BE HONEST WITH GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY MARCH 22, 2023.

SUBJECT: BE HONEST WITH GOD!

Memory verse: "O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me." (Jeremiah 20 vs 7.)

READ: Job 7 vs 17 - 21; 42 vs 7 - 8:

7:17: “What is man, that You should exalt Him, that You should set Your heart on Him,

7:18: that You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

7:19: How long? Will you not look away from me, and let me alone till I swallow my saliva?

7:20: Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself?

7:21: Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and You will seek me diligently, but I will no longer be.”

42:7: And so 

INTIMATION:

The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty about your faults and your feelings. God knows we are imperfect, and is not expecting us to be perfect, but He does insist on complete honesty. The Bible remarks in Psalm 130 vs 3, "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" None of God's friends in the Bible was perfect. If perfection was a requirement for friendship with God, we would never be able to be His friends. Fortunately, because of God's grace, Jesus is still the "friends of sinners." (Matthew 11 vs 19.) 

In the Bible, the known friends of God were honest about their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn't seem to be bothered by this frankness; In fact, He encouraged it. God allowed Abraham to question and challenge Him over the destruction of the city of Sodom. Abraham pestered God over what it would take to spare the city, negotiating God down from fifty righteous people to only ten. If he had continued till one, God would have granted his request because a soul is valued more than the whole world. (Mark 8 vs 36.)

Our God is very patient. God did not slay Jeremiah when he claimed that God had tricked him (Jeremiah 20 vs 7 - 8). God listened patiently to David's many accusations of unfairness, betrayal, and abandonment as enumerated in his Psalms. In the passage we read today, God also listened to Job, and allowed him to vent his bitterness during his ordeal. Job referred to God as a watcher or observer of humanity. He was expressing his feeling that God seemed like an enemy to him—someone who mercilessly watched him squirm in his misery. However, in the end, God defended Job for being honest, and He rebuked Job's friends for being inauthentic. 

God told them, "..My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has." (Job 42 vs 7 - 8.) We should know that God is watchful over everything that happens to us. We must never forget that He sees us with compassion, not merely with critical scrutiny. He eyes are eyes of love.

To instruct us in candid honesty God gave us the Book of Psalms—a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, praise, and statement of faith. Every possible emotion is catalogued in Psalms. When you read the emotional confessions of David and others, realize this is how God wants you to worship Him; holding back nothing of what you feel. You can pray like David: "I pour out my complaints before Him; I declare before Him my troubles. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me...." (Psalm 142 vs 2 - 3.)

In one startling example of frank friendship in the Scripture (Exodus 33 vs 1 - 17), God honestly expressed His total disgust with Israel's disobedience. He told Moses he would keep His promise to give the Israelites the Promised Land, but He wasn't going one step farther with them in the desert! God was fed up, and He let Moses know exactly how He felt. Moses speaking as a "friend" of God, responded with equal openness: "If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate. Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth." So the Lord said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."

Moses was bold and candid with God. He felt God gave him a task, and should back Him up appropriately. He was quite frank. This is the honesty that friendship God desires from us. Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you? Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of His friends; He is bored with predictable, pious cliches. To be God's friend, you must be honest to God sharing your true feeling, not what you think you ought to feel or say.

It is encouraging to know that all of God's closest friends—Moses, David, Abraham, Job, and others—had bouts with doubt. But instead of masking their misgivings with pious cliches (attitude I call "holier than thou"), they candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.

Prayer: Abba Father, I will lay bare myself before You, for You already know my thoughts before I speak them. Nothing is hidden from You, I pray for grace to come to You all the time in complete honesty, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

God’s Best Promise

 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

The most far-reaching promise of God’s future grace is found in Romans 8:32. This is the most precious verse in the Bible to me. Part of the reason is that the promise in it is so all-encompassing that it stands ready to help me at virtually every turn in my life and ministry. There never has been, and never will be, a circumstance in my life where this promise is irrelevant.

