In step

[RiverOL]

God's Greatest Gift
Dear Friend,

God created man for His glory, but the whole human race was stolen from God by Satan. But God had a plan to win us back to Himself. He did it in four steps:

God came into the human race in the Person of His Son. God the Son lived here as a man, calling Himself "the Son of Man." He took our place and died for us.

God forgives all who believe on His Son. God brings them into His family and makes them His children.

God put us in Christ on the cross. Our old sinful self died with Christ. Then God created us as new persons in Christ.

God gave Christ to live in us. God truly gives many wonderful gifts to His children, but God's greatest gift to us is Christ! God gives Christ to us to live in us. The Bible says,

"Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Galatians 4:6

Who is this Christ who lives in me?
Christ lives in the heart of every believer, but not every believer understands who Jesus Christ really is.

The Gospel of John was written especially that we might know who Jesus Christ really is so that we might believe on Him. In his gospel, John emphasizes two great truths:

• Jesus Christ is God.
• Jesus Christ is the One who meets all our needs.
It will help us to understand who Christ really is if we learn about one of His names. He is the great "I AM." The name "I AM" is a name that belongs only to God. God Himself said that this was His name. To understand the meaning of this name we must go back to the time when God's people, the children of Israel, were slaves in Egypt.

God chose a man named Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and into the land which God had promised them.

Moses was in the wilderness taking care of sheep when God appeared to him in a burning bush. The bush burned with fire, but it did not burn up.

God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and lead the children of Israel out of slavery and bondage.

Moses was afraid that the people would not believe that God had sent him. He said, "When I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say to them?"

God told Moses that His name was "I AM." God said,

"…thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you." Exodus 3:14

When God said that His name was "I AM," He meant that He is the God who has always been God and always will be God.

But there is another meaning to the name, "I AM." It is really an unfinished sentence like this:

"I AM ______________."

It was as though God was saying to Moses, "Moses, I am the Almighty God. I am the One who will meet all your needs. You will need courage to do this great work that I have called you to do; I AM your courage. You will need wisdom; I AM your wisdom. You will need strength; I AM your strength. You will need patience; I AM your patience. I AM whatever you need."

Moses believed God and he depended on God to be all that he needed. What was the result? The Bible tells us that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt "with a mighty hand."

Christ is the great "I AM."
The Jews understood fully that the name "I AM" belonged only to God. No prophet or king, however great he might be, would dare to use this name for himself. It is a name which belongs to God alone; yet Jesus took this name for Himself. In the Bible, again and again, Jesus said that He was the great "I AM." Here are our Lord's own words:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM." John 8:58
"When you have lifted up [crucified] the Son of Man, then shall you know that I AM…." John 8:28
"… if you believe not that I AM … you shall die in your sins." John 8:24
The Lord Jesus is the great "I AM." He is the One who is everything we need. The Lord Jesus said of Himself,

"I AM the door." John 10:9

"I AM the way." John 14:6
"I AM the truth." John 14:6
"I AM the light." John 8:12
"I AM the life." John 14:6
"I AM the true vine." John 15:1
"I AM the living bread." John 6:51
"I AM the good shepherd." John 10:14
"I AM the resurrection." John 11:25
"I AM Alpha and Omega." Revelation 1:8
Jesus Christ is God.
When Jesus took the name "I AM" for Himself, He was saying that He was God. Jesus was, and is, and always will be God. He said,

"I and My Father are one." John 10:30

"…He that has seen Me has seen the Father…." John 14:9

God meets all our needs by giving us Christ.
If I were asked to make a list of all that I need to live a life pleasing to God here on earth, my list might look something like this:

I need wisdom.
I need love.
I need peace.
I need joy.
I need strength.
I need patience.
I need satisfaction.
I need power.
Actually my list would contain many more things. I do not even know all that I might need, but God knows all my needs, even those I don't think of.

How does God meet all my needs? He meets all my needs by giving Christ to me, to live in me. We get everything from God in Christ. The Bible says,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Ephesians 1:3

• Christ is my wisdom.
When I need wisdom I should turn to Him. He lives in me and He knows exactly what I should do. The Bible says, "In whom [Christ] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:3)

• Christ is my love.
Love is a Person—Jesus Christ! Christ is the One who loves all people. He lives in me now and His love flows through me.

• Christ is my peace.
The Bible says, "For He [Christ] is our peace." Before He left this world, Christ told His disciples, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

• Christ is my joy.
The Bible says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice." We are not always able to rejoice in our circumstances, but we can always rejoice in the Lord.

• Christ is my strength.
David said, "The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Christ who lives in me is God. He has all power in Heaven and earth. The apostle Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13 ).

• Christ is my patience.
In myself I don't have much patience with other people, but Christ has come to live in me and He is my patience.

• Christ is my satisfaction.
Christ said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." Bread represents that which satisfies us and sustains us. Christ is our "living bread"—the One who perfectly satisfies and sustains us.

• Christ is my power.
The Bible says that Christ is "the power of God." Think of Christ at the right hand of God, with all the power of God. We are connected to Christ by the Holy Spirit. We draw from Christ all the supply of power we need to take us through the sufferings and difficulties that we meet here.

Everything is in Christ.
God gives us Christ to be whatever we need. If I need patience, I can say, "Lord Jesus, please be my patience." If I need love, I can say "Lord Jesus, please be my love." If I have a bad temper, I can say, "Lord Jesus, please take over for me." I have the privilege of living minute by minute with Christ as my best Friend and my "all in all."

As I believe that all which is in Christ is mine, the Holy Spirit will cause it to be truly mine.

How can I apply these truths?

Know the truth.
The truth is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, now lives in me by His Spirit. I have in Him everything I need to live for Him here. The apostle Peter said,

"…His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness…." 2 Peter 1:3

Claim the truth.
I must not only know the truth, but I must claim it for myself by making it my own. It is not just, "Christ lives in the hearts of His believers," but "Christ lives in ME!" It is not just "Christ loves His believers," but "Christ loves ME!" I can say with the apostle Paul, "The Son of God loved ME, and gave Himself for ME."

Live the truth.
Having Christ living in me is like a poor man having a millionaire friend come and live with him. The friend says, "I have millions of dollars. You can call on me for whatever you need."

Christ is my best Friend. He is God and He lives in me. I count on Him and call on Him for whatever I need.

Jesus Christ is God. He is the One who created the universe. This great, wonderful Person now lives in me. Satan says, "You won't make it. You can't live the Christian life!" I say, "Lord Jesus, You are God, and You live in me. You are able to handle anything that comes to me today. I am counting on You."

"Lord Jesus, I believe that You are indeed God's greatest gift to me! I have in You everything I want to live for You here. I am trusting You to live Your life through me."

 

[RiverOL]

My Gift to God
Dear Friend,

God gives His children many wonderful gifts, but God's greatest gift to us is the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. First He gave Christ to me, to die for my sins, so I could become a child of God. Then God gave Christ to me, to live in me, so I could live like a child of God should live.

It is time now for me to think about what I can give to God. If I truly love God and appreciate all the great things He has done for me, I will want to give Him the gift that will please Him most of all.

What is the gift from me that pleases God most of all? Is it the gift of my money? No, God does not need my money. Is it the gift of my work for Him? No, it is not this either.

The gift that pleases God most of all is the gift of myself! If I truly love God with all my heart, I will want to give Him this gift that He desires most of all. This is the gift which the believers in the city of Corinth gave to God. The Bible says, "[They] first gave their own selves to the Lord…" (2 Corinthians 8:5).

The Best Gift
When you love someone with all your heart, you like to show your love for them by giving them the best gift that you can give them.

A thirteen-year-old girl listened intently while the pastor told of God's love for her. He told how God loved her so much that He gave her the best gift He could ever give to her—He gave His Son to her. He spoke of how the Lord Jesus loved her so much that He willingly went to the cross to die for her sins.

The girl's heart was deeply moved by what she heard. She loved the Lord with all her heart, and she wanted to show her love for Him. She had no money, so it seemed as though she had nothing to give to the Lord.

Then she thought of a gift that would please God very much. When the usher passed the offering plate, she whispered to him, "Please lower the offering plate." He lowered it. Then she said, "Please lower it more." The usher lowered it more, down close to the floor, but again she whispered, "Please lower it more."

Finally, when the offering plate reached the floor, the girl stood in it. She was giving the Lord the very best gift she could ever give to Him. She was giving herself to the Lord!

The very best gift we can give to the Lord is the gift of ourselves. This is the gift that the Lord appreciates most of all.

What does it mean?
What does it mean when I give myself to the Lord? It means that I am giving my life to the Lord, to do His will instead of my own will.

My enemy, Satan, does not want to see me give myself to the Lord. He hates God and he hates me. He may say to me, "Don't give your life to the Lord! If you do, He will make you do hard things that you don't want to do." But Satan is a liar!

Suppose a kind and loving father has a little daughter whom he adores. The little girl likewise loves her father. One day she crawls into her father's lap and says, "Daddy, you are so good and so wise and you know what is best for me. I love you so much that I want to give myself to you, to do whatever you tell me to do."

What do you think the father would say? Would he say, "Oh, good! That's what I have been waiting to hear you say. From now on you can't have any fun. You cannot go outside to play, and you have to eat things you don't like three times a day!"

Would a loving father say this to his child whom he adored? No, he would never say this. He would say something like this: "My precious child, I love you with all my heart. I want only what is best for you. My greatest delight is seeing you happy and contented."

This is the way it is with our heavenly Father. He loves His children and He wants only what is best for them. He delights to see us happy and contented.

Why should I give myself to the Lord?
The reason I should give myself to the Lord is because I belong to Him. The Bible says,

"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"You are not your own." I do not belong to myself. I belong to the One who "bought" me—the Lord Jesus. What was the price the Lord Jesus paid for me? The price was His own precious blood. It was not silver and gold, but something far more precious. He gave His life for me. He poured out His lifeblood for me on the cross. The Bible says,

"...you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold … But with the precious blood of Christ…." 1 Peter 1:18-19

I was a slave of sin and Satan, but the Lord Jesus bought me and delivered me from my enemies. Now I belong to Him. He is now my Master. This means that He is the One who has the right to be obeyed. No matter what happens, I will always belong to Him. The Bible says, "…Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Romans 14:8).

Ownership and Possession
There is a difference between ownership and possession. Ownership means that I own something; it belongs to me. Possession means that I have the use of something.

A man wanted to buy a farm that adjoined his land. What was this farm like? It was not pretty at all. In fact, it looked terrible! The owner lived in another city and he had rented it to others for many years.

The tenants had not taken care of the farm at all. They allowed people to dump trash on the land. There were deep gulleys in the fields where the rains had washed away all the good soil. The fields were full of weeds. Poisonous snakes were living in some of the run-down shacks on the farm.

Why would a man want to buy a farm like this? He wanted to buy it because he knew what he could do with it. He knew that he could make the farm beautiful and productive. In his mind, he could see rich pastures of grass and clover and a beautiful lake stocked with fish.

He and the owner agreed on a price for the farm. However, the owner told him that the farm had been rented for the rest of the year. He could buy it now but he could not take possession of it until the end of the year.

The man paid the full price of the farm and received a deed saying that the farm now belonged to him. For several months he spent time walking about over the property, seeing what needed to be done. He had all kinds of wonderful plans for that farm, but he could not do a single thing he wanted to do.

He had ownership of the farm, but he did not have possession. On the very first day of the new year, when he took possession, he began working to make the farm what he wanted it to be. In time it became one of the most beautiful and valuable farms in the whole area.

My life was like that old farm. It was not pretty at all. But the Lord Jesus loved me just as I was, and He paid a great price to "buy" me. That price was His own life.

Why did the Lord Jesus do this? He did it because He wanted to make something beautiful out of my life. To do this, He must not only have the ownership of my life, but He must have possession of it.

What was my part in this? My part was to give the Lord Jesus the possession of my life, which He had purchased with His own precious blood. The Bible says,

"For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20

Does the Lord have possession of your life?
The Lord has a plan for your life. He knows what He wants to do with your life to make it beautiful and useful. He wants to fill you with His life, His joy and His power. But the Lord cannot do the wonderful things He wants to do until you give Him possession of your life. He will never force you to do this. He wants you to do this because you love Him and trust Him. He waits to hear you say,

"Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me so much that You gave Your life for me. I know that I belong to You. Now, by my choice and by my will, I am giving my life to You so that You can do what You want to do with it."
What makes us want to give ourselves to the Lord?
We know that we should give ourselves to the Lord, but what makes us want to do this? It is the love of Christ.

The Bible says, "The love of Christ constrains [compels] us." When we realize what He did for us and how much Christ loves us, we want to give ourselves to Him.

"When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small,
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, MY LIFE, MY ALL."
You will be blessed by giving your life to the Lord.
God is asking you to give your life to Him. There is no substitute for this. Bible study, prayer, telling others about Christ, going to church, doing Christian work—these are all good things, but they cannot take the place of giving your life to the Lord.

One day you and I will stand before the Lord Jesus to be judged for what we did with our life after we were saved. Would it not be wonderful to hear the Lord say to you,

"Well done, good and faithful servant. You gave your life to Me and I was able to do all that I wanted to do with it. Come, enter into the joy of your Lord."

If I have trusted the Lord Jesus as my Savior, my life belongs to Him. The question is not, "Do I belong to the Lord Jesus?" but "Have I given to the Lord Jesus my life, which already belongs to Him?"

"God, I believe and now understand that I belong to the Lord Jesus. I believe that He wants to make my life beautiful and useful. I realize that the Lord Jesus must have possession of my life in order to accomplish His purposes. His love has so filled my heart that I want to give Him my life. This day I have definitely decided to give the Lord Jesus possession of my life."

My Gift to God
"Lord Jesus, I want You to be able to do all that You have planned for my life. I know that I belong to You. By my will and by my choice, I am now giving my life to You, the best I know how. I pray that You will enable me to live such a life of love and service to You as I will wish I had lived when I see You face-to-face in Heaven."

 

[RiverOL]

Christ or Self?
Dear Friend,

After becoming a Christian, sooner or later I make a shocking discovery. I discover that sin is still with me. I have an enemy in me called "the flesh." The flesh is very sinful.

The "flesh" is not my body itself, but the sinful nature that dwells in my body. If you spell the word "flesh" backwards and leave off the "h," what do you have? You have S-E-L-F. The flesh is SELF!

The main characteristic of SELF is rebellion against God. SELF says, "I will do what I want to do!" Where did we get this spirit of rebellion? We got it from Adam. Where did Adam get it? He got it from Satan!

Satan was the first rebel. Satan said in his heart, "I will have my own way!" Then Adam rebelled against God and said in his heart, "I will have my own way!" Now you and I say in our heart, "I will have my own way!" By nature we are all like this. The Bible says, "…we have turned every one to his own way…" (Isaiah 53:6).

When I was saved I became a new person in Christ, but I did not get a new body. I still have the same body I had when I was unsaved, and I still have the sin nature which goes with that old body. But the good news is that God does not count this sin nature against me. Only when I do what my sin nature wants me to do does it become sin.

What happened when I took Christ as my Savior?
Before I was saved, this enemy SELF was on the throne of my heart. I was ruled by SELF. I thought and said things like this:

"Me first!"
"I don't have to obey you!"
"I want to do it my way!"
"I don't care what you say!"
"I hate you!"
"I don't care what God says; I will do what I want to do!"

When I was saved, another Person came to live in my heart. The Lord Jesus Himself came to live in me. I was so happy. I thought my life would always be happy and peaceful. I thought I would always want to please God and obey Him.

But I soon discovered that SELF wants to continue ruling in my heart. Christ has the right to rule, but SELF still tries to rule me. I must choose whether I will be ruled by Christ or SELF.

What happens when SELF rules in my heart?
When SELF is on the throne of my heart, I will live the self-life. I will have many sins in my life. Let us think about some of these sins.

• The sin of pride
Are you ever proud? Do you think mean or unkind thoughts of other people? Do you think, "I'm better than that person"? Do you think, "I should have first place"? This is the sin of pride. Let us use a peacock to represent this sin. As you know, the peacock is a very proud bird, always strutting around and showing off.

• The sin of selfishness
Are you ever selfish? Do you ever say, "That's mine! I'm not going to share it with you." Do you want the best and the most for yourself? Let us use a hog to represent the sin of selfishness.

• The sin of bad talk
Do you ever say bad things or talk ugly? Do you tell or listen to dirty stories? Do you gossip—say bad things about other people? The Bible says, "Let no corrupt communication [no bad talk] come out of your mouth." Let us use this ugly frog to represent the sin of bad talk.

• The sin of lying
Do you tell lies? Jesus said that Satan is "the father of lies." This means that all lies come from him. When we tell a lie, we are acting like Satan. Satan used a serpent to deceive Eve and persuade her to disobey God. He uses lies to get us to do wrong things. In the Bible Satan is called "that great serpent," so let us use a snake to represent the sin of telling lies.

• The sin of anger
Do you ever get angry with someone and want to hurt them? Do you want to "get back" at those who have hurt you? This is a form of anger called "revenge," and God hates it. Do you lose your temper and say mean and hateful things to others? Let us use this tiger to represent the sin of anger.

• The sin of rebellion
Do you ever get into trouble because you do things that you know you should not do? Perhaps your parents or your teacher tell you not to do something, but you go ahead and do it anyway. This is the sin of rebellion. Let us use a goat to represent this sin.

• The sin of complaining
Do you ever fuss and complain when you are told to do a certain job? Maybe your mother wants you to wash the dishes or your father asks you to do something around the house. You fuss and complain and drag it out, doing it very slowly. We will use this slow turtle to represent this sin of complaining.

SELF is my biggest problem! When I allow SELF to be on the throne of my heart, I have these terrible sins we have been talking about. I am living the self-life instead of the Christ-life.

Whether we realize it or not, SELF is controlled by Satan. Many people are truly saved; they have taken the Lord Jesus as their Savior. But they are not happy. Why are they not happy? They are not happy because they are allowing SELF to rule in their lives. No child of God can ever be happy living the self-life. We can be truly happy only when we are living the Christ-life.

