If you are like most people, I am sure that at some time in your life, someone you loved has let you down…someone has forsaken you…or someone has betrayed you. Whether it was a friend, a family member, or a husband or wife, you put your confidence in that person, but in the end that person was not to be trusted. They hurt you…they let you down…they may have even broken your heart. It happens…and when it does, it is painful…and sometimes it’s even devastating. But still we find a way to put our lives back together and to go on…hopefully. However, some people never move past a broken heart. Many people maintain an untrusting heart all their lives because their heart was broken and they never allow themselves to love again. And often, even if they do love again, they still go through the same circumstance. It’s a very painful and sad situation for a person to find themselves in.
But I want to tell you
about a person who loves you so much…He has promised He will never leave you…He
will never forsake you…and He will never betray you. You can depend on Him to
always be faithful and true. I want to tell you about Jesus, my Savior and my
Lord.
Thirty-seven years ago, I
was in a horrible marriage…with a man who always betrayed me and cheated on me.
I was so sad and miserable…my life was going nowhere…and I didn’t know what to
do. But then I met JESUS! And I learned that He is faithful, so I decided to
try to trust Him. I gave my life to Jesus Christ and I have never been the same
again. My husband left me with 2 children so that he could go to live with
another woman, but in all these years JESUS has never left me…He has never
betrayed me…He has been with me every single day of my life. He is the Love I
had always been hoping for…He is my Savior and Lord…He is my EVERYTHING.
And the truth I want to
share with you tonight is that He wants to be the very same to you. I want to
tell you about Him if I may. I want to tell you how much He loves you too. In
the Book of John, we see a little bit about this love of Jesus toward us.
“For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
“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.”
(John 3:16-18)
I want to tell you some
good news tonight…it is God’s desire to have a relationship with YOU. It is
God’s desire to be your best friend…it is God’s desire to walk with you and
talk with you every day…and it is God’s desire for you to spend eternity with
HIM. And He has provided a way to do that through the person of Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you about
that way….
·
Romans 3:23 tells us that we are all
sinners: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Every
single person who has ever lived was a sinner…that is except Jesus. He NEVER
sinned. He never lied…He never stole…He never did anything wrong. He was always
obedient to the will of His Father in Heaven. For that reason, He was the only
One who was qualified to pay the price of for our sins…the price of death…
·
Because Romans 6:23 tells us the penalty
for sin, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” The penalty for sin is death…total, complete
separation from God for all of eternity. Did you know that you will live
forever somewhere? When your body dies, your spirit will live forever in either
Heaven or Hell, but the good news is that you have the choice as to where you
want to spend eternity. It’s your decision. But you have to make that decision
now…in this life. Once your body dies, it will be too late to change your mind,
and in spite of what some people tell you, according to the Bible, no one can
pray you into Heaven once your body dies. So now is the time, Friend…now is
when you need to choose. Because God gave us a way out…He has offered each of
us a free gift of eternal life. And how did He do that? This is where His great
love comes in….
·
Romans 5:8 tells us “But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God knew that we were not able to pay the great price for our sins…He knew that
we were not able to live a perfect life and therefore we were doomed to die for
our sins. It would take a perfect person to pay the penalty for us. So He sent
His only Son Jesus Christ. He sent Jesus to not only die for our sins, but to
live a perfect life on this earth so that we might have an example of how God
wants us to live for Him. He sent Jesus to pay the price of death on a cruel
cross at Calvary. He sent Jesus to suffer inhumane torture…to be beaten to the
place that He could not be recognized… He paid the price of humility and
shame…so that you and I could be set free from sin and it’s penalty. And all He
asks us to do is to truly repent of our sins…that means that we have a change
of heart about how we are living our
lives and then place our trust in the price that Jesus paid on the cross as
full payment for our sins.
·
Romans 10:9 states "that if you confess with
your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved." You repent of your sins and come to
Jesus by faith in Him and the price that He paid for your sins. God commands us
to repent of our sins. That means to experience true sorrow for our sins and to
turn away from them. Acts 2:38 instructs us "Repent and be baptized,
every one of you for the remission of sins..." and Acts 17:30 says
“God
commands all men everywhere to repent.”
And so my question for
you right now is this…even though others may have failed you and let you
down…can you trust in the great love that God has poured out for you right now?
Can you trust the price that Jesus paid for your sins and can you trust Him to
give you eternal life? God loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die
on a cruel cross so that you wouldn’t have to. He loves you so much that wants
you to repent of your sins and live with Him forever. Jesus promised that He
will never leave us nor forsake us…and I have personally found that to be true
in my own life. Don’t you want to turn from your life of sin and give your life
to Jesus today?
If you want to repent of
your sins from your heart and ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, I want to
ask you to pray this prayer with me right now:
Father,
I know that I am a sinner, and I repent of my sins. I fully acknowledge that I
am at fault and I cannot get to you with this sin in my life. I don’t want to
live my life in sin any longer, and I ask you to forgive me for my sins and to
cleanse me from my sins and give me power by the Holy Spirit help me so that
from this day forward I can live the rest of my life for you. Thank you Father
for your mercy to me. In Jesus Name I pray…Amen.
If you
have prayed that prayer and you meant it in your heart, you have just been born
again and received eternal life. From now on you have complete access to talk
to God any time you want…in fact He wants you to do that every day. Just talk
to Him about everything in your heart. And be sure to get a Bible and read a
portion of it every day. You may want to start with the Book of John because he
explains more about God’s love and forgiveness of sins. If you ask Him to, God
will help you to live for Him always. God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment