THE ONLY WAY

Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 03 April 2013  

Hi all, 

Our Introduction today deals with evangelism and how to acquire the righteousness of God. Another word used is the word “saved”. There is a problem with the word “saved” though. It implies a one off act, which settles the matter once and for always. Personally, I don’t think a “one off act” is correct. I believe “being saved” is a process which culminates with being “saved” at the end of life, after we have “overcome”.

Jim & Phyllida

At the beginning of the introduction, I ask the question, “Do you believe in God? I then move on to the question, “What sort of “God” do you believe in?” Your answer is critical. The reason is because your dealings with God are governed by your concept of God. You may think He is a doddery old Grandfather, who doesn’t really care what you think of Him, provided you are nice to everyone and to Him. You may think He is a ferocious tyrant, compiling a list of your sins and looking for a chance to crush you like a bug. My question to people on either side of this is to ask, “Where did you get your concept of God?” There is only one place this may be found. That place is in the Bible. Public opinion, your granny, Time Magazine, Beeld, school, TV, radio, parents – none of these authorities are reliable. Frankly, I’m not reliable either! The Word of God is the only place that is 100% trustworthy.

The Bible reveals that God is love. It also reveals that he is righteous, just, merciful, infinite, unchanging and 100% consistent. He is a “father” although this does not necessarily mean that He is male. It also reveals that everything He is, He is completely. Perhaps the most frightening “quality” revealed, is that He hates sin, with an incomparable and infinite ferocity, we are unable to comprehend. We learn that He will judge and punish each and every sin, with the same ferocity. Likewise, He has no favourites and deals with each of us accordingly. It makes clear that He loves you and me with an incomparable tenderness, we are equally unable to comprehend.

Holy Spirit Dove

We know that God has no problems. If you are omniscient there can be no “problem” that you cannot deal with. He had to deal with the fact, that we are sinners, deserving His everlasting punishment. In some way, He had to provide a way for us to be with Him and share His love forever. How could this be done? His solution was to pour out His wrath upon Himself. He would take the punishment we deserve. He did this by sending His Son to die for us. The punishment I deserve, He took for me. In fact this was sufficient to cover any and every person in our dimension, past, present or future. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for “whosoever” as John’s Gospel states. ¹⁶ 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 MKJV

It’s comforting to know that Jesus’ sacrifice and suffering, was sufficient for everyone. It’s also distressing to realise that not everyone will receive everlasting life. This is because they don’t believe in Him. Instead, they will pay for their own sins. The prospect is horrendous. It is to be cast into Hell. God will punish each and every sin. Take your pick. God help you!