How can I stop SELF from ruling?

As long as I am in my body, I can never get completely rid of SELF, but I don't have to be ruled by SELF. Let us see the steps in getting SELF off the throne of our heart.

I see what God has done with SELF.
SELF is not only my enemy, but it is also God's enemy. SELF hates God and will not obey God.

How did God deal with SELF? The Bible says that God "condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3).

What does this mean? It means that God put sinful SELF on the cross. God says there is only one place for SELF and that is on the cross, crucified.

I choose to put SELF on the cross.
God says that my sinful SELF is so hateful to Him that He crucified it with Christ. God says the only place for SELF is on the cross. SELF must not be allowed to reign in my body. The Bible says,

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof." Romans 6:12

What does God want me to do? God wants me to agree with Him that SELF shall be put on the cross and kept there. I say to SELF, "You shall not rule over me! I agree with God that your place is on the cross, crucified."

The Bible says,

"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh [SELF] with the affections and lusts." Galatians 5:24

I choose to make Christ King.
Now that I have chosen that SELF shall be on the cross in my heart, I choose that Christ shall be on the throne of my heart. This is His rightful place. The Bible says Jesus Christ is "King of kings, and Lord of lords," and right now I choose to make Him King in my heart forever! The Bible says,

"He [Christ] died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves [for SELF], but unto Him who died for them, and rose again." 2 Corinthians 5:15

What is the Christ-life like?

Christ is the One who has the right to be King in my heart. When Christ is on the throne of my heart and SELF is on the cross, I am living the Christ-life. The Holy Spirit can then produce beautiful fruit in my life. The Bible says,

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith [faithfulness], meekness, temperance [self-control]…." Galatians 5:22-23

Once I have chosen that Christ shall be King in my heart and that SELF shall be on the cross, I must daily say "no" to self. Day-by-day I must learn to say "no" to SELF and "yes" to the Lord Jesus. Jesus said,

"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself [say no to SELF], and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." Luke 9:23

How does this work out in my life? Let us say that I am doing something that I want to do, but my mother asks me to do something for her. What would SELF do? SELF would grumble and complain. What do I do? I say "no" to SELF and "yes" to the Lord Jesus. I obey my mother without grumbling and complaining.

Somebody says something mean to me. What would SELF do? SELF would get angry and say something mean back to that person. But I am to say "no" to SELF and let Christ be King in my heart. What do I do? I smile at them and say a kind word to them.

God is for me.
Throughout my life I will have to deal with this enemy, SELF, that lives within me. There are some things I must know if I am to win this battle.

• God does not count my sinful nature against me.
God says, "I count that as belonging to your old life. In My sight your old life ended with your death with Christ. I always see you as a new person in Christ."

• Temptation is not sin.
The Lord Jesus was tempted with terrible temptations by Satan, but He never sinned. I sin only when I give in to temptation.

You say, "But sometimes I have really bad thoughts!" Every child of God has terrible thoughts at times, but they do not come from our new life.

Satan has the power to put terrible thoughts into our minds. He tries to make us think that these are our thoughts, but they are not. We can say to him, "Satan, you are a liar! These are your thoughts, not mine, and I refuse them!"

• God is for me!
God knows the battle I have with SELF and with the devil, but God is for me! David said, "When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know, for God is for me" (Psalm 56:9).

I have an enemy within me that belongs to my old life, not my new life. SELF never dies, but God has "nailed" SELF to the cross. God wants me to agree with Him that SELF shall be kept on the cross and that Christ shall have His rightful place as King of my life.

"Dear Father, I believe that You have done the right thing by crucifying SELF. I agree with You that SELF must be crucified in my life. Lord Jesus, You are the One who has the right to rule in my life. I want You to reign as King in my life. By my choice and by my will, I make you King of my life forever!"

 

[RiverOL]

Christ is My Life
Dear Friend,

What is the Christian life? Is it that Christ is in Heaven and I am down here by myself, trying to live for Him? Is it asking, "What would Jesus do?" and trying to imitate Him? Is it doing my best to be good and asking the Lord Jesus to help me?

No, it is none of these. Being a Christian means that I have trusted Christ as my Savior. I have a new relationship with Him. This new relationship can be expressed in two simple sentences:

• I am in Christ.
• Christ is in me.
Through God's Word we learn that we are "partakers [sharers] of the divine life." This means that I share Christ's life. I am in Christ and Christ lives in me by His Spirit.

Christ lives in me.
In Old Testament times, the believer spoke of the Lord as being his helper. The believer said,

"My help comes from the Lord…." Psalm 121:2

"I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Psalm 16:8

"Let Your hand help me…." Psalm 119:173

As we think about these verses, where is the Lord? He is outside the Old Testament believer, watching over him, guarding him, and helping him. But in the New Testament, we find that God comes to live in us. The Bible says,

"...you are the temple [dwelling place] of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them…." 2 Corinthians 6:16

God in the Person of His Son has come to live in His believers. The Bible says,

"…Do you not know your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you?…" 2 Corinthians 13:5

The Vine and the Branches
To help us understand this new relationship between the Lord Jesus and the believer, Jesus used a picture from nature. Speaking of a grapevine, He said, "I am the Vine, you are the branches..." (John 15:5).

The Lord Jesus is the Vine, and the believers are the branches. So when "the vine" is mentioned, let us think of the Lord Jesus, and when "the branches" are mentioned, let us think of ourselves. From the vine and the branches we can learn some wonderful truths about the Christian life.

• The vine and the branches are one. They share one life. The same life, the sap, that flows through the vine also flows through the branches. We see from this that our union with Christ is a living union. We share one life.

• The branch is in the vine. As we look at the vine and its branches, we see that the branch is in the vine. This teaches us that we are in Christ. We have already learned this great truth, that we are in Christ, but now we see that we are joined to Him in a living relationship.

We were not always in Christ. Before we trusted Christ as our Savior, we were in Adam's sinful family. We were in Adam. We shared his life and we had his nature in us.

What happened when we were saved? God took us out of Adam and put us into Christ. We were cut off from Adam and "grafted" into Christ.

To graft a branch means to take it out of one vine and join it to another vine. The branch is cut away from the old vine. Then a cut is made in the new vine, and the branch is fitted into this cut place and securely wrapped.

Soon something wonderful happens. The life of the new vine begins to flow through the branch. The branch is now sharing the life of the new vine, and it begins to bear its fruit.

From this we can see what a wonderful thing God did for us. God took us out of Adam and "grafted" us into Christ.

The Bible says,

"Of Him [God] are you in Christ Jesus…." 1 Corinthians 1:30

We are now joined to the Lord Jesus in a living way. He is our new Vine, and we are living branches in Him. We share His life.

The Bible says that we are "partakers [sharers] of the divine nature [Christ's life]" (2 Peter 1:4).

• The vine is in the branch. Not only is the branch in the vine, but the very life of the vine, the sap, is in the branch. This is what keeps the branch alive and causes it to bear fruit.

This teaches us that not only are we in Christ, but Christ is in us. We have the very life of Christ in us.

The secret of the Christian life
The secret of the Christian life is that Christ is my life. Christ is not outside of me as my Helper; He lives in me. The apostle Paul said,

"For to me to live is Christ [His life in me]…." Philippians 1:21

Paul did not say, "I am trying to imitate Christ." He did not say, "I am going to do the best I can and ask the Lord to help me." He said, "For to me to live is Christ" [His life in me]." Christ does not want to be my Helper; He wants to be my life.

If we see a branch loaded down with beautiful grapes, we might ask the branch, "How did you bear all this beautiful fruit? What is the secret?" If the branch could talk, it would say, "The secret is that the life of the vine flows in me. Everything I need is in the vine. I depend on the vine for everything."

The Lord Jesus wants us to learn the lesson of the vine and the branches. He is our "vine," and we are "branches" in Him. Everything that we need is in Christ and we have His life flowing in us.

How to live the Christ-life
The apostle Paul was one of the most victorious Christians who ever lived, and he has shared with us the secret of his victorious life. Paul said,

"I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith [the faithfulness] of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Read this verse out loud. Isn't that beautiful! Write this verse on a piece of paper and say it over and over until you have memorized it.

Now let us see from this verse the four steps in living the Christ-life.

Know that you died with Christ.
"I have been crucified with Christ." This is God's way of dealing with my old life. God put me in Christ on the cross. I died with Christ; that was the end of my old life.

"Nevertheless I live." Christ rose from the grave and I rose with Him. I am a new person in Christ.

Know that Christ lives in you.
"Christ lives in me." This is true of every believer. What happened when I became a Christian? I "received Him" (John 1:12). He actually came to live in me. He lives in me right now! Nothing could be more wonderful.

Take SELF out of the way.
"Yet not I." Christ wants to live His life in me, but something gets in His way. What is it? It is SELF! My biggest problem is SELF!

What is the solution to this problem? The solution to the problem of SELF is to take myself out of the way so Christ can live His life in me.

God says that SELF belongs on the cross and Christ belongs on the throne in my heart. I agree with God. I say, "SELF, you shall not rule in my life! Christ is my Lord and my king! He shall rule in my life."

A little girl named Carol had received Christ as her Savior when she was very young. When she was ten years old she longed to be a good Christian. Her father spent much time with her, teaching her from the Bible. He showed her that the one way of victory over sin and SELF was by accepting our death with Christ and letting Christ live His life in us.

Then Carol made her decision. It was a decision that changed her life forever. She wrote in her Bible:

"I truly died with Jesus, and I put away my old Carol on the cross with Him on the 4th day of October. I mean to live by His life, and for Him, all my life. Not I, but Christ."

Count on Christ's faithfulness.
"The life which I now live, I live by the faith [the faithfulness] of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Everything I need is in Christ. God tells me not to worry about anything. In fact, He commands me, "Be anxious for nothing." In myself I worry about things; I cannot keep that command. But Christ lives in me. He does for me what I cannot do for myself. I just count on Him to do it, and He does it. He is the faithful One!

I have found the secret of living. What is it? It is counting on Christ who lives in me. It is "not I, but Christ." I count on Christ for everything I need.

Perhaps I have a bad temper. I have tried for years to overcome it. Now I turn it over to Christ, the faithful One, who lives in me. He takes care of it, and it is gone.

A little girl had learned to have victory over temptation. Someone asked her, "How do you overcome when you are tempted?" She said, "Before, when the devil came knocking at my door to get me to do something wrong, I would go to the door and say, 'Don't you come in! Don't you come in!' But He would come in anyway.

"Now, when the devil comes knocking at my door, I say, 'Lord Jesus, will You please answer the door.' When the devil sees the Lord Jesus, he bows low and says, 'I am sorry. I have come to the wrong door.' And he turns and leaves."

What if I fail? What should I do? I should confess my sin and put it under the precious blood of Christ. In the very next moment I can say, "Lord Jesus, You are still my life and my victory, You shall live out Your victorious life through me."

My old life ended with my death with Christ. I am a new person in Christ. Christ is my life and my victory now.

"Lord Jesus, I have seen from God's Word that my old life ended with my death with You. I do not want SELF to rule in my life any more. I am now putting my old life on the cross with You. I now choose to live by Your life, instead of SELF. From now on, it will be not I, but Christ living in me."

 

[RiverOL]

God's Great Plan
Dear Friend,

Even before God created the first man, Adam, God had a great plan. God knew that Adam and Eve would disobey Him. He knew that men would rebel against Him. He knew that Adam would produce a race of sinners. But God had a great plan.

What did God plan? God planned to send His Son into the world to die for our sins and rise again to be our great Savior. God planned to save people out of Adam's sinful family and to unite them into one spiritual body called "the Church."

"The Church" is people, not a building.

When you hear the word "church," you probably think of a building. Perhaps you think of a beautiful building with a tall steeple, a pulpit and pews or chairs inside. But this is not "the church" that God speaks about in His Word. This is only a church building.

What is "the church"? The word "church" as it is used in the Bible refers to a group of people, not a building. It is speaking of believers—those who have trusted Christ as their Savior.

"The Church" is the Body of Christ.

The church is more than just a vast number of people who have been redeemed by Christ. The Bible says that the Church is "the Body of Christ." God has called out from Adam's sinful race a people for Himself, and He has united them into one spiritual body—the Body of Christ. The Bible says,

"For as we have many members in one body ... So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Romans 12:4-5

Christ is the Head of the Body.
A body must have a head. Christ Himself is the Head of the Church, which is His Body. Speaking of Christ, the Bible says,

"[God] has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body...." Ephesians 1:22-23

We who have trusted Christ as our Savior are members of Christ's Body—the Church. He is the Head of the Body and we are all members of the one body of Christ.

Before the apostle Paul was saved, he was a very religious man named Saul. He thought that Jesus Christ was a false teacher who claimed to be the Son of God. He thought Jesus was deceiving people. Saul wanted to stamp out this new religion. He hated Christians. He went into their homes, arrested them and had them thrown into prison.

One day as Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians, he was struck down by the brightest light he had ever seen. He fell to the ground and he heard a voice from Heaven saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

Saul said, "Who are you, Lord?" The Lord answered, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." The Lord Jesus was in Heaven, yet He said, "You are persecuting Me," because Saul was persecuting the believers who were His spiritual body here on earth.

Saul was wonderfully saved and he became the great apostle Paul who wrote so much of the New Testament. Speaking of himself and all other believers, Paul wrote,

"For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones … This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Ephesians 5:30, 32

When did the Church come into being?
The Church came into being on the Day of Pentecost. The Church had been in God's mind from eternity past, but it was formed on the Day of Pentecost.

The word "pente" means "fifty." The Day of Pentecost came exactly 50 days after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Before He went back to Heaven, the Lord Jesus had told His disciples to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every person. But He also told them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

On the Day of Pentecost, 120 disciples were gathered in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem. They were praying and waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Suddenly, there was a sound from Heaven like a mighty rushing wind. It filled the room where they were sitting. "Tongues of fire" sat on each of the disciples. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Something else happened—the Church was formed! On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit united the 120 believers into one spiritual body—the Body of Christ.

Through the Holy Spirit, the disciples were united to each other and to the glorified Lord Jesus as their Head. Before this, they were 120 separate, individual believers, but now they were "the Church"—the spiritual Body of Christ. The Bible says,

"For by one Spirit are we [all believers] baptized [put] into one Body…." 1 Corinthians 12:13

On that day, the gospel was preached and 3,000 people believed on the Lord Jesus and were saved. The Holy Spirit put these new believers into the Body of Christ. After this, others were saved daily, and they too were added to the Body of Christ. The Bible says,

"And believers were the more [increasingly] added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." Acts 5:14

Now, whenever a person believes on the Lord Jesus, he is saved, and immediately put into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

All believers are members of the one Body of Christ.
At first the Church was composed entirely of Jewish believers. Later on the gospel was preached to the Gentiles, those who were not of the Jewish race. Many of them believed and were added to the Church, the spiritual Body of Christ. The Jewish and Gentile believers were made one in Christ.

This was a marvelous thing! Why? Because of the hatred that existed between the Jews and Gentiles. Each considered themselves better than the other.

How did God deal with this hatred between Jews and Gentiles? He dealt with it by the cross! All believers, both Jews and Gentiles, were "crucified with Christ." Of the Jewish and Gentile believers, God made "one new Man"—Jesus Christ is the Head and all believers form His spiritual Body. The Bible says,

"For He [Christ] is our peace, who has made both one … for to make in Himself of two One New Man, so making peace." Ephesians 2:14-15

God has made all believers one Body in Christ. This is the very opposite of what we are by nature. The life we all received from Adam is a life that is selfish and self-centered.

What happened when God saved us?
He put us in Christ on the cross. We were crucified with Him. In Christ I died to my old life of selfishness and independence. Through my resurrection with Christ I have become, not only a new person in Christ, but a member of the one Body of Christ.

There are seven mighty bonds which unite all true believers.
The Bible tells us that there are seven mighty bonds which unite all true believers—those who have been born again of the Spirit of God:

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Ephesians 4:4–6

There is ONE BODY
Every person who has received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is a member of the Body of Christ. Christ has only one Body, and all believers are members of His one Body.

Regardless of the color of a person's skin, regardless of his race or nationality, regardless of his social standing, regardless of whether he is rich or poor, if he is a child of God, he is a member of the Body of Christ and one with all who have been born again. The Bible says,

"For as we have many members in one body.... So we, being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Romans 12:4-5

There is ONE SPIRIT
Every believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Because the Holy Spirit is one Spirit, He makes us one with all other believers. The Bible says,

"…he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." 1 Corinthians 6:17

There is ONE HOPE
Every believer has the same hope—the hope of being with the Lord forever in glory. This hope is certain because Christ is living in us. The Bible says,

"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." Colossians 3:4

There is ONE LORD
There is only one Lord—the Lord Jesus Christ. All who serve Him are serving the same Lord and are one in Him.

There is ONE FAITH
True believers may differ on some matters, but there is one faith which they all have in common—the faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for their sins and rose again from the grave. This is the faith through which every child of God is saved. The Bible says,

"For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. " Galatians 3:26

There is ONE BAPTISM
Every believer has been baptized into the Body of Christ. This is not the work of man, but the work of the Holy Spirit by which all who believe on the Lord Jesus are made members of His Body. The Bible says,

"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body…." 1 Corinthians 12:13a

There is ONE GOD and FATHER
There is only one true God—the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All who have been born again are members of His family and have the same Heavenly Father.

Out of the sinful, self-centered race of Adam, God has brought forth the Church, the Body of Christ. Christ is the Head and all believers are members of the one body of Christ. Through the Church, God is making known His great wisdom and power.

"Father, I believe and now see that I am not only a new person in Christ, but I am also a member of the Body of Christ. Help me to see that the Body of Christ is one and that all true believers are members of that same one Body."

 

[RiverOL]

Christ's Treasure
Dear Friend,

Right now, the Man Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God. All of the Father's delight rests on Him. He is "crowned with glory and honor."

