John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”
____________
Please go back with me in time. It’s December 17, 1903, when Orville and Wilbur Wright made history when their motorized vehicle defied the law of gravity and flew through the air. The idea wasn't new. Years earlier the Wright brothers got off the ground at Kitty Hawk, thus mathematicians and scientists had proven that flight was possible. However, many people who read those facts couldn't believe that flying would ever become a reality. The Wright brothers believed the facts and mathematical formulas, and they built the first flying machine. When it became airborne, they demonstrated that you have to trust in the facts and act on them if you want results. There is a parallel here to the spiritual life of everyone who has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Innumerable people know that He died on the cross, rose from the grave, but will not act on this knowledge!
They are like those who knew the mathematical facts and formulas about flight but had no faith in them. My beloved, God has made the facts very plain and clear in His precious and Eternal Word. He has provided for our salvation through the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus Christ. However, many people who are aware of this fact are still lost. They know all about Jesus, but have never put their faith in Him. Someone has said, “The kindest thing that God ever did was to become a man.” What magnificent glory Christ left and what utter humiliation He suffered so He could offer us the riches of salvation! We will never be able to understand it completely. It's hard to fathom the truth that when we receive His gift, we claim an eternal inheritance as adopted children of God and placed in His family.
____________
Closing illustration:
A story has been told regarding a little girl who was critically injured in an automobile accident and was taken to a nearby hospital. She had lost a great deal of blood and needed a transfusion, but her blood type was very rare. After many attempts to find a donor, it was finally discovered, that her 7-year-old brother had the same blood type. The doctor took him into his office and told him, “Your sister is very sick. Unless she gets some blood, I am afraid the angels are going to take her to heaven. Are you willing to give your baby sister your blood?” The boy’s face turned pale and his eyes widened in fear.
After some agonizing moments, he whispered to the doctor, “I’ll give my sister my blood.” As the transfusion took place, the boy watched as his blood passed through a tube to his sister. The doctor noticed that the boy seemed nervous and said, “It will all be over before long.” At that moment, big tears welled up in the boy’s eyes as he said, “Will I die pretty soon then?” He thought he was giving his own life to save his little sister! There is no greater love. Jesus laid down His life for you and I, even before we were His friends. “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10).
____________
These are the facts:
(1) When we die, we will spend an eternity in either, heaven or hell.
(2) We must make a decision in this lifetime where it will be.
(3) If we want to go to heaven, we have to experience God’s love.
(4) To experience God’s love we have to accept His offer of forgiveness.
(5) His offer of forgiveness is only through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
(6) Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”
In Matthew 7:13–14, Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." My beloved, Jesus Christ is the gate or road to eternity and there is no other! So, the question that remains, "Have you opened the narrow gate that leads to eternity?
__________
You can have tons of religion without one ounce of salvation.
Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”
____________
Please go back with me in time. It’s December 17, 1903, when Orville and Wilbur Wright made history when their motorized vehicle defied the law of gravity and flew through the air. The idea wasn't new. Years earlier the Wright brothers got off the ground at Kitty Hawk, thus mathematicians and scientists had proven that flight was possible. However, many people who read those facts couldn't believe that flying would ever become a reality. The Wright brothers believed the facts and mathematical formulas, and they built the first flying machine. When it became airborne, they demonstrated that you have to trust in the facts and act on them if you want results. There is a parallel here to the spiritual life of everyone who has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Innumerable people know that He died on the cross, rose from the grave, but will not act on this knowledge!
They are like those who knew the mathematical facts and formulas about flight but had no faith in them. My beloved, God has made the facts very plain and clear in His precious and Eternal Word. He has provided for our salvation through the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus Christ. However, many people who are aware of this fact are still lost. They know all about Jesus, but have never put their faith in Him. Someone has said, “The kindest thing that God ever did was to become a man.” What magnificent glory Christ left and what utter humiliation He suffered so He could offer us the riches of salvation! We will never be able to understand it completely. It's hard to fathom the truth that when we receive His gift, we claim an eternal inheritance as adopted children of God and placed in His family.
____________
Closing illustration:
A story has been told regarding a little girl who was critically injured in an automobile accident and was taken to a nearby hospital. She had lost a great deal of blood and needed a transfusion, but her blood type was very rare. After many attempts to find a donor, it was finally discovered, that her 7-year-old brother had the same blood type. The doctor took him into his office and told him, “Your sister is very sick. Unless she gets some blood, I am afraid the angels are going to take her to heaven. Are you willing to give your baby sister your blood?” The boy’s face turned pale and his eyes widened in fear.
After some agonizing moments, he whispered to the doctor, “I’ll give my sister my blood.” As the transfusion took place, the boy watched as his blood passed through a tube to his sister. The doctor noticed that the boy seemed nervous and said, “It will all be over before long.” At that moment, big tears welled up in the boy’s eyes as he said, “Will I die pretty soon then?” He thought he was giving his own life to save his little sister! There is no greater love. Jesus laid down His life for you and I, even before we were His friends. “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10).
____________
These are the facts:
(1) When we die, we will spend an eternity in either, heaven or hell.
(2) We must make a decision in this lifetime where it will be.
(3) If we want to go to heaven, we have to experience God’s love.
(4) To experience God’s love we have to accept His offer of forgiveness.
(5) His offer of forgiveness is only through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
(6) Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”
In Matthew 7:13–14, Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." My beloved, Jesus Christ is the gate or road to eternity and there is no other! So, the question that remains, "Have you opened the narrow gate that leads to eternity?
__________
You can have tons of religion without one ounce of salvation.
