Titus 3:3-7, “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
What a treasure we have in the inspired written Word of God. What a precious truth you just read in our text passage. The Gospel is God's ultimate expression of love toward humanity. My mother was born and raised in Sweden. She came to the United States at age 13 with my mother, after my grandfather went to Heaven. I've never visited the country of Sweden, but would love to do so before I die, but that seems unlikely. One word that I heard all the time growing up was “Smorgasbord”! It is a Swedish word that means “a buffet”!!! Yeah buddy, that's good preaching! I LOVE SMORGASBORDS!!!
Dear friend, as a grateful born-again Christian, I regularly bask in a smorgasbord of God's love! That is what the Gospel can do for you! I was saved at age 13 in 1980. That was 40 years ago! I have never felt more loved by God, and felt love toward God, and felt love toward all humanity, and felt love for every living creature, as I do today!!! That love comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is God living in me as His child. Romans 5:1 and 5, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ...And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
I heard a wonderful truth today by my ministry friend, Pastor Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold:
“The Gospel, if you understand it, can cause you to love one another.” –Pastor Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold, a quote from the sermon titled: “To Believe, Receive, Accept, or Trust???”Dear reader, you are absolutely missing out on the greatest life a human being could ever live, if you know not the LOVE OF GOD in your soul. John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 1st John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.”
The Gospel is about love! God loves you dear sinner! God loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son to the cross to die for your sins (John 3:16-17). God loves you and has purchased the gift of eternal life for you, which cost Him His only biological Son. That is quite a price to pay! When someone buys you a gift, it is because they love you! The way we show our love is to receive that free gift. When someone hates another person, they will refuse to accept their gift. I have received numerous emails, Facebook messages and tweets from people who hate life, hate themselves, hate everyone and hate everything. The truth is that they refuse to allow God to love them! You cannot even begin to love anyone, including yourself, until you first let God love you!!! GOD IS LOVE! Here are some related Scripture passages on “the LOVE OF GOD”...
John 5:42, “But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.”
Romans 8:39, “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2nd Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”
2nd Thessalonians 3:5, “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”
Titus 3:4, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,”
1st John 2:5, “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
1st John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”The way to become depressed, despondent and disillusioned with life, even suicidal, is to simply focus on the wrong things...
Philippians 4:8-9, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”We are what we think! Most people like to sit around watching television, having a good time, living from moment to moment to have fun; but then when tragedy strikes, they become frantic, depressed and don't know how to handle the situation. That is why we all need to attend a local Bible-believing church, search the Scriptures, and listen to Bible preaching, so we can store up truth for when the time comes that we will need it! It is a true saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Casting Down Every Imagination Against God
I refuse to allow hateful thoughts to harbor in my soul. We cannot stop sinful thoughts from entering into our mind and heart, but we certainly CAN refuse to allow them to remain. 2nd Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” That beautiful Bible verse simply means to force your thoughts to conform with the inspired Word of God. If I have a lustful thought enter into my mind, then I am going to seize that wrong thought, and make it comply with the Holy Bible. 1st Peter 2:11, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;”I have received countless emails from people, who confess that they cannot overcome the sinful lusts and addictions in their life. The answer is very simple. First, no one can overcome sin until they get born-again, because you need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to overcome sinful desires. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Second, if you are saved, then it is only because you don't love Jesus as you ought, if you are choosing to live in willful sin. John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” A man who admits that he cannot overcome his lusts is really admitting that he lacks character, and doesn't love Jesus enough to depart from iniquity. 2nd Timothy 2:19, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” If you live in willful sin, it is only because YOU CHOOSE TO!
Unreasonable And Wicked People
Interestingly, the Bible teaches us to pray to be delivered from “unreasonable and wicked” people (the world is filled with such people today and always has been)...2nd Thessalonians 3:1-5, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”I love that last Bible verse–“AND THE LORD DIRECT YOUR HEARTS INTO THE LOVE OF GOD.” Wow, what an awesome truth! Dear reader, God's indwelling Holy Spirit is love. God loves my neighbours through me. God doesn't merely teach me to love, God's very existence in my being is love. Jesus is love! Jesus is eternal life! Jesus is God! When I am depressed, God's love sustains me. When I went to California for two major neck surgeries in 2009 and 2010, I was very sad and lonely, having no one by my side; but I knew God was with me, living in my very body and soul.
When I was lying in the recovery room at the 'Pacific Hospital Of Long Beach' where the second surgery was performed, I awoke in much neck pain. I had a hard collar around my neck. I had no one by my side to comfort me. I cried and warm tears ran down the sides of my face. I wanted to die! There was one nurse on the other wide of the room, and I said in my sadness, “I am so lonely.” That ungodly woman literally said with sarcasm: “Well I've never heard that one before!,” and she cold-heartedly walked out of the room, leaving me alone. I wanted to die so much! That was cruel and heartless what she said and did. She is the “unreasonable and wicked” person that the Bible warned us about. Without Jesus Christ people can become real monsters! There is nothing as cruel as to ignore someone in their suffering and pain.
By the way, the hospital and my surgeon where indicted in federal court for fraud, and I received a letter from the 'U.S. Office Of The Inspector General,' saying I was a victim of fraud. Now I know why my doctor had me shuttled over a bumpy highway, over an hour away from San Diego to Long Beach, to do the surgery. He was in cahoots with an illegal scam! At least a dozen people went to prison, for selling and buying illegal surgical hardware used in my surgery and evidently hundreds more. I have the letter in front of me. A bunch of lawyers made a bunch of money, but I never saw a penny. God will punish all of them for their wickedness against me and others! Isn't that something in class action lawsuits, how the lawyers steal all the money, and the victims get nothing? HELL WILL BE HOT ENOUGH FOR THE WICKED!!! God knows that I don't care about receiving any money, but it bothers me that they do, and they steal it form the victims! I detest lawyers!
When I had my first surgery in June of 2009 at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, the liaison nurse (Donna Bias) who had planned, arranged and orchestrated my surgery, cruelly abandoned me after my surgery. Whereas she had promised to drive me back home after my surgery (just like she had picked me up for surgery), she lied and put me into a taxicab instead. She will answer to God for lying and abandoning me after major neck surgery. The taxicab driver gunned his gas pedal, and I ended up back into the hospital the next day, with aggravated pain in my neck. These are the “unreasonable and wicked” people that the Bible warned us about, who are selfish, money-driven, and don't care about people at all.
I thank God, I thank God, I thank God, that I am a redeemed child of God. I cannot make other people love anyone, BUT I CAN LOVE EVERYONE!!! There is so much injustice in this world. Love is not looking the other way, love is executing justice! The Lord will execute justice when He returns, you can count on it (Ecclesiastes 5:8). No one ever gets away with doing wrong, not in the least and seemingly most insignificant way. I care because I love! That is why I make such a big fuss over the falsehoods of Lordship Salvation, turning from sins to be saved, counterfeit Bible revisions, mistreatment of people, ungodly greedy hospitals, and injustices at every turn nowadays–because I have God's love shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit!!!
I don't know about you, but I am a loving person. I need to love and be loved. If I cannot find someone to love me back, then I am going to love everyone regardless, because that is the godly and right thing to do! The Gospel is rooted in God's love, and is the very foundation of the Christian life by faith alone in Jesus Christ. God's love made it all possible! Love sent Jesus into the world to be born of a virgin as the sinless Son of God. Love sent Jesus to the cross. Love compelled Jesus to carry His own cross, until He could carry it no more. Jesus could have dropped that cross and called it quits, but “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2b). Love kept Jesus on the cross, to pay for our sins!
The two greatest Commandments in all the Holy Bible are really just one, to “LOVE.” The Bible commands us to love God with all out mind, heart and might; and the second is like unto the first, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is not much love these days. I could mention thousands of horrible things in American society today, which are disgraceful, showing that people don't love their neighbours anymore. If you've rented a car in recent years, then you know firsthand how greedy, dishonest, exploitative and rotten these companies are. Insurance companies are just as bad. Hotels are crooked. I could tell you hours and hours of stories about how dishonest and ruthless they are. Taxicab drivers are horrible these days, thieves! Restaurants are thieves, charging a 10% fee because they think YOU OWE THEM, and then they insult you by asking for a tip on top of that! We are living in a spoiled American society of “unreasonable and wicked” people with God.
Have You Received God Love Gift?
I love the picture below of Charlie Bucket holding his beloved Golden Ticket. This scene is from the popular 1971 movie titled: “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Charlie was so happy that he finally found his “Golden Ticket” to visit Willy Wonka's candy factory! he took his Grandpa Joe with him. That is one of my favorite films! Well dear friend, I assure you that God's Heaven will be far more spectacular and impressive than Mr. Wonka's chocolate factory. Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”My fine non-feathered friend, God is offering you a Golden Ticket to Heaven, and it is completely free. You don't even have to buy a Wonka Bar! Boy, what I'd give to eat a Wonka Bar. Sorry, I digress. My bad, I love sweets!!! I love those orange slices that come in a bag! And I love Milk Duds. And I love...Okay I'll stop! God is offering you a Golden Ticket! Jesus has already paid the price. He paid the price of our redemption with His precious blood!
One of the sweetest truths I ever learned (no pun intended) is that I don't have to ask God to save me, He is already asking me! I received His love gift when I was 13 years old. God is offering every human being His free gift of eternal life, and all He requires is that we BELIEVE the record as recorded in His Word. Even a small child can do that! If you'll simply rely upon the 'GOOD NEWS' that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, He was buried, and three days later He bodily resurrected from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), you will be immediately, irrevocably and eternally saved!!! Just take God at His Word! The price has already been paid for your Golden Ticket!
No comments:
Post a Comment