For God So Loved the World…

If someone asked you, “What’s the gospel of Jesus Christ?” What would you say? Many would quote John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son… This is the essence of the gospel message. Jesus said before his ascension, “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.

The context of John 3:16 continues in verses 17-21:
“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. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

Why did God send his only begotten son? The answer is in two verses that precede John 3:16. According to John 3:14: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” In this illustration from the Old Testament, God spared Israel even though they were grumbling and complaining in the wilderness. Because of their unbelief, God allowed poisonous vipers to enter the camp of Israel and many were bitten and died. However, God in his mercy made a way for their deliverance even though Israel had turned its back on God. In looking to the serpent that Moses lifted up, their lives were spared. Likewise when we repent, turn from our wicked ways, and turn our eyes upon Jesus, God will save us from perishing. As the song says, Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.

There are four categories of people when they hear the gospel of salvation. The first category of people is those who reject the gospel message outright. The second category is those who attend church and go through the rituals, but never have repented and do not have assurance of salvation. The third category is those who think they’re saved but they are not. They believe that they are saved because of their good works. These are like the Pharisees whom Jesus spoke of when he said, “You call me Lord Lord, but I shall say, I never knew you.” The fourth category is those who have believed the word of God that says, “These things have I written unto you that you may know that ye are sons of God.” These are Christians who know whom they have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep that (Holy Spirit) which He’s committed to them against that day of righteous judgement. These are believers whom God has sealed with his Holy Spirit of promise. These are the sons of God who have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.

God’s salvation is because of love…For God so loved the world… God is love and light and in him is no darkness at all. God has called us to his church the body of Christ so that we can share his love for as Jesus said, you shall know that they are my disciples because of their love for one another.

God loved the world. The world is the Greek word “cosmos.” He even loves those in categories one through three. God loves even though this fallen world is not worthy of love. The agape love of God is unconditional. God’s love is not because of who we are but because of who He is. Love is the nature of God himself. The gospel of salvation is the good news of the love of God and the peace of God. Peace is the result of reconciliation through the sacrifice for our sin that Jesus Christ paid on our behalf.

In the first century, a Roman cohort of 70 soldiers had dedicated themselves to live for Christ. Because of their faith and allegiance to their Lord Jesus Christ, the Roman government issued a commanded that these soldiers should be put to death. However the soldiers that were sent as executioners, instead of killing them, joined the ranks of the Christian soldiers. Jesus said, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. The goodness is a result of the unconditional love of God.

Our salvation is a gift of God’s grace. Grace is divine unmerited favor given by the one who didn’t need to give it to the ones who didn’t deserve to receive it. What is it that God gave? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God’s greatest gift is the gift of his son. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…

How do we accept his gift? God says, “show me that you mean business by giving up the thing that is most to you.” This is a hard lesson to learn. Pete recalls that he learned this lesson in the father’s waiting room when his wife was in labor with their second son. The doctor came into the waiting room and said, “We’re losing the baby’s heartbeat.” God asked Pete, “no matter the outcome of this situation, will you still honor and serve me?” Pete had to search his heart. He answered, “God, you’re in control not me. No matter what, even if you take my wife and son, I’ll still honor and serve you.” The doctor came back into the waiting room and said, “We lost the baby.” The prayer that Pete had prayed comforted him and his wife through this ordeal. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways. Through the trials of this life, God will teach us that all things work together for good (His good and our good) for those who love God…to those who are called according to His purpose.

Can you trust a God who asks you to give up everything for him? Leaders lead by example. God himself gave up his only begotten son on our behalf. He will teach us the greatest lesson: to know that God is all we need when we come to an understanding that he’s all we’ve got. When we give up everything for God, only then will he be our all in all.

There is only one sin that cannot be forgiven. It’s not sin that keeps people from salvation. Rather, it’s rejection of the Saviour from sin. The message of salvation is in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Lord means owner. Salvation is not in who we are, but in whose we are. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father except by him. Jesus Christ is the gift given by God whereby we must be saved.

