Salvation of God
December 17th, 2008“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18
Jesus Christ was born 2000 years ago in a little Town called Bethlehem. As there was no room for Him in the Inn He was born in a Manger. A manger is a dirty, smelly place, a place for animals not a place you would expect to find Him born King of the Jews and Saviour of the world. Yet it is in this smelly, despised and dirty place He was born.
Why was Jesus Christ born? Simple put to die for you and for me. You see the Bible tells us that all have sinned, with absolutely no exception. Sin is when I do what is right in my own eyes not what is right in terms of Gods righteous law. Sin is when I break Gods laws. The sins we commit makes our hearts like that dirty, smelly old manger. Now man has tried to reach God in his own way, by good works, good morals and even by organized religion, but in all these ways he fails and falls short of the glory of God. I can do good all my life, be very moral and religious but if I have but one sin I am guilty. If I am caught speeding in my car it doesn’t matter that every other time I drove my car I never speeded, I am guilty and must pay the price. Now all of us have told a lie before in some form or another and have therefore broken Gods law and have sinned. Our thoughts about God and other people have not always been pure, honest and correct. Neither would any of us dare say we have loved God with all our heart, mind and soul all the time since we were born. We guilty and the punishment is death, eternal damnation.
Man can not reach God on his own, so God sent His Son, Jesus, as the Son of man to save them from sin. This He did by dying on the cross for us. There He shed His blood for us, for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin or the cleansing of our dirty, smelly hearts. So yes, your sin and mine killed Jesus. While they were hammering the nails into Him and mocking Him, his cry came FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. This cry still rings out to the Heavenly Father for you, now not from the Cross but from the Throne of Grace. He died and two men who where secretly following Jesus came forward and asked for the body of Jesus. These two men where Joseph and Nicodemus. They had followed in secret but now made a public stand for Jesus which we are going to ask you to do shortly.
They put Him in a tomb nearby where they had crucified Him. The Romans rolled a big stone in the way and posted guards to make sure nobody would steal the body. However on the 3rd day He arose bodily and appeared on numerous occasions to His disciples and proved to them He was alive. Hereby He secured a resurrection, a life hereafter for you and for me. Forty days after He arose He ascended into heaven to prepare mansions for those who would believe in His Name and is coming again to take us to be with Him.
That is why He was born.
Now remember we said Jesus was born in a smelly, dirty and despised manger. Well that night when He was born that manger was changed. It became a holy place, a cherished place and many came to see, and even angels attended and sang glory to God in the Highest. So too when we ask Jesus to come into our smelly, dirty hearts, He comes in and it becomes a Holy place as we give Him our sins to cleanse. Even the angels attend and sing praise to God when we turn to Jesus Christ.
If that is your desire then pray the following prayer:
If you have prayed this pray and meant it, Jesus Christ has come into your life and your heart has become like that manger, a holy place and even the angles are now rejoicing. I have however two more things you must do immediately. The first is tell the people you live with that you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Saviour. The second is to email me on info@gospeloutreach.co.za so that I can send you some free literature which will help you grow in the Lord. Receiving Christ is not the end it is but the beginning of a new and wonderful walk with Him.
God bless
Trevor N Vosloo
