Posts Tagged ‘forgiveness’
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.
Simplistic Christianity
What does it mean to become a Christian? Simply put, it means to become a disciple of Jesus. So, how does one become a Christian?
That is a good question. Let us see what the Bible says about becoming a Christian in a very simplistic way.
In the Gospel of Mark 1: 14, 15 we read the following quote by Jesus:
Mar 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Here Jesus simply says, “You repent and believe the gospel.” The word repent means “to think differently, that is, reconsider morally to feel compunction.” We are to admit our sinfulness, have a desire to change morally, and to ask for forgiveness for having lived our lives as we want instead of what God wants; to want to live for God and not for ourselves.
The second thing that Jesus said was to believe the gospel. What is the gospel? In First Corinthians chapter one and beginning with the first verse, the Apostle Paul states very clearly what is the gospel:
1Co 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Now we have the simple basics of how to become a Christian; repent and believe the gospel. You have seen what it means to repent and you now know what the gospel is in a very simplistic way. So, how does this all work together?
When God draws someone to Jesus, in doing so, He also gives them the power to repent and to believe the gospel, giving them the ability to do the following as we read in Romans 10: 8 – 10:
8. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9. That if thou you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So now, you know what it means to “repent and believe the gospel”. In doing so you will receive forgiveness for your sins, have everlasting life with Jesus in Heaven, and you will know what it is truly like to feel the love of God.
The alternative? Read this from the Gospel of John 3: 36:
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
When you compare the two choices, and you have “only two” from which to choose, Simplistic Christianity does not seem like a bad choice after all.
The Secret of Christmas
When you hear the word “Christmas”, what is it about Christmas that you think? Maybe it is about a lighted Christmas tree or it could be about a little baby lying quietly in a manger somewhere.
Of course, one could think of Santa, angels on high, wise men from the East, or even shepherds on a hillside with their sheep. And you know, in today’s world none of these would be a wrong answer. However, none of them tells about the real “Secret” of Christmas.
See, if you can see the secret in the following verses taken from the Gospel of John chapter 1:
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Do you see it? The secret of Christmas is that God lowered Himself to become a man, to be among us to show Himself that He is who He says He is. That by Him we can be forgiven for our sins and be given eternal life all because He has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
God became flesh and dwelt among us and to they who would receive Him (Jesus), to believe on Him and to submit to His will, they would find that God first had to give them the power to become one of His children in order to respond. This happened, not because we were born into a Christian family, not because we did something worthy of salvation, nor because we of our own will chose to receive Him. No, none of these can be true. Only because God has willed it is anyone born again into the family of God.
That is the Secret of Christmas; God coming down to earth, and as the God/man Christ Jesus, provided salvation for all who would be forgiven of their sins because of the atoning power of his birth, life, death, burial and resurrection all because we could not provide for ourselves what is needed for salvation.
If you can truthfully say that you have been born again by the Spirit of God, because it was God’s will to do so, then Christmas can be a most wondrous and Merry Christmas. For you truly know the “Secret of Christmas.”
The Verse That Brought Repentance
When I was just a young boy, I attended an Anglican church faithfully. I was an acolyte, president of the church youth program and a lay reader. I was a Christian; or so I thought. It seemed, as it turned out, that I was only a Christian in name only (a CINO).
You see, in being a Christian in name only can be very deceiving, and so many people today are doing the same as I, and are only CINO’s, and do not realize that they are “not” heading for Heaven. I hope you are not one of them.
Then, as an adult, one day came when I heard about two verses in Proverbs 3 that for the life of me I could not get them out of my mind. They bothered me to no end and I just had to find out how to do what they were saying, because I could not do so of my own will; and therein lay the answer.
The two verses to which I refer are these:
Proverbs 3: 5, 6
5. Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.
6. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
I tried and I tried and I just could not get myself to trust in the way that these verses wanted for me to do. No matter what I did I just could not trust in the Lord. Sounds terrible, does it not?