By itself that all-encompassing promise would probably not make the verse most precious. There are other such sweeping promises such as Psalm 84:11: “No good thing does [God] withhold from those who walk uprightly.” And 1 Corinthians 3:21–23: “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” It is difficult to overstate the spectacular sweep and scope of these promises.

But what puts Romans 8:32 in a class by itself is the logic that gives rise to the promise and makes it as solid and unshakable as God’s love for his infinitely admirable Son.

Romans 8:32 contains a foundation and guarantee that is so strong and so solid and so secure that there is absolutely no possibility that the promise could ever be broken. This is what makes it an ever-present strength in times of great turmoil. Whatever else gives way, whatever else disappoints, whatever else fails, this all-encompassing promise of future grace can never fail.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all . . . ” That’s the foundation. If this is true, says the logic of heaven, then God will, with absolute certainty, give all things to those for whom he gave his Son!

NEVER BE BITTER WITH GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY MARCH 21, 2023.

SUBJECT: NEVER BE BITTER WITH GOD!

Memory verse: “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." (Matthew 11 vs 6.)

READ: Job 9 vs 4; Isaiah 45 vs 9 - 10:

Job 9:4: God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him, and prospered?

Isaiah 45:9: Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?

45:10: Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’

INTIMATION:

Some people are harboring hidden anger and resentment at God for certain areas of their lives where they have felt cheated or disappointed. While so many others harbor resentment toward God over their appearance, background, unanswered prayers, past hurts, and other things they would change if they were God. Even some others often blame God for hurts caused by others, and consequently create "their hidden rift with God." These people usually ask God, "Why me." Why not you? Until we mature enough to understand that God uses everything for good in the lives of believers, we would be entangled in such bitterness toward God at our own detriment. We need to confess those hidden anger and resentment, and repent.

When we are bitter with God, we create the greatest barrier to friendship with Him. Usually when one is in an unfavorable or difficult situation, some will say, “Why would I want to be God's friend if He allowed this thing in my life?” The remedy, of course, is to realize that God always acts in your best interest, even when it is painful and you don't understand it. But releasing your resentment and revealing your feeling is the first step to healing. The wise and right thing to do when you are in doubt or bearing any resentments, because of happenings around you, is turn to Him in all honesty, and not turn away from Him.

Everything that moves you to question the integrity of God, or His love for you must be destroyed, so that the altar of your heart can be prepared for the fire from heaven. While preparing your heart to approach God in prayer, one of the things you must guard against is offenses. So many have their conscience ensnared with offenses toward God or man, and all they do in prayer is nothing but complain, and murmur. When you are offended in God, you turn Him against yourself; and if God is against you, who will save you? If you despise Him, who will lift you?

When you are offended in God or man, you bear iniquities in your heart that inhibits God from hearing you (Psalm 66 vs 18). Many are stranded because of offenses. When they stand in prayer, they justify themselves against God. They say, "Lord, I have acted in my best attitude, and have done everything that You commanded. Only You haven't done your part." In other words, they count themselves faithful and God unfaithful. But the Bible says, "...Let God be true but every man a liar..." (Romans 3 vs 4.) Anything that makes you to murmur against God is moving you against your destiny. You can't expect Him to answer your prayers when your heart is full of complains and offenses toward God or man. 

In our memory verse, Jesus said that those who do not take any offense in the Lord are fortunate and blessed. Jesus said that when John the Baptist that sat in prison, and began to have some doubts about whether Jesus really was the Messiah. John thought in his heart that if his purpose was to prepare people for the coming Messiah, then why was he in prison when he could have been preaching to the crowds, preparing their hearts. John expected that the coming Messiah should be able to save him from prison. 

When John the Baptist’s disciples came and put his question before Jesus; "Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?" Jesus knew that he was already offended in Him. He asked the disciples to go back to him with the good news of His exploits—the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Obviously, that would have offended John the more because he already had heard all those evidence that indicated the real identity of Jesus, and wondered why He didn't want to save Him from prison. 

