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Best Blogs Digest: For Busy Disciples (Dec. 2010)

Friday, December 31st, 2010

“We’re NOT Like All the Other Churches”
Let’s Rejoice More in Christ Than Our Distinctives

If you wrote a list of what you want in a church, what would be #1?
“Even though the gospel was preached in Rob’s church, the deacons seemed to save their heartiest ‘Amens’ for whenever the preacher went off script and started reminding them of all that set their church apart from the others in town. The preacher and congregation took pride in the fact that their church was traditional…He sits down one evening and writes out a list of all the things important to his church experience. By the time he puts the pen down, he is frustrated that he can’t find ‘the right church.’…
Rob’s church and Kelli’s church look very different, and yet they are very much the same. Both churches proclaim the gospel, but both center their identity in aesthetic tastes and styles. The gospel is preached, but the style is what’s celebrated.
Week after week, the churches emphasize and celebrate what makes them different from other churches. They celebrate their uniqueness – not the gospel uniqueness that shines light in a dark world, but a worldly uniqueness that would have us base our identity in stylistic distinctions between brothers and sisters.
Whenever we are formed within a context that celebrates certain cultural expressions over against other expressions, we begin to expect the wrong things from a church. So when the day comes for us to unite with a different congregation, our list of expectations is devoid of the gospel. The saddest result of Kelli and Rob’s church search is that neither of them were looking primarily for a church that preached and celebrated the gospel. They were lost in a sea of peripheral issues because that is what their churches had celebrated.
Pastors and church leaders, it’s important that we believe the gospel; it’s also important that we celebrate this gospel in a way that makes clear it is ‘of first importance’.
What do we celebrate as a church?…I pray that we celebrate the gospel in a way that leads our church members to easily cross cultural divides because of the centrality of the cross. What we celebrate is just as important as what we believe.
‘D.A. Carson: I have been teaching more decades now that I can count and if I have learned anything from all of this teaching, its this: my students…learn what I’m excited about. So within the church of the living God, we must become excited about the gospel…But, at this point, the gospel is not what really captures us. Rather, is a particular form of worship or a particular style of counseling, or a particular view on culture, or a particular technique in preaching, or – fill in the blank. Then, ultimately, our students make that their center…’” What You Celebrate as a Church is Just as Important as What You Believe by Trevin Wax

Can Children Understand the Preaching?
Remember, the smartest man who ever lived was able to explain deep doctrinal truths so that uneducated farmers and fishermen could understand. One of the best cures for “scholarism” is to teach children’s Bible study. If you can explain God’s Word to kids, you can explain it to anyone.
“However, in many circles, especially perhaps in some Reformed churches, we may be in danger of over-complicating sermons.” A Plea for Profound Simplicity by David Murray

Ms. Pastor? Encouraging Women More How They Can Serve Than How They Can’t
The best sermon I ever heard on women in the church was by Erwin Lutzer. He showed how God used women in redemptive history from Genesis - Revelation: Eve, Sarah, Deborah, Mary, Lydia, etc. He focused more on what women could do than what they can’t do (pastor).
“Few issues are so hotly debated today in evangelicalism as the issue of women in leadership…Yet just as there are common themes that tend to run through conversion stories, so too there are three common factors that emerge as chief influences in the lives of the contributors to this volume. While not true of every essay, the following pattern is consistent:
1. The author was raised in a fundamentalist Christian background that was highly restrictive of women’s involvement in the church (this accounts for about half of the essays).
2. The author married, or was herself, a highly capable woman with strong leadership capabilities (this was true in nearly every essay).
3. The author revisited Scripture, reinterpreting the ‘restrictive’ passages of the New Testament in light of the ‘broad sweep of the biblical narrative,’ which he or she saw as indicating freedom for women to serve in any leadership capacity within the church…
What follows are…points of application/observation that complementarians can glean from How I Changed My Mind:
1. Most significantly, many women have genuine pain and confusion about their place within the church…Compassion, not simply confrontation, is needed at precisely this point…
2. In light of the above, complementarians need to make as much room as possible for women to exercise their considerable giftedness within the church…Indeed. When complementarians become more preoccupied with telling women what they can’t do, rather than resourcing them for what they can do, the church as a whole suffers for it.” How I Changed My Mind About Women in Leadership by Gerald Hiestand

