Romans 3:10-18

Our loving Father is the God of second chances. His grace is so extensive that He offers countless opportunities to hear the gospel and receive Jesus Christ as Savior. Moreover, He reaches into the muck of sinful nature, rebellious spirits, perverse minds, and unclean tongues to save His beloved creation.

If you think that the Lord takes second chances lightly, read today’s passage carefully—it is a look at humanity through divine eyes. On our own, no matter how much we try to be good, we are foolish, useless, and evil. Thankfully, God’s grace is immeasurably greater than our sin.

Of course, the heavenly Father is a righteous judge who cannot ignore a person’s transgressions. If He did, He would not be the holy and just Deity described in the Scriptures. While humanity might count that kind of passivity as kindness, the Lord considers grace an action word. As a result, He implemented a simple rescue plan for each person on earth: Whoever believes in Jesus Christ as Savior is forgiven. We are justified by faith and at peace with God (Rom. 5:1). The rebellious war we carried out against Him is over. Sins are washed off our heart. In fact, from God’s perspective, His children look as if they have never done wrong.

Jesus is our second chance. Apart from Him, there is no salvation, no justification, and no grace. Look again at the passage from Romans 3. People cannot clean up their own hearts—each man or woman must take advantage of the purity Christ purchased with His sacrifice on the cross.

Acts 8:26-40 – Christians have adopted a narrow definition of the word testimony. But sharing Jesus is much more than telling our conversion story or talking about God’s work in our life, although those things are important. We need to be prepared to meet unbelievers at the point of their spiritual need, even if our own story is very different. We can learn a lot from Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. While young Israelites had friends and family to disciple them in their faith, a foreign convert often had to work alone to discern the meaning of complex Scriptures. So by asking, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip showed that he understood the Ethiopian’s disadvantage. That one question enabled him to discover that the man had a genuine thirst for God’s truth but did not know of the Messiah. Philip used that information to tailor a gospel testimony for his particular listener. Consider how easily the Ethiopian could have become confused or frustrated if Philip—whose Jewish background was so different from the foreigner’s—had told only his own conversion story. The evangelist wisely avoided any extraneous information and instead used the power of God’s Word to introduce the man to Jesus Christ. Philip’s testimony began with the passage the Ethiopian was reading. He effectively spoke to the man’s spiritual interest in general while specifically answering his questions about Isaiah 53. We, too, must be sensitive to unbelievers’ concerns so we can explain how God will meet their needs.

Our Testimony – Acts 6:1-6

A testimony is one person’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ. However, our declaration of belief is much more than the story we tell. A good witness for the Lord consists of three parts: character, conduct, and conversation.

As Christians, we rightly place great emphasis on crafting a solid personal account of the Lord’s work in our life. We also talk about the ways that we can “be Jesus Christ” to our friends, family, and co-workers through our actions. But character is the part of every believer’s testimony that underlies both Christ-like behavior and a good life story.

In general, what we do and say represents the kind of person that we are on the inside. We can tell a lot about Philip’s character by noticing his actions and words. From among many believers, Philip was chosen as one who was wise and full of the Spirit. But he wasn’t selected for a great ministry position—he was sent to serve food.

Philip went willingly to do this menial work and every other job the Lord gave him, which shows his obedient spirit (Acts 6:5; 8:5, 26). We can be certain that he was a sincere and trustworthy man, because when he spoke, people listened (Acts 8:6). Philip’s testimony shines forth in every way.

You can’t trick God into thinking your character is righteous if it isn’t. Nor can you fake moral conduct or conversation with people for very long. Sooner or later, a proud, bitter, or unkind spirit yields behavior and speech contrary to the Christian message. But godly character produces real spiritual fruit.

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