Posts Tagged ‘believe’
The Cross Is Not The Focal Point
Many people will look upon the cross with wonder and ponder its meaning. Very few people, however, will look to the cross as to what happened upon it and why.
Isaiah the Prophet said this about the future:
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth
Then, many years later, Jesus said this about Himself:
Joh 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Joh 10:12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
Joh 10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
Joh 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
Joh 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, andone shepherd.
Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Later on Jesus said this:
Joh 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Joh 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
Joh 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any manpluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck themout of my Father’s hand.
The cross, itself, is not the focal point of all of this. What is the focal point is what Jesus did upon the cross, to die in our place for our sins, and to secure forgiveness for all of His sheep, and to save us from facing the wrath of God that is to come on Judgement Day.
Jesus laid down His life of His own accord so that all whom God gave to Him will receive forgiveness for sins, be given eternal life, and to insure that we shall never perish nor be taken from the love of the Father.
It is for us to look unto Jesus and be saved. For all who call upon the name of Jesus, confess that He is Lord,and believe that, after His death and burial, He was raised from the dead, will be saved, called and justified.
Many will see the cross and not see Jesus, but all who are of the sheepfold of Jesus will not only see Him but will also follow Him when He calls them to come with Him.
How about you? Do you just see the cross or do you see Jesus and hear Him calling you to come with Him? For Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
The Faith of Our Salvation Was Written By Jesus
Our salvation is not of our works. We know this by scripture, especially one that is written in Ephesians 2: 8, 9. Here is what it says.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
It is by grace, and not by our works, that we are saved, and we are given this gift of faith with which we believe on the Lord Jesus, and this gift of faith comes from God. The question is this. Whose faith is given to us through which we believe?
The answer is given to us in Hebrews 12:2
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The faith through which we believe was created by Jesus. He wrote our faith by His obedience to the Father while He was here on earth. Only Jesus lived a life in perfect obedience to God and, in doing so, He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
The faith, through which we believe is given to us, after being saved by grace, and it is through the perfect faith of Jesus by which we are justified. The proof of this is our believing in Jesus as Lord through this faith given to us for one specific purpose – our Salvation.
Jesus created our faith; He authored it and finished it through His perfect obedience. Without His faith given to us we would not, and could not, be saved.
Gal_2:16 (KJV) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Truly, Jesus wrote the faith of our salvation. Praise God that He did.
I cannot imagine my imperfect faith, that I would work up, satisfying God’s justice and being forgiven for my sinful and imperfect life. It just would not be good enough.
A Greater Freedom
On July 4, 1776 the American colonies declared its independence from Great Britain claiming itself to be a free nation comprised of 13 states creating a country called The United States of America. The rest is history.
However, do you know that there is even a greater freedom, one that God offers to man from which they need to be set free or perish?
This is something everyone who has ever lived, is living now and will live in the future already has, and is something with which they are born. There is none better than Jesus to explain what it is from which man must be set free.
Read these verses from John 8 in which Jesus is speaking:
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayestthou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
In verse 34 the word “servant” actually means “Slave”. The problem is that everyone is born with a sin nature, making everyone a servant, or slave, to sin. Everyone who dies without being set free from this slavery will perish. Only in Jesus can this freedom be found. As Jesus said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Jesus also said, “No one can come to the Father except by me.” No one else can give you this freedom.
Receiving this freedom is easy. In Romans 10: 9, 10 we read this:
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (set free from sin)
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
You can receive your own freedom. Repent of your sins. Believe on the Lord Jesus. Call upon Him as Lord, submit to His will, and receive the freedom, true freedom from being a servant to sin to being a servant to God, which only Jesus can give.
Make this time your time to receive your freedom. Believe on the Lord Jesus now and be saved from suffering eternal punishment because of your enslavement to sin. Jesus will set you free, truly free indeed.
Today you can proclaim this your Independence Day.
Raising Lazarus – A Salvation Example
I have always felt that the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus was more than just a miracle event. I could never get away from the thought that it had something to do with salvation.