Top 10 Theology Stories of 2010
1. Francis Chan Resigns, 2. N.T. Wright Clarifies, 3. John Piper Rests, 4. David Platt Challenges, 5. Glenn Beck Mormonizes, 6. Matt Chandler Suffers, 7. Ergun Caner Fired, 8. Philip Ryken Hired, 9. BioLogos Evolved, 10. Crystal Cathedral Bankrupt. My Top Ten Theology and Church Stories from 2010 by Colin Hansen

Top 10 Christian Books 2010
Of all the Top 10 Book lists I’ve seen, this is my favorite. Top Ten Books of 2010 by Chad Knudson

O.T. Promises to Israel Fulfilled by the New Israel: Jesus
“In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is cast as the true and faithful Israel. Matthew is retelling Israel’s well known story, but he’s putting Jesus right in the middle as the main character in the story. Jesus is the new Israel…
Not only is Jesus the new Genesis, his life embodies the new Exodus…
Following right on the heels of Jesus’ exodus out of Egypt, we come to his baptism in the Jordan in Matthew 3. Again, I don’t think Matthew is trying to be speak in secret code, and he certainly isn’t making the stories up, but he has arranged the material in such a way as to retell Israel’s story, with Jesus now as the true Israel. So just like the Israelites left Egypt and then passed through the Red Sea (baptized into the sea according 1 Cor. 10:2), Jesus too leaves Egypt and passes through the waters in his baptism.
Just to point out one more parallel, think what happens to the Israelites after they pass through the Red Sea. They wind up in the desert where they wander for forty years. And where is Jesus in Matthew 4 after his baptism? He is in the desert about to be tempted after having fasted for forty days and forty nights.” Out of Egypt I Called My Son by Kevin DeYoung

How the NT Interprets the OT
“1. Keep in mind the NT’s purpose in referencing the OT.
2. Along these lines, remember the NT often uses the OT simply as a vehicle of expression.
3. The NT may press home the significance of a passage without trying to explain its original meaning.
4. We must allow for a broader view of ‘fulfillment’ language.
5. Similarly, some OT passages are fulfilled typologically.
6. OT prophecy is full of examples where there is a near and far fulfillment….
The other lesson is that we need not be embarrassed to use a strong theological lens on top of our appropriate grammatical-historical lens. This is not an invitation to allegory or a reason to search for hidden spiritual meanings…But it does mean we should, like the NT writers did, read the Bible across the whole Bible. We should see Jesus in all of Scripture. We should read the end in the light of the beginning and the beginning in view of the end. Above all, we can celebrate that Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of all that was imperfectly prefigured in the OT.” Can That Be Right? The New Testament’s Use of Old Testament Prophecy by Kevin DeYoung

Culture’s Sentimental Love vs. God’s Holy Love
“1. Applied to God, the sentimental view generates a deity with all the awesome holiness of a cuddly toy, all the moral integrity of a marshmallow. In the previous lectures, I briefly documented this point with examples from films and books.
2. Applied to Christians, the sentimental view breeds expectations of transcendental niceness. Whatever else Christians should be, they should be nice, where “niceness” means smiling a lot and never ever hinting that anyone may be wrong about anything (because that isn’t nice).
3. In the local church, it means abandoning church discipline (it isn’t nice), and in many contexts it means restoring adulterers (for instance) to pastoral office at the mere hint of broken repentance. After all, isn’t the church about forgiveness? Aren’t we supposed to love one another? And doesn’t that mean that above all we must be, well, nice?
4. Similarly with respect to doctrine: the letter kills, while the Spirit gives life, and everyone knows the Spirit is nice. So let us love one another and refrain from becoming upright and uptight about this divisive thing called “doctrine.” (pp. 11–12; numbering added) Popular Culture’s View of Love by D.A. Carson

Finding Your Place in God’s Story
Free audio and video of The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story by D. A. Carson. “This series will serve the church well because it simultaneously evangelizes non-Christians and edifies Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline in a non-reductionistic way. The series is geared toward “seekers” and articulates Christianity in a way that causes hearers either to reject or embrace the gospel. It’s one thing to know the Bible’s storyline, but it’s another to know one’s role in God’s ongoing story of redemption.” The God Who Is There by D.A. Carson