The bad news is that those who reject the Saviour will perish in eternity. The way is broad that leads to destruction. They remain stuck in categories one through three. However narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life through Jesus Christ. Faith must have an object of faith. The object of faith is Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the gospel: that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life… For he who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. This is the message of the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

The greatest gift, the greatest Christmas present is the presence of Christ in us the hope of glory. This is the gospel message. For God so loved that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Amazing Grace

According to Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” This is amazing grace! Grace is unmerited divine favor given by the one who didn’t need to give it to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it. The very next verse is an exhortation for a man of God to live his life so that his pastor won’t need to lie at his funeral. “For we are his workmanship, (His masterpiece, His great work) created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We who have been saved by grace have been called to the great co-mission: to spread the gospel of the good news of salvation.

For a non-Christian, the most important question is “if you died today, where would you spend eternity?” The bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is appointed for all men once to die, and then comes the judgement.

How did we get to the point that we needed to be saved? God created man and woman with his spirt within them: In the image of God created he them. The image of God is spirit. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to bless them. He gave them only one commandment: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For on the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s only commandment, they committed the original sin. The bible says, “He who knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Sin breaks fellowship with God. When they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died spiritually that day. All men inherited the sin nature from Adam. Adam passed to all men his nature of body and soul. Soul is biological life. However, as a consequence of Adam’s sin, we are all born without God’s spirit.

After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from. God. The first consequence of sin is shame and guilt. Sin separates men from God. Their eyes had been opened to evil and They were afraid of God’s righteous judgement for their sin.

If a criminal is caught on camera committing a capital offense, there is no defense for the evidence of the camera’s eye-witness that convicts him. According to the Word, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Though we were born guilty of death and our sins have convicted us, the good news is that “though your sins be as scarlet, ye shall be as white as snow.”

The requirement for salvation starts with repentance. Repentance means to change your mind. It means to change direction from serving myself to serving the Lord. Repentance is to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. When we understand that “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, a broken and a contrite heart God will not forsake.” God who is rich in mercy by his great love wherewith he loved us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

When someone hears the gospel of salvation, there are four responses. The first is outright rejection. The second response is attempting to live according to the law. These are the people who go to church and walk the aisle at the altar call. However they never really accept Jesus as Lord of their lives. The third response is those who Jesus addressed when he said, “They call me Lord, Lord. But I shall say unto them, “I never knew thee.” These are those who think that they will enter heaven because of their good works. The fourth category are those who “know whom they have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep that (Holy Spirit) which He has committed unto them against that day of (righteous) judgement. They are assured of their conviction that Jesus is Lord. These are those who are born again, not of corruptible seed (inherited from Adam) but of incorruptible seed (of the holy spirit of Christ in you the hope of glory) by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.

Jesus said, “come to me all ye who are weak and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” According to John 10:10 Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life (of the Holy Spirit) and that they might have it more abundantly.” For he who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

Adam and Eve sinned and they died spiritually the day that they disobeyed the Word of God. However, the good news is that we who have confessed that Jesus is Lord and have believed that God has raised him from the dead have been saved. Salvation is to be made whole. We were made whole… born again of the spirit of life in Christ when we confessed Jesus is Lord. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. This is the gospel message. This is the good news of salvation. This is amazing Grace!

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of HIs grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

The Fall of Man

God created the perfect environment in the Garden of Eden to bless Adam and Eve. How did they fall from God’s grace? Genesis Chapter 3 is the story of the original sin. This is the greatest tragedy of man. A tragedy is an event marked by great loss, distress, and lasting misery. Jesus’ parable of the foolish man who built his house on the sand is an illustration of tragedy: The foolish man built his house upon the sand and when the wind came and the waves crashed, great was the fall of that house because it was built upon the sand.

According to Genesis 3, “NOW the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
The devil’s job is to question the truth of the word of God. In our culture, it’s considered foolishness to believe that the bible is the revealed word and will of God.
In verse 2 Eve answerred the devil’s question:
“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

To entertain the devil’s question is the beginning of the fall of man. When you engage with the adversary then you’re in the devil’s ballpark and he’s in control of the game. Eve knew exactly what God had said, but she added the words “lest ye touch it”. Then she changed the words “thou shalt surely die” to “lest ye die.” When you add to the Word of God and then change the Word of God you no longer have the truth of the Word.