Sometimes we read secondary verses were we just gloss right over them and not give them even a passing thought. There was one verse that I read several weeks ago, which I had read many times before, and I just could not get it out of my mind. Then it hit me, the verse explained what happened at the tomb of Lazarus. Before I give you that verse let us revisit the raising of Lazarus.
Here was Jesus standing outside the tomb of Lazarus in the cemetery. Others were standing around watching to see what Jesus would do and Jesus did not disappoint them.
The first thing we notice is that Jesus said loudly, “Lazarus, come forth.”
Now think of this. Lazarus was dead. He had been lying in the tomb for several days and there was no life in him, and when Jesus called out to him to “come forth” what was the first thing that had to be donebefore Lazarus could respond at all. Think about that for a moment while we look at the secondary versementioned above.
The verse is found in 2 Timothy 1: 9 carried over from verse 8. Here it is.
2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
So, what was the first thing that had to be done before Lazarus could respond? He had to be given life – saved. Otherwise, he would not have been able to respond to the call to “come forth”. Just like Lazarus we, too, can do nothing unless we are “first” given life – saved.
In verse nine we see the steps God takes to save anyone. He first saves us, gives us life, and then calls us with an holy calling. We, in our spirit, are like Lazarus in his body. We are dead spiritually in our sins,devoid of spiritual life, and in this state we can do nothing to respond to God. Just like Lazarus was devoid of life he, too, could do nothing to respond to the call of Jesus to “come forth”.
Take another break for a moment, think about what just has been said, and look at these verses that will help to clarify this.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Have you seen it? These verses speak of how we, as Lazarus, are dead and before we can respond to the call of Jesus to “come forth” we first must be given the ability to respond, we first must be given life. In other words, we must be “born again”.
This explains what we read in 2 Timothy 1: 9. Salvation is given to us through the new birth – being born again – so that with this new life we can respond to the call of God, as He wills, to “come forth” as Jesus calls.
Now do you see it? 2 Timothy tells us God’s steps to our salvation. Just as Lazarus needed to be given life (saved) before he could respond we, too, are first given life (saved) – being born again by the will of God – and then He calls us and we respond as He wills. If you see it, you will also notice that God had planned this even before the world began.
God saves us and calls us, and we believe on Jesus all because it is done by God. Without first being born again (saved), if Jesus were to call anyone by name to “come forth” no one would respond. We would just stay dead in our spiritual tomb.
Salvation is “all” of God, from beginning to end. There is no way we can save ourselves. It is God who saves us and calls us, individually, to “come forth”, and when He does, we respond with a resounding “YES”!
You Talk Too Much!
The month of March is very special to my wife and me. It is when we celebrate our wedding anniversary. This year we will celebrate fifty two (52) years of marriage and we are even more in love with each other than ever before.
I know my wife loves me for she will tell people that I have very few faults and none of them is bad, except for one. She tells me that I, “Talk too much” and never know when to shut up. I just keep going on and on and on. With this, I will agree. If she can say it and I canagree, that is love talking.
Every morning I usually get up a lot earlier than doesmy wife. I like spending this time washing up, getting breakfast, enjoying the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Then I will get paper, that I usually retrieve off of the front porch when I first come out of the bedroom, take it with me into the living room with my coffee and settle into my favorite seat and enjoy them; mostly the coffee these days, however.
During the washing and the making of breakfast and coffee, I like spending time with God. It is not a kneel down and pray kind of a meeting. It is just a time that I like talking with God and telling Him my thoughts, concerns and thanks intermingled with some praise and worship of Him. Sometimes, though, it seems I have a hard time saying anything and will just ramble on. Until, until just one particular morning.
Right in the middle of my rambling I suddenly became blank in my thoughts. I could not think of anything to say and it scared me. Then suddenly a verse came to me and I knew it was from God. Through His word, He was talking to me.
What I heard made me think that He must have been listening to my wife, for what I heard was this, “You talk too much… “”Be still and know that I am God… “” .”
One part from my wife and the important part from Psalm 46: 10
Of course, God was right. Every morning during our time together I was doing all of the talking. Many times, it was only words of repetition just to hear me thinking. I was never quiet. Never listening for Him and forgetting that God will only talk to me through His word.
