Running the Race

If you’re reading this, I know you’re still in the race,
the greatest race in history – the human race.

You’ve probably heard it said that when people’s lives are recorded on their gravestones, there’s your birth date, and the date of your death, with a little dash between. It’s that little dash between that we’re making right now.

Every thinking person wonders about life at times. Is there a purpose to it? And what about our destination? The race is on, all right – at sixty seconds a minute, twenty-four hours per day. Whether we’re awake or asleep, we’re heading from the one date to the other. And life seems to go faster all the time. But where are we going?

One popular view says: There’s nowhere to go. Live this life to the full, because when it comes to an end, that’s all there is. Heaven and hell are myths, they say. To which we respond: Do you know that for sure? That view doesn’t seem to make sense to most of the human race. Can we believe that life is a trip to nowhere?

Life’s race begins with an uneven start: we’re all born with varied equipment, upbringing, and opportunities. The road trip also has it’s share of surprises, potholes and problems. And then there’s the sudden stop. Is it possible to have the realistic hope of a new beginning? Can there be new life for us? The Bible says it certainly is possible. But it won’t do just to try and improve this present life we have. What we need is a whole new life – eternal life. For that, said Jesus, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7)

How can we receive this new life? Surprisingly, it isn’t what most people think, by trying to do your best. It is no more by personal effort than it would be for a ruined car to restore itself. This new life must be received as a gift. “For the wages of sin is death (i.e., we’ve earned our separation from God); but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Unearned and undeserved, we need to receive this gift of forgiveness by agreeing with God about our sin, and asking for a new life in Christ.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Have you received new life today?* If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, please let us know! Send us an email at MTMin@marktrammellministries.com

The Gospel

All Have Sinned
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way ” (Isaiah 53:6).  “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed upon all men, because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).  “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

The Wages (Penalty) of Sin is Death
“The Soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).  “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Christ Paid Sin’s Penalty
“And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).  “But God demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Salvation is By Grace Through Faith
“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:5). “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).  “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Assurance of Salvation
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).  “These things I have written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).

We believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God. We also believe in the virgin birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and in the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work at Calvary for the atoning of sin. The Bible tells us that there is a literal Heaven AND a literal Hell, and that man has a choice of where he will spend eternity. We believe in water baptism as an outward expression of an inward change, and the inward change is what eternally secures the “true believer”.

* Gospel text by JB Nicholson.  Used by permission.