The devil replied in verse 4: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

When she considered the devil’s lie, Eve doubted the word of God. Then the devil told her an outright lie: “Ye shall be as God knowing good from evil.” His message was, “God’s not God. You are. You can worship and serve yourself.”

According to verse 6: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

Jesus said that loving the world is not of the father but is of the enemy. 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. Lust is anything that we desire over our fellowship with God. Eve walked by sight and not by faith when she saw that it was good for food, saw that it was pleasant, and desired it to make one wise. According to James, the wisdom of this world is earthly, sensual, and devilish.

The devil always shows the bait but hides the hook. When Adam and Eve disobeyed and their eyes were open to evil, they were both ashamed according to verse 7: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons”

Shame and guilt is the first consequence of sin. Shame is connected with nakedness according to scripture. Jeremiah wrote “you are unashamed of your sin. You don’t even know how to blush.” When the culture is no longer ashamed, the culture is doomed to fall. The word of God says, “abhor that which is evil, cleave unto that which is good.” When a man of God walks according to the spirit and not the flesh, sin becomes repulsive.

The scripture says, cursed are they who call good evil and evil good. However, blessed are they who look ahead and pursue the crown of righteousness. Paul said, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; and there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Why do we attend church? We have been called to the church of the body of Christ to comfort, exhort, and edify…to build each other up. We’re most like the ones with whom we spend the most time. The question is, “Who are your twelve and who are your three?” We’ve been called to choke in the dust of other men who are chasing after their Lord Jesus Christ. The church is the “called out” of God. Why go to church? I’m here because you’re here… You make me want to be a better man.

Genesis 3:8 gives us the result of guilt and shame: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” Sin separates us from God. Overcoming sin means to run TO God instead of FROM God. God will bring across our path Godly men when we need to be reproved. When David had sinned with Bathsheba, the prophet Nathan told David a story about a man in his kingdom who was an adulterer, a cheat, a thief and a murderer. When David told the prophet, “the man who did this thing must die,” Nathan replied, “You are the man.” There is no secret sin in heaven. Your sin will find you out. Thank God for godly men who will confront us about our sin. The word of God is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction. Correction means to restore to an upright position.

In Genesis 3:9, even though Adam and Eve hid from God, God in his mercy and grace pursued them: “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” God knew exactly where they were. God asked Adam a diagnostic question: Where is your heart? Why is your heart separated from my heart?

Adam answered in verse 10: “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Sin, guilt and shame, and the fear of a holy God will separate our hearts from God.

According to verses 11- 13, “And he (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

Adam blamed the woman and Eve blamed the serpent. Adam and Eve refused to own their own sin. There were plenty of excuses but there was no confession. According to 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Prior to the fall Adam and Eve only knew the love of God and they were innocent of sin and death. When they disobeyed God’s only command, they died spiritually and lost their innocence. Their eyes were opened and knew sin and separation from God.

Even though they were consumed by guilt and fear…although that very day they died spiritually, God pursued them and made a way of redemption. In order to be clothed in righteousness, an animal had to die, for there is no payment for sin without the shedding of blood. Jesus Christ is the ultimate sacrifice for our sin that we inherited from Adam. Romans says that Jesus Christ is the last Adam. We inherited our sin nature and spiritual death from Adam. However Jesus Christ came to reconcile us back to God. He came that we may be born again of the spirit of life in Christ.

Romans 5:16-21 explains our redemption through Jesus’ payment for sin on our behalf: “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17. For if by one man’s (Adam’s) offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18. Therefore as by the offence of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one (Jesus Christ) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “For Jesus Christ who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.” According to Galatians 2:20, “For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for sin on our behalf, we have been reconciled to God: we have been restored into fellowship with our Heavenly Father. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. What amazing grace!

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael