07/29/2024
To my dear Jewish and non Jewish friends and followers...
If you long for peace in your heart and abundant joy independent of surroundings and circumstances, you'll WANT to read my explanation of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you have no interest in changing your eternal future, thinking you're doing fine, trusting in your education, financial resources, good deeds, kindness towards the needy or efforts to live righteously, then you NEED to read the next few paragraphs...
I'm over 70, having been drawn to faith in my 20s, I've walked with Jesus over 42 years and am convinced what I'm about to share is true.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God told Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And again it says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
2 truths come from this:
1. Righteousness (a right standing with a Holy God) comes through faith not birth rite
2. All nations are in view for blessing, not just God's chosen nation of Israel.
Through Abraham's seed, Jesus, eternal blessing for all is made available.
Jesus is the long awaited Jewish Messiah.
Jesus, as God, became a man, flesh and blood, and lived among us(this is called the incarnation).
Jesus lived perfectly according to the whole law of God the Father, thus being the only perfectly righteous man.
(Everyone else, including Adam and Eve, and you and I, are sinners and sinful, separated from God).
Jesus, in love, was crucified, by choice, to carry our punishment, as our substitute. He took our sins in His flesh(He became sin for us) and He gifts us His perfect righteousness, which we don't deserve and could never earn. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Jesus was resurrected on the third day to win victory over sin and death, and then ascended to Heaven where He now sits with God the Father. (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)
His gift of righteousness to those who believe in Him restores us to a personal relationship with God, we're included in His family, we're now His children and we get to live for eternity with Him. No more guilt or shame, instead we receive total forgiveness. No more fear of death, instead, abundant joy, peace and freedom.
This is the good news, this is the Gospel.
For all of you who put your faith in God's promise, like Abraham did, and believe in God's promised Messiah, Jesus, and make Him your Lord and Savior, turning away (repenting) from your sin and away from trusting in anything else for salvation, you will have eternal life.
I can't prove this to you and I'm not trying to. Only by the Holy Spirit will the "eyes of your heart" be opened to understand and believe that God’s Word is absolutely true. My prayer is that you will come to faith and believe, and by believing have abundance of peace, joy and love now and forever. This happened to me on September 25th 1981, and this could happen to you today. I'm praying that it does! For your eternal good and for God's glory!
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For a more detailed dive into the biblical texts that highlight these truths, read on:
There is none righteous, no not one. (Romans 3:10-12)
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:23)
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
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)
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me." (John 14:6)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
