one day I’ll be watching TV and the doorbell will ring and—you know the rest!” But here’s the good news, short of my insurance company covering the $400.00 for horse X-rays, I never heard from anyone from that farm, ever! And, I only had a bruised shoulder!
Romans 6:23- part one: We can’t escape the bad news: sin has a wage attached to it and that payment is death. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23, “all of us have sinned (“missed the bulls-eye on the target) and fallen short of the glory of God.” But praise be to God for Romans 6:23, part two: “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How? When Jesus died on the cross, He took all the bad news of sin upon Himself so we could live, part two! Have you made a decision of the heart for Christ! Without Christ, the Bible says and individual faces “the second death” which is eternity spent without God! Jesus loves you and He died for you! Accept His free gift of salvation, today. What good news!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 59
James 2:26; Ephesians 2:8-9; Ephesians 2:10
“Hi Jesus-Bye Jesus!”
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:26
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”
Paul, Ephesians 2:8-9
In the 1970’s my father took on the position of custodian for our hometown church in Albertville, Alabama. It was a part-time job, but the work had to be done on a regular basis. I remember my mom, my brother, and I would often go and help my dad clean the church every Saturday because he worked as a U.S.P.S. city letter carrier during the week. And I remember my dad giving the cleaning of our church all that he had, even after a busy week as a mailman.
Are James and Paul contradicting themselves? The answer is, “No.” They are looking complimentarily at “faith and works” from different perspectives. Paul is emphasizing salvation via of grace thru faith whereas James is emphasizing the proof of saving faith in Christ via the Christian’s bearing fruit in his or her life.
I remember the Sunday long ago, when my dad stood up in church giving testimony of his life in Christ in which he shared his “laying down” of things not in keeping with the kingdom of God. Salvation is a gift of God, but after we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit enables us to let go of those things not keeping with God so that we can take on the “good works” Christ prepared for every Christian believer before he or she was born (See Ephesians 2:10).
You see, the Bible says a clean heart and a clean church (faith and works) go hand-in hand. A Christian is not saved by works, nor is authentic Christianity expressed by a “Hi Jesus-Bye Jesus” mental assent. The Bible says good works should be the natural outflow of a heart transformed by Christ whether menial tasks or tasks of a different degree.
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 60
Romans 5:8
A Father’s Love
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Several years ago, Nancy and I stood alongside my mother and my brother and his wife, for a time of visitation at the local funeral home in Albertville, Alabama, following my father’s death. It was a hard and yet comforting evening as many friends came up to us offering their love and deepest sympathies for our time of loss. I talked to several friends I had not seen in many, many years.
One fellow came through the line known as “Papa” to all the church softball players who played in the 1970’s and 1980’s like I did. Papa played for a Baptist church in town, and I played first base for Hewett Memorial United Methodist Church, my home church. Papa and I stepped over to the side for a moment and he told me something about my father I never knew; something I will never forget, as we remembered our softball days.
It had to do with one Saturday evening during a regular church softball season when my team was playing his. The three games that were being played that night were running behind schedule and our game was the last game to be played. Most of the spectators had left and on top of that, it had begun to rain and rain hard, not long after we began play. It was following this scenario that Papa lovingly pierced my heart with something very dear. He told me my father, Skeeter Mabrey, had been standing out in the rain without an umbrella the entire time, watching us play. He said after the game was over, he walked up to my dad, and my dad said to him with a smile on his face, “Papa, Ol’ Louie was the only one on Hewett who got a hit tonight.” My dad loved me and was so proud of me! I will always treasure those words he spoke to Papa that evening in my heart. And I know that my father would have given his very life for my brother and for me!
The Bible says to know Christ as Savior and Lord is to know God the Father’s love! And the most powerful thing is God showed the world His very own love for each person on the planet by sending His Son to die on a cross for us; not when we had it all together which we never will, but while we were still lost and separated from Him by sin.
Dear one lost and separated from God in sin; God loves you and died for you! He has wonderful plan and purpose for your life! Dear Christian, who is struggling to find your passion and joy in your relationship with Christ once again; take hope for Jesus loves you! God loves you so much that while you and I were still sinners (and that applies to everyone), it was at this time, that Jesus died for you! He died so you could live! He rose so you could face each day with His joy, peace, and presence!
Thank you, Jesus, for dying and for loving a sinner like me! Praise Your Name!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 61
Romans 5:6
Baby Basket Transportation
“For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:6
My mom told me something in later years about my dad centering around my birth that has always touched my heart. The day my dad came to pick up my mom and me from the Albertville Clinic in order to take us home, mother told me my dad walked into the room with a basket large enough and lined to place me in. And then, with a chuckle, mom told me that attached to the basket’s handle was a note that read, “Welcome home, Louie!” [My dad did the same thing for my brother, Tony, who was born in 1961].
How simple and how profound was my father’s act of love for me that month of February in 1956! Paul tells us that at the perfect time in history [His-story], God sent His Son Jesus, to be born in a manger; born bearing all the love of the Father in flesh! The phrase Paul uses in the original language translated, at the right time, is the word meaning “in God’s time” as opposed to chronological time.
The Bible says Jesus came at the perfect time in God’s plan to die for the ungodly: to die for you and for me! Have you trusted Christ in childlike faith as the One who died and rose for you? If you have or when you do, the Bible says God receives you now and forever! The Bible also says that Jesus will never refuse the repentant sinner who invites Him into his or her heart as Savior and Lord. To that individual, God says, “Welcome, Home!”
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20
In my hometown, about three-quarters of a mile from downtown, there stands a beautiful two-story mansion originally owned by a Mr. Jackson. This home was so beautiful that the townspeople loved to ride by often just to look at it, as my parents and I used to love to do. And boy-oh-boy what news it was for the town of Albertville when it was rumored that actress Kate Jackson, one of the stars of the hit TV series, Charlie’s Angels (1976-1981), was coming to visit her relative. Now, I don’t know if anyone in town saw her arrive as I’m sure her arrival would have been most likely kept a secret, but I do know it was the talk of the town! The thing is, Charlie’s (three) Angels, would receive a telephone call from Charlie whom they had never seen, and afterwards proceed to implement Charlie’s wishes which usually placed them in harm’s way as they sought to accomplish their mission.
Paul tells us that we Christians are, by virtue of our relationship with Jesus Christ, “ambassadors for Christ” and, as though God were making His appeal through us, each one of us has the single purpose of “begging-imploring” the unsaved “to be reconciled to God.” Paul tells un in 2 Corinthians 5:18 that salvation (verse 17) is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (verse 19).
Think about it Christian, you-yes you, a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20); one who has passed “from darkness into God’s marvelous light,” are one of Jesus’ Angels! You have been given the most important assignment in the world: to be an emissary of Christ wherever He has placed you! This means being in a state of readiness on your part to share the saving news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with someone who is spiritually and hopelessly separated from God by sin. So, tune in to the Holy Spirit and confidently accept your assignment and be an ambassador for Christ!