God Loves You! WORDS OF LIFE FOR ALL MANKIND
DO YOU KNOW:
That God, in His great, infinite love, His
unselfish good will (#Lu 2:14; 1
#Joh 4:8), has provided a way in which you and all
mankind (no matter of what ancestry,
race, color, nationality, education, occupation, social status, financial position, etc.) can obtain
everlasting life?
DO YOU KNOW:
That the angels in heaven do not die, nor
did God create man so that he had to
die-that if Adam, "the first man," had not sinned, he would
still be alive on earth to day (#Ge 3:22-24)?
That "by one man [Adam-his
disobedience] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death spread to all men [by heredity], for all
have sinned," and are under death
(not eternal torture!) sentence, born in sin, "shaped in iniquity" (#Ro 5:12, 19; #1Co
15:21,22; #Ps 51:5)?
That God had the right to require
obedience from Adam, to whom He had given
life, even as He properly has required it from His angelic creatures?
That the penalty that God placed on Adam
for sin was not eternal life in fire
and torture by fire-proof devils, or life in any other form, but death
("you will surely die";
"the wages of sin is death"-#Ge 2:17; #Ro 6:23), i.e., cessation
of life, to both soul ("the soul that sins, it will die"-#Eze 18:4, 20; #Jas 5:20) and body ("to dust you will return"-#Ge 2:17; 3:19)?
That God in justice could have executed
Adam and Eve at once after they
disobeyed, thus taking back the life He had given them, but He in mercy
let them die gradually and bring forth
children, a human race, though imperfect and in a dying condition?
That God heard the groaning of the
prisoner, Adam and his race under the death
curse (#Ps 102:19,20), and His great love prompted Him to use
His power to release mankind from the
death penalty, but His justice, which can by no means clear the guilty (#Nu 14:18),
first had to be satisfied on behalf of Adam
before he and his race could be set free, so that God might continue to
be just and yet be the Justifier of
those who believe (#Ro 3:26); and that therefore His infinite wisdom (#Ro 11:33) worked out a plan for mankind’s salvation?
DO YOU KNOW:
That to free mankind without violating
God’s justice, a ransom (a corresponding
price), a perfect human life, had to be paid over to Justice for Adam’s
perfect human life, forfeited by his disobedience;
but that none of his imperfect race,
already condemned to death, could "by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him"
(Psalm 49:7; #Isa 64:6; #Ro 3:23)?
That God in His great love caused His only
begotten Son to be "made flesh," a
little lower than the angels, for suffering of deaththat he by the grace
of God should taste death for every
man" (#Joh 1:14; 3:14-18; #Heb 2:9;
Matthew 20:28)?
That God showed His love to us, "in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us," "gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due
time," "a propitiation
[satisfaction]for the sins of the whole world" (#Ro 5:6-10; #1Ti
2:3-6; #1Jo 2:2)?
That due to Jesus’ willing
Ransom-sacrifice every man will "in due time" have an opportunity to be restored (#Ac 3:19-23) to human perfection, as Adam had it before he fell, and will be given a trial
for everlasting life, and that Christ
(and His Church) is the Seed of promise through whom "all the
families of the earth will be
blessed" and judged (#Ge
12:3; 22:16-18; #Ga 3:8, 16, 29; #Ps 72:1-4; #1Co 6:2; #Mt 19:28; #Lu 22:29, 30; #Ac 17:31; #2Ti 4:1)?
That "he that comes to God must
believe that he is [exists-Psalm 53:1], and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," for
"without faith it is impossible to
please him" (#Heb 11:6)?
That "the fear [reverence] of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom," a fountain of life (Psalm 11:10; #Pr 14:27)-that
to know God is to love Him; "he that
loves not knows not God" (#1Jo 4:8)?
That Jesus is "the way, the truth and
the life"; none can come to God, but by
Him (#Joh 14:6; 10:9;
3:36; #Ac 4:12; 16:31; #1Jo 5:10-12)?
DO YOU KNOW:
That in coming to God we must repent for
sin (#Ac 17:30; 26:20)-we must
recognize our sin, be sorry for it, and hate, abandon, confess and
oppose it, and, if possible, make
restitution for it; and we must learn to love, practice and strive for righteousness; but that our
works, however good, cannot justify us
(#Ga 2:16; 3:2-14; #Eph 2:9)?
That only by our believing, accepting personally
by faith Jesus and value of His shed
blood, can we be cleansed and justified before God (#1Jo 1:7-10; #Re 1:5; #Ac 13:39; #Ro 1:16; 3:24,25; 5:1)?
That next we must consecrate, i.e., give
up our own wills and accept God’s will
our own, as Jesus did (#Heb
10:7), and then be His
faithful followers, if we would gain
everlasting life (#Ro 5:2;
12:1; 6:23; #Pr 23:26; Matthew 16:24-26;
#Joh 10:27,28)?
That Jesus is able "to save them to
the uttermost that come to God through him" (#Heb 7:25), and He lovingly invites us, "Come
to me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest," "him that comes to me I will in
no way cast out" (#Mt 11:28; #Joh
6:37)-and that since our days
are few and uncertain, we should not
delay in accepting God’s great love-gift (Psalm 90:3-12; #Jas
4:14; #2Co 9:15)?
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