Hypocrites on the Worship Team?
“They might ask to participate, even in public roles, perhaps as musicians. As church leaders, how should we respond to these requests?…TGC asked four other pastors, ‘Do you invite non-believers to participate in corporate gatherings of the church by playing instruments or assisting in other public roles? Why or why not?’” (GG: I agree with 9Marks.) TGC Asks: Do Non-Believers Play a Public Role in Your Church Services? by Collin Hansen

A Life Worth Modeling: Follow Roger Nicole as He Followed Christ
“J. I. Packer has a gift not only for summarizing theological truth in a concise, compact way, but also for getting to the heart of a friend’s character and legacy. A few years ago he was able to summarize Roger Nicole in a sentence:
‘Awesome for brain power, learning, and wisdom; endlessly patient and courteous in his gentle geniality; and beloved by a multitude as pastor, mentor, and friend’…The couple did not have biological children but there are 19 people in the U.S., Africa and Asia who call them Mama and Papa. ‘These are some of the students we sort of ‘adopted’ throughout my career who regard us as their parents,’ Roger Nicole said.
John Piper has written that ‘One clear mark of Christlike tenderness is love for children,’ and several of Roger Nicole’s friends have noted his love of children. David Bailey says, ‘He converses as effortlessly with a five-year old child as with an academic colleague.’
Timothy George writes of Roger and Annette, ‘For many decades they have modeled the graces of Christian hospitality. Several generations of students and colleagues have known the largesse of their table and the conviviality of their home.’…
During his lectures, several of the students, on occasion, would weep…He was gracious in handling questions from ‘difficult students.’ We were deeply impressed by his complete transparency regarding his own Christian pilgrimage, his manifest godliness, his willingness to share with the students volumes from his own library…One feels both more intellectual and more Christ-like just spending time with Roger Nicole.
David Wells, his Gordon-Conwell colleague, dedicated a collection of essays on Reformed theology to Roger Nicole, and tried to get at the ‘center’ of his theological vision:
The sovereignty of God, expressed in grace and in judgment, has always been at the center of Roger’s vision. It has led him to think globally. He has always been a strong supporter of missions because he is confident that God is great enough to accomplish his saving purposes worldwide. It has also led him to walk humbly because he knows that in our human fallenness resides no spiritual life. To know this is to be liberated from the clutches of that exaggerated and false sense of self-importance, which, in the end, undermines all human well-being. And it has given his life a serenity and stability that have been an example to his colleagues, students, and the administrators with whom he has worked. In times of crisis, he has been a source of wisdom; in turbulence, a source of strength. His unerring instinct for what is noble has touched those who have known him and has ever pointed to Jesus Christ, ‘the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.’” Roger Nicole (1915-2010) by Justin Taylor

Making Scholars or Disciples?
Scholars can be pastors. But pastors don’t need to be scholars. Most seminaries train pastors so differently than Christ trained the 12. Seminaries often focus on scholarly details and debates. Yes Jesus debated and defended the truth with details. But he focused more on the big picture gospel, character growth (faith, love, and obedience), and how to’s (evangelism, prayer, and preaching). He chose men including uneducated fishermen to lead the Church. (Only Paul, whom Jesus called later, was a scholar.)
“To qualify for college or seminary positions, a theologian must earn a PhD, ideally from a prestigious liberal university. But at such schools, there is no training in the kind of systematic theology I describe here. Liberal university theologians do not view Scripture as God’s Word, and so they cannot encourage theology as I have defined it, as the application of God’s infallible word. Students are welcome to study historical and contemporary theology, and to relate these to auxiliary disciplines such as philosophy and literary criticism. But they are not taught to seek ways of applying Scripture for the edification of God’s people. Rather, professors encourage the student to be “up-to-date” with current academic discussion and to make “original contributions” to the discussion, out of his autonomous reasoning. So when the theologian finishes his graduate work and moves to a teaching position, even if he is personally evangelical in his convictions, he often writes and teaches as he was encouraged to do in graduate school: academic comparisons and contrasts, minimal interaction with Scripture.” The Problem with and the Future of Theological Education and Scholarship by John Frame

Porn: Freedom Resources
“If you are struggling with porn, or seeking to help someone who is, there is help” “I Looked for Love in Your Eyes” by Justin Taylor

