Born Again! Pt. 2

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him - But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9, 10 KJV

God loved you so much that He gave Jesus to suffer for your sins, to take the punishment & the judgement that you deserve for you. "In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through Him." (1John 4:9) Jesus is the manifestation of the Love of God.

9. "OH, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE JESUS OUT OF IT?" SOME PEOPLE ASK. "Why do you have to use that Name? Why does He always have to be the symbol? Why can't you just say God, & speak of God only? Then we could accept it much easier, if you wouldn't insist on using that name of Jesus!"

10. "WELL," I USUALLY REPLY, "WHY NOT?" If He really is God's Son, & God has chosen Jesus to reveal Himself to the World & to show His Love, then God Himself has insisted on it!--"Love Me, love My Son!" These are God's conditions, not ours. "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." (1John 2:23) God has insisted that we recognise & love His Son, & Jesus Himself said, "I am the Way, the Truth, & the Life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me!" (John 14:6)

11. SO ALL YOU NEED FOR SALVATION IS JESUS! We can't even comprehend God the Father, He's too great a concept for us to even dream of! "As high as the Heavens are above the Earth, so high are His ways above our ways & His thoughts above our thoughts; & even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Him!" (Isa.55:9; 1Kings 8:27) None of us can really grasp how great & how marvellous & how wonderful God our Father is, far beyond the mind of man & our wildest imaginations, for He & His Spirit surpass the whole Universe! But He has stooped to send us His Son, Jesus Christ, to show us what He Himself is like.

12. THIS THEN, IS THE MOST IMPORTANT WILL OF GOD FOR YOU: THAT YOU RECOGNISE JESUS AS THE SON OF GOD & believe on Him as your Saviour & receive His Love from God manifested in His death on the cross, when He took the punishment demanded by God's perfect laws for your sins, so that you could be forgiven, so that you could be saved.

13. WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE FORGIVEN?--Because we are all sinners. The Bible says, "For all have sinned & come short of the glory of God" (Rom.3:23), & "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, His Son." (Rom.6:23)

14. SO WE MUST FIRST CONFESS THAT WE KNOW WE'RE SINNERS. But some folks say, "I'm pretty good! God will surely give me credit for being pretty good, at least a lot better than many others."--No, I'm sorry, that's not enough. Because you can't go to Heaven unless you're perfect, & nobody's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody's sinned.

15. THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLE SAYS THAT "ALL OUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS IS AS FILTHY RAGS." (Isa.64:6) When I studied this passage in the original Hebrew, I found that it literally says that our own self-righteousness, our own goodness, is like "filthy menstruous rags."--That's how God looks on the so- called "good" people, the people who pride themselves on being better than others: "I'm good! I don't do this, I don't do that, I don't do so-&-so!"--What we need to do is just give up trying to be good ourselves & honestly admit, "I'm just no good!--I'm bad, I'm a sinner, of course I make mistakes!"





TFI