You know what really
matters
is that "everyone must die once and
after tha
comes judgement" Heb 9:27 Fac
is, "we must all appear before the
judgment seat of
Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the
things done
while in the body, whether good or bad." 2Cor
5:10
You know, "God determined the times set for us and
the exac
places where we should live. God did this so that men
would seek him
and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is
not far from
each one of us." Acts 17:26b-27
"Seek
the
LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the
wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Le
him turn to
the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God,
for he will
freely pardon." Is 55:6,7
God is just and
therefore
will hold us accountable for things over which we have
control. But if
people are honest with themselves they would have to admit,
"All have sinned and come short of the
glory of God"
Rom 3:23, making us enemies of God. "But God demonstrates his own love for us
in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Rom
5:8 "For God so loved the
world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall no
perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
God is just and so
demands
sin be paid for. But God is also just with regards to the
unjustified
suffering of the innocent. When an innocent person suffers
wrong,
justice demands compensation on their behalf. Thus Jesus,
the innocen
lamb of God, was sent on a suicide mission to suffer as an
innocen
victim to win the compensation which would be used to pay
for the sins
of the world.
Jesus knew of this
fate and
was a willing sacrifice. He told his disciples,
"The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of
men. They
will kill him, and after three days he will rise."
Mark
9:31 The night before he was betrayed he could
have opted out.
But he prayed, "Now my heart is
troubled, and
what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, i
was for this
very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your
name!" John
12:27,28
Who was Jesus Christ?
Who
did he have to be such that his suffering would pay for the
sins of the
world. The Bible itself acknowledges, "No
man
can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for
him— the
ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough"
Ps
49:7,8 Therefore to pay for sin Jesus had to be
more than jus
a man. Indeed the Bible says, "The Son
is the
radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of
his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word." Heb
1:3
It says of Jesus, "In the beginning,
O Lord, you
laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of your
hands." Heb 1:10 and "Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been
made." John 1:3 Jesus is the
Creator. He is the
Lord Almighty. Being the Son of God, the value of his
suffering is much
higher than that of any man. So "Chris
died for
sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to
bring you to
God." 1Peter 3:18
What proof do we have
affirming all this? A written record of the eyewitness
testimonies of
Jesus' miracles and his resurrection from the dead.
"God has set a day when he will judge the world with
justice by the man
he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by
raising him
from the dead." Acts 17:31
Examine the gospel
accounts yourself and see if they are not convincing to you.
Luke, an
historian, starts his gospel, which was written to a
Gentile, "Many have undertaken to
draw up an account of the
things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they
were handed down
to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and
servants of the
word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully
investigated everything
from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an
orderly
account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you
may know the
certainty of the things you have been taught." John
writes is
his gospel, "Jesus did many other
miraculous
signs in the presence of his disciples, which are no
recorded in this
book. But these are written that you may believe tha
Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his
name." John 20:30,31 Peter
preaches his
gospel, "Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited
by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God
did among you
through him, as you yourselves know." Acts
2:22
and goes on to speak of being an eyewitness to his
resurrection. These
are Jesus' credentials. This forensic evidence constitutes
the basis of
our faith in Christ. Jesus himself said, "Believe
me when I say that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the
miracles
themselves." John 14:11
So what does God
require of
us so that our sins may be forgiven? The apostle Peter was
asked, "What shall we do?" Peter
replied, "Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Chris
for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of
the Holy
Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for
all who are
far off— for all whom the Lord our God will call." With
many other
words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Be saved
from
this corrupt generation." Acts 2:37-40
The
apostle Paul was asked by his jailor, "Wha
mus
I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you
will be saved" Acts 15:30,31 "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is
Lord,' and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be
saved." Rom 10:9, but it must be
genuine
faith and not mere lipservice.
Therefore
pledge
your allegiance to Jesus as Lord with the intention of doing
what he said, believe this gospel and you
will be saved. And whatever you feel you need to repent of,
do so.
Describing his ministry the apostle Paul says,
"First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem
and in all
Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they
should repent and
turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds."
Acts
26:20b
Prove your faith through
baptism
and prove your repentance through your
deeds.