It has taken me quite a while to be obedient in this respect for I do like talking. Just ask my wife. Yeah, once I get started I do talk too much. I never know when to quit and I just keep going on and on and on. However, with God’s nudging, I am learning to listen to my wife more and, more importantly, listen to God more.
It is amazing how many more wonderful qualities I am discovering about my wife since I have been listening more to her and have become less at going on so when I do talk. It is still on a learning curve, but getting better.
God’s presence in the morning has started to become more real to me as well. I find when I do talk less and just enjoy spending time with Him, while talking less,it has actually brought me closer to Jesus than ever before.
You know, as my wife has said, “You talk too much” and having God tell me, “Be still and know that I am God…” has been a wonderful learning experience for me. I have become closer and more in love with both of them than ever before.
You know, I do believe that God really does listen to His children. If it happened to me, it can happen to you. I was going to say, “I pray God does the same for you”, but He already knows that, for He knows my every thought. I am glad that He does for those moments when I am still, knowing that He is God.
How Will They Believe?
For more than ten years this Journal has been has been publishing monthly essays based on the premise that Jesus is God and that by Him, and Him alone, will anyone be forgiven for their sins and by Him be given entrance into Heaven, and there to spend eternity with God.
However, unless a person hears about Jesus how will they believe and be saved? For we read in Romans 10 this:
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
Believing that Jesus is Lord, and by calling upon Him to be Lord over you, and believing that He was raised from the dead is at the root of salvation for anyone. How, then, can anyone believe in something about which they have not heard?
To believe in anything is something about which you first must be told. If you do not know about it how will you be able to make an informed decision one way or another on whether or not it is something in which you will believe.
To believe in Jesus you first must hear about Him. Second, it is only by hearing about Jesus that you will receive the faith with which to believe in Him. In Romans 10 again we read these verses:
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Believing on anything comes only by gaining faith from what you have heard. In this case, faith about Jesus will only come by hearing from the word of God. That is why every essay posted in this journal is backed up by the Scriptures – God’s Word.
God’s Word must prove what is written or it is not presented in any of the essay’s you will find in this monthly journal.
This is the reason for this Journal. It is to present Jesus to the public through its writings in hopes that God, through the Scriptures that are presented here, will bring faith to someone. So that by this faith they will believe in Jesus, call upon Him and to proclaim Jesus to be Lord of their life, and by that to find out that they have are forgiven for their sins and are saved from the wrath to come upon all who reject Jesus.
Jesus is God, and to everyone who confesses Him to be Lord, to believe that He has been raised from the dead and will proclaim Him as such, has the proof in their heart already of their salvation. Only they who believe can openly make this confession about Jesus.
How about you, do you believe?
Do Good People Go To Hell?
You Know, being confined to Hell for all eternity can be a scary thought. I wonder if good people go to Hell. If good people do go to Hell, then how good does one have to be “Not” to go to Hell?
Right now, you are probably thinking that, “I know I am good enough to go to Heaven and not be sent to Hell.” Yeah, I know the feeling.
When I was a teenager I was quite active in the Episcopal Church. I was an acolyte, a Sunday School Teacher, taught in Vacation Bible School, and was leader of the Youth Group – Spy’s it was called, which stood for “St. Peter’s Youth”. Catchy, do you not think?
What I really enjoyed doing was when I was asked to be a Lay Reader during Morning Prayer Service. It got to the point that, except for giving the sermon and the blessings at the end of the service, I got to do everything else. Man, I was King Teen of the Church. I was a pretty big guy on campus, so to speak, and the thoughts of going to Heaven when I died were never in doubt.
After graduating High School my life began to change and church activity began to drift off, especially after I was called to active service in the Navy. I had already joined the Navy Reserves when I was just a Junior in High School and the Navy, in its wisdom, saw fit to bring me up to the big leagues. Actually, I really enjoyed my three years on active service. It is a time of life that I would do over again.
Strangely enough, I never went to church at all while serving in the Navy. Church was the last thing on my mind. I was too busy, well, being a Sailor…
Eventually I was released from active service, got married, had kids and was living life OK. During all of this, I still felt that I would go to Heaven when I died. If someone were to ask me how I knew – this is what I would tell them. “Well, I know that when I get up there God would put all of my good qualities on one side of a scale and all of my bad points on the other side of the scales and the good would out way the bad and for that reason I would be allowed to get into Heaven.” With that kind of thinking about what was there to worry.
