The world is spinning out of control and people are desperately looking everywhere for answers. This dire situation continues to deteriorate as severe earthquakes, widespread famine, deadly superbugs, radiation poisoning, economic troubles, political unrest, expanding terrorism, wars and rumors of wars have caused instability and unrest throughout the world. In the midst of all the frightening news and a growing sense of hopelessness, there is some good news to proclaim! Christians have a great opportunity to share the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. We don't know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future. Only the Lord Jesus can provide the peace that surpasses all understanding! Those who live with an eternal perspective are not easily shaken by the many temporal dangers of today. If anyone is going to be impacted by the good news of Jesus Christ, we must first give them a true diagnosis of the problem. The root cause of all our troubles in sin. We live in a fallen world and everyone is born with a fatal disease called sin that we inherit from Adam. The soul who sins will die because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23; Ez. 18:4). We must tell the world there is no human cure for the deadly disease of sin - that's the bad news, but there is a divine cure - that's the good news! It's available free for the asking because of a love story written in blood on a wooden cross two thousand years ago. Everyone who is convinced they have the disease can trust God for the only cure.
God Gives Life to the Dead
The Word of God reveals that all people are born physically alive but spiritually dead. But God, being rich in mercy brings to life everyone who will believe in Jesus (Eph. 2:1-5; 1 John 5:1). They are born again and made alive through the living and abiding Word of God (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).
God Redeems Believers
Everyone is born under the curse of the law and slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17). Man's only hope for redemption is to trust Jesus for deliverance. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for
us" (Gal. 3:13). What was the price that had to be paid for man's redemption? "You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold...but with precious blood...the blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:18).
God Justifies Believers
A holy God can only declare a repentant sinner righteous in His site if three legally binding conditions are met. 1) a perfect human substitute must take the condemned person's place, 2) the sin must be placed on the substitute and 3) the substitute must pay the sin debt in full. These conditions were met when God, in the person of Jesus Christ took upon our humanity to become the Substitute (Isa. 53:4; John 1:14, Heb. 2:14-16). God placed the sin of many upon His Son (Isa.53:6, 11). He paid the sin debt in full having nailed it to the cross (Co. 2:13). God justifies believers "as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom.3:24). "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
God Sanctifies Believers
At the moment of conversion God sets believers apart from the corruption of the world
for His glory and purpose (2 Pet. 1:4). In our (Only Hope from page 1)
Lord's prayer to His Holy Father, He asked that believers be sanctified by the truth of His Word (John 17:17). It is through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, while abiding in God's Word, that believers become vessels for honor, sanctified, and useful to the Master (2 Tim. 2:21; 2 Thes. 2:13-14).
Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, believers are conformed to the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29).
God Forgives Believers
God's justice demands that the eternal sin debt must be paid in full. The eternal Son of God did what finite man could never do. He cancelled the eternal sin debt at Calvary's cross for all believers (Co. 2:13-14). "It is written, that Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name" (Luke 24:47). God offers forgiveness of sin to all who respond to the Gospel with repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). In Christ, every believer has the forgiveness of sins according to His grace (Eph. 1:7).
God Purifies Believers
Jesus gave Himself as a sacrificial offering to purify for Himself a people for His own possession (Titus 2:14). The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses every believer from all sin (1 John 1:7). When He had made purification
of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3).
God Reconciles Believers to Himself
Since man is born separated from God because of sin, someone must mediate reconciliation.
As God's perfect man and man's perfect God, Jesus is the only One qualified to reconcile God and man. He changes their relationship from one of enmity and hostility to one of peace and harmony. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them...He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:19-21).
God Seals Believers with His Spirit
Everyone who believes the promises of the Gospel can live with an eternal perspective because they have divine assurance. "After listening to the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory" (Eph. 1:13-14). Believers have the divine assurance that they belong to God for all eternity. The Spirit's seal assures believers that their gift of salvation is irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).
God Indwells Believers
What an awesome reality for all believers! "We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God and they shall be My people'" (2 Cor. 6:16). Knowing this, the apostle Paul exhorts all believers to live holy lives by asking the rhetorical question: "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16).
God Adopts Believers as Sons
To all who received Jesus by faith, He gives the right to become children of God. They are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). Believers receive "a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:14-16). Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
God Baptizes Believers into Christ
Every believer has the awe-inspiring reality that they are in the Body of Christ and are eternally attached to its Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. By one Spirit believers are baptized into one body, the Body of Christ, which is the Church (1 Cor. 12:13). "God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired" (1 Cor. 12:18).
God Makes Believers New Creations
Everyone who is in Christ becomes a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). God plants new desires, new hopes and new inclinations in believers to enable them to be victorious over worldly passions. "Our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin" (Rom. 6:6). Believers "put on the new self, which... has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth" (Eph. 4:24).
God Grants Believers Eternal Life
The hopelessness of this fallen world does not offer any security of what tomorrow may bring, but God grants a security that is out of this world. Eternal, everlasting, never ending life with our Creator does not depend on any human effort, but is grounded in the gracious promise and sovereign power of almighty God. To every believer Jesus said, "I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28). As the good Shepherd of the sheep, He protects His flock and loses not one. The apostle John declared under divine inspiration: "I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
God Gives Believers an Inheritance
Every believer will obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away because it is reserved in heaven (1 Pet. 1:3-4). "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are...heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him" (Rom. 8:16-17).
God Rescues Believers from Darkness
Jesus said, "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness (John 12:46). In doing so He rescues believers from the domain of darkness and transfers them into His glorious kingdom (Col. 1:13). He sets them free from the bondage of sin and Satan by the truth of His Word (John 8:31-32). God makes every believer on earth His eternal citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20).
God Gives Eyes to See the Future
Just as a physically blind person cannot see the sun, a spiritually blind person cannot see the Son of God (2 Cor. 4:4). Our sovereign Lord must open the natural man's eyes before they can comprehend His Word
(1 Cor. 2:14-16). Since a good portion of Scripture contains prophecies, believers are given a special blessing to know the future. They can know with certainty the events recorded in the Bible will all come to pass. Many of the events taking place in the world today were prophesied thousands of years ago as warnings to prepare us for the second coming our of Lord Jesus Christ (Mat. 24:3-31). May God give us all a sense of urgency to proclaim the Gospel of peace as we await the appearing of our blessed hope. Religion offers no hope because religion does not offer a Savior who is sufficient to save sinners completely and forever. The Lord Jesus is the only hope for those who are perishing in a world that is spinning out of control.
(April - June 2011; Vol. 20 No. 2; Evangelist Mike Gendron)
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