God Saves Sinners: How to be saved from wrath and reconciled to God
Listen, dear fellow-sinner. God speaks to you. The Father says, “Come.” The Son of God, Jesus Christ, says, “Come.” The Holy Spirit says, “Come.” Many poor sinners who have accepted God’s call join and say, “Come to Jesus.”When He was on earth, full of pity for the sufferings and sins of men, Jesus tenderly said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Are you weighed down with the burden of your sin and guilt? Oh, then, come to Jesus, and you shall find rest.
You are a sinner. Perhaps you do not really feel like you are a sinner. At least, you think you are no worse than others, but better than many. You are no drunkard, thief, or adulterer, and perhaps you even read the Bible and attend the house of God. But have you indeed obeyed all God’s holy and righteous commandments? Always been true, sober, honest, forgiving, kind? Never indulged in pride, malice, anger, deceit, or lust? God requires perfect purity of heart as well as of outward conduct, and He knows all our thoughts. “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13) Have you ever cherished the thought of sin in your heart? God’s greatest command to us is to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength”. Have you always done this? And God’s other great command is to each of us is to faithfully, sincerely and affectionately love (y)our neighbor “as yourself”, always pursuing and doing good to your neighbor just as you would have your neighbor do unto you. So based on God’s standard, You know you have sinned multiple thousands of times, have broken His commands day after day. You have lived for yourself; you have sought man’s approval, but God has not been central and uppermost in all your thoughts. The Bible tells us that if a man says he has no sin he deceives himself. “There is none righteous, no not one” (Rom 3:10). “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). You are a sinner. Enormous guilt hangs upon you. In God’s book all your sins are written down. You cannot get rid of them. Were you to labor for thousands of years, you could not atone for the least. But there is forgiveness, free, full, eternal, for the guilty. Jesus has pardon for you purchased with His own blood. Come to Jesus Christ for it.
God is angry.
The Bible says “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). He “hates all workers of iniquity” (Psalm 5:5). God’s holy and righteous wrath is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who suppress the truth from and about God by their unrighteous thoughts, words, and deeds (Romans 1:18). And doesn’t God have much and good cause to be angry with you? He gave and preserves your life, and bestows all your comforts. Yet you forget Him. He has told you His commands; yet you do not regard them.
God says: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth…I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me” (Isaiah 1:2). He is full of love to you as a tender Father; but by your sins you have grieved Him. He is your Creator, King, and righteous Judge, and must and will punish all sinners.
It is your own fault that He is angry. Your sins separate between you and God. As long as you live without repenting of your sin and turning to Jesus, God’s anger must be hot against you, and you cannot escape from Him.
Who is Jesus?
This is a most important question, because no one can rightly comply with the invitation, “Come to Jesus,” without a correct knowledge of Who He is.
Jesus is God.
From eternity He possessed all the perfections of deity. As the Father is God, so also Jesus is God. He is called “the Word,” and John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1, 3). And, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He declared, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). He is “the brightness of [the Father’s] glory…the image of the invisible God” (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15). He is “the same yesterday, and to day and for ever” (Heb 13:8); and “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus is God and is perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness. There is nothing He cannot do. He never can change. He will never be unfaithful to His promises.
Now, this is the Savior you need. Who is as mighty as Jesus? All that God can do He can do. There are no difficulties, dangers, or foes He is unable to conquer. Whatever your weakness, His strength is all-sufficient. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). With such a Savior, we cannot perish. “He is able to save…to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25).
Jesus is man.
This is as true as that He is God. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). And Jesus, though “equal with God,” “took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And [was] found in fashion as a man” (Philippians 2:6, 7). He was “a man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3), and called Himself “the Son of man” (Matthew 8:20). He became man in order to obey the Law we had broken, and to suffer our punishment.
You need not be afraid of Him; He is a Man, your Brother. He is the mighty God, able to save you; but He is also the “man of sorrows,” full of sympathy and love. He knows and pities all your weakness, frailties, and fears. Oh, treat not with indifference so loving a Friend. Listen to Him. Let your heart be touched by His tenderness. Trust His promises. Come to Jesus at once. Rely on Him as your Savior, and obey Him as your King. He will be to you the “friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
Jesus is the Savior of sinners.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1Timothy 1:15).
How does Jesus save sinners? By standing in our place, and bearing the punishment we merited. We have broken the Law repeatedly, but He kept it perfectly; for He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). We deserved death for our sins: “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). But He died for us: He gave “his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). We were under the curse: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things…written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). But he was “made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities…and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He “bore our sins in his own body on the tree” (1Peter 2:24). This is why Jesus became a man, was “despised and rejected…a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He “carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). This is why He suffered temptation, groaned in Gethsemane, in His agony sweat great drops of blood, was scourged, spit upon, crowned with thorns, and nailed upon the cross. We were slaves—He came to set us free. The price He paid was His own blood. And now that He has returned to His glory in heaven, He lives to save us. He watches over us, speaks to us by His Word and by His Spirit, listens to our prayers, advocates our cause, helps us in our weakness, and “ever lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25).
Come by prayer.
Though you cannot see Jesus, you can speak to Him. You can pray. God has permitted, and even commanded, us to do this. “Call upon me in the day of trouble…Watch and pray…Pray without ceasing” (Psalm 50:15; Matthew 26:41; 1Thessalonians 5:17).
Jesus is always waiting for the prayers of poor sinners. Not one ever escapes His notice. Whatever good things you want for the soul, pray: for pardon, for a new heart, for faith, for holiness, for comfort. “Ask, and it shall be given you,” said Jesus (Matthew 7:7). His word declares, “He cannot deny himself” (2Timothy 2:13). Pray, if you can only utter such a petition as this, “Save me, Lord, or I will perish!” Tell Him how vile, and helpless, and wretched you are. Confess your sins, and cry out to Him for pardon.
Come in repentance.
Promptly obey what God commands. He says, “Cast away from you all your transgressions…and make you a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 18:31). “Turn ye from your evil ways” (Ezekiel 33:11). “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Come in faith.
In the New Testament, we read very much about faith. We are said to be “justified by faith” (Romans 3:28), and are told to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” that we may be saved from the just penalty and enslaving power of our sin (Acts 16:31).
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He says, “Believe in Me. I have purchased a full pardon that you may receive by trusting in me, and you may go free. It cost My own blood to obtain it, but you are freely welcome to it. Come unto me—believe in Me, and you shall be saved.”
Faith is just trusting to what Jesus says. Faith is simply coming to Jesus, clinging and continuing with Jesus by believing the good news (Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2). He is willing to bear your burden for you. Believe it, and cast your sins upon Him. He brings salvation to you, and says it shall be yours, if you are willing. Stretch forth your hand: take it with a grateful heart. — Newman Hall (1816-1902)
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9:50am – Announcements & Prayer Requests
10:00am – Family Sunday School
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Peoria, IL 61607
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