To make a long story short, along the way I started going to church, got involved in various activities and actually started reading the Bible; not a good idea for someone with the thinking about going to Heaven that I had. Maybe this would be you as well.
Over a period of time, there were three words that would pop up on occasion; four times in Psalms, once in Romans and twice in the Gospels. What were these three words? There were, “There is none.”
Now, by themselves, the phrase, “There is none,” is really not a bad thing about which to ponder, but when you add three more words to them it becomes a big thing. The other three words are, “That does good.” So, when you put them together you get, “There is none that does good.” Think about that for a moment and then let me add what Jesus said about being good.
In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark there is a story about a person that came up to Jesus and said, “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus answered like this,
“Mark 10:18 – And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”
Man, that was like running into a brick wall. Jesus actually said that, “No one is good except God.” I mean, if no one is good that would mean me! How could Jesus say that I was not a good person? Look at all of the work I did in the church early in my life and being told how I was a good little boy. Look how I was a good father and husband. Look how people liked me and said that I was a good person. Everyone thought that I was a good person except… except Jesus!
Now, how could I doubt Jesus? However, if He was right… then I had nothing good to offer God when I died. If I had nothing good I would not be allowed into Heaven. If we cannot get into Heaven by our good works how do we get into Heaven?
I started reading and studying the Scriptures, especially the New Testament. I learned that the reason we are not considered good is that we have a sin nature, and this sinfulness has separated us from God. In order to come back into a right relationship with God we need to repent of our sinfulness and to seek forgiveness for our sins.
However, our sins require a penalty for which they need to be paid. We need to pay for them – unless – unless someone stands in our place and takes on them the penalty for which we owe God. I learned that Jesus has done this for they who would confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and to believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the grave. In other words, whoever would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved.
If we would just repent of our sins and believe that Jesus is Lord of our life because of what He has done, and have a desire to be obedient to Him, to do His will, then we would be forgiven for our sins based on the fact that Jesus died for sins and paid the penalty for them.
In fact, if you would just call upon Jesus as Lord of your life you will find out that you have been forgiven, saved from paying the penalty for your sins by facing the wrath of God on Judgement Day, and are now in God’s family for all eternity.
Good works will never save you, anyone or me. Only by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus, will anyone be forgiven, saved and allowed into Heaven.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Surely you do not want to be one of those good people, depending on your good works, who wind up in Hell? Will you not now call upon the Lord Jesus to be saved? It really is that easy. If I, one who was a very religious and good working man can do so – you can as well.
Throw your good works aside and call upon Jesus to be saved. Do so before it is too late.
A Most Misunderstood Verse
There are many verses in the Scriptures that a number of well-meaning Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers will take completely out of context when preaching on them. It seems they do this to support their version of theology that they were taught in studying for the ministry.
The one verse we are looking at today is a good example. This verse needs to be read completely in context to understand fully what it is saying.
Here is that verse… John 1:12
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name
At first glance, this looks like it means that anyone who believes on the name of Jesus and receives Him into their life then Jesus will give them the power to become sons of God. Well, how can this be when we are all spiritually dead in our sins and are unable to respond to God in this manor?
Here is the answer. When John 1:12 is read in context of verses 11 and 13, we can easily see that it means something completely different.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
The first thing we see is that when Jesus came to His own people they did not believe on Him nor did anyone receive Him. However, we know there were many who did believe on Him and receive Him into their life. So, what changed some people who did not at first receive Him?
Easy, the reason they believed on Him and received Him is this. Jesus “first” had to give them the power to become sons of God.
Verse 13 supports this and explains it perfectly.
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
We read here that they were “first” born again “before” believing and receiving Jesus. Being born into a believing family did not give them the right, doing good works did not give them the right, nor choosing of their own will to be born again gave them the right. The only thing that gives anyone the right to become sons of God is by God’s own will, and His alone.