Best Blogs Digest - Jan. 2010

Monday, February 1st, 2010

By Greg Gibson

Prevent Divorce by Believing the Gospel
“I once confronted a ‘Christian’ couple who were getting a divorce with this: Have you ever considered being Christlike and forgiving your spouse? But you don’t know what they have done! What about not being a unmerciful servant and forgiving the smaller debt of your spouse in light of the insurmountable debt you had cancelled in Christ on your behalf? But you just do not know Mike! How about expressing your new nature in Christ? What about the love of God poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit that was given to us? What about the new heart? What about the circumcised heart? What about love, joy patience, goodness, gentleness…etc. Why is your supposedly circumcised heart so hard? Why can you not forgive and allow Christ to do a miracle in your life/marriage? Why won’t you die to yourself? You can’t express the nature of Christ towards your spouse?…Why is that? I have a very good idea. We don’t believe the Gospel. Thats it. Our churches are packed full of people who do not believe the Gospel…If you can’t do that a home, you definitely can’t do that in the church.” Divorce and the Gospel by Lionel Woods

How to Live With an Ugly Wife
“It is said that she never provided him a sit-down meal at their home…When he returned home at night, he was not able to be in the same room with his wife because he would get a tongue-lashing, so he went to his study. But his wife controlled the coal bin and the oil for the lamp, allowing him no fire to warm himself or oil to light his lamp…Once, when the local Presbyterian pastors were gathered, a toast was offered for the wives of the pastors. The man offering the toast turned to Fraser and said, probably with a knowing smile, ‘You’ll want to offer a toast to your wife as well, James?’ “So I will and so I should,’ said Fraser. ‘For my wife has been better to me than all of yours put together!’ ‘How so?’ they asked, with their mouths agape. ‘My wife has driven me to my knees seven times a day, and that is more than any of your wives have done for you!’” Making the Best of an Ugly Wife by Jim Eliff

God Is Saving Thousands of Muslims
“Many Muslims are hungry for the gospel and thousands are coming to Christ every month. In the most recent issue of Mission Frontiers, David Taylor describes a few of these developments: In Iran, a strong underground church movement continues to emerge with thousands of house fellowships multiplying throughout the country. Surveys in the country indicate that Christian satellite broadcasting in Farsi, which began in the year 2000, is being viewed by well over half the population. Equally impressive are the results of radio and satellite broadcasting throughout the Arab world. One ministry, SAT7, has a regular audience of 8.5 million people. In North Africa, the Berbers are responding to the gospel in massive numbers, with one movement among the Kabyle encompassing several hundred thousand believers.” Open Doors in the Muslim World by Mark Rogers

The 50 Worst Countries for Christian Persecution
“The World Watch List (WWL) is a ranking of 50 countries where persecution of Christians for religious reasons is worst.”
1. North Korea
2. Iran
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Somalia
5. Maldives
World Watch List by Open Doors

Adding Jesus, Subtracting Idols
“Accepting Jesus” is not just adding Jesus. It is also subtracting the idols. What does it mean to “accept Jesus”? by Ray Ortlund

How to Become a Liberal Pastor by Seeking the Praise of Men
“Other pastors, having started as evangelicals, become liberal. It’s not that they begin to deny the Formula of Chalcedon or the Nicene Creed. It’s not that they reject the bodily resurrection of Christ or the virgin birth. It’s simply that, over the course of their ministry, sound doctrine increasingly takes a back seat to effective practice and the demands of a growing budget. Hard truths are replaced by happy thoughts, tips for a successful life, and programs designed to attract crowds whose content is devoted to making those crowds feel loved and accepted…No, I’m a pastor who loves Jesus because he’s God Incarnate and who loves the gospel because it’s true, regardless of how my life turns out. But I’m also a pastor at risk of becoming a liberal, because I don’t just love God. I also love the sheep. And I love myself. And it’s those two loves, wrongly focused, that tempt me down a gospel-denying path. LOVING THE SHEEP MORE THAN THE GOOD SHEPHERD” How to Become a Liberal Without Attending Harvard Divinity School by Michael Lawrence of 9Marks

