Bible Meditation: comes from 1 Peter, 1: 18-19; "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of the Lamb without blemish and without spot."
The Encouraging Word:
I have a story that I want to share with you. I don't know if it is a true story or not, but nonetheless, it is a wonderful example of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. There was a certain man that was bitten by a cobra snake. Most bites from these types of snakes are very deadly to say the least. This particular bite was one of those, that if not treated immediately, would bring certain death to the person that was bitten. As he was lying in the emergency room for quite some time, hope of survival was growing dim. With quite an extensive search, they were able to locate a man that had been bitten by poisonous snakes many times and grew an immunity to these kinds of bites. They got a hold of this man and had him rushed to the bedside of this dying man as quickly as they could. They figured if they could get this man there quickly, they could do a blood transfusion that might save his life. As time was passing and the chance of survival was growing dim, there was a friend, a young lady that was a born-again Christian, who was seated in the waiting room. She began to pray that God would give them the time that they needed to do this transfusion. Well, it turned out, that the man with the immunity to snake bites got there in time and they were able to save this man's life through the transfusion. This man's blood saved his life. Now, this is only part of the story. See, this young man that had been bitten was not a Christian. After recovering for a short time in the hospital, he was finally able to go home. When they got home, they got a visit from the local pastor. The pastor began to explain that what he went through was a perfect example of what Jesus Christ did for us who are born-again.
As this young man was lying in the hospital in an unconscious state of mind, they went ahead with the transfusion, and that exchange of blood saved his life. He proceeded to explain to him that it is the same way with Jesus Christ. Through this man's blood (the one that had immunity to the snake bites) he was saved from certain death. All he had to do was accept a blood transfusion. In the same way, those of us who have received the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ as our propitiation for our sins, are saved from certain death as well. Just by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can live forever with Jesus in the most perfect environment imaginable, or should I say unimaginable. We can do nothing to earn it, it is a free gift from Jesus Christ, all we have to do is accept the blood transfer that Jesus provided for us on the cross and believe that He paid for all of our sins in full. See, He gave us his righteousness and He took our sin drenched blood, then He willfully went to the Cross to shed every drop of our sinful blood, and took upon Himself the punishment that was meant for us. In the same way that this man ( that I mentioned in the story above,) lived because of another man's blood, we can live forever because of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. It's that simple. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness and all we have to do is accept the most precious gift ever offered, it's called Grace. If for some reason, this man would have refused the transplant, he would have surely died. In the same way, if we refuse what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, we also will surely die. This story has an even happier ending. After hearing what the pastor said to him and how he explained salvation, right there on the spot he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and was saved. Not only was he saved physically, but he was also saved Spiritually.
When Jesus went to the Cross, He took upon Himself all the sins of the world. See, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, that was when our bloodline was severed. We were no longer pure in the sight of God. It was no longer pure and we could no longer enter Heaven, or for that matter, even fellowship with God. In other words, we all fell out of fellowship with God. But because of God's love for you and I, He had to come up with a solution for mankind to be saved and reconciled back to Him. But how could this be done? Since all of us are infested with the same disease, which is called S.I.N. positive, none of us are able to help each other. It would be like someone with leukemia trying to help another person with leukemia through a blood transfusion. In the same way, if you had leukemia you couldn't help yourself either. So none of us can pay for the sins of another person because we are all infested with the same disease. Are you starting to get the picture? This is how ridiculous it is for someone to think they can pay for their own sins through good works. It can't be done! You can't pay for your own sins in any way, shape, or form. Good works does not cover sins.
Ephesians, 2: 8-9; says, "For by Grace are you saved through faith." Listen to that verse, "For by Grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of Works, lest any man should boast."
I don't know how many times I've quoted this verse, because it certainly seems to go on deaf ears, because when people feel they can be saved by works, they obviously didn't read that verse, or, they just couldn't understand it. I don't understand how they can't understand it, because it's pretty cut and dry. How can anyone, especially a pastor or priest tell you that good work saves you if they read this verse. But yet, most mainline denominations of today teach just that. Sure, they say you have to believe in Jesus which is an absolute necessity, but then they go on the say that you also have to do good works to be saved. Basically you're saying that Jesus isn't good enough to save us on his own, He needs our help. Well, if you think that's the case, you better do a little more research into who Jesus Christ really is. Grace is a free gift that can't be earned. If you try to earn your salvation, then you eliminate Grace, you can't have it both ways. You can't pay for a free gift, if you do, then it is not a gift.