When the Spirit of God makes one alive, they have been given the right to become sons of God and once they are born again they then believe on Jesus and receive Him into their life and confess Him to be Lord. So, lets read all three verses together and you should then be able to see what is being said as God opens up your understanding to receive His Word.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name:
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Here is what we see. Jesus came to His own but no one would believe on Him. However, Jesus did give the right to some to believe on Him and to receive Him.
The only reason the “many” believed on Him and received Him into their life was that they were first given the right to become the sons of God. In other words, they were first born again by the Spirit of God and not by anything that man did to deserve that right. Only God gives this right as He chooses.
This is what these verses are saying. Therefore, you can see that when most verses are read out of context they can be made to say one thing, but when read in the context of what was being said you would see that there is a completely different meaning.
Therefore, what should we all be doing? Trust only in the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read the bible instead of letting someone else read the bible and then tell you what they think; and that goes for what I am saying as well.
There is no better teacher than the Great Teacher Himself.
The Real Avenger: Endgame
I am sure that by now everyone either has seen or at least heard about the new movie “Avengers: Endgame”. Well, I have at least heard about the movie. You see, I really do not go to the movies anymore. I am not into fantasy, sci-fi or bloody mayhem. I guess I am just an old-fashioned kind of a guy.
However, there is one Avenger who has a real “endgame” that I am interested in, and it is found in the Bible. Here it is from 2nd Thessalonians 2:
2Th 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
There is no one else Who has the power and right to bring vengeance on whom He wills than Jesus. Seeing that we also read the following in John 3:
oh 3:34 For he (Jesus) whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Joh 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son(Jesus) hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Imagine being given the opportunity to repent of ones sins and to believe on Jesus or face the wrath of God, why would anyone refuse the offer. In the Gospel of Luke Jesus said the following:
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
It does not matter whether you have little sins or big sins, any sin at all demands repentance of that sin and they who refuse to do so because they like their sin will face the wrath of God.
Why Jesus, you may ask. Here is the answer found in Acts 4:
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
In fact, in Romans 10: 2, 10 we read the following:
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
All of us commit sins, and we must all pay for them, unless we bow before Jesus and submit to Him as our Lord, and ask for forgiveness. If we do, we will be saved from facing the wrath of God. If we do not, we only have God’s wrath to face.
There is a real Avenger and He has a real “endgame”. His name is Jesus. As we read before:
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
From Hebrews 10 we read the following:
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Jesus is the real “Avenger” and he does have an “endgame”. A fearful endgame. One I pray that you do not want to face and will now repent and bow before Jesus as Lord and ask for forgiveness from the only true Savior of us all. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
If you do not, you will only face the Real “Avenger”. That is something you will wish you had never done.
Who Is Your Valentine?
Ah, love. Valentine’s Day is a time for showing how much you love someone and for showing gratitude for the love that someone has towards you. Have you ever thought how someone’s love towards you affects how you love that person in return?
When you truly love another and you know how much they love you in return does it not give you a wonderful sense of gratitude for that person making it so easy to love them by the way they show their love for you?
In a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians – the true born again disciples of Jesus – at Rome he writes the following:
Romans 5: 9 ….. But God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Think of that. Jesus died for us while we were still in our sinful state so that He could bring us into the family of God. How great of a love that must be. In fact, in the Gospel of John 15: 13, Jesus tells us this:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
What love it is that Jesus must have for His people that He would lay down His life for us so that we would have life eternal. Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves and has provided forgiveness for our sins, and because of what He has done for us, by His great love for us, we now have assurance of eternal life in Heaven. We do not have to fear facing God’s wrath or of being cast into the lake of fire to suffer eternal punishment for our sins.
There is no greater love than this.
So, this Valentine’s Day, if you are a true disciple of Jesus, why not share the love of Jesus to that special person here on earth in a way that would honor the love of Christ for us. Not by laying down our life for them, but by laying down our own selfishness and love them with a love that expects nothing in return.
As Jesus loves us so should we love others. For loving others with an unconditional love is showing the love of Jesus. What greater love is there than by loving others as Jesus loves us?
By doing so, you just might discover just how much Jesus really does love you.