It is noteworthy that it was in the same prison and the same Jailer that held Paul and Silas. They were doing the work of the Messiah when they were arrested and jailed. But they didn't get offended both toward God or the men, but instead sang and praised God while in there, and God came in His Might and saved them. But forJohn, he was eventually beheaded when the King's daughter, on the advice of the mother, asked for his head in a platter.

Romans 8 vs 28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." So, set your heart right before Him. Count Him faithful in all things. Refuse to complain, but rather let God know that you have no alternative beside Him, and that you are ready to hang on till your answer comes from Him. Any attempt to step away from God, is stepping into doom for you. Certainly, there is no unrighteousness with God! (Romans 9 vs 14.)

Let your conscience be as that of the apostle Paul who said, "This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men." (Acts 24 vs 16.) Give your destiny motion by clearing off every offense from your heart, to establish a thoroughfare to heaven in prayers. This is the way to maintain a good communication line with God.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are the Lord, the Creator of all things. All that happens are already known to You, and You allow them for Your purposes. Give me the grace to have a conscience free from offenses toward You and men, that I may pray through to heaven, and be worthy of Your blessings accordingly, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Jesus Died for This Moment

 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

When the alarm went off at 4:59 this morning, I had a split-second thought of the utter realness of dying and standing before an utterly holy God with nothing to commend me but my own life.

The horror of it was only surpassed by the flash of reality: Jesus Christ died for this very moment.

Then it was gone.

My immediate sense was: This is the essence of what happens whenever someone is converted. This is how Jesus Christ is discovered to be real. This is how a person comes to cherish the love of Christ. Suddenly, for the first time, they see and feel, with the eyes of their heart, the undeniable reality of having to meet God with a guilty conscience.

The impact of that vision is devastating. It causes us to know that our only hope is a Mediator. Standing alone, with nothing to commend us but our own sinful life, we are utterly lost. If there is any hope for eternity in the presence of this God, we will need a Redeemer, a Substitute, a Savior.

At this point of terrible crisis, nothing shines like the gospel of Jesus Christ — “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). In the split second before he was there, I was granted to see the all-engulfing darkness and horror of the judgment — not a theological inference, not a merely rational conclusion, not a mere thought, but a glimpse with the inward eye full of knowing and feeling and certainty.

Our God is a consuming fire. He will not look upon evil. We are utterly lost. My guilt was so huge, so real, so unquestioned in that split second, that there is not even the remotest possibility of making excuses. It was sudden and all-enveloping and infinitely hopeless.

In this instant Jesus is all that matters. O Christ! O Christ! Can my heart contain the wave of gratitude?! O Gift of God, my desperate and only Need!

THE BANE OF SELF-PITY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY MARCH 20, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE BANE OF SELF-PITY!

Memory verse: “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69 vs 20.)

READ: John 5 vs 2 - 8:

5:2: Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in the Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.

5:3: In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

5:4: For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool, and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

5:5: Now a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty eight years.

5:6: When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

5:7: The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

5:8: Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

5:9: And immediately the man was made well, took up His bed, and walked.

INTIMATION:

When you are trapped in a problem so long, the tendency is that you lose your faith in the promises of God. Some people become so stagnant in the problem that they forget the promises of God. They become so weary that they are acclimated to their problems. Such people will then fall into the pit of feeling sorry for themselves. That is 'SELF-PITY.' It's dangerously bad! It is not a place for a child of God. Self-pity conquers faith, because it leads to negative confessions when you accept your position or consequences facing you as your fate. It makes you look for man's approval rather than God's direction. 

Self-pity is a death that has no resurrection, a pit that has no bottom. Self-pity is a destroying trap, because it has a multiplying effect on your problem. Once you indulge in it, you will develop what I call the 'wilderness complex.' Have you always counted yourself as poor? Have you always regretted your life? Have you always counted yourself as unlucky or felt unfairly treated by God? Have you always felt that God has failed you? Have you always wished you were another person, in another relationship, in another place, and so on? All these are what I called the 'pity-pots.' 

