"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them?
"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:13-14)
The Creator's name as He revealed Himself to Moses is "I AM." God is not an it. He is not a thing or an impersonal force. He is not a lifeless, mindless, cold block of wood or stone sculptured by art and man's device.
The gods and goddesses of the nations were conceived in the vain imaginations of fallen men. They were invented by human mind by combining the characteristics and qualities of human beings and other creatures. And by exaggerating some of these creaturely characteristics such as speed (as in the case of Hermes), beauty (as in the case of Aphrodite), strength (as in the case of Hercules), etc., they arrive to something, in their imagination, that in appearance before the mind's eye is a similitude that possess qualities of superiority over mere human mortals.
Such an appearance of superiority is equated by the fallen mind to godlikeness, and through blind fear and superstition, ensnare man to false worship of their own mind's creation and idolatry.
Idolatry in essence is the worship of fellow creatures instead of the Creator. It is the offering of adoration to something (or someone) that is finite in the place of the Infinite and Eternal One. It is the offering of devotional service to the corruptible creatures instead of the incorruptible God.
The Creator in His commandments, given through Moses, tells us: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." (Exodus 20:3-6)
To worship a fellow creature is sin, because it is, first of all, a violation of God's law. "Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4) God as the Creator of all is the Owner of all. He alone has the sole right to appoint WHERE His creatures should live and HOW they ought to live.
God alone has the absolute right to rule over His creation that He had created and owned. He gave His law to manifest His will to them, and to establish a solid basis for life and conduct for His rational creatures. God alone has the right to tell what is right in contrast to wrong, good in contrast to evil, truth in contrast to lie (and error), righteousness in contrast to sin (and iniquity).
When God's law therefore tells us that it is wrong to worship and serve a fellow creature (or an idol), we are duty bound, as His creatures, to heed and obey His words. Idolatry (or worship of fellow creatures) is therefore rebellion against God, for it is disregarding God, His glory, and His words. It is choosing our own ways and thoughts instead of God's truth. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12)
Worship of fellow creature is also a foolish deification of something that by nature is not Deity. Paul reminded the Galatians of their former state: "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are not gods." (Galatians 4:8)
The Supreme Lord Who is the Creator of all is God alone by nature, because He alone is incorruptible, eternal, all-wise, all-powerful, everywhere-present, immutable, and all-knowing. He alone also is all-holy and righteous. He is also absolutely sovereign, and yet He is love infinite.
In contrast to the all-glorious Creator, Paul reminds the believers: "We know that AN IDOL IS NOTHING in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4). Yes, an idol, a counterfeit god, is a NO-THING. It is absolutely worthless.
Idols are "an abomination" before God: "The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: FOR IT IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD THY GOD. Neither shalt thou bring AN ABOMINATION into thine house, LEST THOU BE A CURSED THING LIKE IT: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; FOR IT IS A CURSED THING." (Deuteronomy 7:25-26)
It is therefore the height of insult to the Most High to bow oneself down to an idol and serve it (a creature) in defiance of the Creator Who alone deserves our worship and adoration.
The Word of God reveals the future judgment that awaits sinners and idolaters: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and IDOLATERS, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)
Are you an idolater? Do you bow down to a grave image? Do you serve a fellow creature instead of the one God Who made you and created everything around you? Remember that idolatry is sin. It is rebellion against the true God Who created you, and some day in the near future you will face your Creator in the great white throne judgment to answer for your idolatry and sins. You must repent now, forsake your false gods, and come to the Lord Jesus Christ Who died for your sins on the cross of Calvary.
Perhaps, you are an atheist that denies the existence of God; or, an agnostic who is indifferent and that simply chooses to be ignorant of God. You may in self-pride think that you have no place for any pagan idol in your heart. But idolatry has other aspects than its more obvious expression - prostration before a statue or a graven image.
God's Word reveals that COVETOUSNESS IS ALSO IDOLATRY (Colossians 3:5). To covet is to envy and desire what your neighbour has. One of God's commandments enjoins us: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox [or means of livelihood], nor his ass [or car], nor anything that is thy neighbour's." (Exodus 20:17)
To covet is to desire ardently the things of this world to the point that the things of this world become more important to us than God Himself. Covetousness makes creatures more important than the Creator. It makes a god of gold, silver, and money.