Let me give you an example that we should all understand. Let's say that you are a very poor person and have no finances whatsoever. There is no way that you could ever afford anything of much value. All of a sudden, one day a man comes up to you and offers you a vehicle worth $100,000.00. He says to you, this is yours, all you have to do is accept it, but then you turn around and decline his offer because you would rather pay for it on your own. Now, you know there's no way in this world that you could ever afford it, so you either accept this free gift or you deny it. If you accept it, it's yours and that is what we call Grace, a free gift that you did not earn, or, if you still decline it, it will never be yours. That is what Jesus did for you and I. He paid for our Salvation through His Precious Blood and all we have to do is believe on what He did for us and accept his free gift of Grace. If you deny His free gift of Grace, you will surely perish into everlasting torment. Grace saves, works does not. Ask yourself this question, do you want the free gift of Grace or do you want to try to earn your way into heaven which can't possibly be done? You can try all you want, but all you will hear when you stand before Jesus at the "White Throne Judgment" is: "Depart from me you who practice lawlessness." Grace erases works, and works erases Grace, you can't have it both ways. That may sound like double talk, but just listen again what it says, Grace erases works and works erases Grace. You can't have it both ways. Here's a truth that I don't take pleasure in saying. There will be countless people in hell that were very good people. They are those that tried to earn their way into Heaven by being good.
Grace alone means that God loves you, forgives, and saves us, not because of who we are or what we do, but because of the work of Christ on the cross. Our best efforts can never be good enough to earn salvation, but God declares us righteous for Christ's sake. We receive that Grace through faith alone and again, what does it say, we receive that Grace through faith. We are not saved by obeying a list of do's and don'ts, but by the grace through faith in Christ Jesus. Our Salvation is in God's hands, that's what we call the good news, "The Gospel."
Now, let me explain where works comes in. If you are truly born-again and give your life to Jesus Christ in all sincerity, you will automatically do good works, not for salvation's sake, but because your heart tells you to. Can you say that you believe in Jesus Christ, say you are born-again, and then go on living a sinful lifestyle, of course not. That's what I call hypocrisy on the highest level. It's like saying that you are a Christian and then go and worship Allah, or Buddha. By the way, for those of you that are told Allah and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the same God, you are again being told a lie from the pit of Hell. God is the God of all, Allah is not god. I'd like to expand on this, but I'm sure I would ruffle a lot of feathers and that is not what I'm all about. But let me say this, if you understand what Islam is all about, then you would know exactly what I'm talking about. So enough said on that.
With all this being said, I am certain that we are living in the end days. Let me put it this way, if Jesus is coming back at midnight, the time is now 11:59. There are a lot of people that scoff at those of us that know where we are in God's prophetic clock, but then again, look at all the people that scoffed at Noah, what happened to them. Let me share a couple of Bible verses that explain what I just said.
We read in 2 Peter, 3: 3; "Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of His coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
Sound familiar, boy are we hearing scoffing. I've heard a story from a very good Bible teacher and this might be a good time to share it. "There are 66 books in the Bible written by over 40 authors, and yet when you read and understand the Bible, you will come to the conclusion that the Bible was written from outside of our time domain which means, whoever is responsible for writing the Bible knew from the beginning of time, the end of time and everything in-between." Got any thoughts who that might be."
Think about it, if you're not hearing what is going on in the world and especially in America, Christians are being persecuted more and more every day just as the Bible says will happen in the end days. Just like the verse above says. Those of us that are trying to warn the world of what is coming, are being laughed at, mocked at and even hated for our witness and all we're trying to do is prepare people for what is coming. Let me share this article from Forbes.
