DICIPLESHIP AND TRUE REVIVAL
There Is a Price to Pay….Salvation does not cost any person anything, because salvation is freely bestowed upon those who believe. ..Don't let anyone rob you of this truth. Ephesians 2:8, 9 states, For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Romans 6:23 says, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus shed His precious blood upon the cross over 2,000 years ago to redeem sinners.
To be saved, one must receive this precious gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin. When the transaction occurs God immediately gives eternal life to the receiver of His gift. It is free.
Because of it one can enthusiastically say with Paul, …Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift
(2 Corinthians 9:15). The Price Paid by Christ
His home
God's gift cost the Jesus everything. This included the relinquishing of His heavenly home for a period of 33 years.
Philippians 2:5-8: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He loved you and left the beauty of the "Holy City" to die an agonizing death upon Calvary.
He said, I came down from heaven (John 6:38). Again, I am the living bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51).
He loved you and gave himself for you (see Galatians 2:20).
His reputation
God's gift also cost the Lord Jesus Christ His reputation. Philippians 2:7: [He] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
His enemies tried to drag His holy name into the depths of poverty. Listen to them: He casteth out devils through the prince of devils (Matthew 9:34).
He hath an unclean spirit (Mark 3:30). He hath a devil and is mad (John 10:20). "He is an illegitimate child." They said even that? Absolutely. His sermon so convicted the sinners of His day that they, in retaliation, shouted, We be not born of fornication (John 8:41). Christ bore all of this abusive language because of His great love for the lost including you.
His happiness
God's gift also cost Christ great sorrow. He could say in Matthew 26:28, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He beheld the city, and wept over it (Luke 19:41). Again in Luke 22:44: And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Medical doctors say that blood is held in one's body by capillaries. When they burst, blood seeps through the skin. Jesus prayed so agonizingly over the souls of men that His capillaries shattered, His blood seeped through His skin, and beads of blood and water ran from His brow to the ground. Oh, how Jesus loved the lost.
Hebrews 12:2 looks ahead to the joy anticipated because of the sorrow endured:
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him [seeing the redeemed in His presence] endured the cross.
His life
God's gift also cost Christ His life. Psalm 22 prophetically depicts the event. Listen to the Saviour as He hangs, fastened by Nails, to the cross: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? Verse 6: But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. Verses 13-16: They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Do you hear the agonizing groans of the Lord as he pays the price of salvation for you?
Isaiah, the prophet, also portrays the ignominious scene in chapter 53:1-5: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Paul says, Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). John adds, He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation).
Multitudes more of the "saved by grace without cost" crowd never win lost souls to Christ.
Million slip into hell forever and forever and forever while believers fill their daily schedules with temporal earthly pursuits. They fail to witness because their exalted image could become tarnished by the taunts of those Christ-haters who belittle them. They might be called fanatics, fools, idiots, imbeciles, or Jesus freaks.
Are we better than Christ who was called demented and mad in John 10:20?
News from the Church New dates
4th March..…..Friendship Group, (this covers all ages and the lonely people)
18th February…. Knit and natter is a time to finish old projects or learn new skills
if you just want to talk well that’s OK too
ANSWERS TO 22nd February QUESTIONS
1) Through a hole in the roof 2) Stretch out his hand 3) Raised him from the dead 4) Swine (pigs)
5) The hem of His garment 6) About 12 7) Laughed at Him 8) 5 loaves and 2 fishes 9) Samaritan 10) Jesus, Son of David 11) Sleeping 12) Walked to Jesus on the water 13) 7 14) Fill the waterpots with water 15) Siloam 16) 4 days
Bible Quiz this week’s Quiz is about Jesus
1 Which 2 groups wanted to put Jesus to death?
2 Which Roman governor washed his hands in public after sentencingJesus to death?
3 Who betrayed Jesus?
4 How many pieces of silver was he given?
5 What did he do, when he realized what he had done.?
6 Who was released in the place of Jesus?
7 How many thieves were crucified at the same time as Jesus?
8 When Jesus was crucified how many hours did it go dark for?
9 What do the words “ Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” mean?
10 Who laid the body of Jesus in his own tomb?
11 On which day of the week was Jesus raised from the dead?
12 Who rolled back the stone from the tomb?
13 The Angel told the woman to tell who, about the empty tomb.?
14 The guards were bribed to say what?
15 Which Disciple doubted that Jesus was alive?
16 Jesus said “feed my sheep to who?
God Bless