Our Faith Is NOT In Vain!
We live on a farm, and as such, we have fields surrounded by fences, held closed by gates.
- If we have a farm, then we are surrounded by fields.
- If we have fields, then they are surrounded by fence lines.
- If we have fences marking the boundaries of our farm, then we are surrounded by gates.
GATES. FENCES. FIELDS: EACH PART NECESSARY FOR A WORKING FARM.
- Without the gates, the fences would hold the animals who could never escape.
- Without the fences, the animals would run free, causing mayhem throughout humanity.
- Without the fields, the farm would not exist.
- Without the farm, we would not live the life such as we we (as in all people) would live exist in the city, city, living in close proximity of one another.
Now, maybe you have just read this ‘if’ & ‘then’ comparison, scratched your head, and wonder: WHAT?
The WHAT every person needs to fully SEE—JESUS CHRIST AROSE FROM THE GRAVE!
IF JESUS DID NOT (resurrect from the dead), then OUR FAITH IS IN VAIN (total nothingness).
“If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus,
(The 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15: 32-33 NASB)
what does it profit me?
If the dead are not raised,
LET US EAT AND DRINK,
FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.”
We live on a farm, one that was not inherited but purchased. When my husband’s great uncle passed away, his farm was sub-divided and sold. While my husband was deployed for the military, we purchased our first parcel of land.
Now, twenty years later, we live on a larger farm, one purchased because of the inheritance of my husband’s father and mother. You see, when my husband’s parents passed away, their farm was willed to their two children (my husband and his sister). She lives in a different place, so tending the farm would have been difficult for her husband and her. Thus, we purchased her inheritance, and now we own nearly 100 acres of land.
Our toil of the land is not in vain, for a working farm requires much work.
In similar fashion—
IF our lives are only bracketed by our birth and our death;
&
IF our deaths are the end of all end;
THEN our faith in Jesus Christ is in vain.
However, Our Faith Is NOT In Vain!
The Bible says this is NOT SO. & The Bible speaks ONLY TRUTH!
“Now I make known to you, brethren,
(The 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15: 1-2 NASB)
the gospel
which I preached to you,
which also you received,
in which also you stand,
by which also you are saved,
if you hold fast the word which I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.”
THE WORD OF GOD—THE GOSPEL—PROCLAIMING JESUS AS LORD. &
THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH & DWELT AMONG US.
JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS! &
JESUS RAISED AGAIN TO NEW LIFE!
- The gospel message is NOT vain.
- Belief in Jesus’s work on the cross is NOT vain.
- Acceptance in Jesus’s work in the grave is NOT vain.
Our Faith Is NOT In Vain!
“But if there is no resurrection of the dead,
(The 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15: 13-14 & 19 NASB)
not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is vain,
[and so]
your faith is vain
[IF CHRIST JESUS DID NOT RAISE FROM THE DEAD].
. . .
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only,
we are of all men most to be pitied.”
Our Faith Is NOT In Vain!
Jesus’s death is essential, for the penalty of mankind’s sins was necessary to appease God’s wrath toward mankind’s sins.
WHY? Someone may ask.
IT IS BECAUSE GOD IS A JUST GOD!
- BECAUSE THE FIRST MAN (Adam) SINNED!
- BECAUSE WITH SIN COMES DEATH!
BUT HALLELUJAH!
DEATH DOES NOT HAVE THE FINAL SAY!
AND HALLELUJAH!
DEATH NEVER REIGNS MORE POWERFUL THAN GOD!
PRAISE GOD!
DEATH DID NOT DEFEAT CHRIST JESUS, WHO IS GOD IN THE FLESH!
LET US ALL RAISE OUR VOICES IN A SHOUT!
“DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
(The 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15: 54b-57 NASB)
O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?
O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law;
but thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
IF our lives are only bracketed by our birth and our death;
&
IF our life ends only in death;
IF the end of our life is the end of all ends;
THEN our faith in Jesus Christ is in vain.
BUT that is just NOT true!
- The Bible says this is NOT SO! &
- The Bible speaks ONLY TRUTH!
So, in closing—
- We live on a farm, one that was not inherited but purchased.
- We live on a large farm, one purchased because of the inheritance of my husband’s father and mother.
You see, without an inheritance, there is no farm & without an inheritance, there is no purchased farm.
Thus we toil—on our farm.
Our toil of the land is not in vain, for a working farm requires much work.
In similar fashion—
We toil—in the Lord’s work.
Our toil in the work of the Lord is not in vain, for there remain many who have not yet received Christ Jesus as Lord.
“Therefore my beloved brethren,
(The 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15: 58 NASB)
be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”