There are two common responses to hopelessness: despair and self-indulgence. But we need not act as if we had no hope. Self-pity is so damaging and dangerous that you resort to depending on man rather than God. Your problem becomes a tool for seeking or begging for help from people. And that is what I mean by 'making you seek man’s approval instead of God's direction.’ You live your life at the mercy of others. At any opportunity, you want people to know how bad it is with you, or your family, or your partner, and so on.

In the passage we read today, we saw a man who had an infirmity for 38years, and had abandoned himself in that hospital (Sheep Gate pool), had no hopes of ever getting out of there healed. The man had fallen so deep into the trap of self-pity that his problem had become a way of life. No one had ever helped him, and he had no hope of ever being helped nor healed. The man’s situation looked hopeless, and he had lost faith completely. But no matter how trapped you feel in your infirmities or troubles, God can minister to your deepest needs. As we face difficulties, our proper response should be to trust God and His promises.

One would wonder how Jesus came to that hospital and was interested in only one patient while there were so many patients lying there. Jesus had seen how the man has been self-defeated and lying completely hopeless in his ‘pity-pot.’ He knew the very dangerous situation the man was in that couldn’t help himself nor get help from anybody. The man was so downcast that he lost faith even in God, and Jesus saw that clearly. However, He came to give hope to the hopeless hence He ministered healing to the man. 

Don’t let a problem or hardship cause you to lose hope. What that means is your obvious denial of the promise of Christ who said to us, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11 vs 28). A person may be carrying heavy burdens of sin, oppression, persecution, affliction, hardship, or even weariness in the search for God (The list is not all inclusive—not limited to these mentioned areas), but Jesus frees people from all these burdens. The rest He promised in Him is love, healing, freedom, and peace with God. God may even have special work for you to do in spite of your condition, or even because of it. 

When you face problems, and people scoff at you, mock, insult, humiliate, and make you an object of citywide gossip, never fall into self-pity. If your situation seems hopeless, determine that no matter how bad things become you will continue to pray. God will hear your prayer, and He will rescue you. When others reject us, we need God most. Don’t ever turn from your most faithful Friend.

When we are completely beaten down, we are tempted to turn away from God, give up, and quit trusting Him. Faith in God is justified even when our situations look hopeless. Faith based on rewards or prosperity is hollow. To be unshakable, faith must be built on the confidence that God’s ultimate purpose will come to pass. Circumstances are never so bad that they are beyond God’s help. We need never despair because we belong to a loving God. We don’t yet know what good He may bring out of a seemingly hopeless situation (Romans 8 vs 28). 

Prayer: Abba Father, if life seems hopeless, You are the reason I still have breath in me, if I have lost something, You are the reason I have not lost everything. You are the reason I live and move and have my being. I know the thoughts You have for me, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give me a future and a hope. In You I put my trust, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE GIFT OF SPEAKING IN TONGUE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE GIFT OF SPEAKING IN TONGUE! 

Memory verse: "For he who speaks in tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries." (First Corinthians 14 vs 2.)

READ: First Corinthians 14 vs 2 - 5:

14:2: For he who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to men, but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

14:3: But he who prophesies speaks edification, and exhortation, and comfort to men. 

14:4: He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but he who prophesies edifies the church.

14:5: I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that prophesied: for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

INTIMATION:

Speaking in tongue is a special prayer language, and a legitimate gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a heavenly language unknown to anyone, and considered as languages of angels. The gift of speaking in tongues that continues throughout church history and is so widespread today is the Spirit-prompted ability to pray and praise God in a heavenly dialect, possibly even an angelic language that is not related to anything spoken on earth such as English or French or German or Latin. 

The Holy Spirit personally crafts or creates a special and unique language that enables a Christian to speak to God in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. This gift is not a human language that one might encounter in some foreign country, but a Spirit-empowered capacity to speak meaningful words that are only understood by our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God can also provide the interpretation through the one speaking or through another believer. 