This great and wonderful Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has a treasure here on earth. His heart is set on this treasure. What is it? It is His people, His church! The Bible says, "Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).

We have already learned about the heavenly Church, the spiritual Body of Christ. All believers are members of the heavenly church. But the Bible also speaks of local churches.

In every place where there are those who believe in Christ, these believers are to assemble—meet together—in Christ's name for worship, prayer, fellowship, and the teaching of God's Word. These assemblies of believers here on earth are called "local churches."

Thus we see that the Bible uses the word "church" in two ways. It can refer to:

The heavenly Church, which is composed of all believers from the Day of Pentecost until the end of this age. There is only one heavenly Church, the Body of Christ. The heavenly Church is not visible, but it is very real.

Local churches, which are assemblies of believers in different places here on earth. There are many, many local churches and these churches are visible.

What does the Bible say about the first local churches?
On the Day of Pentecost, when Christ first formed His Church, there was only one local church—the church in Jerusalem. Later on, we find that there were local churches in many cities.

This came about because of the persecution of the believers in Jerusalem. They were beaten, thrown into jail, and some were killed. Because of this persecution, the believers were scattered into other cities and nations.

Wherever the believers went, they told others about Christ. Many people believed on the Lord Jesus and were saved. When a number of people in a place were saved, they became the local church in that city. The Bible speaks of "the church in Antioch," "the church in Corinth," and "the church in Ephesus."

As the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus gave special gifts to believers in each local church. In each church, certain men were recognized as spiritual leaders. These men were called "elders." They were responsible to teach the believers and care for them. So the churches were strengthened and increased in number.

When did the believers meet?
They met on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. The Bible says,

"Upon the first day of the week...the disciples came together to break bread...." Acts 20:7

Christians meet on the first day of the week because this is the day our Lord Jesus rose from the dead. It is also the day when Christ met with His disciples after His resurrection. The New Testament calls Sunday "the Lord's day."

Where did the believers meet?

They met in one another's homes. They did not build expensive buildings to meet in. The place where the believers met was not of great importance. They knew that, wherever they met, the Lord Jesus would be there with them. He had said,

"…where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst [middle] of them." Matthew 18:20

What are the ordinances of the church?
An "ordinance" is a ceremony ordained by Christ which pictures a great spiritual truth. The Lord Jesus gave His church two ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper.

What is baptism?
Baptism is a ceremony which pictures our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.

When we stand in the water to be baptized, we are testifying to the fact that we have been crucified with Christ. When we are placed under the water, we picture our burial with Christ. And when we are lifted up out of the water, we picture our resurrection with Him. (See Romans, chapter 6.)

The Lord Jesus has commanded every person who believes on Him to be baptized in His name. Baptism does not save or help save anyone; it is for those who are already saved.

By my baptism, I am saying, "I now belong to the Lord Jesus. I was crucified with Him; I was buried with Him; and I rose with Him as a new person in Christ."

What is the Lord's Supper?

The Lord's supper is likewise an ordinance for believers. It is a time when believers meet together to think about the Lord Jesus and all He means to us. The "cup" which we drink represents His blood which was poured out for us. The "bread" which we eat represents His body which was broken for us.

The Bible says that the church is to observe the Lord's supper regularly until Jesus comes for us. The apostle Paul wrote,

"For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He come." 1 Corinthians 11:26

Now let us consider another great truth which concerns all believers.

All believers are "priests unto God."
In the Old Testament, we find that there were certain men who served God as priests. It was a great honor to be a priest, but only the men of one tribe—the tribe of Levi—could be priests. Ordinary believers could not come directly to God. They had to go through the priests.

In the New Testament, we find that all believers are "priests unto God." The Bible says,

"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood...." 1 Peter 2:9

What does this mean? It means that now all believers can come directly to God in Christ's name. The Lord Jesus Himself is our great High Priest. Through Him we can come directly to God for forgiveness of sins or whatever we need. The Bible says,

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

How does the church function?
The true local church is Christ's body in that place and it should function as a living body. Writing to the believers in Corinth, the apostle Paul said,

"Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular." 1 Corinthians 12:27

The body has many different members and all are needed.
In my body I have many different members—eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, fingers, legs, feet, toes. All are different, but all are needed. The local church is Christ's body in that place. It likewise has many members and they are all different; yet all are needed.

Every member should take part in the church.
If my eyes are not operating, I cannot see. If my ears are not functioning, I cannot hear. If my legs are not working, I cannot walk. When any member of my body is not working properly, my whole body suffers.

Likewise, Christ's body is handicapped when any member of His body is not working properly. As a believer you have a special ability that is needed by the body of Christ. Each of us should ask, "Lord, where do You want me to serve in Your body, the church?"

All members must obey the head.

In order for my body to function properly, all members of my body must obey the head. This is true of Christ's body also. The Bible says that we are to "hold fast the Head." This means that we must obey Christ. The Bible says,

"…Christ is the Head of the church ... therefore ... the church is subject unto Christ...." Ephesians 5:23-24

If we are subject to Christ, we will be subject to God's Word. We will also obey those whom God has placed in positions of leadership in the church.

All members must work together.
Christ wants a body—not a lot of single believers who are doing their own thing. The Bible says that we are "one body in Christ." I must work together with other members of Christ's body.

WARNING: Beware of false churches!
Not every church that uses Christ's name is a true church of His. Many ministers who claim to be servants of Christ are false teachers and they are teaching a false gospel. Many ministers do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God. These men do not preach the true gospel.

False teachers deny the virgin birth of Christ, they make fun of the miracles, they deny that Jesus Christ is God, and they deny that all men are lost sinners and need to be saved through faith in Christ and His blood which was shed for our sins. The Bible says, "From such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5).

What are the marks of a true church?

A true local church will be a church where:

• The Bible is believed and taught as God's holy, inspired Word.
• Jesus Christ is the Way—the only Way—to God.
• Unsaved people are taught that they are lost sinners and must be born again.
• The true gospel is preached: that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again and that we are saved by faith in Him.
• Jesus Christ is supreme; a church where He is loved and honored.
• The people love the Lord Jesus and love one another.

Christ Loves His Church
In this world where so many hate God and reject His Son; in this world with all its sin and evil; there is something beautiful to Christ. What is it? It is the local, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring church. It is His special treasure. It is the only place where Christ is loved and honored.

When the church meets together, every believer is responsible to attend and take part. This includes children, young people, and adults. Every member of the body of Christ must answer to the Lord Jesus for his or her failure to attend the services of the local church.

The Bible says that in the last days, men shall be "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Each of us should ask ourselves, "Am I a lover of God or a lover of pleasure?"

When the Lord comes, will He find me seeking my own pleasure or doing my part in a church where Christ is loved and honored? Christ will hold us responsible for the condition in which He finds us.

The church is Christ's "treasure"—His main interest now. If I truly love the Lord, I will find a church where Christ is honored, and I will faithfully attend the services. I will seek to find the special work the Lord has for me to do in His church.

"Lord Jesus, thank You for all that You have done for me. Thank You for teaching me about the heavenly Church, Your spiritual Body, and about the local church.

"I want to be with those who love and honor You. I want to be in a church where Your people meet, where they love You and love one another."

 

[RiverOL]

Left Behind!

"Man, it was the weirdest thing you ever saw. We were all in the gym watching a basketball game. It had gone into overtime, and everybody was yelling their heads off. Just as the referee started to throw the ball up—ZAP—our center disappeared! He was gone! Players from both teams had simply vanished. Everybody in the stands began screaming. People were missing there too."

* * * * *
"I was driving home in heavy traffic when some cars began going into all directions. They crashed into poles, buildings, and other cars. You won't believe this, but they didn't have any drivers!"

* * * * *
"You want to know what I think? I think we've been invaded from outer space. It's some kind of death ray. I've never been so scared in my life!"

Dear Friend, as amazing as it sounds, something like this is going to happen some day. Millions of Christians, all over the world, will suddenly disappear. It will be the greatest mystery of all time.

The news media will go ballistic. News reporters will be hysterical. Computer networks and phone lines will be hopelessly jammed with millions of calls from frantic people.

All of this will take place so quickly that the world will not know what has happened. Unsaved husbands and wives will wake up to discover that their Christian mates are gone. Parents will be frantically trying to locate missing children. Teenagers will be running down school halls desperately trying to find friends who have disappeared.

What in the world are we talking about? We are talking about an event called "the Rapture," which is clearly predicted in the Bible. The word "rapture" means "to snatch away" or "to take away." This is exactly what will happen when Jesus Christ comes to take His believers out of this world, to be with Him forever. The Bible says,

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ [believers who have died] shall rise first:

"Then we [believers] which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

This will be a worldwide event which will take place without any warning. It could happen today! There are no unfulfilled prophecies which must take place before Christ comes. The Bible says that the Rapture will take place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." Every person in the world who has been born again into the family of God will be instantly changed and caught up to meet Christ in the air.

No matter where they are or what they are doing, every child of God will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Airplanes whose pilots are believers will suddenly be left pilotless. Countless wrecks will occur on the highways. It is hard to imagine all the disastrous scenarios which will take place when Christ comes for His believers. There will be pandemonium throughout the world!

Actually, the Bible tells us that Christ's Second Coming will be in two parts. The first part is the Rapture when He comes FOR His believers. The second part will occur seven years later, when Christ returns WITH His believers, to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years.

What will happen to those left behind? When Christ takes every Christian out of the world, what will the world be like then? The world will be more wicked than ever. Law enforcement people will be unable to control the situation. People will blaspheme God. They will steal, kill, rape and do whatever they want to do. Those who love wickedness will be glad that the Christians are out of the way.

The Antichrist appears.
About the time when the Christians are taken up to be with the Lord, an extraordinary man will appear on the earth. He will be brilliant, charming, and eloquent, with made-for-television good looks and charisma. People will not realize that he is an evil man.

The Bible calls this man "the Anti-christ." The word "anti" means "against." He is against God and against Christ. He is energized and controlled by Satan. What will the Antichrist do? He will deceive the world into serving him and worshipping him.

Through his lies and his miraculous powers, the Antichrist will gain control of the world. He will reign for seven years. The first half of the Antichrist's reign will be a time of prosperity in the world. But the last three and a half years of the Antichrist's reign will be the most terrible time that the world has ever seen. The Bible calls it "the Great Tribulation." (See Matthew 24:21-22.)

What will happen during the Great Tribulation?
We are living in an age when God is holding back His wrath and His judgments against sin, but this will change following the Rapture. During the Great Tribulation, especially the last three and a half years, God will be pouring out His wrath on all wickedness and unrighteousness.

Peace will be taken from the earth. Wars will break out everywhere. There will be terrible famines, earthquakes, and natural disasters. There will be disturbances in the heavens. At times the sun will be blotted out. Stars will fall to the earth. (See Revelation, chapters 6 and 8.)

Trees and all green grass will be burned up. The waters in all the seas will become as the blood of a dead man. Likewise, all rivers and fountains of fresh water will be turned into blood. (See Revelation, chapter 16.)

The sun will be given power to scorch men with great heat. Demonic creatures, like scorpions, will be released from the bottomless pit. They will sting people causing torment for five months. The pain will be so unbearable that people will seek death but will not find it. Will people repent of their sins and turn to God? No, they will not. They will curse God.

We cannot imagine the horrors of the Great Tribulation. During this time, one half of the population of the earth will be killed! Worst of all, death is followed by hell. All wicked, unbelieving people will be forever separated from God in the lake of fire.

When will Christ come?
No one knows when Christ will come to take His believers out of the world. But Jesus did tell us what it would be like in the last days, just before His coming. He said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man" (Luke 17:26 ).

What was it like in "the days of Noah"? It was a time of great wickedness. The Bible says, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). The Bible says that the earth was "filled with violence."

God was grieved in His heart, and He decided to destroy this wicked human race with a great flood. But there was one man on earth who found favor with God. Noah "walked with God" (Genesis 6:9).

God told Noah about the coming flood which would cover the entire earth. In order that Noah and his family might be saved, God told Noah to build a giant ship, called an "ark."

The ark would be three stories high, with only one door and one window. It would be large enough for Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, pairs of all air-breathing creatures and the provisions they would need.

Noah and his three sons began work on the ark right away. It took them 120 years to build the ark. During this time, Noah was constantly preaching to the people, warning them of the coming catastrophe.

Finally, the ark was completed. Amazingly, pairs of all birds and animals began coming to the ark and going into it. The time for the flood had come. God told Noah and his family to get inside the ark.

But God delayed the flood another seven days. Why did God do this? He did it because He does not desire the death of sinners. It was as if God were saying, "I am giving the people seven more days before I close the door of the ark. I want them to have every chance to come in."

No doubt Noah stood in the open door with tears in his eyes and pleaded with the people to come into the ark. How many came in? NONE!

At the end of the seven days, the people saw an amazing thing happen. The huge door, probably weighing hundreds of pounds, began slowly closing, with no one touching it. God was closing the door!

Noah lived in the last days before a great catastrophe took place. The flood covered the tops of the highest mountains to a depth of over 20 feet. All who were outside of the ark perished. Jesus said, "…the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27).

We too are living in the last days before another worldwide catastrophe—the Great Tribulation. There is only one way of escape, and that is by taking Jesus Christ as your Savior.

There was only one door into the ark, and Jesus is the only "door" by which we can be saved. The Lord Jesus said, "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved" (John 10:9).

The moment you trust Christ as your Savior, it is like going into the ark. God puts you "in Christ," and one day you will be with Him in Heaven forever.

The Greatest Thing…
Do you know what the greatest thing in the world is? It is knowing that you are a child of God and that you are ready to meet God—at any time! To know that, no matter when Christ may come, you are ready to meet Him.

When Christ takes His believers out of the world, some of those who are left behind will realize what has happened. Maybe they had friends or relatives who had told them about these end time events. But it will be too late then. Like Larry Norman's song says,

"I wish we'd all been ready!
There's no time to change your mind.
The Son has come, and you've been left behind.
How could you have been so blind?"

Dear friend, if Christ were to come tonight, would you be taken up to be with Him or would you be left behind to face the horrors of the Great Tribulation? If the prayer below says what is in your heart, you can pray this to Jesus now. He would love to hear you pray this prayer to Him right now.

Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned. I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died on the cross for my sins. Please come into my heart and forgive me of my sins. I am taking You as my Savior right now.

1. Jesus Christ is coming soon to take His believers to be with Him. This coming could take place at any time. Jesus said, "Therefore be ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man comes" (Matthew 24:44).
2. There will be no second chance. Those who are left behind will face the horrors of the Great Tribulation.
3. There was only one place of safety during the great flood. That place was the ark. There is only one place of safety now—"in Christ."

Memory Verse
"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man." Luke 17:26
My Prayer
"Father, I thank You that You have warned us about the coming catastrophe. I thank You for providing a place of safety for us. I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son and that He died for my sins. I am trusting Him as my Savior."

God's hero—Noah
"By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house [his family]…." Hebrews 11:7

Did you know that God has His "Heroes of Faith"? In Hebrews, chapter 11, God gives us brief histories of some of His "heroes of faith."

As to the dangers and difficulties these people went through, no two were alike, but they were all alike in that they took God at His word. That is what faith is—taking God at His Word.

They had another thing in common—they loved God. They loved God more than they loved the praise of men. They accepted rejection, ridicule, suffering, and even death because they believed the promises of God.

God warned Noah that He was going to send a great flood because of the wickedness of the people of that day. God told Noah to build a giant ship.

There were at least three facts that could have caused Noah to doubt God's word:

• It had never rained on the earth before this time. Nobody knew what rain was.
• Noah was hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean.
• How could he ever get pairs of all animals and birds to go into the ark?

It seemed like a foolish thing to do, but Noah believed God and he was "moved with fear." It is a good thing to be "moved with fear" when God warns you about something. Noah did something about it—he obeyed God and started building the ark.

We can only imagine the ridicule that Noah suffered. The "scientists" of that day no doubt were saying, "We have checked our records and our books of knowledge and it is impossible for water to come out of the sky."

But they were all wrong. The Bible says that "the fountains of the deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened." The rain poured continuously for forty days and nights.

The waters covered the highest mountains to a depth of over 20 feet. This explains why sea shells and other evidence of marine life have been found near the tops of some of the highest mountains in the world.

Noah was truly a hero of faith. He walked with God. He believed God, he loved God, and he obeyed God.

 

[RiverOL]

The Antichrist
Is he living today? When will he take control of the world?

Dear Friend,

The stage is set. A Great Dictator with unusual ability and power is about to appear on the world scene.

The Bible clearly predicts that, in the last days, a "superman" will take over rulership of the world.

Who is this Great Dictator? The Bible calls him "the Antichrist" or "the Beast." The word "anti" means "against." The Antichrist is against Christ, against God, and against all the people of God.

How Does the Antichrist Gain Control of the World?
The Antichrist gains control of the world through three means: 1) Political power, 2) Supernatural power, and 3) Religious power. Let us consider these.

* Political power.
The Antichrist will emerge first as the leader of a powerful confederation of ten European nations. At first he will not appear to be an evil man at all. He will be a man of great ability and charisma. He will be a military genius, as well as the greatest politician the world has ever seen.

The Antichrist will do the seemingly impossible! He will bring peace between Israel and the Arab nations. He will make a treaty with Israel, in which he will guarantee their security and safety. He will likewise satisfy the demands of the Arab nations. The world will marvel at his political ability. But the Bible calls him "the Beast."

* Supernatural power.
For some time now, comic strips, movies, and television programs have been preparing the world for the idea of a "superman." One reason why these comic strips and programs are so popular is that people like the idea of a "superman" who can solve their problems instantly.

The Antichrist will be a real "superman." Just as Jesus had supernatural powers because He was God's Man, so the Antichrist will have supernatural powers because he will be Satan's man. Satan will give his power to the Antichrist.

* Religious power.
Not everyone will follow the Antichrist at first. Millions of people all over the world are very religious, and they will be skeptical of the Antichrist and his claims. But Satan has a plan to deceive them. In the book of Revelation, we are introduced to a second "beast." This man will be a great religious leader. The Bible calls him "the False Prophet."

The False Prophet will have power to perform great miracles. Some people think that every miracle comes from God and those who perform them are servants of God. This is not true! Just because someone can perform miracles does not mean that he is from God. Satan has great power, and he can give miraculous powers to those who serve him.

The False Prophet will be able to call down fire from the sky! Imagine what will happen when this is flashed by television all over the world. People everywhere will accept him as the prophet of God.

Satan will use the False Prophet to deceive people into worshipping the Antichrist and following him. Satan craves our worship. He wants to be worshipped as God. Those who worship the Antichrist or his image will, in reality, be worshipping Satan Himself. The False Prophet will work to bring all the religions in the world into one worldwide religion worshipping the Antichrist.

The Antichrist will be assassinated!
At some time during the Antichrist's rapid rise to world rulership something will happen which will shock the entire world.

The unthinkable will happen—the Antichrist will be assassinated! He will receive a fatal head wound. Perhaps some assassin's bullets will blow off part of his head.

Amazingly, this is not the end of the Antichrist. When everyone thinks that he is dead, he will suddenly reappear—alive and miraculously healed!

Again we see Satan's hand in this. He is the great imitator. Just as God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, so Satan will raise his man, the Antichrist from the dead.

The news media will go ballistic! At first people will not believe that the Antichrist could possibly survive his deadly wound. But when he appears on worldwide television, people will see for themselves that he is indeed alive and miraculously healed.

The world will be electrified! Those who had doubts about him will now be convinced that he is indeed a real superman. People will begin to worship him. The Bible says,

"They worshipped the dragon [Satan] which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast [the Antichrist], saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" (Revelation 13:4).

The Antichrist will reign seven years.
During the first half of his reign, the Antichrist will be gaining control of all things. During the last half of his reign, he will be "the great Dictator"! The Antichrist will reveal his true nature—he is Satan's man, the most evil person of all time. This man may be alive somewhere in the world today!

The last three and a half years of the reign of the Antichrist is called "the Great Tribulation." We cannot imagine the horrors of this time. Jesus said, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21).

During this terrible time, the False Prophet will make a huge image of the Antichrist. He will demand that all people worship this image. Wonder of wonders, he will give life to this image. The Bible says, "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast… and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed" (Revelation 13:15 ).

The False Prophet will try to kill every person who dares to believe on Jesus Christ or refuses to worship the image of the Antichrist. There is no middle ground. If you are not for the Antichrist, you will be considered as being against him. This will mean death for anyone who refuses to worship the Antichrist or his image.

The Mark of the Beast!
But how will the false Prophet know who are the true believers in Christ? He will devise a way to expose and identify those who believe in Christ. He will require that all Beast-worshippers receive a mark in their forehead or on their right hand. This mark could be a tattoo or an implant of a tiny computer chip that permanently identifies a person as a worshipper of the Antichrist.

This may sound far-fetched, but right now things are taking place that are setting the stage for these events. Have you noticed the unusual markings on almost all products that are sold? These strange markings are known as the "Universal Product Code."

They are being used worldwide to permanently identify all products. At checkout counters, the product is pulled past an optical scanner which reads the markings and flashes the information to a computer.

Everyone is familiar with plastic credit cards which enable people to buy without using cash or checks. Credit cards are coded with an identification number for each person. The problem with plastic credit cards is that they can be lost or stolen. The misuse of credit cards costs companies untold millions of dollars each year.

One solution to this problem is tattooing the person's unique identification number on his hand. This can be done instantly and painlessly using a laser beam. With this solution, there is no way a person's identification number could be lost or stolen.

During the reign of the Antichrist, everyone will be required to have a permanent identification number on the right hand or forehead. This will be "the mark of the Beast." Without it no one will be able to sell or buy anything. The Bible says, "He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: that no man might buy or sell, save he that has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 9:13,16-17).

There will be no middle ground. Those who refuse to accept the mark of the Beast will be killed. Those who accept the mark of the Beast will escape the wrath of the Antichrist, but God's wrath will be poured out on them. The Bible says, "…the same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God… and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone… for ever and ever" (Revelation 14:10).

God is "not willing that any should perish."

God wants all people to have an opportunity to take Christ as Savior. During the reign of the Antichrist, God will send 144,000 evangelists into all the world preaching the gospel. These special servants of God will be protected by Him.

The Bible tells about a great multitude of people from all nations who will hear for the first time that God loves them so much that He gave His Son to die for their sins. They will immediately trust the Lord Jesus as their Savior. They will refuse to worship the Antichrist or accept his mark. They will be killed, but they will live with Jesus forever in Heaven. (See Revelation 7:9-17.)

According to the Bible, those who have heard the gospel and refused to receive Christ as their Savior will be lost. They would not believe God's truth, so now they will be deceived by Satan's lie. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12.)

A Bible teacher had been teaching these truths about Christ's coming, and a man said to her, "If what you say is true, and you are suddenly caught up and disappear, then I'll believe!"

The teacher replied, "No, you will not! You have heard the gospel today and you rejected it. At that time you will believe the lies of the Antichrist and be damned with him." That man took the Lord Jesus as his Savior right then!

Satan's final destination.
The terrible reign of the Antichrist will end suddenly when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth with great power and glory. The believers who have been with Him since the Rapture, and all those who were saved during the Great Tribulation, will be with Him.

The Antichrist and the False Prophet, along with all those who received the mark of the Beast or worshipped his image will be cast into the lake of fire. This is also Satan's final destination. (See Revelation 19 and 20.)

Dear friend, if you are unsaved, the Lord Jesus is still patiently knocking at the door of your heart. He wants to come in and give you a new life. Will you invite Him to come in?

Find a quiet place where you can be alone with Jesus. If the prayer below says what is in your heart, the Lord Jesus would love for you to tell Him this right now!

“Lord Jesus, I don't want to be left behind when You come. I know that I have sinned and I am willing to turn from my sins. I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died on the cross for my sins. Please come into my heart. I am taking You as my Savior right now.”

1. During the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist will reign over the entire world. He will have supernatural powers because Satan will give his power to him.
2. The Antichrist will require all people to receive "the mark of the Beast." Those who refuse will be killed.
3. Many people will hear the gospel for the first time and receive Jesus as their Savior. They will be killed but will live forever in Heaven with Jesus. The Bible says, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord…" (Revelation 14:13)

Memory Verse
"Whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15
My Prayer
“Father, Your word says that You are 'longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.' I don't want to perish. Thank You for giving Your Son to me to be my Savior. I do take Him as my Savior right now.”

God's hero—Abel
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous..." Hebrews 11:4

The first children born to Adam and Eve were two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain farmed the land while Abel took care of the sheep. Cain and Abel had been taught the true way in which to worship God at that time. They were to offer a lamb as a sacrifice for their sins.

The lamb was slain; its blood was poured out. The lamb's body was burned as a burnt offering to God. The lamb was a type or picture of Jesus Christ, the Savior, who would one day come to die for the sins of all men. From the very beginning God taught men that without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness of sins.

God wants us to understand that we are not saved by what we do for Him, but by what He has done for us in the Person of His Son.

In the course of time, both Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God. Cain was a farmer and he brought the fruit of the ground for his offering. No doubt he brought beautiful vegetables and fruit, but God rejected his offering.

Cain was coming to God in his own way instead of God's way. Cain was saying, "Lord, see what I have done for You! Here are some beautiful fruits of my work." God did not accept Cain's offering. Cain was very angry because God did not accept his offering. (See Genesis, chapter 4.)

Abel brought a lamb as an offering to God for his sins. The lamb was killed. Its blood was poured out. Abel was saying, "Lord, I thank You for making a way for me to be forgiven of my sins and to be accepted by You." God accepted Abel's offering.

Since the time of Cain and Abel, there have always been these two kinds of worshippers: (1) True worshippers, like Abel, who come to God, trusting in the Lord Jesus and His blood which was shed for them, and (2) False worshippers, like Cain, who try to come to God in their own way. But God has never accepted anyone outside of Christ, and He never will.

 

[RiverOL]

The Attributes of God (Part 1)
What God is Like (part 1)

Dear Friend,

We have been thinking about the end times and what will happen then. Now let us go back to the beginning and learn about the One who created all things.

• How can we know what God is like?
• Is God a "force" or a Person?

How can we know what God is like?
The only way we can know what God is like is for God to reveal Himself to us. God wants us to know Him. One way He has chosen to reveal Himself is by a special book, of which He Himself is the author.

If God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in a special book, how do we identify that book? There are some qualifications this book should have:

• It must tell us plainly that its true author is God Himself.
• It must give us a detailed description of the past and future of the earth and the universe.
• It must be understandable and available worldwide in many languages. It must be a living book through which God speaks to us today.

There is only one book which meets all of these qualifications—the Bible. In the Bible there are over 300 verses which begin with, "Thus says the Lord," and thousands of verses where God is speaking.

The Bible consists of sixty-six books, written over a period of 1,500 years. Amazingly, these books all fit together. The reason for this is that the true author of the Bible is God Himself. The Bible says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God…" (2 Timothy 3:16).

God used many men to write the books in the Bible, but the Holy Spirit of God told these men what to write. The Bible says, "For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke [wrote] as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21).

There is only one book which gives us a detailed description of past events and future events. This book is the Bible, which is authored by God. Only God knows everything that has happened, and only God knows everything that will happen in the future. In His Word God has told us everything we need to know.

The Bible is the most available book of all time. Each year millions of copies of God's Word are printed in many languages and distributed worldwide. There is no other book like the Bible. It is a living book through which God speaks to us today.

The Bible is the only book, of which the author is God Himself. It is the only book which was inspired by God. The Bible is God's complete written revelation of Himself to us. In the Bible we learn the attributes of God—what God is like.

God is a Person.
There is only one God—the true and living God. In His Word, God says, "…I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God…I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me…" (Isaiah 44:6, 45:5).
God is not a "force." God is a living Person who knows and loves every one of us. He is pleased when we earnestly desire to know Him. Above all, He wants us to love Him with all our heart. (See Jeremiah 9:23-24.)
God is eternal. He has always existed and He will exist forever. God had no beginning, and He will have no end. The Bible says, "…from everlasting to everlasting, You are God" (Psalm 90:2b).
God is Spirit.
We have a body which can be seen. We also have a soul and a spirit which cannot be seen. God is all Spirit. He cannot be seen. Jesus said, "God is Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).
Because God is Spirit, He commands us not to make any image to represent Him. In the Ten Commandments, God said, "I am the Lord your God…you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make unto yourselves any graven [carved] image…You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them…" (Exodus 20:2-5).
God is everywhere.
Because we are human beings and have bodies, we can be in only one place at a time. Because God is God and because He is Spirit, He can be everywhere at the same time. God said, "…Do not I fill heaven and earth…?" (Jeremiah 23:24).
We cannot see God because He is Spirit, but He is always with us, loving us and caring for us. The Bible says, "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…" (Deuteronomy 33:27).
God is almighty.
The word "almighty" means "having all power." God has all power! This word "almighty" occurs 56 times in the Bible, and it is never used of anyone but God. He alone is "Almighty." He told Abraham, "…I am the Almighty God: walk before Me, and be perfect" (Genesis 17:1).
All power belongs to God. God gives power to men, but all power belongs to Him. The Bible says, "God has spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongs to God" (Psalm 62:11).

We cannot imagine how great the universe is. Our solar system is part of an enormous galaxy called "the Milky Way," which contains more than a billion stars like our sun. Astronomers tell us that there are billions of galaxies like our Milky Way, each containing a billion or more stars.
This staggers our imagination; yet our almighty God brought this universe into being by His word! The Bible says, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth…For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6,9).
God is all-knowing.
God has perfect knowledge about everything—past, present and future. He knows all things perfectly. God knows everything about each one of us; He even knows how many hairs we have on our head. The Bible says, "Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite" (Psalm 147:5).
God sees everything. God knows everything. Nothing can be hidden from Him. The Bible says, "You have set our iniquities [sins] before You, our secret sins in the light of your countenance" (Psalm 90:8).
For those who have trusted the Lord Jesus as Savior, how wonderful it is to know that all our sins—past, present and future—have been forgiven forever. God says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 10:17).
God is sovereign.
This means that God is in absolute, total control of everything that happens in His universe. Jesus said that two sparrows were sold for less than a penny; yet not one of them could fall to the ground without God's knowing and willing it.
God makes no mistakes. He is infinite in His wisdom. He always knows what is best for us. God is perfect in His love. He always does what is best for us. The Bible says, "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
God is holy.
God is absolutely pure, absolutely righteous, and absolutely holy. In the Bible, sin is often referred to as "darkness." The Bible says, "…God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).
The angelic beings who stand in the presence of God cover their faces before the glory and holiness of God. They cry out, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3).

The prophet Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets of God in the Old Testament. One day he saw a vision of God. He said, "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up…" (Isaiah 6:1).
Immediately Isaiah fell on his face before God and cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).
What caused Isaiah to fall on his face? He saw something of God's infinite holiness and realized that he was a sinner and unfit to stand in the presence of such a holy and glorious God.
God is unchangeable.
This means that God never changes; He is always the same—perfect in every way. God is always holy, always righteous, always faithful, always good. God said, "I am the Lord, I change not…" (Malachi 3:6).
It brings great peace to our heart to know that our Heavenly Father never changes. We do not have to worry about God being in a bad mood; He is always the same. The Bible says, "As for God, His way is perfect…" (Psalm 18:30).
What God hates.

Here are some things God hates:

• God hates sin. God loves the sinner, but He hates sin because it destroys people.
• God hates pride. It was pride that caused Satan to rebel against God. God hates all lies. The Bible says, "Lying lips are abomination [utterly detestable] to the Lord…" (Proverbs 12:22).
• God hates all idols. An idol is anything that you love more than you love God.
• God hates a rebellious attitude. God says, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Samuel 15:23).
• God hates iniquity—lawlessness, false ways, false witnesses, those who spread discord, wicked imaginations.

What God loves.

Here are some things that God loves:

God loves righteousness. The Bible says, "For the righteous God loves righteousness…" (Psalm 11:5).

God loves those who love Him. God says, "I love them that love Me; and those who seek Me early shall find Me" (Proverbs 8:17).

God loves those who show their love for Christ by keeping His commandments. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

God loves a cheerful giver. God loves those who cheerfully give themselves to Him and serve Him with gladness.

God has a special love for those who love His Son. Jesus said, "For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God" (John 16:27).

1. God has revealed Himself to us in a special book—the Bible. There is not another book in the world like God's holy Word.
2. There is only one living and true God. God said, "Look unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:22).
3. God is sovereign. He controls everything. There are no "accidents" with God. He makes no mistakes. The Bible says, "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God..."

Memory Verse
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment." Matthew 22:37-38
My Prayer
“Dear God, I thank You and praise You for being the God that You are—the true and living God whom we can know, trust, and love.”

God's hero—Enoch
"By faith Enoch was translated [taken directly to Heaven without dying] that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Hebrews 11:5

Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah. He lived during a time when people lived a very long time. When he was 65 years old, Enoch had a son named Methuselah. This man, Methuselah, lived longer than any man. According to the record, Methuselah was 969 years old when he died.

People were not godly in Enoch's time, but Enoch honored God. The Bible says,

"Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years…and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not [found]; for God took him" (Genesis 5:22-24).

This means that God took him to Heaven without dying.

Evidently God revealed to Enoch much about the Savior He had promised to send into the world. Enoch prophesied concerning Christ's coming with His saints at the end of the Great Tribulation. The Bible says, "Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied… saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all…" (Jude 14,15).

Evidently Enoch and God had talked about Heaven—the place which God had for him when he left this world. Somehow Enoch came to believe that it was not necessary for him to die. It must have pleased God for this man to believe that God could take him directly to Heaven.

One day, after Enoch had walked with God for three hundred years, we can imagine Enoch saying, "Lord, instead of my going to my home tonight, why don't You just take me to Your home?" That is exactly what God did! Enoch went directly to Heaven without dying because he pleased God.

Enoch is a type or "picture" of what will happen when the Lord Jesus comes to take His believers out of the world before the terrible time of the Great Tribulation. All believers who are living when the Rapture takes place will not die. Instead, they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and to be with Him forever.

You and I have the privilege of walking with God and pleasing Him. The apostle Paul pleaded with the believers he was teaching "that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more" (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

Believers have a great salvation! The Bible says,

"Beloved, now are we the sons [children] of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He [Christ] shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

 

[RiverOL]

The Attributes of God (Part 2)
What God is Like (part 2)

Dear Friend,

The Bible tells us many things about God which we cannot explain or understand; yet we know they are true because God says so. From the Bible we learn that there is only one living and true God; yet He exists in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God the Father is in Heaven "dwelling in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see…" (1 Timothy 6:16).

God the Son is the Lord Jesus, whom the Father sent into the world to be our Savior. "…The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world" (1 John 4:14).

God the Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of truth"—the One who teaches us the truth about God, Satan, and ourselves.

An amazing thing happened when Jesus was baptized—all three Persons of the Godhead were manifested. As Jesus, the Son, came up out of the water, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit came down like a dove, lighting on Him, and the Father spoke from Heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17).

