Gospel
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH GOD'S INVITATION?
God created all things that exist, including us, according to His plan and purpose. His creation was perfect in every way until sin entered the world through Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Man was created with the gift of choice or free will. Satan tempted them and they chose to disobey God causing all people from that point in time to be born with a sinful nature. God loves us so much that He has a plan of redemption for all who choose it. His plan of salvation is available to all in the form of an invitation to spend all of eternity with Him, but we must choose to accept it. If we do not accept it, God’s eternal judgment is the inevitable alternative.
There have always been five groups of people in the world. The first group is not yet aware of the invitation. God wants all to hear His message, so that is the reason why scripture commands us to preach the gospel throughout the earth.
The second group has heard or seen the invitation, but they willfully choose to destroy or deny it. They don’t believe in a God, a Creator nor anyone or anything that has control of all that exists. However, the Bible teaches that one day ALL will see Him, ALL will kneel before Him, and ALL will declare that He is God and there is none other. They just don’t realize that the God of all creation has control over their next breath and heartbeat.
The third group has also heard or seen the invitation, but they choose to ignore it. They know it’s there, but don’t want to do anything about it because they love the world more than they love God. They think their life is going well, they are busy, they may have good families, they may have good health and prosperity, and for them the sky is blue and the birds are singing outside. After all, who needs God when life is going well. People can trash God or love Him, but they can’t ignore Him because He will always have the last word.
A forth group has acknowledged the invitation by trying to live the ‘Christian life’ by doing good, loving their neighbor, giving to the poor and going to church. They might carry a Bible, they may have been baptized, sing Amazing Grace, and try to pray and keep the commandments. In all outward appearances they would seem to be true believers. However, they are as eternally lost as those in the first three groups. The reason is that God requires a ‘RSVP’ in response to His invitation and they have never truly done that! The people in this group are falsely depending only on a belief in the ‘existence of a loving God’, their ‘good works’ and ‘appearance of Christianity’, none of which are biblical teachings for salvation. Sadly, many churches teach these things and many good, loving people fit into this group.
The fifth group has it all together and will spend all eternity in Heaven with God on the Hills of Glory as He intended. They have responded to His invitation as the scriptures teach. They know that a ‘RSVP’ is required to gain their salvation. Then and only then will a ‘Christian life’ be blessed as pleasing to God.
Scripture is very clear as to how we must respond or ‘RSVP’ to His invitation. The Bible calls it being ‘born again’ or spiritually reborn. We must realize that we are sinners and eternally lost without our sins being forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. God sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross in our place to carry the burden of all sin for the entire world that through Him we might have eternal life. We must ‘fall on our knees’ by humbly and sincerely telling God that we are a sinner, repent and ask Him to forgive our sins and then, deliberately invite Jesus into our heart and life as our Lord and Savior. If we do that, the Holy Spirit will enter into our heart and life as He has promised. This is the ‘born again’ RSVP God requires of us for His invitation to be complete. That is the ONLY way to Heaven and the ONLY thing God asks of us in His invitation. He wants to be first in our life with our total dependence and trust.
We all need to carefully examine ourselves as to which group we are in today. Do we know for certain that we have had that ‘born again’ experience and have truly RSVP’D to God’s invitation? Is He number one in all our thoughts and lives above all else? Are we truly living our life for Him? Is there ANYTHING in your life you would not be willing to give up if He asked you for it? If we’re not absolutely certain of the answers to those questions, we need to get it right with God now before it’s too late. That is something we seriously need to think about.
Today, apostasy has invaded many of our churches and pulpits as never before. They preach and teach a twisted, warm, fuzzy, feel good, do good, don’t offend type of message, often using some new watered down version of the Bible. They minimize true repentance, God’s wrath and judgment, the old rugged cross and the only true way of salvation while promoting easy believe-ism because this is what people want to hear, not what scriptures teach. Some deny the deity of Jesus, the resurrection and the infallibility of God’s Word. Also, many embrace sexual immorality and perversion in many forms and many believe that there are more ways to Heaven other than just through Jesus’ shed blood on the cross.
During Jesus’ ministry here on earth, He was certainly not concerned about being politically correct or offending anyone. He taught the solid Word of God as it must be taught today. We need to be so careful that we are not being deceived.
I’ve studied enough biblical prophecy to know that we are most likely in the last days of God’s timetable for His creation as we know it. There are no more prophecies that must be fulfilled before the start of God’s final end day’s events. When those final events start to happen and you have previously rejected or ignored the gospel message, it will simply be too late to escape the coming wrath of God. Those final events will begin with the rapture of all true believers. Then, seven years of tribulation will follow when horrible judgment is brought down on Israel, all nations and all unbelievers for rejecting God, ending with Armageddon and the return of Jesus in great power and glory as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He will destroy all evil and then, rule and reign forever and ever. What a day that will be for all who have truly believed!
Be absolutely certain you have RSVP'd to His invitation today and make Him your Lord, Savior, Master, friend and blessed hope for all eternity.
Don Mehl
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