Testimony Part 1

God was so kind as to save me.
I did not know God didn't much care either I figured I was mostly a good person and I'd do okay compared to other people when I had to stand in front of Him at my judgment day after all I'd never killed any one. I was just living my life, enjoying myself, going my own way and doing what I wanted without regard for the costs to any one around me. But still compared to you know Hitler I wasn't that bad.

I will not go into great detail other than to say I gave myself over to great depravity and violated God's 7th commandment not to commit adultery which Jesus further clarified in Matthew 5:28 to include looking upon a woman with lust is adultery.(Women are not exempt we are no less guilty of adultery when we look upon a man with lustful thoughts.)

I broke God's law in word, thought and deed... ended my marriage, probably could have ended up dead but God preserved me and saved me. I had violated every one of the Ten Commandments in either word, thought and deed - some only in word and thought some in all three.

Even murder because again in Matthew Jesus clarified how God views murder - it is not just the action but the thought, that hatred we nurse in our hearts and minds, that split second hatred for a stranger when they cut us off in traffic - God sees it all and it had condemned me in His sight as a lawbreaker. He had every right to smoke me where I stood - but He didn't instead He put people in my life who prayed for me, who told me about Jesus, about sin, about God and forgiveness.

He also in a kindness which I did not deserve demonstrated His love and His forgiveness towards me through my husband. I hurt him in unspeakable ways, and he forgave me without condition and received me back as his wife. He never rubbed my nose in all the vile things I'd done. He took me back and we moved forward. He had committed his life to Christ and through the Holy Spirit abiding in him he was able to forgive those things and never bring them back to me.

I repented of my sins,in repenting I agreed with God that I was not good, that I was a sinner a lawbreaker, apologized to Him and turned away from my sins and turned to God and put my trust in His finished work on the cross.
At that moment I became born again, see John 3:1-8 (all though the whole chapter is very rich actually it's really hard to stop once you get started digging in.)

But even repenting and having faith was not something I could do, the Bible teaches that the faith we have to be saved isn't even ours see Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There is nothing that I bring to the table that made me worth saving, there is nothing I could do that would pay my debt as a lawbreaker. I am saved because of Him, for His glory, my salvation is not and never will be based on me being a good person. (Because there is no such thing - Romans3:10-18 specifically verses 10 & 12)

When I die I will go to heaven not because I am a good person, not because I did good things and not because I was a "Christian" I will go to heaven because I was a very bad person who deserved hell and God in His mercy, goodness and love, satisfied justice by giving His only Son to become flesh, live a sinless life, poured out the wrath that was due me and every other sinner-lawbreaker on His Son the only one who could pay our debt, die a criminals death on the cross and rise again on the third day defeating sin and death. Because He gave me the ability to repent, He gave me the ability to put my trust and faith in Him.
He was the perfect sacrifice unlike the OT sacrifices which only covered over sin - the shed blood of Christ obliterated our sins, washed them clean. (Isaiah 1:18)
When we repent and put our trust and faith in Christ we are justified, God no longer sees sinners who have broken His laws and sinned against Him but the righteousness of His Son. Justification is where my sins are traded for Christ's righteousness and this is what gives me the ability to stand in front of a Holy God and not go straight to hell for the sins that deserve the penalty of death and hell.
Once I was justified by faith in Him I was as forgiven as I will ever be. Christs death on the cross covered all sins past (every thing is in the past) present and future - because even though I'm born again I still sin. (Now knowing I'm forgiven all my sins past, present and future does not give me the liberty to continue in sin. (Romans 6:1-5) My flesh is at war with my spirit, my spirit wants to please God, my flesh wants to do what it has always done and please itself. (Romans 7:13-25)

That is how God saved me from sin and the penalty of it which is death and an eternity in hell. I am saved solely by His grace - any good work I do is out of gratitude for what He has done for me. I am in no way able to add to what Christ did in dying on the Cross, raising from the dead and conquering sin and death I have nothing to offer; in fact the Bible tells me exactly what God thinks of the any work I do with an eye towards "earning" any part of my salvation in
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

Reader if you have never heard the Gospel presented this way I pray that you would give it consideration; especially if it goes directly a religious system you have been raised in. Biblical Christianity (not a denomination or religion) is the only thing that deals with the question of or sin. The Bible is a progressive revelation - showing us God's character, nature, loving kindness and the plan for redemption that He purposed before He created anything, knowing it would be subject to the fall through Adam's sin.


What I am sharing with you may be a radically different perspective than what you have been taught as you were growing up and I don't take lightly what I am sharing here.
I would ask that you give it serious thought, read the verses that I've cited here. Read the chapters around them to get the context. Check out the "good person" link on my profile; it is an interactive way to go through the Ten Commandments. Check where you are in light of God's standard which is perfection... I urge you to not ponder to long the Bible tells us that we do not know when we will die but it is a certainty that we will die. Luke 12:20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' The Bible also tells us not only that we will die but what will happen when we do die in Hebrews 9:27-28 And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this is the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
The time only time you have to make this decision is before you die 2 Corinthians 6:2 For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.

Consider carefully how you want to stand before God on that day; in your own righteousness or washed of your sins and clothed in Christ's righteousness.

I will post part two of my testimony to His grace and loving kindness as soon as I am able.. but for now I must sign off.