It is noteworthy that speaking in tongues is not a sign of spiritual superiority nor the invariable sign of Spirit-baptism or Spirit-filling. There are numerous instances in Acts of true conversion and Spirit-baptism where no tongues are mentioned. No one should put down those Christians who do not speak in tongues. The apostle Paul made several points about speaking in tongues: (1) It is a spiritual gift from God; (2) it is a desirable gift even though it isn’t a requirement of faith; (3) it is less important than prophecy and teaching. Speaking in tongues primarily benefits the speaker. 

The exercise of the gift demands some guidelines so that the purpose of the gift—to help the body of Christ—is not lost. Those who speak in tongues should follow the guidelines. Those who do not speak in tongues ought not seek the gift as a sign of salvation or for special closeness with God, for it is neither. It is a gift of God, given only to whomever God chooses. If a person has not experienced the gift of tongues, he or she ought not seek it but seek what gifts God has given.

The gift of speaking in tongues is of no value to the congregation as a whole, only to the person who speaks to God in the unknown language. But if the person also has the gift of interpretation, the tongue could be used in public worship if the one praying (or someone else with the gift of interpretation) would then interpret what has been said. This way the entire church or congregation would be edified by the gift. 

The apostle Paul says that the one who speaks in a tongue “speaks not to men but to God” (First Corinthians 14 vs 2). This means that tongues is a form of prayer: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” (First Corinthians 14 vs 14.) 

Tongues is also a form of praise: “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” (First Corinthians 14 vs 15.) 

It is also a way in which we give thanks to God: “Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the room of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.” (First Corinthians 14 vs 16 - 17.) 

Tongues is also a way in which we edify or strengthen ourselves: “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.” (First Corinthians 14 vs 4.) It is noteworthy that self-edification is a good thing, as we are commanded in Scripture to edify ourselves: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,” (Jude 20.) Self-edification is only bad if it is done as an end in itself. It is good to take whatever steps you can to edify yourself, to build up and strengthen your soul, so that you might be better able and equipped to build up others (see First Corinthians 12 vs 7). 

The self-oriented use of the gift of tongues by believers must be carefully practiced in order not to pursue self-development at the expense of broken, lost people. When we give too much attention to our own needs, ideas, and spiritual expression, we may push aside the Spirit’s true desire and abandon those who need encouragement. 

Spiritual gifts are beneficial only when they are properly used to help everyone in the church. We should not exercise them only to make ourselves feel good. No matter what gift(s) a person has, all spiritual gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit decides which gift each believer should have. We are responsible to use and sharpen our gifts, but we can take no credit for what God has freely given us.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for Your manifold spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. I crave for the gift of speaking in tongues that can enable me communicate with You directly; praying, praising, and giving You thanks, and edify myself; building myself up in the most holy faith, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

A Six-Point Summary of the Gospel

 

Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

Here’s a summary of the gospel to help you understand it and enjoy it and share it!

1) God created us for his glory.

“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah 43:6–7). God made all of us in his own image so that we would image forth, or reflect, his character and moral beauty.

2) Therefore every human should live for God’s glory.

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The way to live for the glory of God is to love him (Matthew 22:37), trust him (Romans 4:20), be thankful to him (Psalm 50:23), obey him (Matthew 5:16), and treasure him above all things (Philippians 3:8; Matthew 10:37). When we do these things we image forth God’s glory.

3) Nevertheless, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him . . . and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (Romans 1:21–23). None of us has loved or trusted or thanked or obeyed or treasured God as we ought.

4) Therefore we all deserve eternal punishment.

“The wages of sin is (eternal) death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Those who did not obey the Lord Jesus “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

5) Yet, in his great mercy, God sent his only Son Jesus Christ into the world to provide for sinners the way of eternal life.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

6) Therefore eternal life is a free gift to all who will trust in Christ as Lord and Savior and supreme Treasure of their lives.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).