The free gift that God offered to mankind is only found in the salvation of Jesus Christ. He wants us to choose to love Him and have relationship with Him. No one will love us more than God. No one!
The other thing that God gave mankind was free will. We have the right to choose. We are living in the age of grace it will not always be so.
Where sin abounds God’s grace abounds more.
Thessalonians 5: 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
How deeply saddened I am to think that someone would not accept this precious gift that cost the life of Jesus. All God, all man, He took the sins of the world upon Himself and gives us freedom from the bondage of sin to honor the Creator of heaven and earth.
True victory comes from quietly trusting in Christ, who has made a way for us to come to God even though our sins were deeper and more dangerous than the Red Sea. He promises to work all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).
Christ's redemption of His people represents a new exodus (out of slavery to sin and into eternal life) through Christ's life and finished work on the cross, a fulfillment of what the Old Testament exodus displayed for the people of God. First5
Ever present God,
you called us to be in relationship with one another
and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered.
In our community, we are many different people;
we come from many different places,
have many different cultures.
Open our hearts that we may be bold
in finding the riches of inclusion
and the treasures of diversity among us.
We pray in faith.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
John 3:18–21
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” The New King James Version
To believe is to receive life and avoid judgment. A person who does not believe not only misses life, but is condemned already. The light referred to here is Jesus, the light of the world.
People offer many excuses for not accepting Christ. Some cite the presence of hypocrites in the church. Others claim inability to believe some of the truths about Christ or the gospel. These are merely attempts to conceal a heart in rebellion against God. The ultimate reason people do not come to Christ is that they do not want to. The NKJV Study Bible
Rejection of Jesus results in condemnation. The new testament ultimately roots all salvation in faith in Christ. There is no other way to achieve right standing with God. The dualism between light and dark is a common theme in John’s Gospel and 1 John. In this context, “evil” refers to deeds that flow from unbelief. Anything done apart from faith in Christ is no better than the worst evil. Faithlife Study Bible
Many think that cannot be proved, which they cannot believe. Christ’s discourse of gospel truths, shows the folly of those who make these things strange unto them; and it recommends us to search them out. Jesus Christ is every way able to reveal the will of God to us; for he came down from heaven, and yet is in heaven. We have here a notice of Christ’s two distinct natures in one person, so that while he is the Son of man, yet he is in heaven. God is the “HE THAT IS,” and heaven is the dwelling-place of his holiness. The knowledge of this must be from above, and can be received by faith alone. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
John 1:4–5 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
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