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 03 April 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	The Only Way
Do you believe in God? It’s a strange question to include in a Christian Daily devotion. Even so, the question is legitimate. Perhaps the question should be rephrased for Christian readers. Let’s do that. “You say you believe in God. What sort of “God” do you believe in?” Evangelism in the 20/21st century does a wonderful job of bringing sinners to the Lord. There is nothing wrong with that. What tends to happen is that the love of God in and through Christ Jesus is emphasised. Once again, this is fine. God’s love in and through Christ Jesus is infinite. To quote Don Francisco, “There’s no sin you can imagine that is stronger than His love”. The statement, saved from the gutter-most to the utter-most is absolutely true. I confirm this from personal experience. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, 8 God's grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn't come from anything you do. It is God's gift. Eph. 2:8 NIrV. This is fundamental to Christianity. None of us are saved because we deserve it. Frankly, we don’t warrant an iota of God’s grace. If God didn’t give it to us as a free gift, there is no way we could possibly find a way to God. This is always true and applies to every one of us from the moment of birth to the moment of death. There are no exceptions. There is a minor problem with this. Grace is a free gift. But like any other gift, it only becomes ours when we receive it. If you say to me, “here’s a R50 note for you”, I would be grateful and receive it with both hands wide open. Of course I may refuse it. A “No thanks” is all that’s required. Then I will not have the R50 gift. One way to say, “No thanks” would be to ignore it. Another way would be to say, “I don’t believe it!” Then, the R50 would never be handed over.  In this way the free gift offered to me would not be mine! Now we must understand that although God’s gift is free, it is not unconditional. Paul explains in his letter to the Romans. 22 even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, toward all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference, Rom 3:22 MKJV A close examination of this Scripture reveals that His righteousness. (Right standing with God) is offered to everyone. But it is only upon those who believe. It’s a bit like the R50 note. It’s only mine if I receive it. This means that there is something we must do to receive His righteousness. What is that? The answer is our sins must be forgiven. How do we do that? We must repent of our sins. We must turn our back on a sinful life, in an act of genuine and sincere repentance. This is not an optional extra. Without repentance there is no forgiveness. In other words we must commit our lives to Him and ask Him to help keep us free from sin. From then on we must live in a way that is pleasing to Him up to the moment we die. Now suppose we refuse His grace gift? Then we are not forgiven. We remain in an unrighteous condition and Jesus’ sacrifice for us, is not upon us. We have to pay the cost of our sins to God. Don’t go there. Such people are sent there until the price has been paid in full. For how long will that be? For eternity. There is no “time” in that dimension. So it is a never ending perpetual state of punishment. A better known name for the place is Hell! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			14 The sinners in Zion are terrified. Trembling seizes the ungodly. Can any of us live through a fire that destroys? Can any of us live through a fire that burns forever? 15 The person who does what is right and speaks the truth will live. He rejects getting rich by extortion and refuses to take bribes. He refuses to listen to those who are plotting murders. He doesn't look for evil things to do. Isaiah 33:14-15 GW 8 Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be ignorant about the suffering we experienced in the province of Asia. It was so extreme that it was beyond our ability to endure. We even wondered if we could go on living. 9 In fact, we still feel as if we're under a death sentence. But we suffered so that we would stop trusting ourselves and learn to trust God, who brings the dead back to life. 10 He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will rescue us in the future. We are confident that he will continue to rescue us, 2 Cor. 1:8-10 GW 23 When you sin, the pay you get is death. But God gives you the gift of eternal life because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done. Rom 6:23 NIrV NLT 30 For we know the One who said, "I will take revenge. I will pay them back." He also said, "The LORD will judge His own people." 31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb. 10:30-31 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 2 Cor. 5:11 ESV  2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Tim 4:2 NIV 22 Show mercy to those who have doubts. 23 Save others by snatching them from the fire of hell. Show mercy to others, even though you are afraid that you might be stained by their sinful lives. Jude 1:22-23 GW 6 Then he replied, "This is the word the LORD spoke to Zerubbabel: You won't succeed by might or by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Armies. Zech. 4:6 GW 3 This is good and pleases God our Saviour. 4 He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. 1 Tim 2:3-4 GW	He judged the world by water. All life was washed away. But Noah and his family, they all survived the day. They filled the ark with animals, so life would be preserved. He didn’t want to wipe them out. He wanted them conserved. The next time He brought judgement, two cities were destroyed. Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin had made Him most annoyed, With sexual misconduct! He burned them both with fire. The deed may not be popular, but how can I conspire, With those who don’t believe it? God made it very clear, That sexual perversion had brought their judgement near. And so He rained down brimstone and He destroyed them all. You don’t have to believe it, but it was heaven’s call! So God has shown the method by which He’ll judge the earth. The only ones to miss it will be those with second birth. Those are the Master’s standards. I wish that they were not. I do not like these methods which are better off forgot. The next time He brings judgement, He will incinerate, Those who do not follow Him and serve the god of hate. It isn’t very difficult. He is a burning fire! He only needs to come to us; the consequence is dire. A lot of folk “poo poo” it. I really don’t know why? Perhaps it’s a conviction, they don’t deserve to die! They say we are mistaken. How can a God of Love, Bring judgement to a people from Heaven High above? They say it’s not His nature; that He does not exist! They tell me this is “hate speech” and I am on the list, Of those they’ll put in prison for what I’ve said and done. And since God is a giant hoax! How much more is His Son! I understand the problem. I’m sorry if you’re hurt. But why should I be filthy? Because you love the dirt? It doesn’t work quite like that. I’m fundamentalist. I serve the risen Saviour; and though you may insist, That all the “faiths” are equal, I have to disagree! When all of us are dead and gone, on which side will you be? Along with all the victims the devil has deceived, And told them all religions the people have believed, Are equally acceptable to Father God on High? But they will find that’s rubbish the day on which they die. Of course you are entitled to think just what you will. But you have had your warning. So carry on until You find you are mistaken. You’ve read these words of mine, And what you choose to do with them, to me will be just fine. This poem has been written to try and show to you, That what is here recorded is absolutely true. That Jesus is the answer and there’s no other way, For anyone to get to God whatever men might say! Jim Strickland Written 3rd April 2012