"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (riches)." (Luke 16:13)
"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some COVETED AFTER, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:10)
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever." (1 John 2:15-17)
Anything (or any creature) that becomes a rival of God (the Creator) in our heart also becomes an idol in the shrine of our mind and in the altar of our deepest yearning and affection. This is idolatry in its subtlest form. It is the fallen heart adoring and desiring a creature (or a thing) as its supreme interest in place of God the Creator Himself!
Those who love their graven idols, made of wood and stone, and those who love money more than God, are both of them idolaters! Both must repent if they are not to suffer the consequences of their sins.
"Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6-7)
Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone can save you from your sins. He alone died for you on the cross at Calvary, "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." (Romans 10:9)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Why Faith is Important?
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
Saving faith is not the same as credulity. It is not also a groundless leap in the dark, or believing something that you know nothing about.
There is such a thing as natural faith. This is the faith that we exercise in daily living. For example, you may ride a passenger bus, or perhaps a taxi cab, going to work. You of course must believe that the driver of the bus (or taxi) will take you to your chosen destination. You need to exercise natural faith in such a situation for you to be able to carry on your activities daily.
Another situation that requires the exercise of faith is when you enter a restaurant, and then after checking on the menu you order your favorite dish. You of course must believe that when you order Italian spaghetti that the waiter won't give Japanese noodles. Or when you order coffee that they won't give you Chinese tea. You must also believe that the cook or the waiter won't put poison on your food. In other words, you exercise natural faith in the entire affair.
Our daily life and activities, whether at work or at school or in business or in dealing with peoples, will be next to impossibility apart from our exercise of natural faith. We will look quite queer, mentally imbalance, or rude if we'll question every waiter that serves us as to whether the food being offered is free from poison!
We therefore see from the above examples how important faith is even in the daily activities of life.
A consideration of the place of faith in our relationship with our Creator - the Almighty God - will show further how essential faith is. The verse quoted above from the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God."
But this kind of faith is supernatural in that it comes from God as a gift. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: Not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Fallen man in his/her present condition has no such spiritual faith. God through His Spirit must first impart new life to man for him to have such a faith. Ephesians 2:1 describes mankind generally as "dead in trespasses and sins" as to their present condition. They are very much alive physically to all physical and material things of this world. But they are very much dead, by contrast, to all things of God's Spirit, with no eyes to see and no ears to hear and totally without feelings when it comes to spiritual things.
Psalm chapter 14, verse 1, tells us further: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." The atheist's denial of God's existence is the result of spiritual blindness and ignorance. A man, who is born blind, may deny the existence of light in his mind. He may reason that he cannot see light, and therefore light doesn't exist. "To see is to believe."
But the blind man's denial of light's existence doesn't change the fact that light does exist. The same is true of God Almighty. The fool's statements: "There is no God. "God doesn't exist." "God is dead." "Man's mind created god." All such remarks don't in anyway affect the fact that God is He Who reveals Himself as the eternal "I AM." (Exodus 3:14)
Man's fallen heart and mind did create gods and goddesses. Hence the nations have their pantheons, both past and present. The Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman pantheons are very popular to name a few. These nations give us polytheism in their conflicting diversities.
But these false gods of fallen mankind's imagination give us a hint, pointing us to the one, living, true God. To illustrate, there are many fake hundred dollar bills that are floating around, but those false (or fake) dollars don't prove that genuine dollar bills don't exist. Rather they point to the fact that real (true) hundred dollar bills do exist! The counterfeit hints the existence of the real and true!
There is another important point. That is, how can you know the counterfeit from the genuine? The fake from the real? The false from the true? If you only have the counterfeit, and haven't yet seen a real one, how can you have a basis to compare with to determine the false from the true?
How can you know that what you are believing is a lie unless you know its opposite, that is, the truth to compare with? If you only have a lie that you wrongly assumed as the truth, how can you know that it's a lie except you are shown the true truth for you to have a basis for comparison?
It is now time to ask one of the most fundamental of all questions: "What is truth?" (John 18:38) Pilate once asked this most important question but how sad that he seemed not interested enough to know the answer that he immediately turned away from the One Who alone can give the real answer!