Then it hit me. How could I trust in someone who I do not know? Who was this Lord in whom I am to trust? Could it be this Jesus I kept hearing about? Oh, yeah, I heard about Jesus, and how they would call Him Lord every time I had gone to church, but I really did not know Him. I had to find out – who was this Jesus.
I knew that my bible was my only true source for learning about Jesus. I had some knowledge of the gospel of John, so I started my reading about Jesus with that book.
Admittedly, the first time through it I really did not get much understanding from it. So I began to read it again and each time I would read a chapter or two I would ask Jesus to give me understanding in these words that I might learn more about Him.
Little by little a verse or two would stand out and they would be quite interesting in little ways, and I realized that I began to trust more and more this Jesus about whom I was studying and to whom I was praying. Then one day it hit me about whom Jesus was – or is. Jesus is God!
By now, not only had I become more dependent on Jesus in giving me understanding in the bible but more importantly, unwittingly, I also became to trust in Him in helping me in my daily life.
I would ask Jesus with help at work, when I was driving and in just making daily decision. I was always, and still do, asking Jesus for guidance in making all kinds of decisions, and trusting in Him for the outcome, as well as trusting in Him to change my direction on anything, if I was going the wrong way.
Through hard times and good times I was looking to the Lord for guidance, even when I did not or could not understand why sometime was happening. Even when my wife was diagnosed with cancer, she is now cancer free. I found myself asking for stronger faith so that I would have deeper trust in the Lord for whatever would happen or in what would be His will.
That is when I realized that in turning from myself, from my self-will, and trusting in the will of the Lord, what I had done was to repent of my own sin of self-will.
This was something I had done all my life. I would look to myself to trust in my own understanding, in any situation for the answer, and to have the self-serving nerve to direct my own life.
It was these two verses from Proverbs 3: 5, 6 that led me to repent of the sin of trusting in myself and to turn to the Lord Jesus for forgiveness, and to come to an understanding of whom is Jesus.
It is in Him that we are to trust for the outcome for all circumstances and situations, and to submit to His Lordship over us in directing our life as He wills.
You see, we are to trust in the Lord Jesus on a daily basis, and to keep trusting in Him even when we do not understand what is happening or why.
In addition, when we acknowledge Him as being Lord of our lives, as God, Jesus has the right to take us down the path that He knows is best for us, and one that will glorify Him.
All it takes is an understanding of who is Jesus, and repentance on your part. That is to turn from your own selfish ways of trusting in yourself, to submitting to the Lordship of Jesus over you.
Only then will you ever find true Godly direction for your life.
Why A Christian Should Not Say “This” To A Non-Christian – Part II
In Part I of this study the premise of it is that the one thing that a Christian should “not” say to a non-Christian is this, “God loves you just the way you are”. The reason that this statement should not be said is that God does not love us just the way we are. If He did, why would He command men everywhere to repent.
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,” Acts 17: 30
Think of that statement. God wants everyone to “repent”. In the Greek it means “to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction)” You see God does not love us as we are because we are walking in a way that is disobedient to the way that He does want us to be. We are seeking to do what we want and not what He knows is best for us, and the fact that we choose not to be obedient to Him and to do things our way is why He is angry with us.
God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7: 11
Jesus also said, “but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13: 3 & 5
The Apostle Paul also preached repentance as in Acts 20: 20, 21 “20 how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So you see, God is angry with us and even as we saw in Psalm 5: 4, 5, He also hates they who do walk in disobedience to Him.
4. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you.
5. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You “hate all” workers of iniquity.
Repenting of the way we are, the life we live, is a prime requisite for all who do not want to be cast into Hell and there spend eternity. For as Jesus said in Luke 12: 5
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!
Jesus tells us to fear Him Who has the power to cast us into Hell and to repent or we, too, will all perish. Is that what you want? Do you now see that God does “not” love us as we are?
However, if you want proof of God’s love it is here in the command to “repent”. Think of this, if God does not really care about us, even in His anger and hatred, He would not give man a way for us to know and experience His love and it is in the word “repent”. To turn from what we are like to being the kind of person that He wants for us to be. But, there is a condition to this love and it is found only in Jesus.