God is Righteous.
This means that God always does what is right. God has His way of doing things, and His way is righteousness. The Bible says, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).
Because God is righteous, He punishes all sin. God cannot overlook our sins or pretend that He does not know about them. But God has made a way for us to be forgiven of all our sins. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus to take the punishment for our sins.
Because Jesus paid the full penalty of our sins, God is perfectly righteous when He forgives the sins of those who take Jesus as their Savior. The Bible says, "…through His name whoever believes in Him [the Lord Jesus] shall receive remission [forgiveness] of sins" (Acts 10:43).
God is Faithful.
This means that God always does what He says He will do. He always keeps His word and His promises. He is always faithful and dependable. The Bible says, "Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant [His word] and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments…" (Deuteronomy 7:9).
God keeps every promise that He makes. He is "the God of truth," and He cannot lie. He has promised eternal life to all who believe on His Son and receive Him as Savior and Lord.
God not only saves us, but He also keeps us. The Bible says, "The Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thessalonians 3:3).
God is Good.
This means that God is always merciful and kind. He always does what is best for us. The Bible says, "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endures forever" (Psalm 136:1).
God is good to all, even to those who do not believe in Him and those who hate Him. The Bible says, "…He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just [the believers] and on the unjust [unbelievers]" (Matthew 5:45).
God loves all people, but He takes special pleasure in those who have trusted the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Every believer can say, "I am a delight to God because I love Him and I have taken His Son as my Savior and Lord." The Bible says, "Oh how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up…for them that trust in You before the sons of men" (Psalm 31:19).

God is Merciful.
This means that God is good and kind, gracious and forgiving to those who deserve only punishment. Jesus showed us God's boundless mercy when He was crucified. On the cross, He asked the Father to forgive the ones who crucified Him. He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:24).

The apostle Paul, before he was saved, was a very religious man, but he was also very wicked. He hated Jesus and he hated all those who believed in Jesus. He went about killing Christians and dragging them out of their homes and throwing them into prison. But Jesus loved Paul and had a great plan for his life.
The Lord Jesus showed His great mercy in saving Paul and calling him to serve Him. Paul never got over the mercy and grace which the Lord showed to him. Paul wrote, "I thank Jesus our Lord, who…counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy…and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant…" (1 Timothy 1:12-14).
God is Love.

This means that God loves us with all His heart and He wants only what is best for us. How do we know that God loves us? There are two ways by which we can know that God loves us:

1. We know because God says so. In His Word God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love…" (Jeremiah 31:3).
2. We know because God gave His only Son to die on the cross for us. The Bible says, "God commends [shows] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

God is saying to us, "How can you doubt My love for you when you see My beloved Son suffering and dying on the cross for you?"
God is Glorious.
God's glory is so bright that we could not bear to look at Him, even for a moment. We cannot bear to look at the sun when it is shining brightly. If we were to look at it very long, we would lose our sight.
God's glory is much brighter than the noonday sun. This is why we cannot look on Him. The Bible tells about a man named Moses, who was a special friend of God. He talked with God, and God talked with him many times. But Moses never saw God. One day Moses begged God to show him His glory.
The Lord said, "You cannot see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live." The Lord told Moses that He would make a place for him. God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock.
As He passed by Moses, the Lord proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth…" (Exodus 34:6).
Moses saw a little bit of God's glory and it made his face shine so brightly that he had to wear a veil over his face for a time. It is no wonder that Moses and the people said of God, "Who is like unto You, O Lord…glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:11).
God has been here!

Did you know that God has actually been here on the earth? The Bible says, "…great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…" (1 Timothy 3:16). The Lord Jesus, God the Son, came into the world as a tiny baby. He grew up and lived here for 33 years.
One reason God sent His Son into the world is that we might know what God is really like. People have all kinds of wrong ideas about God, put into their minds by Satan. Jesus came to tell us and show us what God is really like. The Bible says, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son [who is Himself God], He has declared Him [shown us what God is really like]" (John 1:18).
What is God like? He is just like Jesus! Jesus said, "…he who has seen Me has seen the Father…" (John 14:9), and "I and my Father are one" (John 18:30).
How to please God...
If we truly love God, we will want to please Him. In His Word, God has told us what pleases Him.

• God is pleased when we trust Him. The Bible says, "The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy [who expect Him to be loving and kind]" (Psalm 147:11).
• 
• God is pleased when we obey Him. The Bible says, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3).
• God is pleased when we choose to love Him. God says, "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation" (Psalm 91:14-16).
• God is pleased when we delight in His Son. All of God's delight now rests on His beloved Son. God is pleased when we love Christ and delight ourselves in Him. The Bible says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).
• God is pleased when we thank Him. We are to thank God in everything! This shows that we are trusting in God's faithfulness and His goodness. The Bible says, "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
• God is pleased when we praise Him. Praise means that I am overflowing in my joy and satisfaction in God. The Bible says, "By Him [Jesus] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually…for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:15-16).

1. There is only one true and living God: yet He exists in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Because Jesus paid the full penalty of our sins, God is perfectly righteous in forgiving the sins of those who take Him as their Savior.
3. God has been here on this earth! God the Son came into the world as a tiny Baby and lived here that we might know what God is really like. Jesus said, "…he who has seen Me has seen the Father…" (John 14:9)

Memory Verse
"Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4
My Prayer
“Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You and praise You that You want us to know what You are like. You sent Your beloved Son into the world that we might know the truth about You. In Jesus' name I pray.”

Abraham—the Friend of God
"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went." Hebrews 11:8

Abram, whose name God later changed to Abraham, occupies a unique place of prominence in Scripture which no other person has. The Bible says that he is "the father of all them that believe."

Abram lived at a time when men were worshipping idols. Abram was no different from the people among whom he lived. He, too, worshipped idols, but the call of God changed his life forever. The Bible says that "the God of glory" spoke to Abram and said,

"Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, unto a land that I will show you.

"And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing:

"And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3

Abram is the first example of a man chosen and called by God. The call of God is a wonderful thing. The mighty and powerful voice of God from the unseen spiritual world reaches our heart. It awakens us to the consciousness that God is calling us to live for Him and to do a work for Him.

Like Abram, we too have heard the mighty voice of God from the unseen world. Like Abram, God calls us to be "strangers and pilgrims" in this world.

God made a covenant (a solemn, binding agreement) with Abram which contained three mighty promises:

• A great nation.
God promised to make the descendants of Abram a great nation. God said, "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great." The great nation which came from Abram is Israel, God's special, chosen people here on earth.

• A promised land.
This is the first mention of "the land." God had a special land for His chosen people, the land of Canaan. This land was so fertile that it is described in the Bible as "a land flowing with milk and honey." It was God's purpose that His people should possess this wonderful land and enjoy its riches.

• A promised Savior.
God said to Abram, "In you shall all families of the earth be blessed." Later, God spoke to him and said, "In your seed [one person, Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This was the greatest honor of all—that from Abraham's family, his descendants, would come the promised Savior. When we open the New Testament, the first words we read are these: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son [descendant] of David, the son [descendant] of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).

 

[RiverOL]

The Universe: Creation or Chance?
Dear Friend,


We have been thinking about God and what He is like. Now let us go back to the beginning of all things and find the answers to some important questions:

• How did the universe come into being?
• What is God's most wonderful creation?
• Why did God create man?

How did the universe come into being?
There are only two possible explanations for the universe: 1) It came into being by chance, or 2) It came into being by intelligent design; that is, God created it.

What is the characteristic of something that comes into being by chance? Disorder. What is the characteristic of something that is the result of intelligent design? Order.

For example, suppose I wish to set up 500 chairs in a gymnasium for a meeting. The chairs are stacked on one side of the gym. I decide just to throw them across the floor and leave it to chance that they will be arranged properly. If I throw 500 chairs across the gym floor, what do I get? I get a jumbled mass of chairs—total disorder.

If I come into a gym and find 500 chairs perfectly lined up in rows, one row behind another in a precise pattern, I can be quite sure that this was not the result of chance. Someone with intelligence placed these chairs in a precise pattern according to a definite design.

If the universe came into being by chance, what would we expect? We would expect disorder. But when we look out into the universe with powerful telescopes, what do we find? We find billions of stars and planets operating in precise patterns and perfect timing.

We live in a fantastic universe. Our sun is so large that it could contain a million planets the size of our earth. And there are stars so large that they could easily contain 500 million suns the size of ours.

The giant star, Antares, is said to be so large that if it were a hollow ball, and the sun and earth were put inside it, the earth could continue its orbit around the sun and never come halfway to the outer edge of Antares!

Within the Milky Way, there are stars so great as to defy description—like Eta Carinae, which is 5 million times as bright as the sun.

In the town hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, stands the world's most complicated clock. It took 40 years to build and it cost over a million dollars. It has fifteen thousand parts and computes the time of day, the days of the week, the months, the years, and the movements of the planets for 2,500 years!

This amazing clock is probably the most accurate clock ever constructed, but it is not perfectly accurate. It loses 2/5 of a second every 300 years! Like all clocks it has to be regulated by the universe itself. The universe with its billions of moving parts is so accurate that all time on earth is measured by it. Surely such a precise universe is the result of intelligent design and not haphazard chance.

Now let us take the most powerful microscopes and look into the microworld which is invisible to the human eye. Take a thin slice of wood and put it under a powerful microscope. We find that its structure is regular and orderly. Look at a leaf, a blade of grass, or a tiny flower. Each is flawless and finely fashioned.

Put a snowflake under a powerful microscope and it glistens like beautiful jewelry. Even more wonderful, no two snowflakes are exactly alike; each is different, yet all follow the same general pattern. Surely this indicates design and not random chance.

Suppose someone told you that a giant airliner, with its hundreds of thousands of parts, came into being accidentally. They explained that there was a tremendous explosion in a huge junkyard, and when all the dust settled, there stood a Boeing 747 jet airliner, ready to take off. Would you believe this? No, you would not!

A modern fairy tale...

Amazingly, scientists who do not want to believe God's Word, teach the "Big Bang" theory. According to this theory, the universe, with its almost infinite complexity, came into being as a result of a gigantic explosion of "cosmic material" in space. This theory leaves two huge unanswered questions: Where did the "cosmic material" come from? What caused the "explosion"?

How did the universe come into being?
God created it! The very first sentence in the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). No one knows when God created the heavens and the earth.

God has not told us when He created the universe, but He has told us how He created it. He spoke it into being.

God said, "Let there be…" and instantly, it came into being. The Bible says,

"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth… For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6,9).

The word "create" means to make something out of nothing. There was no "cosmic material" in space before God spoke. The Bible says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3).

God created all things.

The universe did not come into being by itself, and neither did the earth. God said, "I have made the earth and created man upon it…" (Isaiah 45:12).

The living creatures on the earth did not evolve from some miraculous, single cell of life over a period of billions of years. God created them!

God created many different kinds of birds, fish, and animals. God told all the living creatures to "be fruitful and multiply after their kind." This is God's law of reproduction. Every living creature produces offspring or babies like itself.

Where did we come from?
We came from God. The universe is not an "accident," and neither are we. God created the universe, and He created the first man. The Bible says, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [a living person]" (Genesis 2:7).

God's most wonderful creation is man. Man did not come up from lower forms of life. Man was created as a "living person." Man is not God, nor a part of God, but he is the highest of all God's creatures because he was created "in the image of God." The Bible says, "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them" (Genesis 1:27).

God is a trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man is a trinity also—body, soul, and spirit. What is the soul? The soul is myself! My body is just the "house" in which I live. Some day, my body will die, but my soul will live forever.

Because we were created "in the image of God," we have something that no animal has. We have a spirit! The spirit is that part of us which can know God and receive His life.

The most wonderful thing about us is this: God can live in us! God is a Spirit, and because we have a spirit, God can live in our spirit. There is nothing more wonderful than knowing God and having Him live in us.

Adam is called God's "first man" because he was the first man—the head of the human family. God did not create millions of people to fill the earth. He created only one man, Adam, and one woman, Eve. From Adam and Eve came the whole human race.

God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden. We have never seen a garden as beautiful as this garden because it was planted by God Himself. This garden was not only beautiful, but it was filled with all the good things that Adam and Eve needed for food.

God told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of every tree in the garden except one—"the tree of knowledge of good and evil." God commanded them not to eat the fruit of this tree. God said that, if they disobeyed Him and ate the fruit of this tree, they would surely die.

Adam and Eve were very happy in the beautiful garden which God had planted for them. In the cool of the evening, God came to walk and talk with them. This was the best thing of all. God was pleased with all that He had created. The Bible says, "God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was Very Good" (Genesis 1:31).

Why did God create man? God created man to love Him and to be loved by Him. Of all that God created, we human beings are the most important to God because we can know Him, we can love Him, and we can bring joy to His heart. God said, "…My delights were with the sons of men" (Proverbs 8:31).

Because God created us, we belong to Him. The Bible says, "Know that the Lord He is God: it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture" (Psalm 100:3).

Why did God create all things?
The Bible tells us why God created all things. He created them for His glory and for His pleasure. Because He is the Creator of all things, God alone is worthy of all worship. The Bible says, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

1. The universe did not come into being by accident or by some giant explosion in space. God created it! The Bible says, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth" (Psalm 33:6).
2. God's most wonderful creation is man. We were created "in the image of God."
3. Because He is the Creator of all things, God alone is worthy of all our love, praise, and worship.

Memory Verse
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1
My Prayer
“Lord, You have created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them. You created me to love You and be loved by You. May I always worship and adore You. In Jesus' name I pray.”

Abraham believed God
"…Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Romans 4:3

God had promised Abram (whose name God later changed to Abraham) that He would make of him a great nation. Abram had become wealthy, but he and Sarah had no children. Sarah was barren. She could not bear children.

Since Abram and Sarah had no son, Abram asked God if his servant, Eliezer, was to be his heir. The Lord said to him, "This shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels [body] shall be your heir."

The Lord brought Abram out of his tent and said, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them." Then God said, "So shall your seed [offspring] be" (Genesis 15:5).

Abram's situation looked impossible! He was 85 years old at this time and his wife could not have children. What was Abram going to do? Would he believe in his circumstances or would he believe God?

Abram chose to believe God. The Bible says, "He believed in the Lord; and He [God] counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

Here we see the great principle on which we can be perfectly righteous before God—the principle of faith. When we believe God, He counts to us a perfect righteousness.

Abram simply believed the faithful God who cannot lie, and God counted it to him for righteousness. Being declared righteous by God on the principle of faith may seem like a foolish principle to men, but it is God's principle. We are saved by grace through faith and faith alone.

After a time, when Sarah had not conceived, she thought it would be good if she gave her maid, Hagar, to Abram, that he might have a son by her. Unfortunately, Abram went along with Sarah's idea. Hagar bore a son by Abram, and he was named Ishmael. But Ishmael was not the son which God had promised Abram.

When Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him and said, "I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be perfect." God made a covenant with Abram, renewing His promises to him.

At that time, God changed Abram's name to Abraham which means "father of a multitude." God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son one year from that time.

Sarah had not only been barren, but she was now long past the age of childbearing. She laughed at the thought of having a child. Abraham himself wondered how this could ever happen. But he believed God.

Abraham is forever known as the man who believed God. The Bible says, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God" (Romans 4:20).

 

[RiverOL]

What Happened?
Dear Friend,

When God created the world, He made everything beautiful and good. But now many things are not beautiful or good. There is pain, sorrow, selfishness, pride, hatred, fighting, sickness, disease and death. To find out what happened, let us answer these important questions:

• What is the most terrible thing in the universe?
• What are the two rebellions against God?
• How does Satan deceive people?

What is the most terrible thing in the universe?
The most terrible thing in the universe is SIN! Sin ruined God's beautiful creation. Sin is rebellion against God, followed by disobedience. The Bible tells us about two rebellions in God's universe.

The first rebellion was in Heaven.

The first rebellion began in Heaven, in the heart of an angel named Lucifer. When he was created, Lucifer was the wisest, most beautiful, most powerful angel ever created by God. His name means "Light-bearer." Apparently, Lucifer was over all the other angels.

For a time Lucifer loved God and obeyed Him, but pride entered his heart. The Bible says, "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity [sin] was found in you" (Ezekiel 28:15).

Pride in Lucifer's heart was the beginning of sin in the universe. The Bible says,

"For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… I will be like the most High [God]" (Isaiah 14:13-14).

God saw what was in Lucifer's heart. He changed Lucifer's name to "Satan," which means "enemy." Satan is God's enemy and he is our enemy also.

Satan was the first angel to rebel against God. One-third of the angels in Heaven followed Satan in his rebellion. These angels are called "fallen angels," while those who remained true to God are called "holy angels." Satan and his fallen angels were cast out of Heaven.

Satan and his fallen angels set up a kingdom opposed to God. Since that time, there has been continual warfare between Satan and his kingdom of darkness, and God and His kingdom of light. Some day Satan and his fallen angels and all people who follow him will be forever separated from God in the lake of fire. But for now Satan and his followers are doing all they can to oppose God and His people.

The second rebellion was on the earth.
Because Satan hates God, he wanted to get Adam and Eve to rebel against God just as he had done. But how could Satan get Adam and Eve to disobey their loving Creator? He would do it by deceiving Eve.

Satan is the great deceiver! He deceives people by his lies; he gets people to believe what is not true. He tricks people into disobeying God. This is what he did in the Garden of Eden.

Satan came to Eve in the form of a serpent. He said, "Did God say that you could eat of every tree in the Garden?"

Eve knew that God had told them not to eat of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil." God said, "…for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17b). Eve told Satan this, but she changed God's words slightly. She quoted God as saying, "You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die."

Satan then deceived Eve by telling her a lie. He said, "You shall not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5).

Satan deceived Eve into thinking that she and her husband would be "as gods" if they ate of the forbidden tree. Eve took the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some of the fruit to Adam and he ate it. Adam was not deceived. He chose to disobey God.

Adam and Eve were now sinners. Instead of having God in their hearts, they now had sin in their hearts. When God came down in the evening to walk and talk with Adam and Eve, they hid from Him. They were afraid of God. They knew that they had disobeyed Him.

Satan was pleased that the first man and woman had rebelled against God. But it was a sad day for God. And it was a sad day for Adam and Eve. They could no longer live with God. Because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve had to leave the beautiful Garden of Eden.

How did sin come into the world? It came in by the disobedience of the first man, Adam. Adam's disobedience brought sin and death into the world and into the whole human race. The Bible says, "For as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12)

Adam produced a family of sinners.
Adam was now a sinner. He now had a sinful nature. Because Adam was the head of the whole human race, he passed his sinful nature on to his children and to the whole human family. Adam produced a race of sinners like himself. The Bible says, "For as by one man's [Adam's] disobedience many were made sinners…" (Romans 5:19).

