Opening song: Jesus Saves (340)
Scripture reading: math 24:13
Topic: Hope- PERFECTION 3
Closing song; Hold fast till I come (600)
The promise
Of all the promises in the bible the one that seems to sum
them all up, is that the Lord is coming for his people. It is the hope of the
ages.
So often we hear the Coming of Christ presented in a fearful
way, that he is coming to destroy the wicked, and with his coming there will be
dreadful events….but I say to you…yes he is coming, and there may be some terror
associated with that…but focus on this...He is coming to destroy sin and the grievous,
wearisome, horrifying, loathsome effects of sin, But even greater than that,…..
But even greater than that….He is coming to get his redeemed from the earth.
Unless you are one of those who has
made a league with the Devil….This should be fabulous news!
We, especially thos we who find
themselves in church today, should rejoice because he is coming to take US from
this sad, dreary, sin cursed Earth, and take us to a place where there is peace
evermore.
Doesn't this make you feel happy?
Well for those of us who are
keeping his commandments and who are exercising faith towards his promises. (Rev14:12)
this is ecstatic news this should make you want to jump from your seat and
shout Hallelujah!!!!!
Just imagine….
No more bills, no more aches/pains,
no more stress, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more death, no more
Sin!!!!!!
It seems some of you are still not happy!
Why is this?
Is it that you
don’t count yourself worthy?
The sad truth is, that we often come to church to have someone
shout from the pulpit insults that further beat up our already battered
emotions.
This should not be the case
Some of you might be saying, but I have sinned, as such, I
am a sinner and I am un worthy.
Ok…so we know we are guilty…after all Adam was our father.
We don’t need to be degraded and put down any further.
These thoughts are not good thoughts, and I dare to add that
they are from Lucifer from himself
So that I am not misunderstood...I’m not saying we are not
sinners… this declaration is true. If you or me do not first come to the
consciousness that we are sinners neither of us can be saved; for Christ came
to seek and to save that which was lost i.e. sinners. Luke19:10
So it is good to recognize that you are a sinner, however confessing
this fact is only half of the function of the law.
The other aspect is to recognize your need for a Savior.
The sinner needs a savior.
..and that is what the Lord wants to do....The Lord is not seeking your
destruction, but He is seeking your redemption.
Read with me
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected end.
God loves us “so”
much
I can just imagine Him looking to the Earth with longing
eyes, anxiously awaiting the time to run off so He can be once again united
with His church, with no dark glass in between.
Can’t you see it?
Just as the Father of the prodigal looked out each day for
his way fairing son….as soon as you turn to God, he has His outstretched arms
wide open in an expectant hug, to welcome His child.
God really, really really loves you….
There is no greater love in heaven or in Earth, such as the
love that God has set upon you…
The bible doesn’t say God loved us (john3:16)
It says God so loved us...this love was so vast that only
the adverb “so” could be used to describe it….
Picture a child trying to describe how much he loves His
Mommy.
He can only so I love you “So” much…An immense feeling that
only an infinite word could really harness the extent of the love felt.
Jesus Is in the
saving business
As a result, the only thing that God wants to do is save us.
He paid the greatest price….He made you then He paid more,
abundantly more, than we are worth. To Ensure that He could get us.
Picture a man wanting a particular gift for his wife at an
auction, when the bid started out at $0.50 cents. The man’s first bid is $1
billion. (with a B)
If you know anything about auctions usually the starting
value tells you how much a thing is worth, it also tells you just where the
auctioneer expects the bid to end.
God silenced all bids, because he paid abundantly above more
than we were worth…just so that He would be sure to get us.
More Good news
The good news is that Jesus saves, and He is willing to take
you just where you are. He won’t leave you that way but he will take you just
as you are, with all your faults. So won’t you come to Him.
So for all of you, who think you need to clean up yourself,
before you re-activate your prayer life.
I say to you, stop forming the fool and go to the master
problem solver, the master healer, the master psychologist.
There is nothing to big, too small, or something that you
have done, that God is tired of you coming to Him.
