Without God

Without God


I once heard a sermon where the preacher stated that he thought Ephesians 2:12 was the saddest verse in the Bible.

• Ephesians 2:12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

I understand why he said this – it is very sad to think about someone, anyone, being alienated from God. But as sad as that is, I believe the Bible tells us about something much worse.

Living without God is sad. 

Dying without God is eternally tragic!

Sad Situation
Living without God is an empty existence. Hopelessly misguided, doomed to God’s wrath, willfully rebellious, and blinded by Satan – that describes the state of one who is alienated from God.

• Galatians 4:8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
• Ephesians 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
• Romans 1:21-22 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Serious Sentence
Somebody has to pay for your sin. Jesus Christ died on a cross to pay your sin debt; He rose from the grave to make you righteous before God. If you don’t accept Christ’s payment – You will pay your sin debt by spending eternity in hell separated from God.

• John 3:18-19 “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. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
• John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
• Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
• Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Surprising Solution
God loves you and wants to give you something you don’t deserve and cannot earn: forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life. He’s not asking you to clean yourself up – you are incapable of doing that. God made a way for you to be in right relationship with Him – Jesus Christ.

• Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
• 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
• Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
• Titus 3:3-5 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Single Savior
Jesus, God in the flesh, is not a way to God; He is the only way to God. Surrender your life to Jesus. He died for you – live for Him!

• John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
• 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
• John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
• 1 John 5:10-12 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

We are all going to spend eternity in one of two places – Heaven or hell. You have to be 100% righteous to go to Heaven. Try as you may, you can’t do that yourself. You, and I, and everyone else will always fall short of God’s standards and requirements. If we could do it on our own, Jesus’ death as the once for all final sacrifice for sin was pointless. Come to know God the Father through God the Son, Jesus Christ.

• Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
• Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
• John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Are you without God?

 

Humble yourself before Him,

Turn away from your sin,

Surrender to Jesus as Lord of your life,

Join your brothers and sisters in the family of God!

Prayer

Loving, patient, gracious Father – may the truth of Your Word touch the life of someone who needs salvation in Christ. Please make a way for a faithful follower of Jesus to be there, to encourage, to answer questions, to share the way, the truth and the life. I humbly and confidently lift this prayer to You in the name of my Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

  

His Good Pleasure

His Good Pleasure


What a humbling experience to read how Jesus humbled Himself for us. Through the New Testament writers, God provides extraordinary detail about Christ’s birth, ministry, death, burial, resurrection and exaltation. Our loving Father clearly reveals to us why Jesus had to die and how we obtain righteousness and eternal life when we confess Christ as Lord and surrender our lives to Him.

Here is a beautiful passage about Christ’s submission to the Father’s plan for our salvation.

• Philippians 2:7-9 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

But the New Testament writers were not the first to document the truth about Messiah. Not only did God speak directly about Christ in the Old Testament (Genesis 3:15, 22:18, 2 Samuel 7:16, etc.), but He also spoke through many of His Old Testament prophets about Jesus (Psalm 22, Isaiah 9:6-7, Micah 5:2, etc.).

One of the most powerful Old Testament prophesies about Jesus Christ is given to us in Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12. This prophesy was written about 700 years before Jesus lived and is both beautiful and graphic in its descriptions of His purposes and punishment.

Centuries before His death on a Roman cross, Christ’s death for the atonement of our sins was proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah.

• Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

The following verse from this section of scripture presents a complex truth that is followed by a clear explanation of that truth in the form of beautiful promises.

• Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
• The Complex Truth
• God the Father desired to crush His Son
• God offered Jesus as an offering for our sin.
• The Promises that Clarify this Truth
• The Messiah will rise from the dead and see the results of His suffering (the church).
• God’s eternal desire for the redemption of man will be fulfilled in Christ’s obedience.

His Good Pleasure was (and is) accomplished through Christ’s sinless life, all sufficient sacrifice, resurrection from the dead and ascension to Heaven. This was the perfect and only way to redeem lost humanity.

God Planned Our Adoption in Christ
God choses us to be His children through His only begotten Son.

• Ephesians 1:4-5 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
• John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
• God has a one-of-a-kind and completely unique Son in Jesus Christ. Through His Son, God adopts all who confess Jesus as Lord.

God Created Our Family in Christ
The mystery of the church was revealed to the New Testament apostles and prophets.

• Ephesians 1:9-10 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
• Ephesians 2:19-20 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
• Believing Jews and Gentiles are joined together in one family, the Universal Church.

God Fulfills His Purposes for Our Lives in Christ
God works mightily in the hearts and minds of His children to give them the desires and gifts needed to shine brightly for Christ in this dark world.

• Philippians 2:13-14 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
• Romans 12:5-8 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
• Together we are the body of Christ. We exist to glorify God and fulfill His purposes.

His Good Pleasure

Is The Reconciliation

And Completion

Of All Things

Through Jesus Christ

And His Church

Prayer

Dear Father, I hate that Jesus Christ, Your Son, had to die for me. But I love and appreciate the fact that He did. Thank You for being willing to sacrifice the best You had to save my soul. Thank You for loving me and saving me! Your good pleasure is my greatest blessing. I praise Your Holy Name and lift up this prayer of praise and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus Christ. Please use Your Word to draw many to salvation in Him. Amen.