How Satan deceives people.
Satan is the great Deceiver. All lies come from Satan. Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has been deceiving people with his lies. Jesus said of Satan,

"… He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44).

Satan deceives people about the Bible.
Satan hates the Bible because it tells us the truth about God, the truth about sin and Satan, the truth about ourselves, and the truth about how we can become children of God.

Satan wants people to think that the Bible is just another book, written by men, and containing many errors.

Satan uses false teachers to spread his lies. God warns us against teachers and preachers who claim to be ministers of Christ, and yet deny the great truths of the Bible. Matthew 7:15 tells us:

"Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves." (NET Bible)

(See also 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.) These false teachers can be religious, attractive, and eloquent speakers; but the Bible says that they are "ministers of Satan."

One of the lies used by Satan to deceive people is that Jesus Christ was a good man and a great teacher, but He was not the Son of God. If Jesus was not who He said He was, then He was a liar, and not a good man.

Another of Satan's lies is that we are all the children of God, and no one needs to be "born again" into the family of God. The Lord Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God " (John 3:3).

Satan tells us that all religions are good and that there are many ways by which we can go to God. But the Lord Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6).

Satan deceives people about God.
Satan puts wrong ideas about God into the minds of people. Some people have lived very sinful lives. Satan deceives these people into thinking that God hates them and that they can never be saved.

The truth is that God hates sin, but He loves sinners. He loves them so much that He gave His son, the Lord Jesus, to die on the cross for their sins. The Bible says that God "…is not willing that any should perish [be lost forever], but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

No matter what a person has done, he can be saved in a moment by taking Christ as Savior. Jesus said, "… him [anyone] that comes to Me I will in no wise [by no means] cast out" (John 6:37).

Satan deceives people about salvation. Some people are nice moral people who are respected in their communities. Satan deceives these people into thinking that they do not need Jesus as Savior because they are nice enough to go to Heaven as they are. The truth is that we are all sinners, and no one will ever get into Heaven without taking Jesus as their Savior.

Satan deceives many people into thinking that being religious and doing good works will get them into Heaven. But the Bible says, "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

What is Satan's "Big Lie"?

Satan's Big Lie is this: Sin will make you happy, and there are no bad consequences. In the movies and on television, we see beautiful people doing sinful things, but we do not see any bad consequences. This is not reality. This is Satan promoting his Big Lie.

The truth is that sin will not make you happy, and there are always bad consequences that come with disobeying God.

Satan deceives children and teens into rebelling against their parents and teachers. Satan deceives people into using drugs, alcohol and tobacco by making them think that these things will help them make friends and enjoy life.

Satan is a terrible enemy, and he has countless evil spirits serving him. Some people mistakenly believe that all supernatural occurrences come from God. This is not true! Satan and his evil spirits have power to do miraculous things.

How can we keep from being deceived by Satan?
There is only one way we can keep from being deceived by Satan: We must know and obey what God says in the Bible. Jesus said,

"…if you continue in My word [obey My word], then are you My disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32).

If you want to have a happy life, obey the Lord! Jesus said, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them" (John 13:17). When you are in doubt about something, ask yourself, "Would Jesus like to see me do this?" If He would not like to see you do it, don't do it!

Satan's evil spirits are real! Have nothing to do with books, card-trading games, movies, and TV shows about witches, wizards, and spirit-beings. Satan uses these things to bring people into contact with his evil spirits. This has serious consequences. In His Word, God tells us to have nothing to do with "the unfruitful works of darkness."

1. Sin is rebellion against God, followed by disobedience. There have been two rebellions against God—one in Heaven by angels, and one on earth by man.
2. The first man, Adam, rebelled against God and brought sin into the world. Adam passed his sinful nature on to the whole human family.
3. Satan's Big Lie is this: Sin will make you happy, and there are no bad consequences. We can keep from being deceived by knowing and obeying what God says in His Word. Jesus said, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them" (John 13:17).

Memory Verse
Jesus said, "…if you continue in My word, then are you My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31-32
My Prayer
“Father, I thank You for Your Word which tells me the truth about sin and Satan, and the truth about myself. Please keep me from being deceived by Satan and his lies. I want my life to be pleasing to You. In Jesus' name I pray.”

Abraham's Great Test
"By faith Abraham, when he was tried [tested], offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." Hebrews 11:17

God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah. The Bible says, "The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him."

Abraham named his son Isaac, as God had directed him. Isaac was especially loved by his father, but as Isaac grew older, a time came when God tested Abraham's faith. God said to him,

"Take now your son, your only son Isaac [God did not count Ishmael], whom you love, and get into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of" (Genesis 22:2).

This meant that God was telling Abraham to kill his son Isaac and to burn his body as an offering to the Lord. How this must have shocked Abraham! He could not understand why God would tell him to do such a thing. Nevertheless, he rose up early in the morning to obey God.

On the long trip to Mount Moriah, Abraham pondered the matter. God had promised him that his descendants would be as the stars of the skies. Isaac had to live in order for this promise to be fulfilled. Abraham came to the conclusion that, though he killed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead.

When Abraham reached the place that God had appointed, he built an altar, placed wood on it, bound his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar in obedience to God. As he raised his knife to kill Isaac, the Angel of the Lord called out to him and said, "Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do any thing unto him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me" (Genesis 22:12).

When Abraham took Isaac off the altar and held him in his arms, it was like receiving him from the dead. Abraham looked and there was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

God was so pleased with Abraham's devotion and faith that He said, "…because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son: That in blessing, I will bless you…and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed My voice" (Genesis 22:16-18).

 

[RiverOL]

Who is the Promised Savior?
Dear Friend,

The Old Testament tells us how sin and death came into the world through the disobedience of the first man, Adam. It also tells us about a wonderful Savior, whom God promised to send to us.

This promised Savior is called "the Christ," which means "the anointed One"—the One anointed by God to be our Savior. Out of all the people who have ever lived, how can we identify "the Christ," the promised Savior?

From the prophet Isaiah and other prophets we learn that the promised Savior would actually be God coming in human form. Isaiah wrote, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…The mighty God…" (Isaiah 9:6).

If God did indeed become a Man, then it means that in this world, among all the people who have ever lived, there is one person who is not only a man, but God as well.

To identify this Person who is both man and God, there must be some qualifications:

1. His coming into the world must be miraculous.
2. He must claim to be God.
3. He must be sinless.
4. He must be able to do things which only God can do.
5. He must tell us and show us what God is like.

His coming into the world must be miraculous.
The birth of Jesus was foretold over 700 years before He was born. The Bible says,

"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).

The word "Immanuel" means "God with us." This child promised by God would be God coming to live with us. Jesus was indeed a miracle child because He did not have a human father. His mother, Mary, was a virgin, a pure unmarried woman who had never had sexual relations with a man.

God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to explain this to her. Mary asked how this could be, since she was a pure virgin.

The angel said, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that Holy One which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

That Baby born to the virgin Mary was God in a human form. He was not born in a palace, but in a stable. The angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds in a nearby field and said, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David [Bethlehem], a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).

He must claim to be God.
If he is God, he must declare boldly that he is God. As we look back through history, we find that the major religions of the world were all founded by men. Did any of these men claim to be God? No, they did not.

Abraham is the father of the Jewish religion. He was strong in his faith in God, but he never dared to call himself God. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world, but no one in this religion ever claimed to be God.

Confucius is the man who founded the religion that bears his name. He wrote several books but he never claimed to be God. Sakya Muni, the founder of Buddhism, did not believe in the existence of God. Since he did not believe in God, he never claimed to be God.

Mohammed founded a religion which has millions of followers worldwide. Mohammed believed in one God, whom he called "Allah." Mohammed said that he was the prophet of Allah, but he never claimed to be God.

If you go through all of history, you will discover that only one person claimed to be God. That Person is Jesus Christ. When Philip, one of His disciples, asked Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father…," Jesus replied,

"Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father…Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me…" (John 14:9,11).

On another occasion, Jesus said, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). What was the response of the religious teachers to His statements claiming to be God? They took up stones to kill Him. They said, "…you, being a man, make yourself God." Why was Jesus crucified? He was hated and crucified because He claimed to be God.

He must be sinless.
Many people hated Jesus when He was here on earth. The religious leaders hated Him because He claimed to be God. They tried to trip Him up in His words, but Jesus asked them, "Which of you convinces [convicts] Me of sin?" (John 8:46). No one could point to a single sin in his life.

Jesus never had to apologize to anyone because He never wronged anyone. He was sinless. Speaking of His Father, He said, "…I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29). Twice the Father spoke from Heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17; 17:5).

He must be able to do things which only God can do.

On one occasion Jesus was in a small ship with His disciples. Jesus lay down and fell asleep. While he was sleeping a great storm arose, so that the ship was covered with waves. The disciples were filled with fear. They woke Jesus saying, "Lord, save us!"

Jesus spoke to the wind and the sea saying, "Peace be still." Immediately the wind and the sea became calm. The disciples marveled and said, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!" (Matthew 8:27).

Jesus had power over evil spirits. The evil spirits recognized that He was the Son of God, and, when He commanded, they obeyed Him.

Jesus had power to heal all sicknesses and diseases. He caused the lame to walk again. He restored sight to the blind.

Jesus had power over death itself. Because He is God, He had the power to do what no man can do—He raised three people from the dead.

One of these was His friend, Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, who lived in Bethany. One day Jesus received an urgent message from Mary and Martha telling Him that Lazarus was sick.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Mary and Martha were heartbroken. Martha said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

Jesus said, "Your brother shall live again…I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:23,25).

At the tomb, Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" Lazarus came walking out of the tomb in his grave clothes.

He must tell us and show us what God is like.

God wanted us to know the truth about Himself, so He sent His Son into the world that we might know what He is really like. The Bible says, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him [shown us what He is like]" (John 1:18).

Jesus taught us and showed us that God loves sinners. He loves us so much that He does not want to lose us forever. The Bible says that God "is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance [turn to God]" (2 Peter 3:9).

What is God like? He is like Jesus! The Lord Jesus said, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." This is a most wonderful thing. The eternal, invisible God has been here on this earth. There is no need to wonder what God is like, for He has revealed Himself to us in His Son.

The Bible says, "God was manifest in the flesh…" (1 Timothy 3:16).

Jesus was anointed by God as the promised Savior.
Of all the people who have ever lived, one Man was anointed by God as "the Christ"—the promised Savior. That Man is Jesus! The Bible says, "…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38).

When did this anointing take place? It took place when Jesus was baptized. When Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God in the form of a dove came down and lighted upon Him. A voice came from the Father in Heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

Out of the billions of people in all of humanity, you can point to Jesus and say without a doubt, "This is He—the Christ, the One anointed by God. This is the promised Savior! This is the One who is both God and man."

Who is Jesus Christ?
Since Jesus Christ claimed to be God, there are only three possible answers to this question: 1) He is a liar, 2) He is a lunatic, or 3) He is who He said He was—God.

Is Jesus Christ a liar? When you examine the pure, sinless life of this Man, can you say that He is a liar? No, you cannot.

Is Jesus Christ a lunatic? Are His words and teachings the words of a madman? No, they are not. Even His enemies said, "Never man spoke like this man" (John 7:46).

This leaves only one answer: Jesus is who He said He was. He is "the Christ"—the One who is both man and God. Jesus said, "…if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins" (John 8:24).

The most important question that Jesus ever asked His disciples was this: "Whom do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16).

Jesus said to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17).

The Lord Jesus is asking each of us the same question. Right now, Jesus is asking you, "Whom do you say that I am?" What will your answer be? Will you say with the apostle Peter, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!"? The Bible says,

"These are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life [everlasting life] through His Son" (John 20:31).

1. God promised to send a wonderful Savior to us. He is called "the Christ," which means "the anointed One."
2. Of all the people who have ever lived, only one Man was anointed by God as "the Christ." That man is Jesus of Nazareth, anointed by God as the promised Savior.
3. Jesus Christ is absolutely without a rival! There are many religions, but there is only one Person who is both God and man. There is only one Person who died for our sins, and rose again to be our living Savior and Lord. That Person is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Memory Verse
"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." 1 John 5:1a
My Prayer
“Father, with all my heart, I believe that Jesus is the One who is both God and man—the One whom You chose and anointed as 'the Christ.' I am trusting Him as my Savior. I pray that I will always stand up for Jesus, no matter what others may do or say. In His name I pray.”

Isaac—the Miracle Child
God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their old age and would call him Isaac. He would be a miracle child because Abraham was 99 years old at this time and Sarah was 90 years old. Sarah had always been barren and now she was past the age of childbearing.

But God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah. The Bible says, "The Lord visited Sarah as He had said…for Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age…" (Genesis 21:1-2).

Isaac is one of the clearest types or "pictures" of Christ in the Old Testament. Isaac was "a miracle child." Humanly speaking, it was impossible for Sarah to bear a child; yet she bore Isaac, the son which God had promised to them.

When Isaac was old enough to be weaned, his father Abraham made a great feast to honor him. All of Abraham's servants honored Isaac except one person—Ishmael, the son which Abraham had fathered by the slave girl, Hagar. Ishmael was mocking Isaac and making fun of him.

When Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac, she demanded that Abraham send the slave woman and her son away. This was grievous to Abraham because he loved Ishmael. But God said, "…hearken unto her [Sarah's] voice; for in Isaac shall your seed be called" (Genesis 21:12).

Isaac was especially loved by his father, but as Isaac grew older, a time came when God tested Abraham's faith. God told Abraham to go to a certain mountain and offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.

As they walked up the mountain, Isaac said to his father, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

When Abraham came to the place God had told him of, he built an altar, laid wood on it, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar. Isaac knew now that he was to be "the lamb" for the burnt offering, but he did not protest. He was willing to die if that was God's will.

This scene is a picture of what God did for us. Abraham was a type of the Father, who "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all."

Isaac is a type of Christ who was obedient to His Father unto death. The ram which was offered as a sacrifice in Isaac's place is a type of Christ who offered Himself as a burnt offering in our place.

When Abraham took Isaac off the altar and held him in his arms, it was a picture of Christ being raised from the dead.

God spared Abraham's son, but He did not spare His own Son. The Bible says that He "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32).

 

[RiverOL]

Why did Jesus have to Die?
Dear Friend,

Since the day that God created people, God has always loved them and desired to bless them. But our rebellion and sin raised a great barrier between us and God. The Bible says, "Your iniquities [sins] have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you…" (Isaiah 59:2).

It was the Father's will that His Son come into the world to remove this great barrier of sin that stood between Himself and people. Because the penalty for sin is death, this could only be done by Jesus' bearing our sins on the cross and dying for them.

Many people do not understand why Jesus had to die on the cross. They say, "Why couldn't God just forgive us? Why did Jesus have to die?"

The reason why God could not "just forgive us" is that He is absolutely righteous. This means that He always does what is right. God has His way of doing things, and His way is always righteous. The Bible says, "He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination [hateful] to the Lord" (Proverbs 17:15).

Whatever God does, He does in perfect righteousness. Because God is righteous, He must punish those who disobey Him and break His laws. The Bible says, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).

Concerning our salvation, God was seemingly faced with a very difficult problem. God loves us and He wants to save us. But He must save us in a way that satisfies Him and satisfies His righteousness.

There are four factors in this "problem" which God faced:

• We have sinned.
• We, therefore, should be punished.
• God loves us and wants to save us.
• God cannot be unrighteous.

How did God solve this "problem"? He solved it by sending His Son to take our place and die for our sins. Both the Father and the Son agreed with this. Jesus said, "Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life…" (John 10:17). The following story illustrates this:

Suppose that I am the principal of a school, and I make a rule that there is to be no cursing. I write the rule on the chalkboard, and the whole school sees and hears it. I say also that there is to be a punishment if anyone breaks the rule.
In the school there is a boy named Jimmy, whom I love very much, but Jimmy gets into a lot of trouble. I have had to punish him several times. At recess Jimmy curses. Everybody hears him, and I hear him also. Everyone knows that I hear him.
When recess is over, all the children come into the auditorium. All the students are looking at me to see what I will do. I have a son of my own in the room. John is my only son, and I love him dearly. I ask John to step out in the hall with me.
I say, "Son, Jimmy has broken my rule. There must be a punishment. I must keep my word. Jimmy thinks that I hate him because he broke my rule, but you know that I love him. I want to ask you, 'Will you take Jimmy's punishment for him?'"
My son says, "Yes, Father, I will do anything for you that you wish. And I love Jimmy too."

I bring my son before the whole school and I say, "Jimmy has broken my rule against cursing. You know that I said that there is to be a punishment if anyone breaks my rule.
"I must keep my word. But my son John says that he will take Jimmy's punishment. He says that he will do this gladly for me and for Jimmy."
Then I punish my son. I punish him just as if he had broken the rule himself. When the punishment is over, I say, "Jimmy, I want you to know that I love you and I have nothing against you—nothing at all. I want you to come forward now and give me your hand."
Jimmy comes forward in tears. He takes my hand and says, "I did not know that you loved me that much!"
Who put Jesus on the cross?
Christ's death on the cross was a very unusual situation. He was the Christ, the One chosen and anointed by God to be our Savior. He perfectly glorified God.

Yet this Man, who was a delight to God, died a terrible death on a Roman cross, forsaken by His friends, His disciples, and by God Himself. Crucifixion was the most shameful and the most painful death ever devised, and it was reserved for the worst of criminals. Think of God's Son being put to death in such a shameful way!

Who put Jesus on the cross? We might point to Judas, who betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. We might point to those who delivered Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate, and demanded that He be put to death for blasphemy. We might point to Pilate, who knew that Jesus was innocent; yet he lacked the courage to go against the crowd, but gave in to them and sentenced Jesus to be crucified. But none of these put Jesus on the cross.

Who put Jesus on the cross? The surprising answer to this question is this: God put His Son on the cross! It was because of our sins that God put His Son on the cross. God took all of our sins and laid them on His Son.