You see, man must pay for the sins he has committed, and payment extends to all eternity. But, if we turn to and believe in the One Who has made a way for us to receive forgiveness for our sins, because He has paid the penalty for all who will be “forgiven”, we can receive this salvation from being found guilty and in not having to face the wrath of God that is to come. It is in the person and work of Jesus that this can be found.
In speaking of Jesus, the Apostle Paul said this in Acts 4: 12
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus is the only person that can provide the needed forgiveness for our sins and He is the only One Who can provide salvation from paying the penalty for our sins.
Repentance is just the first step. Unless one also believes in and receives Jesus as Lord and Savior then repentance alone will not save you. In John 3: 36 it is written:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Repentance is where one starts. Having turned back towards God, to do His will, we need to obey, and are now able to do so, to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. In doing so we know that we are saved for it is only by God’s power are we able to do this.
Let me leave you with just a couple more verse. If you will do what it says it will be proof to you that you are not only forgiven for your sins but are now saved from facing the wrath of God. This verse is found in Romans 10: 9, 10, 13
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
And know this. In John 14: 21 & 23 Jesus tells us this…
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Would you also not want to know the love of God? Can you not repent of your sins and turn towards God and call upon Jesus for forgiveness? Would you not rather know and experience the love of God than to face His wrath? You can as God draws you to do so. By repenting of your sins, and in calling upon Jesus, you will be loved by God, and God will come and make His home with you.
It is a far better thing to do – to repent – and live with God than to refuse to do so and spend eternity in Hell. To repent is the beginning of knowing and experiencing God’s love. Will you not do so right now? Call upon Jesus and be saved and truly experience the love of God…
Why A Christian Should Not Say “This” To A Non-Christian
We have all heard it before. It may have been in an evangelistic meeting, a bible study or even in a personal evangelistic encounter. The one thing that we hear the most at the beginning is that “God loves you just the way you are.” But, does God really love the sinful person?
Think about this. If you are a non-Christian and you hear someone say that “God loves you”, would you not be happy to hear that? Of course you would. So, if you then are told that you need to come to Jesus and be saved your first thought might be … Saved? … Saved from what? … And why?
This is why a Christian should never tell a non-Christian that God loves Him. The fact is that God does “not” love the non-Christian. In Psalm 5: 4, 5 we read:
4. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you.
5. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You “hate all” workers of iniquity.
Basically the word iniquity means “sinful”. Who is it among us that are without sin? The answer is no one is without sin. We are all sinful people. Not only is God not pleased with they who are not disciples of Jesus, He hates them as well; not just their sin but “them” the non-Christian.
There are other verses in the bible that explain this, and many more that say specifically who it is that God does love, and we may look at them in a later post.
Because we stand in a sinful state before God He demands from us that we pay the penalty for the sins we have committed; having been found guilty for not being obedient to His holy Law that He has given to us to follow.
You see, God is a holy God; perfect in every way. He expects from us to be perfect as well, but we are not perfect. We are workers of iniquity, doing what we want and not what God wants. We always seek to do our will and we do not want the things of God. We are actually hostile, or enemies, to God. In short, we have offended this holy God and in His justice He demands retribution because of it. This is what angers Him and why it is that He hates they who do offend Him.
However, even in our sinfulness, being enemies of God, we are given an opportunity to make amends to God for our sins. For God knows that we are acting in ignorance to what we are doing. That is why God tells us in Acts 17: 30 the following:
30. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
So, even though God does not love us in our sinful state, He does give us a chance to turn from our sinful activities and come back to Him so that we can know His love. But, before we can do that, we need to know what the consequences are for our sinfulness, and what needs to be done in order not to be found guilty for our sins on the coming judgement day.
Sinful man does not know that God has a hatred for him, and that he already stands condemned before Him. The unsaved person needs to be told about this and be given the chance to repent for his sins, and be told in Whom it is that he must believe in order to receive forgiveness.
In our next message we will look at what the two choices are for the sinful person, and why we must, by faith, believe in Jesus in order to receive forgiveness for our sinful life and be brought into the family of God where we can know and truly experience the love of God.