Let's again repeat the question - "What is truth?" - but now let's humbly hear what's the answer from the Lord Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14:6)
Christ's answer is clear. He said, "I am...the Truth." Christ is not just "a truth," one among many truths. But He said, He is THE TRUTH, that is, Truth absolutely. Absolute Truth is not just an idea, a thought, a philosophical narration, a religious organization, or an impersonal thing. Absolute Truth is a Person. Absolute Truth is Jesus Christ.
"One plus one equals two" - is a truth. It is a mathematical truth to be exact. "Abraham Lincoln was an American president" - is another truth. A historical truth to be exact. So there are many truths in different categories and subjects. All such truths are relative truths. They are truths that had to do with creation and time.
But there is only one absolute truth - THE TRUTH - without beginning and without end. Jesus Christ is the Truth. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)
John chapter 1 reveals to us Who Jesus Christ is: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made...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." (please read verses 1-14 to see the contexts)
The Lord Jesus Christ, even before His incarnation or coming as a human being, already pre-existed in the beginning (before the creation of all things) as the Word of God. He already had the glory of the Son, with the Father, even before the world was (see John 17:5)
Both the terms "in the beginning" (John 1:1) and "before the world was" (17:5) refer to eternity and to the fact of Christ's eternal preexistence with God the Father previous to the creation of the universe or of all things.
Only God has such an eternal being (or an existence that has no beginning or end). "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." (Psalm 90:2)
Christ had and has such an eternal being (or existence), because John chapter 1, verse 1 tells us further: "...and the Word was God." This is quite clear. The Scripture is plainly telling us that Christ as the Word (before His incarnation) was nothing less than Deity Himself!
John chapter 1, verse 3 further reveals that Christ, as the Word, is the Creator of the entire universe: "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made."
The term "all things" refer to all creation without exception. "All things" were made by the Word (or Christ). Christ is the Creator of all. "And without Him was not any thing made that was made." That is, nothing, absolutely nothing, came to existence apart from Him.
Saint Paul agrees, for under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote: "[Christ] is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:15-17)
The Lord Jesus Christ is clearly the Creator. He was the Elohim (God) Who created the heavens and the earth in the beginning (compare Genesis 1:1 with Hebrews 1:8, 10).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. He is God. As such He is THE TRUTH. That is, Truth absolutely. Truth personified and embodied.
God the Father sent Christ(His Son) to reveal His eternal love, righteousness and saving grace to us through Him. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
This is Paul's own testimony: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15)
Christ Jesus - God's Son - came to save NOT the religious man, or the church-going man, or the moral man. No, but He came to save sinners. Yes, SINNERS. I'll repeat for you not to escape this most important fact.
Christ came to save S-I-N-N-E-R-S. Yes, SINNERS. What kind of sinners? Any kind, my friend, any kind of sinners including the worst of them - even THE CHIEF of them. Paul, "who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious" (1 Timothy 1:13), is the example of what kind of sinners Christ is capable of saving through the power of His shed blood on the cross.
Are you a sinner? A genuine sinner? A thief? A murderer? An adulterer? An adulteress? An idolater? A swindler? An immoral man or woman? A liar? A rebel son or daughter? An envious or covetous person?
An egotistic man or woman? Full of self-righteousness and pride? A very selfish person? A worshipper of yourself? A worshipper of fellowman? A blasphemer? Full of hatred and bitterness?
Are you a sinner? From the witness of your own conscience and experience, from the witness of your parents and friends and enemies, and most of all from the witness of the Word of God, you must know the answer.
If you acknowledge and confess without hypocrisy, as before God, that you are a sinner, then please hear this good news: CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS AND THAT INCLUDES YOU! CHRIST CAME TO SAVE YOU! AND HE WILL SAVE YOU!
Do you want to experience God's forgiveness and a total cleansing of your heart and soul, that you can actually become a new creation in Christ, then don't hesitate, dear friend, come to Christ right now and call on Him to save you.
Yes, wherever you are, anytime, day or night, in sickness or health, God is present there with you through His omnipresent holy Spirit. God can hear you. Come humbly to Christ. He will by no means cast you out if you come to Him. Come as you are yourself.
There is no need to be other than yourself. Come to Christ right now. He will give you a new life. Repent and believe in Him.
Please understand, dear friend, that I didn't say come to a church, but COME TO CHRIST HIMSELF, to Him Who died for you on the cross of Calvary, and rose again from the dead on the third day!
