It's just about Christmas time again, and people the world over will gather around Christmas trees and open up presents. You may receive a present from someone that you don't particularly enjoy being around, but you'll pick up the present, and open it anyway. You won't set the gift aside. You'll open the gift and receive it from someone you haven't even spoken to all year. You may take a gift from someone at work that you can't stand just out of common courtesy. But when the God of Heaven offers you His dear Son as the Gift of Eternal LIfe, then you say, "Take it back, I don't want it, because it's from Jesus Christ. If it's from God, I don't want it."
You'll take a gift from a family member or co-worker you can't stand or have nothing to do with, but you'll reject the Gift of God - Jesus Christ Himself. You have grossly insulted the Most High God. You say to Him, "I don't want eternal life or the forgiveness of sins, if I have to take it from your Son that bled to death for me, I'm not all that bad a person anyway." Human nature always boasts and trusts in itself. The way to Heaven is not you not being all that bad. You're completely bad every day. You must freely accept the Greatest Gift (Forgiveness of Sins) from the Greatest Giver (God manifest in the flesh-Jesus Christ).
Born among cattle in poverty sore, living in meekness by Galilee's shore, dying in shame as the wicked ones swore - Jesus, Wonderful Lord. As Jesus fasted alone in the wilderness, He was weary, hungry and tempted for you. He was the Friend of the friendless, the Helper of the weak, the Light of the world, but in gross darkness He died on Calvary bearing your sins in His own body. Your sins nailed Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to the Cross; He suffered untold torment that day for your soul. He was led up Calvary's hill by the Roman soldiers like a sheep to the slaughter; He suffered unspeakable anguish and pain as He bore your sins and their punishment. He was despised and rejected, and treated like a criminal for your sake. He was wounded for your transgressions; He was bruised for your iniquities. He gave Himself to redeem you from the love of sin. Bleeding Love paid the Ransom for your guilty soul. Why did they nail Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, to Calvary's tree? Why? tell me, why was He there? All my iniquities on Jesus were laid; He nailed them all to the tree - Jesus, the debt of my sins fully paid-- He paid the Ransom for me.
You'll take a gift from a family member or co-worker you can't stand or have nothing to do with, but you'll reject the Gift of God - Jesus Christ Himself. You have grossly insulted the Most High God. You say to Him, "I don't want eternal life or the forgiveness of sins, if I have to take it from your Son that bled to death for me, I'm not all that bad a person anyway." Human nature always boasts and trusts in itself. The way to Heaven is not you not being all that bad. You're completely bad every day. You must freely accept the Greatest Gift (Forgiveness of Sins) from the Greatest Giver (God manifest in the flesh-Jesus Christ).
Born among cattle in poverty sore, living in meekness by Galilee's shore, dying in shame as the wicked ones swore - Jesus, Wonderful Lord. As Jesus fasted alone in the wilderness, He was weary, hungry and tempted for you. He was the Friend of the friendless, the Helper of the weak, the Light of the world, but in gross darkness He died on Calvary bearing your sins in His own body. Your sins nailed Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to the Cross; He suffered untold torment that day for your soul. He was led up Calvary's hill by the Roman soldiers like a sheep to the slaughter; He suffered unspeakable anguish and pain as He bore your sins and their punishment. He was despised and rejected, and treated like a criminal for your sake. He was wounded for your transgressions; He was bruised for your iniquities. He gave Himself to redeem you from the love of sin. Bleeding Love paid the Ransom for your guilty soul. Why did they nail Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, to Calvary's tree? Why? tell me, why was He there? All my iniquities on Jesus were laid; He nailed them all to the tree - Jesus, the debt of my sins fully paid-- He paid the Ransom for me.
A gift can never be earned or paid for, nothing is freer than a gift. Some people put their faith in what they do, and some put their faith in what they don't do, and some put their faith in what they learned out of a college textbook, but mark it down, every man puts faith in something or someone. You will never be good or religious enough to satisfy God, only Christ's Atonement can satisfy God's holiness and justice. Human nature is self-righteous and for some reason thinks its good in itself, and that Jesus doesn't need to save it. Doctors only look for sick people, and Jesus only looks for sin-sick souls in need of His Precious Blood - the only Remedy for human sin. Christ Jesus came into the world to save *sinners*. Exercise personal faith in Jesus' blood now.
Now understand - You can't undo your past, you can't right all your wrongs, you can't pay the penalty due to your sins. The sins of a lifetime can't be put away by human effort. You can't un-ring a bell, and you can't undo your sins. Sin is kind of like toothpaste coming out of a tube, once it's out, you can't get it back in. Once you've sinned, only God can come and clean up the awful mess you have made. Only Christ Himself can take your sins away (John 1:27). Human merit can't ever help take away sins against a holy God. Natural human goodness will never meet God's holy requirements.
You have taken things that haven't belonged to you, you have spoken words this week that were not true, you have put things ahead of God every day of your life, you have dishonored your parents many times, you have coveted after forbidden things, you have looked on women and committed adultery in your heart and thoughts (Matthew 5:28). Even a lascivious glance or a lustful leering of the eye is a sin, a covetous desire is theft, a wrongful anger is murder, all these are infringements of God's divine commands.
The divine Law of God is spiritual, it also deals with your thoughts, desires, imaginations, and secret wishes, as well as your words and deeds. You have spoken evil of others, destroyed their reputation, gossiped and slandered others behind their back. You have defrauded others by trickery in trade, loafing on the job, or being dishonest in your business dealings. No man stands guiltless before the Law of God. You have failed to give God glory in your life (Romans 3:23). You're a very bad person, the Bible calls you a Sinner over and over and over.
The divine Law of God is spiritual, it also deals with your thoughts, desires, imaginations, and secret wishes, as well as your words and deeds. You have spoken evil of others, destroyed their reputation, gossiped and slandered others behind their back. You have defrauded others by trickery in trade, loafing on the job, or being dishonest in your business dealings. No man stands guiltless before the Law of God. You have failed to give God glory in your life (Romans 3:23). You're a very bad person, the Bible calls you a Sinner over and over and over.
What you do best, is Sin. You're a sinner just like everyone else. You're much worse than you could ever understand. But human nature says, "Trust yourself, believe in yourself, you can do it. You're not all that bad. There's nothing you can't be if you just set your mind to it. You can be anything you want to be." But that is all delusion - You can't trust yourself. Why won't you just simply trust Someone who loved you to death? Before you're saved, the more you do to help saved yourself, the more you sin. This is a matter of eternal life and eternal death. Faith is the simple act of forsaking yourself, and implicitly trusting Christ's Person and Precious Blood. Trust the only Giver of eternal life and the only Forgiver of human sin.
