Are You Poor And Needy?

Are You SPIRITUALLY Poor And Needy And You Just Don’t Know It Yet?

“He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.” [Psalm 72:13]

“But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer;” [Psalm 40:17]

“O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.” [Psalm 74:21]

Introduction:

 
Folks, the God of the Bible – who is also the God of the entire universe – has declared that we are all SPIRITUALLY poor and needy and in dire need of a divine Savior to pay the penalty for our sins that we are totally incapable of paying for ourselves. That reality is made very clear in the following Bible verses:
 

“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” [Romans 3:11-12]

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” [Romans 3:23]

Does that mean that good works are not necessary for salvation?

 
Contributing towards your salvation is like a starving man attempting to use fake money to buy life-saving food. He desperately needs the food to live but his money is of no value towards the purchase of that food. Similarly, our good deeds are worth nothing towards the purchase of our salvation:
 

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” [Isaiah 64:6]

 
That is why the Lamb of God had to come to earth and be crucified and killed. That sacrificial death of that PERFECT, SINLESS Savior was the only payment of ANY VALUE TO GOD for your salvation. It was the ONLY payment GOD would accept for your salvation. You and I owe God a SIN DEBT that is totally and completely beyond our ability to pay even a fraction of, or to even contribute to in ANY WAY. We have broken God’s laws. We are law-breakers. There is an enormous penalty for breaking God’s laws: ETERNITY IN HELL. Only the death of God incarnate – the Lord Jesus Christ could COMPLETELY SATISFY that SIN DEBT.
 

“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” [Hebrews 9:22]

 
That does not mean that we have a license to sin. It only MAGNIFIES our DUTY to obey God 100 percent. God’s requirement for entering HIS Heaven is sinless perfection:
 

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” [Matthew 5:48]

 
The only way that sinners like us can be made PERFECT, is if our SINS are IMPUTED to [transferred to] Christ and Christ’s PERFECT righteousness is IMPUTED to our account:
 

“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” [Romans 4:8]

Summary:

 
God came to earth as the god-man Jesus Christ to live a perfect, sin-free life and then to die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, providing salvation to sinners who could never atone for their own sins, due to the standard of perfection required by an infinitely holy God. That which we cannot achieve, the Lord Jesus Christ achieved when He died on a cross 2,000 years ago, serving the role of sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of the world. That salvation is not automatic. It is granted to sinners by God, to those who seek the Lord while He may be found… to those who call upon Him while He is near. Have YOU seen your dire need for salvation? While there is life, there is hope. After death, it is too late. All you will receive at that point is eternal damnation for your lifetime of sin. You will be among those who say: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” [Jeremiah 8:20] — RM Kane
 

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