Preaching Is Counseling
“What is interesting is that Scripture says very little about the kind of one-to-one application of the Word which biblical counseling represents; rather, the focus in the New Testament (and, indeed, in the Old) is upon the Word of God coming to the people as a whole and impacting the community of believers as a whole…does the rise in biblical counseling, and the growth in the number of biblical counselors, signal a crisis in confidence, not simply in the pulpit, but in the Word of God to achieve its purpose? Now, do not misunderstand me: I am not saying that counseling has no place, nor small group; but surely, if the biblical pattern is representative of healthy church life, then 95 percent of the problems addressed by counseling should actually be addressed and solved by simply proclaiming the perennial Word of God. Is it perhaps the case that fewer people would need counseling if more people actually listened prayerfully to what their pastors were telling them from the pulpit every Sunday morning?” The Therapy of the Word by Carl Trueman

Book Review: Depression, A Stubborn Darkness by Ed Welch
“There are three fundamental failures in Welch’s approach to depression. The first is that Welch does not seem to understand what depression is…The second failure is Welch’s misunderstanding of what causes depression…The third failure of the book should then be obvious. With no fundamental understanding of what depression is, or what causes it, we could hardly expect to find real answers or solutions and Welch offers none.” Book Review: Depression, A Stubborn Darkness by Donn Arms

55 Questions for Prospective Pastors
“It is not uncommon for a pastor to be opposed by the very people who at first enthusiastically promoted him. Why? Often it is because only surface communication took place between the potential pastor and the congregation before he assumed his position in the church. In our day it is possible for a pastor to be chosen for a church with almost no serious questions being asked, much less any doctrinal questions. This should never be the case. We suggest that churches seek the most complete dialogue possible about matters of doctrine, practice, and lifestyle. If the church fails to do so, the prospective pastor should call for it. This procedure protects both pastor and church.” Questions for a Prospective Pastor by Jim Eliff and Don Whitney

Outline of Packer’s “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God”
“The aim is to dispel the suspicion that belief in the absolute sovereignty of God hinders evangelism and to show that it actually strengthens evangelism…The book divides logically into four chapters. (See the outline of the book below.)” Summary and Outline of J. I. Packer’s “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God” by Andy Naselli

Finding Christ in the Pentatech
“To all pastors and serious readers of the Old Testament—geek, uber geek, under geek, no geek—if you graduated from high school and know the word meaning, sell your latest Piper or Driscoll book and buy Sailhamer,” Piper blogged. “There is nothing like it. It will rock your world. You will never read the Pentateuch the same again.”…Backed by these endorsements, Sailhamer’s 610-page tome on the Bible’s first five books briefly broke into the top 100 in Amazon.com’s sales rankings…I take the view that the whole of the Pentateuch is about Christ, but that doesn’t mean that Christ is in the whole Pentateuch. Finding Christ in the Pentateuch means learning to see him when he is there rather than trying to see when he is not there. I like to tell my students that we don’t need to spiritualize the Old Testament to find Christ, but we do need to read it with spiritual eyes…I’ve found that if you show someone that Christ is really there in the Pentateuch and the Old Testament, they will come back to see more—not merely because they have come to revere the Pentateuch as a foundational book, but more importantly because they want to see more of Jesus…All the evangelism we read about in the book of Acts was the result of the gospel they proclaimed from the pages of the “Old Testament.” Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch by Colin Hansen (HT: JT)

An Inconsistent Postmodern Architect
“He said, ‘This is America’s first postmodern building.’ I was startled for a moment and I said, ‘What is a postmodern building?’ He said, ‘Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.’ I said, ‘So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?’ He said, ‘That is correct.’ I said, ‘Did he do the same with the foundation?’ All of a sudden there was silence.” Postmodern Architecture by Ravi Zacharias via Justin Taylor

Edited 2/3/10

“5 Types of Sermons”

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

By Greg Gibson

There’s a new chart at JesusSaidFollowMe titled 5 Types of Sermons

An Evangelistic, Funeral Sermon:
Death From Sin, But Eternal Life From Christ

Monday, October 1st, 2007

By Greg Gibson

Intro. How I knew the deceased: 3 stories.

My family and friends, why does there have to be death? Why funerals? Why can’t we live forever, instead of only 75 years avg.? Way back ~3400 years ago, Moses wrote in the Psalms: “The length of our life is 70 years or 80, if we have the strength…” (Ps. 90:10). Why can’t we live forever? Do you know the reason why?

The answer is: “Death Came From Sin, But Eternal Life Comes From Christ”

In the beginning, God didn’t create Adam and Eve to die, but to live forever with Him in the Garden of Eden. They enjoyed perfect happiness living with God. God spoke to them, they heard His voice, and felt His peace and love.