The song writer says…”whom have I earth beside thee…whom in
Heaven but thee…
Come to Him….lets us Pray..
Repeat after me
“Father release me
from my doubts, my fears, from that sin which that easily besets/overwhelms me,
and let me claim and experience the power, the freedom that is found in Jesus
Christ. Amen
Tis so sweet trust in Jesus (524)
Sin shall not have dominion over me because the mouth of the
Lord has spoken it.
You provide the reckoning and God will do the rest. God is
bigger than sin, and He can do it, if you let Him.
Wont’t you trust Him
today?
Occasionally my son or daughter steps out of line and I am
forced to use corporal punishment……but after a while they come back to me and
say “forgive me daddy!”
How can I turn away from that? How can I not forgive them?
In the same way we need to call upon God…recognize we have
sinned, but never cease from calling upon his name. Even in our times of
chastisement, we must be like Job. Though
he slay me yet will I trust Him job13:15
Even when He
chastises you, it because He loves you. Rev3:19
Call upon Him
Now if we don't call
upon the Lord, we cannot be saved...
Ps 18:3
I will call upon the LORD, [who is worthy] to be praised: so shall I be
saved from mine enemies.
God has invited us to join his church Heb. 12:22-24
12:22
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
12:23
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect,
12:24
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel.
Understand, that all this is done out of love.
The company is already big…so it’s not because God is trying
to make up numbers, but it is done because He loves us.
Regardless of what-you-may-think-you-are-worth, the Lord
thinks you are worth far, far more.
The church
You know the church is commonly referred to as a woman, a
virtuous woman.
So do tell, what is the worth of a virtuous woman?
Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price
[is] far above rubies.
Q: Who is a
virtuous woman you ask?
A: A woman that displays “high moral standards.” Need I say more?
Do not all of us display high moral standards; or said
another way are we not all striving towards the mark of perfection?
Then why must we
count ourselves unworthy?
Maybe it is not the question of worthiness that boggles your
mind, but the question of “can I be saved?”
In my opinion, this is one of the easier questions?
Why yes! you can be saved! As long as you have not
blasphemed the name of the Holy Ghost (Matth12:32)
you can and will be saved.
Being saved from sin, is something we can be sure of....
As a matter of fact, Matthew quotes Jesus in saying that as
long as you persevere to the end, you will be saved.
Read with me
Math 24:13
We know that we will be saved, because Jesus cannot lie. If
Jesus says so I believe it and that settles it. Jesus is God, and when there
was no light He said, let there be light and it stood fast.
All he had to do was speak...and it happened....now He has
spoken that you...not might be...but you shall...it is a certainty....you shall
be saved....if you endure to the end
So question
If Jesus tells me
that I will be saved, if I endure to the end, what power is there in heaven or
in Earth to prevent me from being saved?
The only way I should be lost is if I don’t…..
Say it with me “ persevere till the end.”
So I will persevere
until the end, because I want to be saved!!!
Do you want to be. Saved?
Then persevere
If for no other reason, persevere because the sacrifice of
Jesus is sufficient to cover your sins!
Your bill has been paid; and paid abundantly above more than
it could have ever cost.
In Jamaica we say...we will pay you and give you change........this
was what was done for us.
Christ paid abundantly more than we could ever ask or
think...so the bill is paid.
Another question
So now that I know that the bill is paid in full.... how do I persevere until the end?
Do I persevere by:-
- Giving up my Christina
walk?
- Ceasing to do right?
- Ceasing to believe in His
promises of deliverance?
- Dis-connecting myself from
God?
- Do I stop reading his
word, and praying?
- Do I live as I please and
then on the Sabbath come and say Lord forgive me?
- Do I become weary in
well-doing?
- Do I not allow the Holy
Spirit to be the vehicle that drives me until the end?
You know what it means to persevere; so do it!
How am I saved?
You see the problem with our salvation is not God, but us.
We often complicate the matter of salvation, when it needs no complication.
Today after I have explained salvation to you, I’ll hope you will finally
understand just how easy it is to be saved.
Are you ready for the explanation?
You are saved by
grace through faith. (EPH2:8)
That is it.