Jesus Himself chose to go to the cross. Jesus said, "Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down my life… No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…" (John 10:17-18).

Two things caused God to put His Son on the cross: 1) Our sins, and 2) God's love for sinners. Speaking of Christ, the Bible says,

"Surely He has born Our griefs, and carried Our sorrows… He was wounded for Our transgressions, He was bruised for Our iniquities; the chastisement of Our peace was upon Him…." Isaiah 53:4-5

It was because of our sins—my sins and your sins—that God put Jesus on the cross. The Bible says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity [sins] of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).

When our sins were laid on Christ, God's wrath against sin was poured out on Christ. God's wrath was not against Christ personally. He was never more precious to His Father than when He hung on the cross, for He was doing His Father's will.

God's wrath was not against sinners. God loves sinners. That is why He gave His Son to die for them.

What then, was God's wrath against? God's wrath was against SIN! All the punishment that you and I deserved, Christ bore on the cross.

Christ's death reveals the righteousness of God.
In taking our place and paying the full penalty of our sins, Christ glorified God with respect to our sins. God can now righteously forgive the sins of all who believe on His Son.

God does not overlook our sins, or pretend that He does not know about them. He forgives them righteously because He sees the blood of His Son which was shed for them.

For thousands of years, people had brought their lambs and offered them to God as sacrifices for their sins. But these were imperfect sacrifices which could never take away our sins.

God is now saying to us, "I have given My Son as the perfect sacrifice for your sins. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Is God satisfied with the sacrifice which He Himself provided for our sins? Yes, God is perfectly satisfied! The Bible says, "…whoever believes in Him [Jesus] shall receive remission [forgiveness] of sins" (Acts 10:43).

Christ's death reveals the love of God.

God loves sinners! He is "not willing that any should perish." God showed His great love for us by giving His Son to die for our sins. The Bible says, "God shows His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

The death of Christ on the cross is the greatest proof that God loves us. To those who doubt His love, God can point to the cross and say, "I have loved you with an everlasting love. I showed My love for you by giving My only Son to die in your place. When you see Him, suffering and dying on the cross for you, how can you doubt My love?"

We must never forget what it cost God to forgive us. It took nothing less than the death of His Son on the cross for God to forgive us righteously.

But we must make this personal. It is not simply, "We are all sinners," but "I am a sinner." It is not just, "Jesus died for our sins," but "Jesus died for My sins. It was My sins that put Jesus on the cross." We can say with the apostle Paul, "The Son of God loved Me and gave Himself for Me!" (See Galatians 2:20.)

Jesus is our living Savior!
Jesus was crucified about nine o'clock in the morning. He died about three o'clock in the afternoon. From noon until three o'clock, there was darkness over the face of the earth. Jesus cried out, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit." The God-man had died.

Jesus died on the cross, but He did not stay dead. He rose from the grave on the third day. He is our living Savior! God has promised eternal life to all who take Him as their Savior.

Can God really make His children alive again after death? Yes, He can! We know He can because He raised His Son from the dead. Jesus said, "Because I live, you shall live also" (John 14:19).

What happens when a Christian dies?
He goes to be with Jesus in Heaven! The body is laid in the grave, but the person—soul and spirit—goes immediately to be with Jesus.

If you have taken Christ as your Savior, you do not have to fear death. For the child of God, death is like walking from one place into another. We go from this life with all its sorrow and suffering into Heaven, to be forever with Jesus and with our loved ones who trusted Jesus as their Savior.

When Jesus comes again, He will give us wonderful, new, resurrection bodies like His glorious resurrection body. What will we be like then? We will be like Jesus!

1. The Son of God died a terrible, lonely death on the cross, forsaken by His friends, His disciples, and by God Himself.
2. God put His Son on the cross, because there was no other way we could be saved. Men could never have crucified God's Son had it not been His will.
3. It was our sins that made Christ's death necessary. God is perfectly satisfied with the sacrifice which He Himself provided. He forgives the sins of every person who takes Jesus as his Savior.

Memory Verse
"God shows His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
My Prayer
“Father, thank You for Your great love in giving Your Son to die on the cross for my sins. You are perfectly satisfied with the sacrifice which You Yourself provided, and I am perfectly satisfied with Jesus too. In His name I pray.”

Jacob—Prince with God
"By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshiped…." Hebrews 11:21

Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah. Isaac married Rebekah and they had twin sons—Esau and Jacob. Esau was born first and was entitled to the birthright—the special, spiritual blessing that was the right of the firstborn son. The birthright included the great privilege of being one of the ancestors of Christ.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a hunter and a farmer. But Jacob was a man who stayed at home. One day Jacob had prepared a delicious meal of lentil stew for himself. When Esau came in from hunting, he was very hungry, and begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. Jacob offered to trade Esau some of his stew for his birthright. Esau readily agreed to this. He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew! This really grieved God.

Later, Jacob tricked his father into giving him the birthright blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau, the older son. This made Esau furious and he determined in his heart to kill Jacob some day. To escape the anger of his brother, Jacob had to leave home. He went to the land of Haran, where he worked for his uncle Laban.

In time Jacob became very wealthy. He had four wives—Leah, Rachel, and their two servants, Bilhah and Zilpah. From his wives Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter. The twelve sons became the heads of the twelve tribes which later became the nation of Israel.

As he was returning to the land of Canaan with his wives, his children, and all his possessions, Jacob received word that his brother, Esau, was coming to meet him. Esau had 400 men with him.

Jacob's heart was filled with fear at the thought of what his brother might do. He immediately began planning and scheming to appease his brother. That night, in his desperation, he went out alone to pray. God, in the form of a man, met Jacob, wrestled with him, and made him lame. Though he was now crippled, Jacob held on to God, saying, "I will not let You go, unless You bless me."

God did bless Jacob. He changed his name from Jacob, which means "deceiver," to Israel, which means "prince with God." God also changed Esau's heart so that he was no longer angry with Jacob.

Jacob was a schemer, but he loved the things of God. God loves a person who loves Him and loves His things. But God had to discipline Jacob all his life.

Jacob's last days were his best days. He had learned to trust God to work things out instead of trusting in himself and his schemes. He had become a real "prince with God" and a true worshipper of the living God.

 

[RiverOL]

Jesus Christ is “Lord of All”
Dear Friend,

When Jesus died and was buried, Satan and his fallen angels thought that they had won a great victory. But they were never more mistaken! Jesus rose from the grave on the third day with a glorious, new, resurrection body.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that He is who He said He was, and that everything He said is true. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is "declared to be the Son of God with power…by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4).

Forty days with the risen Christ.

Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene. He told Mary to tell the disciples that He was risen. When the disciples received this news, ten of them met together in an upper room. Thomas was not with them. The doors were shut for fear of the Jews.

Suddenly Jesus appeared and said, "Peace be unto you." In His resurrection body, He had come through the closed door. Jesus showed them His hands and His side to prove to them that He was not a spirit, but that He had a real body.

When the disciples told Thomas that they had seen the risen Christ, Thomas did not believe them. Thomas said, "I will not believe until I see the print of the nails in His hands, and put my finger in the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side."

Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered together, but this time Thomas was with them. Jesus again came through the closed door and stood in their midst. He said, "Peace be unto you." Jesus told Thomas to put his finger into the nail wounds in His hands and to put his hand into the spear wound in His side.

Thomas was ashamed for doubting that Christ had risen from the dead. But the Lord is patient and loving with His doubting disciples. Jesus said, "…be not faithless, but believing."

Thomas worshipped Jesus, saying, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).

Over the next forty days, Jesus appeared to His disciples many times. Jesus was not continuously visible to His disciples during this time. He would appear suddenly, talk with them, and then disappear.

What was the Lord's purpose in this? His purpose was to teach the disciples that He had risen in a new, spiritual body. He was in a new condition, in His resurrection body. He could go through closed doors. Whether visible or invisible, He was with them at all times. He heard all of their conversations.

Jesus told the disciples that they were to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. Jesus said, "You shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you…" (Acts 1:8). When Jesus had spoken these things, He was taken up from them and a cloud took Him out of their sight.

Christ returned to Heaven in triumph.

When Christ went back to Heaven, He returned to Heaven as the mighty Victor over sin, death, Satan, and all the powers of darkness. He made a display of His defeated enemies in the spiritual realm. The Bible says, "Having spoiled [disarmed] principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly [in the spiritual realm], triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15).

The Father welcomed His Son home and exalted Him to the highest place in Heaven. The Bible says, "…He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places…and has put all things under His feet…" (Ephesians 1:20,22).

God wants us to see the greatness of His Son. The Man Jesus Christ is now on the throne of Heaven. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is now "Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). This means that Jesus Christ is in charge of everything in God's universe.

Dear friends, study this picture carefully. It tells the wonderful story of how God's Son left His home in Heaven and came down to this world to be born as a tiny baby.

When Jesus grew up, He humbled Himself to serve people. He said, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister [serve], and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

Jesus humbled Himself to do a slave's job—He washed the feet of His disciples. Finally, He "humbled Himself, and became obedient [to His Father's will] unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).

Why did He do it? He did it because it was His Father's will. He said, "…not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).

Jesus went down, down, down from Heaven to die on the cross for us. He was buried, but God raised Him up from the dead. Up, up, up Jesus went, back into Heaven itself. There God gave Him the place of highest honor in Heaven. The Bible says,

"Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:9-11

Jesus Christ is now "Lord of all." He is over everything in God's universe.

The coming of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told His disciples that, when He was glorified and exalted in Heaven, the Holy Spirit would be given to them. Jesus said, "At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

Fifty days after Christ rose from the grave, on the feast day of Pentecost, 120 of Jesus' disciples were in an upper room in Jerusalem. Suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, like a mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

The Bible says, "There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…" (Acts 2:3-4).

The Holy Spirit had come! What did this prove to the disciples? It proved to them that the Man Jesus Christ was now on the throne of Heaven. He is "Lord of all"!

The disciples were transformed.
On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were transformed. They became bold and fearless. Peter, who had denied the Lord three times, stood up in front of the very ones who crucified the Lord Jesus and said,

"This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses…Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:32,36).

What changed the disciples from weak, fearful, cowardly men to strong, fearless, bold witnesses for Christ?

• They knew that Christ was alive. They had seen the risen Christ, touched Him, talked with Him, ate with Him. He was the same Jesus whom they knew and loved, but now He had a glorious, new, resurrection body.
• They knew that Christ was on the throne of Heaven. The One they knew and loved was now "Lord of all," with all power in Heaven and in the earth. He was in complete control. They did not need to fear anyone.
• They knew that Jesus was with them at all times, no matter where they went. They had learned the lesson that He was always with them, whether visible or invisible.
• They knew that they belonged to Jesus, and that one day He would take them to be with Him forever. Jesus said, "…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself…" (John 14:2-3).

What does it mean to me that Jesus is now "Lord of all"?
As a believer in Jesus Christ, what does this mean to me? It means four things:

I have a Savior in Heaven.
A young man was very anxious about his salvation. He said to the Christian lady who was helping him, "I will pray to Jesus on the cross."

The lady said, "But He is not there now."

When the young man realized that Jesus was now "Lord of all" in Heaven, it made a great change in his life. When we realize this, it will make a great change in our lives too.

Jesus Christ is now "Lord of all."
Christians are in on a great secret that the world knows nothing about. What is it? It is this: Jesus Christ is rejected in this world, but He has been exalted to the highest place in Heaven. He is "Lord of all."

Jesus Christ is with me always.
Jesus said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, and teach all nations…and, lo, I am with you always…" (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Bible says that we are to be content with what we have in this life. We have Jesus, and He has said, "…I will never leave you, nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

Jesus loves me and He is for me.
Jesus Christ loves His believers! He will always love us. Even when we fail the Lord, He still loves us. If Jesus is your Savior, you can say, "I have a Savior in Heaven, and He loves me with all His heart, no matter how many times I may fail Him."

Jesus Christ is for His believers! He is in Heaven at this very moment, seated at the right hand of God, and He is for us—His believers!

1. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that He is who He said He was and all that He said is true.
2. A mighty change has taken place! The lowly, meek Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God, with all power in Heaven and in the earth. The Bible says, "…but now we see not yet all things put under Him. But [by faith] we see Jesus…crowned with glory and honor…" (Hebrews 2:8-9).
3. Jesus Christ is "Lord of all," and He is with His believers at all times and in all places. He loves His believers and is for us.

Memory Verse
"Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:9-11
My Prayer
“Father, it is so wonderful to know that You have exalted Your Son Jesus to the highest place in the universe. I am glad that He is my Lord!”

Joseph—a Type of Christ
"By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning His bones." Hebrews 11:22

Jacob had twelve sons. Joseph was his eleventh son, born to Jacob in his old age. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children. This caused the older brothers to hate Joseph.

Once, when the older brothers were far away tending sheep, Jacob sent Joseph to see how they were. When the brothers saw Joseph coming, they conspired to kill him. One brother, Judah, did not want Joseph to be killed. He persuaded the others to sell him as a slave to a caravan of traders going to Egypt. The brothers told their father that wild beasts had killed Joseph.

Through no fault of his own, Joseph ended up as a slave in the house of Potiphar, a wealthy Egyptian man. But God was with Joseph.

Potiphar's wife was a wicked woman who tried to seduce Joseph. When he fled from her presence, she was furious. She lied to her husband and told him that Joseph had tried to force her to have sex with him. Although Joseph was innocent, he was sent to prison and put in chains. But God was with him.

Sometime later, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had a dream that troubled him. His wise men could not tell him the meaning of the dream. The chief butler told Pharaoh that Joseph could interpret his dream. Pharaoh immediately called for Joseph.

God revealed the meaning of Pharaoh's dream to Joseph. Joseph told Pharaoh that there would be seven years when the harvest of grain would be plentiful. Then there would be seven years of famine when they would have no crops.

Joseph suggested to Pharaoh that he seek and find a wise man to put over the land of Egypt, to store the excess grain during the years of plenty, so that they would have food during the seven years of famine. Pharaoh chose Joseph to be that man. Joseph was made the ruler of all Egypt under Pharaoh.

Joseph freely forgave his brothers. He sent royal wagons to bring his father, Jacob, and all his household to Egypt. There they were royally cared for by Joseph.

Joseph is a beautiful type of Christ. Joseph was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, but exalted in the far country. All of his family came into blessing because of him.

Christ is our "Joseph." Christ, too, was hated by His brethren, the Jews, and rejected in this world. But He has been exalted to the right hand of God in Heaven. One day, He will come to take us to be with Him forever. We will come into eternal blessings because of Him.

 

[RiverOL]

God's New Family
Dear Friend,

Have you ever heard that, if you want to go to Heaven, you must be "born again"? This is true. The Lord Jesus Himself said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God " (John 3:3).

• What does it mean to be "born again"?
• Why must we be born again?
• How can we be born again?
God's FIRST MAN was Adam.
To understand what the Lord Jesus meant and why we must be born again, we must know about two special men in the Bible. These two men are Adam and Christ. Adam is called God's "first man," and the Lord Jesus is called God's "second Man."

Adam is called the "first man" because he was the first man. God did not create millions of people to populate the earth. He created only one man and one woman. From that man, Adam, and his wife came the whole human family.

Adam was a special creation of God. The Bible says, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [person]" (Genesis 2:7).

Man is the highest of all created beings because he was created "in the image of God." This is not said of any other creature. The Bible says, "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them" (Genesis 1:27).

Did Adam obey God and glorify Him? No, he did not. Adam chose to rebel against God and disobey Him. When Adam sinned, he died spiritually. He was cut off from the life of God. Adam was now a sinner. He had a sinful heart.

Adam's children had sinful hearts, just like Adam. Likewise, Adam's grandchildren were born with sin in their hearts. Adam passed his sinful nature on to the whole human family. Adam produced a race of sinners, just like himself! The Bible says, "For as by one man's disobedience [Adam's disobedience] many were made sinners…" (Romans 5:19).

God had wanted a race of people who would glorify Him and bring pleasure to His heart. But God's first man, Adam, produced a race of sinners. Could a race of sinners glorify God and bring pleasure to His heart? No, it could not.

One of the wonderful things about God is that He likes to make things new. When sin ruins something that God has made, He does not patch it up. Instead, He makes something entirely new.

God's SECOND MAN is Jesus Christ.
What did God do? God gave the human family a "second Man." Who is God's "second Man"? He is God's Son—the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "The first man [Adam] was of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47).

Jesus Christ is "the Lord from Heaven." The Bible says, "…the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world" (1 John 4:14).

God now had a Man on earth in whom He found His perfect pleasure and delight. Everything Jesus said and did was pleasing to His Father. Jesus said, "He that sent Me is with Me…for I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).

At the end of His life, Jesus prayed to His Father, "I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work which You gave Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me with Your own self with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:4-5).

The Father answered that prayer. When Jesus returned to Heaven, God the Father gave Him the highest place in Heaven. He is "Lord of all"!

The Lord Jesus is the Head of God's new family.
Sin ruined Adam's family, but God's purpose had not changed. God says, "I will have a new family of people like My Son. They will love Me, obey Me, and bring pleasure to My heart. My Son will be the Head of My new family, called 'the children of God.'"

There are now two families in the world—Adam's sinful family and God's new family. Each family has a "head." Adam is the head of his family, and Christ is the Head of God's new family.

All of us, when we were born, were born into Adam's sinful family. Every person in Adam's family is separated from God and lost. (See Romans 3:10-20.) To become a child of God, we must get out of Adam's sinful family and into God's new family. The Bible calls this being "born again."

You must be "born again"!
What does it mean to be "born again"? It means to be "born from above"—to be "born of God." It is an entirely new beginning. We get out of Adam's sinful family. We are "born again" spiritually. We begin a new life in God's new family.

No matter who you are, if you want to get into God's new family, you must be born again. Jesus said, "Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again" (John 3:7).

How are we "born again"?
We are born again into God's new family by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving Him as our Savior. The Bible says, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons [children] of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).

The moment I received the Lord Jesus as my Savior, I was "born again" into God's new family. The Bible says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [children] of God…" (1 John 3:1).

