“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
We all need a savior. None of us are exempt from the mission of Jesus.
None of us have arrived at the place of perfection. We all woke up today knowing that without Him, we are incomplete.
Let me repeat the quote from John Newton I shared with you last post, “I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour.”
As soon as you step out of your need for Him, you have allowed the enemy to step in and take territory in your life.
Our sinful nature will try to justify our faithfulness in other areas, but don’t think the enemy is going to stop with the little room in your life that you’ve given him.
If you think he only wants a small piece of real estate in your life, you have already been deceived.
As much as Jesus wants all of you, so does the devil. He will not give up until he has you in hell with him.
As bad as that sounds, I have some good news.
Jesus is not going to give up on you until you make Heaven your home.
Run all you want; Jesus is not going to give up on you.
Reject His love all you want, He is going to keep loving you.
Take your inheritance and spend it on wild living until you get into the pig pen. But when you are ready to get up and make things right, He is ready to throw you a welcome home party.
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT
This is the mission of Jesus.
This is why God came to this earth and robed Himself in flesh.
He didn’t come to kick you to the curb. He has come to pick you up from the curb.
“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” 1 John 2:1-2 NLT
We have an advocate this morning that is pleading our case. Not because we are innocent, but because we are guilty!
Not because we deserve it, but because we are all underserving of it. From a manger to a cross, to a grave, to a resurrection, ALL SO WE MIGHT HAVE LIFE.
Have I mentioned to you lately that Jesus is coming again soon? It could be any moment. It could be any day. It could be any hour.
He is coming like a thief in the night. No man knows the time.
It is one of His promises.
Do we believe it? Do we act like it? Or do we get so caught up with today and tomorrow that we forget that there might not be a tomorrow?
There is a quote on the wall in a Mission Barbeque that says, “If you knew you could not play tomorrow, how hard would you play today?”
I would like to change that up to say, “If you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, how hard would you pray today?” or “How hard would you worship Him today?” or “How hard would you live for Him today?”
“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9 NLT
Guzik writes, “There is a compassionate purpose in God’s timing.”
God’s love is patiently waiting for you to come to Him. But don’t ever think He is never coming back.
It took Noah approximately 100 years to build the ark.
That is a lot of compassion for people to get it right! But that wicked generation never believed the old preacher and when the door was shut and the flood came, it was too late.
There is coming a day that it will be too late.
I don’t know when that is, but I know it could be any day.
I don’t the time or the year, but it could be any time and any year.
May we not be like the days of Noah and be put to sleep by the things of this life.
Right now, Jesus is being patient for our sakes.