Please understand, dear friend, that I didn't say come to a priest, or to a pastor, or a religious minister, but COME TO CHRIST. Christ alone can save you. He is the ONE MEDIATOR between God and men. He is the only Mediator that you will ever need to approach God.
What you need is not a new religion, or a new church, or new religious affiliation. No. Christ is all-sufficient. Christ is THE SAVIOR. You need Christ Himself plus nothing!
Christ says: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
Saving faith is not the same as credulity. It is not also a groundless leap in the dark, or believing something that you know nothing about.
There is such a thing as natural faith. This is the faith that we exercise in daily living. For example, you may ride a passenger bus, or perhaps a taxi cab, going to work. You of course must believe that the driver of the bus (or taxi) will take you to your chosen destination. You need to exercise natural faith in such a situation for you to be able to carry on your activities daily.
Another situation that requires the exercise of faith is when you enter a restaurant, and then after checking on the menu you order your favorite dish. You of course must believe that when you order Italian spaghetti that the waiter won't give Japanese noodles. Or when you order coffee that they won't give you Chinese tea. You must also believe that the cook or the waiter won't put poison on your food. In other words, you exercise natural faith in the entire affair.
Our daily life and activities, whether at work or at school or in business or in dealing with peoples, will be next to impossibility apart from our exercise of natural faith. We will look quite queer, mentally imbalance, or rude if we'll question every waiter that serves us as to whether the food being offered is free from poison!
We therefore see from the above examples how important faith is even in the daily activities of life.
A consideration of the place of faith in our relationship with our Creator - the Almighty God - will show further how essential faith is. The verse quoted above from the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God."
But this kind of faith is supernatural in that it comes from God as a gift. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: Not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Fallen man in his/her present condition has no such spiritual faith. God through His Spirit must first impart new life to man for him to have such a faith. Ephesians 2:1 describes mankind generally as "dead in trespasses and sins" as to their present condition. They are very much alive physically to all physical and material things of this world. But they are very much dead, by contrast, to all things of God's Spirit, with no eyes to see and no ears to hear and totally without feelings when it comes to spiritual things.
Psalm chapter 14, verse 1, tells us further: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." The atheist's denial of God's existence is the result of spiritual blindness and ignorance. A man, who is born blind, may deny the existence of light in his mind. He may reason that he cannot see light, and therefore light doesn't exist. "To see is to believe."
But the blind man's denial of light's existence doesn't change the fact that light does exist. The same is true of God Almighty. The fool's statements: "There is no God. "God doesn't exist." "God is dead." "Man's mind created god." All such remarks don't in anyway affect the fact that God is He Who reveals Himself as the eternal "I AM." (Exodus 3:14)
Man's fallen heart and mind did create gods and goddesses. Hence the nations have their pantheons, both past and present. The Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman pantheons are very popular to name a few. These nations give us polytheism in their conflicting diversities.
But these false gods of fallen mankind's imagination give us a hint, pointing us to the one, living, true God. To illustrate, there are many fake hundred dollar bills that are floating around, but those false (or fake) dollars don't prove that genuine dollar bills don't exist. Rather they point to the fact that real (true) hundred dollar bills do exist! The counterfeit hints the existence of the real and true!
There is another important point. That is, how can you know the counterfeit from the genuine? The fake from the real? The false from the true? If you only have the counterfeit, and haven't yet seen a real one, how can you have a basis to compare with to determine the false from the true?
How can you know that what you are believing is a lie unless you know its opposite, that is, the truth to compare with? If you only have a lie that you wrongly assumed as the truth, how can you know that it's a lie except you are shown the true truth for you to have a basis for comparison?
It is now time to ask one of the most fundamental of all questions: "What is truth?" (John 18:38) Pilate once asked this most important question but how sad that he seemed not interested enough to know the answer that he immediately turned away from the One Who alone can give the real answer!
Let's again repeat the question - "What is truth?" - but now let's humbly hear what's the answer from the Lord Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14:6)
Christ's answer is clear. He said, "I am...the Truth." Christ is not just "a truth," one among many truths. But He said, He is THE TRUTH, that is, Truth absolutely. Absolute Truth is not just an idea, a thought, a philosophical narration, a religious organization, or an impersonal thing. Absolute Truth is a Person. Absolute Truth is Jesus Christ.
