The Greatest Gift
Gifts sure are wonderful. This picture was taken in Palm Desert, California in April 2006. Vicky and I were given the gift to stay in a beautiful home with a swimming pool overlooking a pristine golf course. It was the celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. This was the view we had from the swimming pool. We are very thankful to our dear friends for that gift. Memories were made that will last our lifetime.
We are given many gifts throughout our lives, many expressions of love from family and friends. There is one gift that has no comparison. It is the gift of God. He tells us in Romans 6.23, "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The true, living God Who created all things has proven His love for you by giving the greatest gift, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
“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)
JESUS IS:
The true God Who came to this earth in human flesh. Jesus said “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” “All things were made by Him.” He said “I and My Father are one.” He claimed to be God. He has power over nature, over diseases, and over death. He is the Master of the universe, the Supreme Lord over all that exists.
JESUS IS:
The only perfect man. The only person who has ever lived without breaking God’s holy laws in word, deed or thought is the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone, out of all the human race, was holy at birth and lived a holy life, without sin. He alone was qualified to be Messiah, Savior, Deliverer. We have all sinned against our Creator God. We have all disobeyed. We have all, in thought, word or deed, broken God’s laws. Jesus is the perfect One, the holy One.
JESUS IS:
“The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” He came into this world to suffer and die in your place, for your sins, to take away your sins through His death and His blood that He poured out upon the cross when He was crucified. “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit.”
JESUS IS:
The Resurrection and the Life. After He suffered and died for you upon the cross He was buried. Three days later He was raised from the dead. He came out of the grave. He conquered death. He lives right now. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He is the Judge of all people and nations. He is God all-powerful. “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
JESUS IS:
Our only Deliverer. The Lord Jesus Christ died to deliver us from the penalty of our disobedience, which is death. Jesus Christ died in your place, because of your sins, for your sins, taking the penalty of your sins upon Himself. He took your death, your judgment, your sins. By trusting Him, relying upon His death in your place, putting your confidence in His blood that He shed upon the cross, submitting yourself to Him as Master of your life, He grants you His forgiveness, gives you His life, His freedom, His righteousness.
JESUS DIED FOR YOU!
“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)
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”(Rom. 5.8)
Trust Him to take your sins away. Rely upon Him to give you His eternal life. Submit yourself to Him as your Savior and Master. “Whoever believes in (trusts in, relies upon, commits to) Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.” Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today. Rely upon Him. Put your confidence in Him. Commit yourself to Him.
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6.23)
Call out to Him in prayer. Thank Him for dying for you and for rising from the dead to deliver you from the wrath of your Creator because of your sins against Him. Ask Him for His gift of eternal life. Ask Him to apply His saving life and death in your place to you. Ask Him to cleanse you from your sins through His precious blood. Ask Him to make you a child of God. Put your confidence in Jesus Christ and His suffering and death for your sins. Seek Him to rescue you from your sins and your soon coming death. Do not rest until you have peace in your heart that He has worked His saving power in your life. Praise Him for His free salvation that He has already provided for you through His suffering and death upon the cross and through His rising from the dead.
“For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10.13)
Do you have questions about this message? Please email me and I will send you a Bible lesson that can further help you find peace with your Creator.
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You Must Believe.
What does it mean to believe?
Faith means trusting in, clinging to or embracing Jesus Christ Who is the object of our faith.
Faith is unqualified acceptance of, and exclusive dependence on the mediation of the Lord Jesus as alone securing the mercy of the Father.
Faith is commitment following conviction.
The nature of faith, according to the New Testament, is to live by the truth it receives; faith resting on God’s promise, gives thanks for God’s grace by working for God’s glory.
“Faith is not just intellectual agreement to a body of truth. It is personal trust and confidence in God’s mercy through Christ. It is not a meritorious work, one facet of human righteousness, but rather an appropriating instrument, an empty hand outstretched to receive the free gift of God’s righteousness in Christ. Faith is God-given, and is itself the animating principle from which love and good works spontaneously spring. Communion with God means, not an exotic rapture of mystical ecstasy, but just faith’s everyday commerce with the Savior.” J.I. Packer
“We must understand that faith does not justify and save us by itself…but as an instrument, whereby we lay hold of and apply to ourselves Christ with His righteousness and merits, by which only we appear just before God. A small and weak hand, if it be able to reach up the meat to the mouth, as well performs its duty for the nourishment of the body as one of greater strength, because it is not the strength of the hand but the goodness of the meat ..." George Downame
Faith is trust, confidence, commitment.
“Faith means to consider the Lord Jesus worthy of trust as to His character and motives. To place ones confidence in His ability to do just what He says He will do. To entrust the salvation of his soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus. To commit the work of saving ones soul to the care of the Lord.” Kenneth Wuest
“Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but ..." Thomas Brooks
Trust in Jesus Christ the Lord to rescue you from your sin and death. Rely upon Him and His saving death on the cross to deliver you from the judgment of your Creator because of your rebellion against Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ has paid the full price for your sins through His own suffering and death in your place. He has already finished His saving work in your behalf. Rest in Him and His great goodness displayed for you in His sacrifice.
He suffered. He died. He was buried. He rose from the grave in resurrection power. He lives right now. He has the power and authority to apply His saving work to you right now.
Ask Him to make you His child.
Ask Him to deliver you from your unbelief.
Ask Him to work His saving grace in your life.
Submit to Him.
Trust in Him.
Rely upon Him.
Place your confidence in Him.
Rest in Him.
Jesus Christ the Lord saves.
He is Lord.
He is Savior.
He is King.
He is Master.