And We Knew Him Not
It is that time of the year again. It is the Christmas season and in the midst of all of the glitter, decorations and materialism some find time to recognize the coming birth of Jesus. Each year, though, it seems that the babe in a manger plays a smaller role in the season as more and more people see this time of the year less as celebrating the birth of Jesus and more as a time for spending money, giving gifts, and most importantly – gift receiving. However, it has been this way from the very start.
Yes, it is the time for celebrating the birth of Jesus but so few people actually know who Jesus is. There are, as it seems, even some who call themselves Christians who know or really care about Jesus other than the fact that He is the babe in a manger; with shepherds on the hillside and three Wise Men coming from the East to worship Him.
Like I said, though, this is the way it has been ever since Jesus was born. In the Gospel of John 1: 1 – 3 & 10 God tells us the following:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
Can you imagine it? If we would be truthful, however, we would all admit that we would have been the same. We would not have recognized the Creator of all things. That God came down to be with us and to show us our sinfulness, and how it has separated us from Him. He came to remove that wall of separation so that we could have fellowship with Him and to be forgiven for our sins, and we would have none of it.
We like our sin. We do not want to change, and we want to keep what we have and not care about the babe in the manger after He is grown. We do not want to see that He is the One Who is offering Himself to be the one to bring us back to God. Our sinfulness will not let us, even today, see that Jesus is the Creator of all things. That He is the one who has given us life and breath and all things to enjoy in grateful praise to Christ our King.
The One Who laid out the universe and created man in His image, however, still calls out to us today to come to Him. Not just to see Him as the babe in a manger but to see Him as He really is – The Creator who has made all things, and to know that without Him nothing was made that was made. He is still in the world today, in His people, and the world still does not know Him.
The offer of salvation, of being forgiven for our sins and to submit to Him as Lord, and to believe in Him and to receive Him as the only One who can save us from the coming wrath of God is still being held out to us by Jesus. Only He can forgive our sins. Only Jesus can offer us eternal life in Heaven.
Now is the time to see Jesus as God, not just as a babe in a manger. Now is the time to come to Him, to see Him as Lord and to ask Him for forgiveness for our sins, and to believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead and so be saved from the wrath to come. Then will you be able to see Jesus for who He really is; as the Creator of all things and worship Him and Him alone as the one Who has made all things. For Jesus, as He was in the beginning, Who was the Word and, as the Word, is God.
For when one recognizes Jesus as the Creator, and to know Him as our Lord and Savior – as God, is what makes Christmas truly “Merry”…..
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will…
Faith – The Gift Of Life
At night Jesus receives a visitor; it is Nicodemus, a Ruler of the Jews. During their conversation Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is “born again” not only will he not see the Kingdom of God but he will not be allowed to enter.
Imagine that! Of all of the things that someone can do to try to be allowed into Heaven they can only do so if they are “born again”. The question is this:
- What does it mean to be “born again” and how does one accomplish that? How do we receive this “gift of life”?
If one needs this experience – to be “born again” – that would insinuate that one is somehow dead. Indeed we are dead, spiritually dead to God because of our sinful nature. Our sins separate us from God and we do not want God in our lives. We love our sin and our way of life. We do not seek God nor do we even desire to do so. And, even if we did, we would search for a God that would fit our needs, our desires, our wants. One that would allow us to continue living as we are but allow us into Heaven, if we are good enough. I have even heard people say that, “God is so loving, He would never send me to Hell and would forgive or overlook my “bad” points and would let me into Heaven to be with Him.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. As Jesus said, “unless you are “born again” you will not be allowed into Heaven.” But, if we are dead, how do we become “born again” if we do seek God or want Him on His terms? We are dead and we cannot do anything.
In Colossians 2: 13 we read the following:
13 And you which were dead in sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him (Jesus), forgiving you all your trespasses,
Here we see that it is God who makes us alive having forgiven us for our sins. But, do we not do something in the process? Should we not come to Jesus to ask Him to forgive us and to “accept” Him as our personal Savior? Actually, there is nothing in the Bible about anyone “accepting” Jesus as a personal Savior. In fact, in John 6: 44 Jesus says the following:
44 No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him:
This is a simple, but a very important, statement by Him. No one, neither you, me nor anyone can come to Jesus on our own unless we are drawn by God the Father. Here is a good example of how this works.
Remember the story of Lazarus? In short he died. When Jesus, Who loved him, came to his grave He asked that they remove the stone from the opening. Then He did the most remarkable thing, He specifically called “Lazarus” and ordered him to “come forth”. Question… Being dead, did Lazarus have any ability at all to obey the command to “come forth”? Of course not. Lazarus was dead and was not able to do anything at all until… Until he was first given life so that he could respond; he was given life, he obeyed the command of Jesus and he “came forth” out of the grave.
The same goes for anyone who is drawn by God to “come forth” to Jesus. We can only obey the command to come forth after we have been made alive, that is, “born again”. A good explanation of this can be found in Ephesians 2: 4 – 5
4 But God which is rich in mercy, through his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead by sins, hath quickened us (born again) together in Christ, by whose grace ye are saved,
It takes God to make us alive so that we can respond, just like Lazarus needed to be made alive so that he could respond. Once having been made alive (born again) we also need the will, the desire and the ability to come to Jesus for forgiveness for our sins, and to trust in Him for our salvation; so that by what Jesus has done for us will we be allowed into Heaven. Once having been “born again” only by faith can we do so, and here is where faith becomes the “gift of life”.
In Ephesians 2: 8 – 9 God tells us:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast himself.
God gives us the gift of faith by which we can believe on Jesus and to come to Him for salvation, trusting in Him as the only one who can provide for our eternal security with God in Heaven. Faith is not something that we can do on our own, we cannot do anything to generate faith as it needs to be given to us as a gift, a gift of life, so that we cannot boast about how “we” were able to save ourselves by creating our own faith by which we believed.
The Father draws us, makes us alive spiritually – that is, the act of being “born again” – and gives us the gift of faith that is needed to believe. It is by this gift of faith – this gift of life – that we receive Jesus as Lord and to trust in Him as Savior for providing salvation (forgiveness for our sins) by what He has done through His death, burial and resurrection from the grave, and to insure our eternal life in Heaven with God.
Yes, faith is a gift as we are told in Ephesians. Without this gift of faith we would not believe and come forth unto Jesus our Lord and Savior. This gift of faith truly is a “gift of life”.
Are You Working Or Resting For Salvation?
Back in the 80’s I was an Ordained Elder and, on what was known as “Laity Sunday”, I had been asked to bring the message. So I selected a topic about “Finding Rest In A Busy World” and I preached a sermon on the following verses from Matthew 11:
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
I felt that it was a good sermon and that it got the point across about resting in Jesus from the hustle and bustle of the busy world. In the years that followed that verse kept bothering me and I kept thinking that I was missing the true spiritual aspect of those verses. Well, the other day it came to me what I do believe is the real meaning of what Jesus was saying.
Yes, we can find rest when we bring all of our cares and woes to Him in prayer, and He will give us peace of such a nature that it will give us relief from worry in a way that allows us to rest in our trust for Him. However, there is more, a much deeper meaning that we find in these verses. The two key words at which we must look, and compare with other scripture verses, are the words “labor” and “rest”.
The word “labor” actually means to be wearied from working hard, toiling, etc. That I could understand but what was missing was working hard at what? What is it that Jesus is talking about from which we should stop working hard in doing? That is the question and it has taken me quite a long time in noticing what it is about what Jesus is talking.
Actually the thought of what it is, to which Jesus is alluding, came to me when I was reading, again for the umpteenth time, from the book of Hebrews in chapter four. First in Hebrews 4: 1 we read the following:
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
Then, in verse ten of chapter 4 we read this:
For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
It was at this point that I could feel I was at the very edge of seeing what it is about what Jesus is talking, and it was then that I remembered what Ephesians 2: 8, 9 says:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
There it is… “not of works”… ! Do you see it? When we are saved it is not because of any works that we have done but by faith given to us with which to believe. In other words, we cease or “rest” from our works, or from trying to earn salvation and just trust in Jesus for having done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
In the salvation of anyone we are to rest from working at being saved and just trust in Jesus for saving us and, in doing so, we will find rest for our souls. We have this promise of entering into His rest just by “resting” from laboring or toiling at our works in trying to be saved. As in Hebrews 4: 10, when we are saved it is because we have “ceased from our works” and just enter into the rest given by Jesus.
By resting from our works of righteousness, that we thought we could do, and trusting instead in the works of Jesus, we will find that by entering into His rest we will find rest for our souls in our salvation.
In short, just stop trying to earn salvation by your works, instead rest by faith in the finished works of Jesus, and you will find true rest for your souls.
Resting is as simple as admitting that we cannot save ourselves and seeing the need to bow before Jesus to proclaim our sinfulness, to call out to Him and confess that Jesus is Lord, and that you want to rest from your sinful works and instead trust in Him for forgiveness. Only by doing so can one have the rest that Jesus promises.
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Will you not now stop from your works and look to the rest that Jesus gives? Will you not proclaim Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the grave? Take His love and forgiveness upon you and follow Him. Just trust in Jesus and enter into the rest that only Jesus can give. The promise remains, even to today, for entering into His rest. Do not resist and come up short of entering.
Stop trying to earn salvation. Be released from the feeling of guilt. Enter into the rest that Jesus will give to all who call upon Him as Lord. Only then will your soul find true rest.
Born Again By The Word Of God
As a Biblical Student of Reformation Theology, believing in the doctrine of election, I am often asked how can I believe in being an Evangelical and doing the work of an Evangelist? My response is to say, “It is easy.” … 🙂
“Easy?” they will say, “how can it be easy if God has already chosen who will be saved?” At this point I begin to remind them of a few scripture verses.
Remember how Paul first went to Corinth? In a dream God told him in Acts 18:
9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” 11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
God told Paul that He had “many people in this city.” and Paul stayed there for more than a year preaching the Word to them. It was through that preaching that God saved those who were “His” people. Only by hearing the Word of God can anyone be born again by the Spirit of God.
In Romans 10: 17 Paul says the following:
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The Word of God is two-fold. First there is the written or spoken Word of God, that His disciples are commanded to share with the world, and second there is Jesus Himself, Who is the Word of God (see John 1:1), it is He Who works through the Holy Spirit to give understanding of the Gospel and opens their heart to receive it and to respond to it. As all who are saved receives a measure of faith, it needs to be applied – first, in order for it to work; so that one can respond with the faith needed in believing the gospel of Jesus.
In Ephesians 2: 8, 9 Paul writes the following:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
This is why Paul can also write in that same chapter, but in verse 1 the following:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Since we are spiritually dead in our sinful nature, and cannot understand or respond favorably to anything of God, we first need to be made spiritually alive in order to respond as God wants of us. It is because of the Word coming into our hearts and taking out the old one and giving us a new heart, a soft, welcoming and receiving heart that one becomes willing to respond to the Word, to be able to cry out to Jesus for forgiveness for our sins and to be willing to submit to Him as Lord in order for Him to be our Savior.
However, in order for all of this to happen we first need to hear the Word of God so that we can have the faith that is needed to be able to believe and be saved from the wrath of God that is to come in the end times.
Yes, I do believe in the doctrine of election but I also know that God has people, everywhere, whom He intends to save, but it takes for them to hear the Word in order for that to be achieved. As Paul tells it in Romans 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? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
How about you? Do you want to be forgiven for your sinfulness and be given the gift of salvation? It is as easy as doing what these verses in Romans 10: 8-10 says:
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
How much more can this be any easier? Just call upon Jesus and proclaim Him to be Lord. Confess your sinfulness and believe with your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead and you, too, will find out that you have been given the gift of salvation, and that you have been born again into the family of God.
Riff's Christian Journal 