Soul Revival: A 40 Days' Journey to the Feet of Christ

Sunday, January 2, 2011

God loves you!

God loves you!
  
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!

Beloved, it is with great joy in my heart that I share the love of God with you.  My dear beloved, God loves you!

The Word of God says:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

My dear beloved, it does not matter who you are, where you are from, or what you have done--God loves you!  And He wants you to come to the knowledge of His love for you and be saved.

Do not worry, my dear beloved, about what you have done or said or thought, for there is nothing you have done, said or thought, that has not been done, said and thought before.

Everything that you have done has been done by someone else before you, and some of these people have now accepted God’s offer of forgiveness, so all that they have ever done, God has forgiven them.  And not only that, God has also forgotten all their sins! Hallelujah!

And you too, my dear beloved, can be forgiven by God today, this very hour!  All you have to do is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior.

Why do you need Jesus?

Because God, the Creator of the universe and everything therein, has created us to live forever in a perfect world full of love and goodness in His presence, without pain or death.

Then the first man, Adam, sinned against God, and brought judgment unto himself and his children.   For according to God’s counsel and righteousness, the wages of sin is death:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

When Adam sinned against God, he died spiritually.  Now, since every man is a direct descendent of Adam, every man and woman is born dying.  But through the mercy of God and by His grace in Christ Jesus, we may have life, life more abundantly, right here on earth, and eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

The gift of God

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

Beloved, we are all descendents of Adam and Eve, and because we were all born after the fall (that is, after sin entered the world), none of us is perfect.

For our faults and failures, whether small or great, are sins that separate us from the presence and righteousness of God.

Therefore my dear beloved, the Word of God states clearly that there is none of us who is righteous.  For all of us, through faults and failures, have sinned against God, and have fallen short of the glory of God, which is righteousness and holiness.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)

So God became a Man, a perfect Man--Jesus Christ--who unlike us, was not conceived by the union of a man and a woman.

But while a young woman was still a virgin, Christ was incarnated by the power of God’s Spirit, into this virgin’s womb, and through this young woman, God was born a Man into the world.
Why?

Because according to God’s counsel and righteousness, since a perfect man has sinned, a perfect man must die.

Now since we are all children of Adam, who became a sinner, we are, all together with our father Adam, sinners by default (this is also called original sin).  So none of us qualifies to save himself or others.  None of us can be born, nor live, sinless lives.
But thanks be to God, who is rich in love and mercy, who sent forth His Son Jesus Christ into the world, to be born of a woman (yet without sin, because of His miraculous conception), to take our sins, sins Adam and all his children have committed, upon Himself, and pay the penalty of sin for us, death.
Now this Jesus has already come into the world, and has already died for you and me and for everyone else in the whole world.

Now His blood, death, and resurrection provide the basis for reconciliation with God. That is, through Jesus Christ, we all can experience a restored and renewed relationship with God.

God’s invitation and promise:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him [Jesus Christ] should not perish but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

My dear beloved, this invitation is extended to everyone in this world, no exception, for all have sinned.  He who has stolen and he who has killed, and she who has committed adultery and fornication, and he who just thought evil, are all the same, for all have sinned.

But the promise of God is that:

“…whoever believes in Him [Jesus Christ] should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

What is it that you must believe about Jesus Christ?

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)  Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”  (Romans 5:12-19)

My dear beloved, glory be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ.   Amen!

This is what God wants you to know and to believe: we are all born sinners whether we like it or not.  We do not have the choice nor the power to be born sinless.  We are born sinners whether we agree or not.  This is called condemnation (original sin): the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve are made sinners through Adam and Eve’s sin.

But unlike condemnation, the gift of justification--that is, to be made righteous without works--we have a choice whether or not to believe and accept.  Because Adam disobeyed God, we are all born sinners; yet even so, because Jesus Christ our Lord has obeyed God unto death, we can all be made righteous by believing in Jesus, that He has indeed obeyed God on our behalf.  In believing, His obedience is credited to us in the form of righteousness.  Hallelujah!  Glory be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen!

My dear beloved, though we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, those who believe that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty of their sins on their behalf, will not perish with those who do not believe, but will receive God’s promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

To believe on Christ means to believe Him with our minds, confess Him with our mouths, commit to Him with our hearts, and most of all, to trust Him enough to give Him our lives.

 “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.”  (Romans 10:9) 

All you must do is believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of living God, and that He died on the cross for all your sins, and that God raised Him from the dead.

Once you have believed, you must repent, confess, and forsake all your sins by God’s grace, and ask God to forgive all your sins in Jesus’ name, and cleanse you from all your sins with the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

And God will forgive you all your sins and cleanse you with blood of Jesus, and you will become a new creature, a new person.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  (1 John 1:7)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:9)

My dear beloved, if you hear the voice of the One who died for you, please open your heart so that the Lord Jesus may come in, for He is at the door, knocking on your heart’s door.

“Behold, I [Jesus] stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”  (Revelation 3:20)

My dear beloved, do not allow this opportunity to pass you by today.  Yes, today is the right time.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.  Today and even right now is all you have.  Surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.  And testify that God indeed is Loving and Merciful.

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Please hear God’s voice TODAY.  Tomorrow may be too late!

“While it is said: today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…”  (Hebrews 3:15)

“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:10)

“For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”   (Romans 10:13)

Beloved, you can call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ right now and be saved!
You can open your heart right now by offering this prayer meaningfully:

Dear God,
I believe You love me.
I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,
that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that God raised Him from the dead.
I come now before Your throne of grace and confess that I am a sinner.
Please forgive all my sins in the name of Jesus Christ, and cleanse me of all unrighteousness with the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
I repent and confess all my sins, and I promise to forsake all my sins by Your grace.
I believe all my sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name.
I now ask Jesus to come into my heart.
I hereby confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal Savior.
I hereby break any covenant or agreement I have made with the devil or any of his agents, knowingly or unknowingly. I break this in the name of Jesus.
I believe that I am free, and I accept Jesus’ promise of eternal life.
Now I ask Jesus to come into my life as my Lord and Savior.
Please help me to live for Christ alone from this day forward.
In Jesus’ name. Amen!

 Here is His invitation for you today, right now, this very day, this very hour:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30)

Do not allow this invitation to pass you by today.   Yes, today is the right time.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.  Today, and even right now, is all you have.   Surrender your life to the Lord Jesus and give Him all your burdens and He will lift you up.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
 and the love of God our Father,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you,
 now and forever more. Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment