Come to the Lord
"...See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!" (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Come To the Lord
“Pay attention and come to me; listen, so that you will live…” (Isaiah 55:3 CSB)
I have heard it said, “Why would a loving God send people to hell?” Contrary to what many people believe, God doesn’t choose to send people to Hell.
If you have not accepted God’s gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus, you are already on your way to Hell. God is a loving God; He sent Jesus to save you from Hell. If you don’t accept Jesus as your Savior, YOU are making the choice to die and go to hell.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God” (John 3:17-18 CSB).
Our sins separated us from God and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Every single person has sinned against God and falls short of God’s standards. The only person that has ever lived on earth and never sinned against God was the man Jesus. Jesus is fully God and fully man. It is written: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Col. 2:9).
Because of the faithful love of God, He provided a way to redeem/save us from spiritual death and Hell. Instead of mankind paying the penalty for our sins, (the penalty is death), God sent Christ Jesus to die in our place. Three days after Jesus was crucified, God raised Him from the dead, defeating death.
God is compassionate, loving, forgiving, faithful, abundant in mercy and grace and just.
He loves us and does not want anyone to parish. Because of how much He loves us, God offers us a gift: Salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life through His Son Jesus.
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).
When Jesus was here on earth, He was perfect in obedience to God; He never sinned. Jesus willingly died in our place for our sins. We can receive eternal life and forgiveness of our sins because Jesus is the atonement (payment) for our sins. By His death on the cross Jesus satisfied God’s required payment for our sins. By His death and resurrection, we can be reconciled back into relationship with Almighty God.
“though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9 NKJV).
“…eternal salvation to all who OBEY Him…” did you catch that?
Jesus said: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46 NKJV).
If you want forgiveness and want to be saved from eternal torment and hellfire, you must humble yourself and confess you have sinned against God. And believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Stop living in sin and selfishness. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
REPENT (turn away) from your sinful way of life:
“Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions (that promote heresies), envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you before, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21 AMP).
We are not saved by doing good works, you can’t earn your way to eternal life with God, it is a gift given to you to receive through Christ Jesus. However, if you truly, sincerely, have a sorrowful heart toward sinning against God, once you accept Jesus as LORD, you will have a change of heart about your old sinful way of living. You are born again, a new creation, You have a new desire to live for Christ Jesus, obeying the things He has said.
“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted” (II Corinthians 7:10 NKJV).
If YOU choose to remain prideful and reject God’s gift, meaning If YOU choose to reject Jesus and His sacrifice for you on the cross, if you continue to willfully live a life of disobedience to Christ, it is YOU who are choosing to go to Hell.
“For if we go on willfully and deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice (to atone) for our sins (that is, no further offering to anticipate), but a kind of awful and terrifying expectation of (divine) judgment and the fury of fire and burning wrath which will consume the adversaries (those who put themselves in opposition to God” (Hebrews 10:26-27 AMP).
The LORD is a compassionate and gracious God. He is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth. He is merciful and forgiving. If we come to the LORD with a repentant heart, admit that we have sinned and confess our sins to Him, He promises to forgive our sins and continually cleanse us from our wrongdoing. He is faithful and just. And if we love Him, we will show our love by obeying Him.
“If you love me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15).
The LORD loves you with an everlasting love and does not desire for anyone to go to Hell. His desire is for all to come to Him with a repentant heart and receive His gift of salvation and eternal life.
“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call to him while he is near. Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the LORD so he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will freely forgive” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
The LORD is inviting all…Come to the LORD.
Until next time…
Shalom
Amen to that Micky!