Grace is the saving agent….the person upon whom merit is
bestowed….
How do we get the Merit.
God and will bestow this credit upon whom He will…..
God can and will save who will allow Him to save them....
The good thing about that is we already know the heart that
God has.John3:16
Not willing that any…any Any…any should perish….....He is going to save as much as He can
Although there is nothing you can do to warrant being saved…….you
must first believe that you can be saved before it is even remotely possible
for God to save you.
You just have to provide the reckoning, and God will do the
rest.
After all it is God who started this saving business in the
first place.
Think with me.
After Adam had sinned, was there anything that He could do
to redeem himself?
Q. Well was there?
Q. Could Adam have done somethimg that would have justified
his disobedience?
A. There was nothing!
Here is the truth………God
…I say again God had to do something…… so Adam could be saved.
In the very same way, we are condemned sinners, and unless
we allow God to save us, we cannot be saved. I repeat for emphasis, unless we
allow God to save us, we simply cannot be saved.
No amount of right doing can save us.
To illustrate this, think of a surgeon whowhile in med school makes an error that caused the
death of the patient on the operating table. Yes the hospital was sued and yes
the surgeon never made that error again. As a matter of fact he went on to save
hundreds of lives by the surgeries he performed.
Does the lawsuit or the lives saved bring back the person
who died?
In the same way, right doing cannot pay for sin.
What is the wages
of Sin? Rom 6:23
In order that the sinner does not die, He must accept
Christ’s life and death as their own.
We must not only express a faith in Jesus, but we should have
the faith of Jesus?
What do I mean by the Faith
of Jesus?
Of no greater place was the faith of Jesus demonstrated than
in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. When the only thing he had to
carry him through was the Words which were spoken to him during his ministry by
the father.
If we are to be numbered among the redeemed then this is the
faith that we must display. Standing squarely on the word of God…and it alone
Man shall not live by
bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God matt4:4
Read with me
Psalm 22 and 23
These two psalms reflect the mindset which Christ had while
He was on the cross.
Take note of the change in disposition of Christ while he
hung on the cross…
He changed from:
My God why has though forsaken me
To: I know that
in God’s house will I abide for ever
What is faith you ask?
1. It is the
Substance=present assurance, surety-Evidence=proof
2. Faith=connected
with hope
3. Faith=
moves you to act
4. Faith=allows
you to see that which is invisible
5. Faith=makes
the impossible possible
6. Faith=is
always rewarded
You see
Jesus knew these things about faith, and every other patriarch which we find in
the scriptures. So we too must know and demonstrate this faith. If it is that
we are to please God.
Heb. 11:6-pleased God
What do you
believe?
Again I say, provide the reckoning and God will do the rest.
He will work it out for you.
But you must believe that He can.
In case you’re doubting it…..I’m telling you that He can
save you….He has saved others like you before a he can do it again.
You might be saying:
I have family problems – Give it to Jesus
I have debts– Give it to Jesus
I have disease– Give it to Jesus
I have an addiction– Give it to Jesus
.
But I say to you if your troubles have caused you to stop
looking to Christ for the answer. You have missed the point.
These problems like the law, are the very things that are
supposed to be urging you to Christ.
That you have looked in the other direction, you are doing
the exact opposite of what they were intended to do.
Come to Jesus…It
is not too late.
Appeal
Can you sit here today, knowing all this and not cry out
unto God for forgiveness, and cry out unto God for heal you unbelief.
We understand there are troubles, but all these are just for
a short while. Endure your cross and crown of righteousness you will wear.
Heb10:37
Math 24:13…word of
God says it will happen, and he is the word of God….you shall be saved….if you
endure
His grace is sufficient---no sin too big…just repent and
come. He will take you
Don’t give up on God…He has not given up on you
Let
us pray – Renewing our hope
1 Thes. 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
James 5:13 Is any among you
afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the
elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord:
5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick,
and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him.
5:16 Confess [your] faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.
Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and
to stand before the Son of man.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say
unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
[them], and ye shall have [them].
24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the
winter, neither on the Sabbath day:
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