On the right side of the wrong side

Romans 3:9-20

On the right side of the wrong side, now that sounds like poppycock.  But that is where these Jewish people found themselves, born as Jews, a chosen people, relying on birth or heritage and not on rebirth.  Many examples are found in the Scriptures; in Luke’s gospel we have the account of Nicodemus, a Pharisees and a member of the ruling council.  Old Nick has it all, the right family, money, he’s one of the top guns in the Jewish community and yet he comes to Jesus at night saying, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”  It took courage to come to Jesus, he was not sent like so many others to try to get information to use against Jesus; Nick was a seeker.  And this was Jesus’ reply; “I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nick was on the right side of the wrong side, his birthright made him a member of the “Chosen People” a person who had the Law handed down to him, a ruler of his people, an example, but being on the right side his faith was in those things, and he had missed the promised Messiah, and that placed him on the wrong side.  He needed a new birth, and so do each of us, for I’m fearful the buildings we refer to as “Churches” are filled with people on the right side of the wrong side.  Born into the right home, parents who worship God, you have continued going to church and giving a tithe, you do not kick the dog and treat others as you want to be treated, you are a church member in good standing, but you’ve never bowed your knee to God, you’ve never sought a personal relationship with Him, you know a lot about Him but you would be like Nicodemus if He entered the room, you call Him Rabbi or teacher, but would not know Him as Messiah.  You would be on the right side of the wrong side, for religion or the Law will only expose that you are a sinner, needing a Savior. 

Romans 3:9-20 addresses that no one is righteous, (in right standing with God for keeping the Law) that all have fallen short of the goal.  So being a Jew can be a good thing, but if your hope is in your birthright, your parents, your title, your wealth, or the place you call a Church, you are on the wrong side, for a price was paid to buy you out of the control of sin, and it was the blood of Jesus Christ, and when one gives authority to Him alone, the wrong side can then become the right side.  My testimony is being born on the right side and living and putting my faith in a religious experience at the age of 13, walking an aisle in a small Baptist church to join a church, and I became a Baptist, I was on the right side of the wrong side.  And for fourteen years I held to a belief system that was never about what would Jesus do, but what is best for Bob.

When Jesus entered my heart in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, it was all about Jesus for that night I was born a new, and I entered into Christ and He entered into me, and I was changed.  Now that is not to say I quit sinning, it took years to understand my need to depend on the Holy Spirit to live God’s will in me.  But I’m no longer a captive or slave to sin, Jesus set me free, it is now a choice of my will.

The apostle Paul tells us in verses 19-20, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice