No wonder the Bible says: “The natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are spiritually discerned”. (1 Cor. 2:14) Again the Scripture declares: “Had they known who He was they would not have rejected the Prince of life”. (1 Cor.2: 8)
They tried to reason it all out and couldn’t. The intellectuals failed miserably; and they are still messing up today trying to incorporate Jesus the Christ, into their natural-minded stereotype. It can’t be done!
Why can’t puny little man take God’s Word at face value - accept the Gospel of Christ for what it’s worth and embrace it all, including the supernatural aspects of: (1) Who He is, (2) Why He came, (3) What He did, and (4) What it all means and how it relates to us today?
But NO, the egotistical, proud earthling wants to find his own way, chart his own course and fly his own craft to the stars! The Bible says, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God”. (John 1:11-12)
What a position we enjoy as redeemed blood-bought children of God. I can hardly contain it all! Salvation is a FREE gift from our Creator!
COMPLEX? Yes, God’s part was profound, complex and elaborate! Our part, however, is easy! It is so simple that many feel it is too elementary. It’s a fact of life that in everything from religion to politics, people like to make things as complex as possible. Yet no tool or gadget is as good and effective as the one that is user-friendly. The simpler anything operates the more valuable it is and the more reliable and easy to maintain!
Here is the plain, simple and yet profound truth: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
Jesus confirmed that statement when He declared: “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”. (Mark 2:17); “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost”. (Luke 19:10)
WE HAVE ALL GONE ASTRAY!
“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise (crush) Him. He hath put Him to grief.” (Is. 53: 6, 7, 10)
“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power,when He had BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.” (Heb.1: 1-3)
“Christ Jesus… Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
“And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
“Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a NAME which is above every name: That at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil.2: 5-11)“And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS(heb. Saviour):for He shall save His people from their sins…that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matt. 21-23)
A visiting missionary arrived at the Vancouver Airport on a Sunday morning. As the Pastor hurriedly drove toward the church, it seemed as though every light was green.
Overjoyed, he jubilantly exclaimed, “My, isn’t it wonderful how we have had only green lights. We haven’t even encountered one red light all the way from the airport. Surely, God is with us”! The missionary wisely replied, “If we would have hit only red lights along the way this morning, would God have still been with us”?
A 28 year-old preacher died in an East European Communist prison during the 1970s. He had been incarcerated for eight years for telling little children about Jesus!
Beaten, bruised, tortured and brainwashed, he finally succumbed to the guard’s brutality and they found him dead one morning in a pool of blood on the dungeon floor. Vital organs had ruptured as a result of the traumatic beatings and he hemorrhaged blood until he died.
In the last minutes of life he had managed to stagger to the dungeon wall and with his finger write his testimony in his own blood. So great was the impact of his testimony that the guards who found him the next morning accepted Christ as their Saviour. And they passed the story to Pentecostal Christians in Western Europe, via the underground route!
This is what he wrote: “I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining and I believe in love even though I feel it not. And I believe in God even when He is silent, so by faith I’ll hold on to what I have got”!
He hadn’t seen the sun in 8 years. He had felt and seen only hatred from his captors and for eight long years he had prayed for release from that living hell without an answer, but still he believed in God! Hallelujah!
Even when things go wrong, we still have God’s abiding presence! How wonderful, that God is with us always. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. In good times or bad times; in joy or sorrow; in sickness or health! God is with us - Praise His Holy Name.
JESUS PROPHESIED HIS OWN DEATH & RESURRECTION
"And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples. Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified." (Matthew 26:1-2)
"Then said Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." (Matthew 26:31-32)
The Holy Record states: "And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments:
"And they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, What seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered unto the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words." (Luke 24:2-8)
JESUS CHRIST ABOLISHED DEATH
Such a thrill fills my spirit when I read these words: "Who hath abolished death." There is only ONE who could abolish death and that ONE is Jesus the Son of God! To Him be glory, honour and praise forever and ever!
Life is the most precious gift anyone could desire, but because of Adam and Eve's sin we inherited physical and spiritual death, the penalty for the transgression! In order to free us from this double curse, God sent His Son into the world to pay the ultimate price and secure our freedom from Satan and the kingdom of Darkness!
To satisfy the demands of Divine Justice, Adam's high treason and transgression had to be punished because of his terrible crime and betrayal.
God's warning to Adam was unmistakable: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
The Holy Bible states: "The soul that sinneth shall die." (Ezekiel 18:20); "...for it is blood that maketh atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11); "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God", "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 3:23; 6:23)
