God has a Gift for You

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Mt 5:16
Shining the light of the gospel into Southeastern Wisconsin, Northeastern Illinois, and around the world.

What plans, if any, have you made for eternity? I'm sure that eternity is seldom, if ever, the center of your focus. Partly because we can't fully comprehend it, and partly because we think that there is nothing we can do about it, we try to ignore it. I'm sure you understand that eternity is time without beginning or end. But, are you aware that you will exist somewhere for all of eternity? Jesus, the eternal Son of God, said in Matthew 25:46, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." What may surprise you is that you have a say in how you will spend eternity.

If you haven't yet made plans for eternity you should --- as soon as possible! I want to help you with your plans, so let me share some fantastic news with you!

God loves you!

God loves every person. John 3:16 describes just how much God loves you and me and what that great love provides: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Your sin has separated you from God!

Although God loves you and me, He can't allow us into His presence without violating His own holiness. Isaiah 59:2 explains, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

It's impossible for you and me to see ourselves as we really are in His eyes, but Isaiah 64:6 tells it like it is between us and the holy God who loves us: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

This separation will cause your everlasting punishment!

As you saw above, the Son of God, told His disciples in Matthew 25:46, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." It takes very little deduction to determine who the "these" are in this verse. The verse tells you and me three things:

1. Everyone will exist somewhere forever! There are only two destinations and they are both without end!

2. The righteous will live eternally!

3. "These," obviously the unrighteous, will be punished everlastingly!

If you were asked to choose between these two eternal destinations, life or punishment and separation from God, which would you choose? A ridiculous question? It may seem so, but many, perhaps including you, have already chosen everlasting punishment. Jesus Christ said in John 3:17,18, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Jesus already told you who will experience eternal life: the righteous. And He has already told you who will experience everlasting punishment: the unrighteous.

If only the righteous experience eternal life while the unrighteous suffer everlasting punishment and separation from God, it would seem eternally profitable to be among the righteous. So, just who is righteous?

Again, the Word of God is very clear about this: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." (Romans 3:10,11). It appears, from God's own Word, that only the righteous will live with Him throughout eternity but because none of us is righteous, none of us has any hope of heaven!

I'm glad you are still with me, but by now you are no doubt wondering, "Where is the fantastic news I was looking for when I started reading this?" You have every right to be upset. But stay with me a little longer and I will keep my earlier promise of fantastic news. Not just any fantastic news, but the MOST FANTASTIC news in the world! Here it is:

God, Himself, has provided the righteousness you need!

We've already discovered that the God of the universe, because of His infinite holiness, requires absolute righteousness from all those who would live eternally with Him. At the same time we have learned that no one on earth possesses that kind of righteousness in himself or herself. In fact we've learned that what we may label righteousness by our value system is as "filthy rags" in the eyes of the infinitely Holy God of the universe!

II Corinthians 5:21 explains how we, who are the embodiment of sin, can have the righteousness required to abide with the Holy God of the universe forever. This verse, however, is full of personal pronouns which would require the careful study of the context to fully understand the person described by each pronoun. Therefore, I hope you will trust me to paraphrase this verse, replacing each pronoun with the Person it defines. I will put the names in parentheses after each pronoun: "For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who (Jesus) knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus)."

God offers you Christ's righteousness as a free gift!

What must you pay for a gift? "That's silly!" you say, "If I have to pay for it, it's not a gift." You're right. In fact the term "free gift" is technically redundant because "free" means "gift" and "gift" means "free." Let me show you two passages from God's Word that declare eternal life to be a "free gift." "For the wages of sin is death; but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23). "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9).

God makes it abundantly clear, if you are an honest inquirer, that there is absolutely nothing that you can do to earn Christ's righteousness! Because it is being offered to you, right now, as a gift, there are only two things you can do with this offer. You can refuse it or you can accept it.

It is important that you fully appreciate the fact that Christ's righteousness is free to you but it is not without cost. In order to remain just and holy while offering you His righteousness, Christ had to become a man and die for man's sin on a cross outside of Jerusalem. He had to be buried. Then God, in order to show His satisfaction with Christ's substitutionary payment for your sin, raised Him from the dead!

How you can take advantage of this free gift!

If you are seriously interested in receiving Christ's righteousness; if you realize that you are a sinner by nature and, therefore, are incapable of obtaining Christ's righteousness on your own; if you truly believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead the third day to provide you with His righteousness; if you truly want to be saved from everlasting punishment, then you have come to the same critical point in life to which a jailer in the city of Philippi had come way back in the first century. Notice his question and the answer in Acts 16:30,31. He questioned: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

The word "believe," in the Greek, has a much deeper meaning than what we often give it, i.e. the simple acceptance of some fact. To "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" means that you place your full confidence for eternal life in nothing else but in Him and His finished work!

Friend, you and I have probably never met. Nevertheless, God has shed His love upon me and now, through me, He is telling you how much He loves you and longs for you to accept His free gift by your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. He has brought you to our website so that you could have the incredible opportunity to receive His gift of eternal life. If you want to talk to someone as soon as possible, call us at (262)857-8063. Or, you can e-mail me at southportbaptist@gmail.com

Dr. G. Scott Jones, Pastor

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