"One plus one equals two" - is a truth. It is a mathematical truth to be exact. "Abraham Lincoln was an American president" - is another truth. A historical truth to be exact. So there are many truths in different categories and subjects. All such truths are relative truths. They are truths that had to do with creation and time.
But there is only one absolute truth - THE TRUTH - without beginning and without end. Jesus Christ is the Truth. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)
John chapter 1 reveals to us Who Jesus Christ is: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made...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." (please read verses 1-14 to see the contexts)
The Lord Jesus Christ, even before His incarnation or coming as a human being, already pre-existed in the beginning (before the creation of all things) as the Word of God. He already had the glory of the Son, with the Father, even before the world was (see John 17:5)
Both the terms "in the beginning" (John 1:1) and "before the world was" (17:5) refer to eternity and to the fact of Christ's eternal preexistence with God the Father previous to the creation of the universe or of all things.
Only God has such an eternal being (or an existence that has no beginning or end). "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." (Psalm 90:2)
Christ had and has such an eternal being (or existence), because John chapter 1, verse 1 tells us further: "...and the Word was God." This is quite clear. The Scripture is plainly telling us that Christ as the Word (before His incarnation) was nothing less than Deity Himself!
John chapter 1, verse 3 further reveals that Christ, as the Word, is the Creator of the entire universe: "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made."
The term "all things" refer to all creation without exception. "All things" were made by the Word (or Christ). Christ is the Creator of all. "And without Him was not any thing made that was made." That is, nothing, absolutely nothing, came to existence apart from Him.
Saint Paul agrees, for under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote: "[Christ] is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:15-17)
The Lord Jesus Christ is clearly the Creator. He was the Elohim (God) Who created the heavens and the earth in the beginning (compare Genesis 1:1 with Hebrews 1:8, 10).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. He is God. As such He is THE TRUTH. That is, Truth absolutely. Truth personified and embodied.
God the Father sent Christ(His Son) to reveal His eternal love, righteousness and saving grace to us through Him. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
This is Paul's own testimony: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15)
Christ Jesus - God's Son - came to save NOT the religious man, or the church-going man, or the moral man. No, but He came to save sinners. Yes, SINNERS. I'll repeat for you not to escape this most important fact.
Christ came to save S-I-N-N-E-R-S. Yes, SINNERS. What kind of sinners? Any kind, my friend, any kind of sinners including the worst of them - even THE CHIEF of them. Paul, "who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious" (1 Timothy 1:13), is the example of what kind of sinners Christ is capable of saving through the power of His shed blood on the cross.
Are you a sinner? A genuine sinner? A thief? A murderer? An adulterer? An adulteress? An idolater? A swindler? An immoral man or woman? A liar? A rebel son or daughter? An envious or covetous person?
An egotistic man or woman? Full of self-righteousness and pride? A very selfish person? A worshipper of yourself? A worshipper of fellowman? A blasphemer? Full of hatred and bitterness?
Are you a sinner? From the witness of your own conscience and experience, from the witness of your parents and friends and enemies, and most of all from the witness of the Word of God, you must know the answer.
If you acknowledge and confess without hypocrisy, as before God, that you are a sinner, then please hear this good news: CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS AND THAT INCLUDES YOU! CHRIST CAME TO SAVE YOU! AND HE WILL SAVE YOU!
Do you want to experience God's forgiveness and a total cleansing of your heart and soul, that you can actually become a new creation in Christ, then don't hesitate, dear friend, come to Christ right now and call on Him to save you.
Yes, wherever you are, anytime, day or night, in sickness or health, God is present there with you through His omnipresent holy Spirit. God can hear you. Come humbly to Christ. He will by no means cast you out if you come to Him. Come as you are yourself.
There is no need to be other than yourself. Come to Christ right now. He will give you a new life. Repent and believe in Him.
Please understand, dear friend, that I didn't say come to a church, but COME TO CHRIST HIMSELF, to Him Who died for you on the cross of Calvary, and rose again from the dead on the third day!
Please understand, dear friend, that I didn't say come to a priest, or to a pastor, or a religious minister, but COME TO CHRIST. Christ alone can save you. He is the ONE MEDIATOR between God and men. He is the only Mediator that you will ever need to approach God.
What you need is not a new religion, or a new church, or new religious affiliation. No. Christ is all-sufficient. Christ is THE SAVIOR. You need Christ Himself plus nothing!
Christ says: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
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