JUNE 29

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Ephesians 2:8-9

” For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Romans 10:10

“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

John 7:37-39

“ On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

2 Timothy 1:9

“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,”

Acts 4:12

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

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We are reading a book by Corrie ten Boom, with daily recordings she made to broadcast over Trans World Radio.  Her Dutch family  sheltered Jews during the Nazi invasion of Holland.  As a result, she, her sister Betsy and their father were taken to concentration camps in Germany. The Lord did many miracles to allow both Corrie and Betsy to bring the Gospel to the other women in their camp.   Their father was murdered in an extermination camp and Betsy was sick, dying just two weeks before Corrie and the rest were freed.  After her freedom, Corrie traveled the world, telling everyone even in remote areas, about salvation through Christ, besides radio and writing many books.  This one is entitled, “Not I, but Christ.”

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“CANNOT” MUST BECOME “CAN”

Jesus called:  “Come!”  He didn’t say it softly so that only people standing near Him could hear.  He called out loudly so that all heard it, and He also says to you: 

“COME!”

Perhaps you, or someone you are witnessing to,  will say:  “Oh, that may be for that other person, for my decent neighbor who goes to church regularly and who is good, but it isn’t for me.  I am much too sinful:  I wouldn’t dare.  Oh no.  I can’t become religious;  I am far too bad for that.”

But this is just what is needed.  There is only one kind of person whom the Lord Jesus did not accept.  When He said “Come!” and they answered: “Yes, here I am, Jesus; I am good.” Then the Lord Jesus said, “Are you really so good?  Then I am sorry, but I can’t help you.”  But if such a person said, “In the eyes of men I am very good, but there is sin in my heart,” then the Lord Jesus said:  “Just come to Me, and I shall help you!

If you say:  “I am too bad to come to Jesus,” then you are just the person He wants to help.  So come.  Jesus loves sinners.  He loves only sinners.  He has never sent away sinners who asked forgiveness for their sins.  He died on the cross for sinners.  Only for sinners He suffered awfully on the cross, so awfully that He said:  “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

All this He did for sinners like you, like that person you may witness to, so COME!  And when you come to Him, He will set you free from your sins.  You must confess them; take them to Him.  If you look at Jesus in His great love, if you see Him in faith, then you feel ashamed of yourself.  Then you will pray:

“O Lord, please be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Do you know what is so wonderful?  That He is merciful to sinners.  Now you can take your sin to Him. You can say:  “Lord, this is wrong, and this is crooked, and this is miserable, and I said this, and I thought that.”  If you confess this, it will be as if a load is taken away from you.  If you come to Jesus, the burden of sin drops from your shoulders.  If you have confessed your sins, you must turn away from them completely.  John says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1John 1:9).

Then you have not  only confessed your sins, but the great miracle takes place that Jesus cleanses you with His blood.  What is the blood of Jesus?  I don’t understand how it works; but I do know what it means.  Jesus gave His blood on the cross to redeem you and me – a tremendous price.  When you speak of the blood of Jesus, you think of the finished work on the cross.

But do you know that if you take your sin to Jesus, He forgives you and throws your sin into the depths of the sea?  That is what the Bible says.  The devil would love to make things hard for you because of those sins that have been confessed.  But the sins that have been taken to the Lord are dead.  The Bible says that He has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west.  He causes them to disappear as a cloud that vanishes.  When a cloud vanishes, it never comes back.

Then the Lord puts His Spirit into your heart, with the fruit of the Spirit – just the opposite of your sin – love, joy, goodness, purity –those are some of the fruits of the Spirit.

Will there not be any more temptations?  Oh yes, the devil is not likely to leave you in peace.  But I can advise you to take the sin immediately to the Lord.  This is necessary because otherwise the devil accuses you.  He accuses God’s children day and night, the Bible says.  But if you have taken it to the Lord, even if it is only two minutes before the devil comes to accuse you, then you have nothing to fear.  Then the Lord will have already cast this sin into the depths of the sea, and it will be gone.  Then the devil has nothing more to say.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You came to save sinners, to make them happy, to set them free, to  give them peace instead of discord.  Thank You that he or she who for the first time today understood that he or she can come may know that Your hand is stretched out toward him, toward her, and that You are saying:  “Come!”

Lord, did You see?  Of course You saw!  You heard when they said:  “Yes, I come, Lord Jesus.”    Oh, how wonderful, Lord!  You are going to do that marvelous thing in their lives, that they will be strong in the battle, that You will fill them with Your Holy Spirit.  Thank you, Lord Jesus!  You make sinners happy – especially sinners – and You set them free.  Hallelujah!  What a Savior You are!  Amen.

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