"On January 19, 2022, "Open Doors" an international organization advocating on behalf of persecuted Christians, released their annual Watch List. They assess where 50 countries, where Christians face the most severe types of persecution. The newly published data reveals significant changes in the situation of Christian minorities around the world. According to the research, the persecution of Christians has reached the highest level since the World Watch List began nearly 30 years ago. Across 76 countries, more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith, that's an increase of 20 million since last year. 212 million Christians live in the top 50 countries alone. One in every seven Christians lives under high levels of persecution or discrimination for their faith."
I'm going to share with you something a lot of people will not accept as truth, because first of all, a lot of people don't believe Satan exists, but he does. And let me explain to you what his role is in these days in which we live. All this that is happening, is not an Accident, it is the plan of Satan to rid the world of Jews and Christians. Satan knows he has a short time and that is why we are seeing the upheaval of hatred toward Jews and Christians more than ever before. Anti-Semitism is at its highest points since the Holocaust and it will continue to get worse. Christians in America have never been treated the way they are right now and that is also getting worse and worse every day. It's obvious to me, because of all the friends that I have lost in the last couple decades, just because I share the Word of God, as I am called to do. But, that don't bother me, because once again, listen to what the Bible says about this:
John, 15: 18; "If the world hates you, know that it hated me (Jesus) before it hated you."
This is one of the most comforting verses in the Bible to me. What did the world do to Jesus, they Crucified Him and He never sinned once, told a lie, or did anything worthy of what He went through for us. Think about it, God is telling us that we will also be persecuted, to what extent, I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it is coming soon. These are all the signs that the Bible tells us will happen, which is leading to the New World Order. I could go on and on about this, but I will cover this at another time at a later date. There's too much here to go over briefly.
Let me conclude by saying this, I'm not trying to scare anyone in any way, shape or form, I'm trying to prepare your hearts and keep you from what is coming When this is coming, we don't know for sure, but we do know it could be very soon. So every day you delay, to me it is playing Russian Roulette, because Jesus could come tomorrow, and waiting until tomorrow could be too late. Once again, how soon, only God knows.
Just a little Bible history. In the book of Jeremiah, when Jeremiah was warning Judah of an upcoming Invasion, he was warning them so that they could prepare for it, but they mocked him and persecuted him almost to the point of death. He loved his fellow Hebrews, that is why he kept warning them until the day it finally happened. In the same way, a lot of us are just trying to warn people of what is coming and how to prepare for it or even be saved out of it, but once again, just like in the days of Noah, nobody's listening, or at least, very few are listening.
Hear what the Bible says about this and I will end with this message, Matthew, 7: 13-14; "Enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is a way that leads to destruction and many will be that go by it, because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who will find it."
So ask yourself this question, which gate will you choose? The choice is yours, nobody can make that choice for you, it is all up to you. And let me just give you another thought, to think about before I end this. Look at the world, which way is the world headed? It's headed towards evil and evil is gaining more and more momentum and popularity as the days go on, which is the wide road that leads to destruction. The narrow road which leads to life everlasting is the road that the true born-again Christians are taking, and believe me, there are few of us. But you have that choice, you can take that wide road and continue to follow the world to destruction, or you can join the Born-Again believers and trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. You know, it's really that simple. When you stand before Jesus Christ at the "White Throne Judgment" the choices that you made, will be the reason you're there. It will be because you didn't accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior when you had the chance, Your books will be open and every sin that you ever committed will be exposed in front of everybody, and you will be judged accordingly and that judgment will be "The Lake of Burning Fire" So you'll have nobody to blame, but yourself when you're standing before Jesus Christ. You can prevent this from being the case by just repeating the following Words.
"Jesus, I accept your free gift of Grace, I trust in you, I receive your propitiation for my sins and I will follow you the rest of my days."
You know what happens then, every sin that you ever committed will be erased from your books and now you will have no sins accounted to you, you will go to Heaven sin free because of what Jesus did, not because of what you did, I could go on forever with this, so with this all being said, I just want to say, really think about it, we don't know how soon this is all going to happen, but the signs are there for those of us watching, and those of you that are not watching, trust us, why would we be doing this? We're already saved. We're going to heaven. This is what God has called us to do because he wishes that all would come to repentance and be saved, but the sad truth is, the Bible says, few will be that find the way. Will you join the few that find the way? Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do we. So, with this all being said, "Take Care and God Bless."
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