Titus 2:11-15
11 For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, 12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.
15 Say these things, and encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
We believe no matter who you are or what you've done, God's grace transforms all of us to new life.
The Bible reminds us that we all are sinners. As it says in Romans 3:10, there is none righteous, not one. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
What is sin? The word translated as sin in our Bible comes from the Greek word “hamartia” or the Hebrew word “hata” which means “to miss the mark”. For a fuller explanation, visit https://www.patheos.com/blogs/e2medianetwork/2016/11/wwutt-sin-means-to-miss-the-mark/.
Because God is holy and righteous, and we fall short through sin, we have been separated from Him. We may think that if we try hard enough, we can become good enough to enter God’s presence in Heaven when we die, but the Bible tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:4-9).
What happens to a sinner who dies in their sins? According to the Bible, they will be shut out from God’s presence forever, in eternal torment in a place called Hell (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; Revelation 20:15; Matthew 25:41).
But because of God’s great love for us, he made a way for us to be restored to a right relationship with Him through His son Jesus Christ. Romans 5:6-8 tells us
“6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
How do we receive that righteousness?
John 3:16-17 says this:
“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Romans 10:9-10 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross so that we could be made righteous through him.
No matter what we’ve done, Christ took the punishment that we deserve and paid the price for our sins so that we can become new creations through Christ.
You can experience that life-changing grace today. God loves you – cry out to Him and He will hear your prayer. If you need to talk to someone about what it means to become a Christian and receive God’s life-changing grace, please contact us at info@vvchurch.org; call the church office at 502-935-5142 or join us at our Sunday morning service.