BIBLE REFERENCE:
“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His (Jesus) flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His (Gods) sight—“Colossians 1:21-22;
WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT:
In the above Bible reference, the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Christians in Colosse. We need to understand, these messages apply to today’s believers as well. All of Paul’s epistles are written to Gentile believers, and when I say believers, I mean those that have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you are truly a born-again believer in “Salvation through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone”, the verse above is speaking to you and it should bring you great joy.
We need to go back to the beginning of time when God created Adam and Eve. They were cast into the most perfect environment, so perfect that we can’t even imagine what it must have been like. Adam and Eve could walk in perfect harmony with God daily. But once they (Adam and Eve) ate from the tree of good and evil, it was then that they became completely alienated from Him (God). Because of their sin, all mankind became infected with the worst sickness known to man, S.I.N. positive. There was no known cure and all mankind was condemned to live eternity outside of Gods will, in other words, (The Lake of Burning Fire) no exceptions!
Because of God’s unconditional love for His creation, He found Himself in a predicament that needed to somehow bring mankind back into fellowship with Him. In other words, sin had to be dealt with. Our Holy God could not allow sin to enter into to His Holy Kingdom. There was only one choice, God had to come up with a plan that would allow people to be saved from the destiny mankind chose, known as what we refer to today as hell. That meant that He, Himself, had to somehow pay the price, because sinful man cannot pay for their own sins. The only person that could pay for our sins had to be a Person that was pure in every way, sin free and spotless.
So for four hundred years, God had to deal with sinful man where there was no opportunity to be reconciled back to God. But as we read through the Old Testament, we see where God chose certain people (The Prophets) to bring His message of a future Prophet that would redeem mankind back to Him. The message was taught that a Savior would enter on the scene, take the sins of the world upon His shoulders and pay the price for sin that we could never pay for on our own. See, Jesus paid a price He didn’t owe, because we owe a price that we can’t pay. It was the most painful death known to man, and yet He (Jesus) went to the cross willingly so that we could be saved from our sins and be reconciled back to God through His shed blood. It was God, Himself that entered His own creation where He took on the personage of Jesus Christ. The God-Man, Jesus Christ fulfilled these prophecies four hundred years after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
In doing this, Jesus‘s death, burial and resurrection opened heaven’s door to all that would believe and receive this most wonderful gift known to mankind that is referred to as Grace. Here is a good explanation of what grace is, Ephesians 2:8; “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” When we have faith that Jesus is the only way to be saved, it is then, that we are born-again into the Holy Spirit. What does Jesus Say about this, listen up – you will not hear this in any mainline denomination. John 3:3; “Jesus answered him, (Nicodemus) “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
ACTION POINT:
We need to understand that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. No exceptions! Therefore, if you do not receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and do not become born-again, you will remain in your sinful state and what does the Bible say about that, we read in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; “Do you not know that the unrighteous (Those not born again) will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Just a side note for those that think they can enter heaven without being born-again, read this, Galatians 2:16; “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” So, the only way to be reconciled back to God is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way! Remember, the letters written in red are the Words of God, so if you have a problem with what is written, take your petitions to the creator of the Universe. Keep this in mind, all religions say, do this, do that, Jesus said, “It is done”, nothing more to do but believe and be saved. Once you are truly saved, good works will automatically follow. If they don’t follow, then your profession of faith was in vain and you were never saved in the first place. “Written To the extreme glory of God, and Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!
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