Life with God was perfect. There was no death, no sickness, no pain, no tears, and no hunger. And Adam and Eve had the perfect marriage, perfect love and peace, no fighting. Everyone was happy. Adam and Eve were happy, and God was happy.

But then they lost their perfect life of peace and happiness. Do you know how they lost it? Sin!

God gave them only one command, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But they disobeyed God and sin ruined their perfect lives.

How did sin ruin their lives? They started the gradual process of dying physically. Their bodies grew old, their faces got wrinkles, their hair turned gray, they got tired, and then finally they died.

But worse than that, they died spiritually, separated from God when He sent them out of His presence in the garden. They no longer felt His peace and love. And people were unhappy, and God was unhappy.

The Apostle Paul tells us,

    “…Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

And so that’s why we have to die, have funerals, and burials today because Adam and Eve’s sin brought death to us all.

After their sin, people started getting sick: Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. And people started hating and murdering: “Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen. 4:8). And husbands and wives started cheating and fighting about money, sex, and house chores.

But God saw how sin separated us from Him. He saw our lying, stealing, unforgiveness, idolatry, sexual immorality, adultery, and drunkenness. So He did something to remove sin and bring people back to Him.

Jesus the God-man came down from heaven to earth to take away sins. He was born of a virgin. He lived a perfect life, the only person who never sinned. And He did many powerful miracles. He calmed the storm winds, walked on the water, cast out demons, made the deaf to hear, made the blind to see, and even raised the dead.

But evil men murdered Jesus on the cross. Then 3 days later, God raised Him from the dead, proving that He is the Son of God. After that, Jesus went up to heaven, and sat down on the throne of God, where He reigns as king over all the universe.

He is the one who has planned how many years you will live: 25, 50, 75 years or more? He is the one who puts food on your table, or holds it back. And He is the one who can forgive your sins, or punish you.

Listen, God did not send His Son the Lord Jesus Christ here to suffer and die so that we could continue living in sin like hypocrites. No! He tells us in 1 Cor. 6…

    “Do you not know that evil people will not receive the kingdom of heaven? Do not be deceived…

Please don’t be deceived by liars who tell you that you can continue sinning, and still go to heaven because you were baptized. The Lord says,

    “Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor alcoholics, nor liars, nor swindlers will receive the kingdom of heaven. And, that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were set apart, you were judged not guilty in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Did you hear that? In the early church, there were ex-sexually immoral, ex-idolaters, ex-adulterers, ex-prostitutes, ex-gays, ex-thieves, ex-alcoholics, ex-liars, and ex-swindlers. God changed them by His power. It’s impossible to know the great and holy God without being changed by Him.

The good news is that no matter how many sins you’ve done, dozens of sins, hundreds of sins, Jesus Christ is ready to forgive you today. Jesus the True Priest, the only priest who never sinned, can wash away all those years of guilt and sin.

The Lord says,

    “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).

    “..since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21).

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God will give the free gift of eternal life to all who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Remember when Adam and Eve enjoyed life with God in the Garden where there was no death, no sickness, no pain, and no crying? Well, God is going to recreate the Garden of Eden. And it’s going to come down from heaven to a new earth on the last day.

He tells us in the book of Revelation,

    “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

    And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the place God lives is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or sadness, or crying, or pain, for the old things have passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new” (Rev. 21:1-5).

Also in Revelation, our Lord Jesus promises,

    “I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done…Blessed are those who have the right to enter into the city of heaven. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lies” (Rev. 22:12-15).

My family and friends, may I please ask you a personal question? If you died tonight, do you know for sure that you will enter heaven? When you stand before God’s judgment throne, if He asks you, “Why should I let you into heaven,” what will you say?

If the first words that come out of your mouth are, “I did this, I did that, or I’m a good person,” you have faith in yourself instead of faith in Christ. Your savior is you, instead of Christ.

But if the first words that come out of your mouth are, “Jesus Christ died to pay for my sins,” and your life proved your faith, then God will welcome you into the kingdom of heaven.

When the jailer asked the apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul didn’t say, “Get baptized, go to church, go to confession, try to be good, do this, and do that, etc.” No, no, no! He said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

Sin brought death, funerals, and burials into the world. But Jesus Christ brought eternal life. Trust Him now to change you and give you the free gift of eternal life.

Edited 6/03/10