Enemies Of God

Romans 1:18-32
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

I was reading this scripture today because about a week ago I listened to a sermon by Paul Washer entitled "The Meaning of The Cross". I was struck by how much I thought I knew about Jesus and His purpose on the cross.
If someone would have asked me, "What has Jesus saved us from?" I would have answered, "From our sins". WRONG!
I am so surprised how many things that I have been taught all my life have been incorrect. I have always been taught that we are saved by repeating the sinner's prayer and that when we doubt our salvation then that is just the devil trying to discourage us. How many times have a doubted my salvation? Probably many times just today. Just the fact that I have doubts is an indication that I am a believer. We are told to examine ourselves. Look at the fruit in our lives. Ask ourselves, "How has my relationship with sin changed?"
And yet I find myself yet again, baffled by the truth of God's Word. I find that the foundations of my "faith" have been shaken.
I am not saved from my sin. If that were true then I would never sin and I would have also been saved from Christ who became sin for us.
I am saved from God. I was born an enemy of God. Not because of God but because I am me. I am born a human therfore I am born an enemy of God because my parent were born enemies of God and their ancestors all the way back to Adam were enemies of God. The cross does not save us from our sins, it saves us from God and His wrath. Because of Jesus and His sacrifice we are made "friends" of God. We no longer carry the sinful DNA of mankind. We carry the sinless DNA of Christ. I wish I had some great pictorial analogy or some great parable that would give you a better picture of what this means. I don't. I am without words to describe this indescribable action by Christ on our behalf.
Read the words of Romans 1 slowly.
Since we have come to faith in God through Jesus Christ we are no longer enemies of God. We are His friends.

Blessings
Allen