Five wonderful things.
Many wonderful things happened the moment I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. These wonderful things are true of every person who is born again.

God forgave me of all my sins.
The very moment I took the Lord Jesus as my Savior, God forgave me of all my sins. God forgave me because Christ died for my sins. The Bible says, "To Him [the Lord Jesus] give all the prophets witness, that through His name whoever believes in Him shall receive remission [forgiveness] of sins" (Acts 10:43).

"Remission of sins" means that God forgives us of all our sins—past, present, and future. God is saying, "My Son died for all of your sins—past, present, and future. I do not hold a single thing against you."

Some may wonder how God could forgive us of sins in the future. When Christ died on the cross for our sins, He died for all of our sins. How many of our sins were in the future when Christ died? All of them were in the future then.

I am a child of God.
All who put their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God are the children of God.

The Bible says, "For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26).

Christ came to live in me.
A Christian is one in whom Christ lives. The moment I was saved, the Lord Jesus came to live in my heart. Christ lives in me by His Spirit. The apostle Paul said, "Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20a).

The Holy Spirit came to live in me.
When I took Jesus as my Savior, the Holy Spirit came to live in me. He is called "the Spirit of Christ" because He is the same Spirit who lives in Christ. The Bible says, "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts…" (Galatians 4:6).

God sends the Holy Spirit to live in me that I might know how God feels toward me. The Holy Spirit impresses on me the wonderful fact that God loves me with all His heart. The Holy Spirit pours the love of God into my heart. (See Romans 5:5.) Through the Holy Spirit, God is saying to me, "I love you! I love you! I love you!"

I have everlasting life.
The moment I took the Lord Jesus as my Savior, God gave me everlasting life. The Lord Jesus belongs to me, and I belong to Him forever. God wants me to know this. The Bible says, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life…" (1 John 5:13).

God wants me to grow!

When a baby is born, he needs food so he can grow. The same is true in the Christian life. When we are born into God's family, we need "spiritual food" so that we can grow.

What is our spiritual food? Our Spiritual food is the Word of God. The Bible says, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).

One of the great secrets of victory in the Christian life is having a daily "Quiet Time." This is time spent alone with the Lord in the study of His Word and in prayer to Him.

To establish a Quiet Time, find a place where you can be alone with the Lord. Decide on the best time to meet with the Lord. For most people, the best time is the first thing in the morning.

Begin your Quiet Time with a short prayer to the Lord. Ask Him to give you a love for Him and for His Word. Ask Him to speak to your heart through His Word.

Use a Bible that has good print and is easy to read. Have a plan for reading. Read the Gospel of John first. After you have finished this gospel, begin the Gospel of Matthew and read right through the New Testament.

As you read the Bible, watch for a verse or verses that seem to speak to your heart. After reading and listening for God to speak to your heart, take time to pray.

Thank God for saving you. Thank Him for what He has done for you. Do you want to ask for something? Tell God the desires of your heart. He answers our prayers according to His own perfect will.

1. God's first man, Adam, disobeyed God and brought sin and death into the world. Adam produced a race of sinners.
2. God gave the human race a second Man—the Lord Jesus Himself. He perfectly glorified God. When Christ rose from the dead, God made Him the Head of His new family—the children of God.
3. We are born again into God's new family by believing on the Lord Jesus and receiving Him as our Savior.

Memory Verse
"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [children] of God..." 1 John 3:1
My Prayer
“Father, it is so wonderful to be able to call you my Father, and to know that I am in Your new family. I pray that my love for You, for Your Son, and for Your people will grow and grow. In Jesus' name I pray.”

Moses—drawn out of water
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment." Hebrews 11:23

While Joseph was living, Jacob's descendants, the children of Israel, were treated well. But after Joseph died, there arose a new king in Egypt who had not known Joseph. He dealt harshly with the children of Israel and made slaves of them.

At this time Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth, and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was the most powerful ruler in the world. In spite of their affliction, the children of Israel were multiplying, so Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all the newborn sons of the Hebrew women. But the midwives feared God and would not kill the male babies.

One godly mother, Jochebed, hid her newborn son for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she made a little waterproof basket for him and put it in the bushes in the river where Pharaoh's daughter came daily to bathe.

The mother put her little daughter, Miriam, nearby to watch and see what happened.

When Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe, she discovered the little basket. When she opened it, the baby cried. This touched her heart, and she had compassion on him. She said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." Just then, Miriam, the baby's sister, came up and asked, "Shall I go and call to you a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the baby for you?"

Pharaoh's daughter agreed, so Miriam went home and brought back her mother. Pharaoh's daughter said, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages."

God's ways are so wonderful! He had not only spared this baby boy's life, but He had sent him back to his mother. Jochebed was now being paid by Pharaoh's daughter to nurse and raise her own son. Jochebed used this time to teach her son about the true and living God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The child grew and, in time, his mother brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her adopted son. Because she had drawn him out of the water, she called his name Moses, which means "to draw out of water."

Moses was raised in Pharaoh's palace as a prince. He was being trained to become a ruler of Egypt. The Bible says, "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds" (Acts 7:22).

But God was preparing Moses for a greater work. He was to be the deliverer of God's people, the Israelites.

 

[RiverOL]

I am “in Christ”
Dear Friend,

We all like to be loved and accepted by other people. But there is something more important than this. What is it? It is being loved and accepted by God!

• How does God see every person?
• What did God do to make me perfectly accepted by Him?
• What does God want every Christian to know?
How does God see every person?
God sees every person as being "in Adam"—in Adam's sinful family, or "in Christ"—in Christ's family.

God could not accept me when I was in Adam's family. But God loved me and He did something wonderful for me when I took Christ as my Savior. He made a way for me to be perfectly accepted by Him at all times.

How did God make me acceptable?

The moment I received Christ as my Savior, God put me in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? It means that I have a new "position" in God's sight.

My "position" is the way God sees me. Before I was saved, God saw me as being in Adam. But now God sees me in Christ. The Bible says, "But of Him [God] are you in Christ Jesus…" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

How did I get into Christ?
God put me there! I could never do this myself, but God did it for me. By His mighty power God took me out of Adam's sinful family and put me into Christ's family. He put me in Christ.

The most precious phrase in the whole Bible is the little phrase "in Christ." Over and over again, the Bible speaks of those who have trusted Christ as their Savior as being in Christ or in Him. God wants His believers to know that they are in Christ!

What does it mean to be in Christ?
To be in Christ means to share in all that Christ did and all that He is today. To be in Christ means that I have a new "position" before God. I am loved and accepted perfectly by God because I am in Christ.

The moment I took Christ as my Savior, God put me in Christ. I am no longer in Adam; I am in Christ. I will always be in Christ. That is the way God will always see me—in Christ. How wonderful!

God wants every Christian to know that he is in Christ. As you read the New Testament, watch for the words, "In Christ," or "In Him." You will discover that they are used many times. In fact, they are used over 130 times in the New Testament. God wants me to know that I am in Christ!

We have already seen how God likes to make things new. God not only put me in Christ, but He made me a new person in Christ. The Bible says,

"Therefore if any man [anyone] is in Christ, he is a new creation [a new person]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Here are some verses that tell of my new position in Christ:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Ephesians 1:3
"…we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 5:20
"In Whom [in Christ] we have redemption through His blood…." Ephesians 1:7
"To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved [in Christ]." Ephesians 1:6
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…." Ephesians 2:10
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…." Romans 8:1

I am forgiven.
Because I am in Christ, God has forgiven me of every sin—past, present and future. The Bible says, "In whom [in Christ] we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:14).

I am made near to God.
As a sinner, I was separated from God and could not come into His presence. But now in Christ Jesus, I can come boldly into God's presence because the blood of His Son Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin. The Bible says, "But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13).

I am redeemed.
To redeem something means to pay a price to get it back. Because of Adam's disobedience, we were "stolen" from God by Satan. But Christ has redeemed us. He has "bought us back." Now we belong to Him, the One who redeemed us. The Bible says, "In whom [in Christ] we have redemption through His blood…" (Ephesians 1:7).

Christ had to pay a great price to redeem us. What was the price He paid for us? The price was His precious blood. He died on the cross to get us back. The Bible says, "…you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ…" (1 Peter 1:18-19).

I am accepted.
We all like to be accepted by our friends and others, but being accepted by God is the most important acceptance of all.

God could not accept me when I was in Adam, in his sinful family. But the moment I received the Lord Jesus as my Savior, I was accepted by God. Why am I accepted by God? Because I am in Christ! The Bible says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved [in Christ]" (Ephesians 1:6).

Christ is "the Beloved," God's dearly loved Son. I am accepted in Christ. What does it mean to be "accepted in Christ"? It means that God loves me and accepts me in the same way that He loves and accepts His own beloved Son. I am "accepted in His beloved Son."

Once there was a beautiful young girl who lived in a far country. Her family was very poor, and she did not have a bright future. One day she decided to leave her home and go to another country to be a servant in the home of a wealthy man.

This man was very rich, and his home seemed like a palace to her. He was good to her, and she worked hard to please him.

This wealthy man had a son whom he loved very much. In time this son fell in love with the beautiful servant girl. She loved him also, and one day he asked her to be his wife.

The father was pleased that his son had found the girl he wanted to marry. One day the son and the servant girl were joined in marriage.

Suddenly everything changed for this young girl. She was no longer a servant, but she was accepted in the family of the wealthy father. Why was she accepted? She was accepted because she had become the wife of the beloved son. She was "accepted in the beloved son."

This is a picture of what God has done for me. I was once in Adam. I had no hope and no future. But one day I took the Lord Jesus as my Savior, and everything changed. I am now accepted perfectly by God.

Why am I accepted by God? I am accepted because now I belong to Christ. I am accepted in Christ. God has made me "accepted in the Beloved."

My "position" in Christ.
The Bible speaks of my "position" in Christ and my "walk" with Christ. I need to know the difference between my position and my walk.

What is my "position" in Christ? My position is the way God sees me. Before I was saved, I was in Adam's sinful family. God saw me as being in Adam. In Adam I was not acceptable to God.

The moment I took Christ as my Savior, God took me out of Adam's sinful family and put me in His new family. I am no longer in Adam; I am now in Christ.

I now have a new position in God's sight. God now sees me in Christ. He loves me and accepts me in the same way that He loves and accepts His own beloved Son.

Can I lose my position in Christ? No, I cannot. My position in Christ depends on who Christ is. Because Christ is perfect, God always sees me as perfect in Christ. When I sin, I lose the joy of fellowship with the Lord, but I never lose my position in Christ.

My "walk" with Christ.

My "walk" with Christ is the way I live, day by day. Because God loves me and accepts me fully and perfectly in Christ, I want to live in a way that honors Him. I represent the Lord Jesus Christ here in the world. Here are some verses that tell me how I should "walk" with Christ:

"That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing…." Colossians 1:10

"For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light." Ephesians 5:8

"See then that you walk circumspectly [carefully], not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

God always accepts me according to my position in Christ, and not according to my walk. This does not mean that I can be careless about my conduct. Sin causes me to lose the joy of my salvation.

When I realize that I have sinned, when should I confess that sin to God? I should confess that sin immediately! If my sin involved another person, I should ask their forgiveness. When I do this, God forgives me and restores my joy.

1. God sees every person as being "in Adam"—in Adam's family,
   or "in Christ"—in Christ's family.
2. When I took Christ as my Savior, God took me out of Adam's sinful family and put me in Christ's family. I am now in Christ.
3. God always accepts me according to my position in Christ, and not according to my conduct. God always sees me in Christ. I am always loved and accepted "in the Beloved"—in Christ.

Memory Verse
"To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved [in Christ]..." Ephesians 1:6
My Prayer
“Father, I thank You and praise You that You love and accept me as You love and accept Your own Son. You always see me in Christ. Please help me to live in a way that pleases You. In Jesus' name I pray.”

Moses—the man who chose God
"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Hebrews 11:24-25

When Moses was 40 years old, he went out to his people, the children of Israel. He saw their hardships. One day he saw an Egyptian slave master beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. Moses killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Moses chose to identify himself with the children of Israel, a race of slaves at that time. The Bible says, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Hebrews 11:24-25).

When the Egyptians discovered what he had done, Moses had to run for his life. He went into the land of Midian and lived there with the priest of Midian. Moses became a shepherd. The priest of Midian gave one of his daughters to Moses to be his wife.

In Egypt the children of Israel were slaves of Pharaoh and idol worshippers. They were bowing down before Egypt's gods. They had hard, merciless taskmasters who beat them daily with whips.

Yet they had their little pleasures. Pharaoh allowed them to have fish, cucumbers, melons, onions and garlic. This helped make them content to remain in Egypt as Pharaoh's slaves.

This is a picture of every unsaved person. He is a slave of Satan in Satan's world system. Yet, Satan allows him to have his little pleasures in the world because they help to keep him content to remain Satan's slave, in Satan's world system.

Because of their great suffering, the children of Israel cried out to God, and God heard their groanings and their cries. God appeared to Moses in the wilderness and said, "I am come down to deliver them."

How did God deliver His people? He gave them a deliverer—Moses. Moses was raised in the royal palace as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was in line to become a ruler of Egypt. He had everything that this world could offer him, but God called him to identify himself with the children of Israel, a slave race.

Moses refused Egypt's greatness, wealth and pleasures, and chose to obey God. Pleasing God and obeying Him was more important to Moses than "enjoying the pleasure of sin for a season." The Bible says, "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him [God] who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).

It pleases God when we, like Moses, refuse the sinful pleasures of this world and choose to serve Him. God has great rewards for us in the next world.

 

[RiverOL]

What 2021 Might Hold [ 1 min read ★ ]

The Lord is my helper; I will not fear—Hebrews 13:6

We have an enemy, brother, and he is a liar. He “fills the world with lies” (John 8:44 MSG). He doesn’t tire of his work . . . and he is clever. He reserves certain lies, holding them, waiting for the right time and for the right men. For he knows that some of his lies are more persuasive at certain times and under specific circumstances. As we stand now, looking out at the expanse of a new year, he knows it’s time to whisper fear into the minds of men. He’s whispering, to those who’ll listen, to be afraid of what trouble might be coming. He’s whispering this lie now because he understands our nature. He knows we like control. He knows we like to know what’s next. He knows it’s difficult to feel “in control” when facing the uncertainty . . . when anything, really, might happen. And so, he knows it’s time to take advantage. We confront a choice, therefore. We can accept his lie, shoulder the fear, shrink back and focus on survival by returning to things that offer us just a little comfort—work, food, alcohol, pornography, distraction, withdrawal. Or, we can reject his lie, spurn his fearmongering, hold tight to the promises of God, and move forward—trusting that no trouble will surpass God’s ability to protect us and care for us. “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?’” (Romans 8:15-17 MSG)

Okay, so what do we do? It’s important to, every so often, declare what you believe and with whom you stand. It’s important to declare these things before God and before your enemy. Pray a prayer of declaration right now, brother. Consider this prayer the foundation for your new year.

 

[RiverOL]

God's Greatest Gift
Dear Friend,

Being a child of God is the most wonderful thing in all the world, but the Christian life is not easy. My Heavenly Father knows this, and He has a wonderful answer for my needs.

• What is God's greatest gift to me?
• What is the secret of victory in the Christian life?
God has done many, many wonderful things for me. He forgave me of all my sins. He took me out of Adam's sinful family and put me in Christ's family. He has made me His child. He loves me and accepts me as He loves and accepts His own Son, the Lord Jesus. As wonderful as these things are, they are not God's greatest gift to us.

What is God's greatest gift?

God's greatest gift to us is Christ! God's priceless gift to every person is His Son. The Bible says, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). God gave Jesus to us to be our Savior. On our part, we must receive Him as our own Savior.

How did I become a Christian? I became a Christian by receiving Jesus into my heart. When Jesus "knocked" at the door of my heart, I invited Him into my heart. What did He do? He came in just as He said He would.

I was born into God's family by receiving the Lord Jesus as my Savior. That is the only way that anyone can become a child of God. The Bible says, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons [children] of God…" (John 1:12).

What is a Christian?
A Christian is a person in whom Christ lives. The apostle Paul said, "Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Every Christian can say this. The Bible says, "Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you…" (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Jesus Christ Himself is in Heaven today, seated at the right hand of the Father, but He lives in me by His Spirit. The Bible says, "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts…" (Galatians 4:6).

Christ lives in me!

Instead of giving me a lot of things, God gives me Christ to live in me. The apostle Paul said, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

• Christ is God.
The wonderful Person who now lives in me is God the Son. He said, "I and My Father are one," and "…He that has seen Me has seen the Father…" (John 10:30; 14:9). God has given me the greatest gift He could ever give me: He has given me His Son!

• Christ is "Lord of all."
We need to see the greatness of God's Son. God has exalted His Son to the highest place in the universe. The Bible says, "He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). The Father has put all things into the hands of His Son. The Bible says, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand" (John 3:35).

• Christ knows me.
Because He is God, Christ knows everything about me. He knows how many hairs I have on my head. He has them all numbered! He said, "…the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30). He even knows my thoughts!

• Christ loves me.
Nobody ever loved me like Jesus Christ! He loved me so much that He gave His life for me. Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends" (John 15:13). Christ loves me just the way I am, but He loves me too much to leave me the way I am. By His Spirit, Christ is living in me, and day-by-day, He is changing me, making me more like Himself.

• Christ is always for me.
This means that He always wants what is best for me. No matter where I go or what I do, Christ is for me. He is always for me. He is God, and if God is for me, it does not matter who is against me. The Bible says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

• Christ never changes.
One wonderful thing about Christ is that He is always the same. In the past I have had friends, but somehow they changed, and now we are no longer friends. But Christ never changes! The Bible says, "Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

What is the secret of victory in the Christian life?
The secret of victory in the Christian life is turning things over to Christ and depending on Him.

The apostle Paul tells us about a time in his life when he was utterly defeated. Then Paul discovered the secret of the Christian life. He began depending on Christ who lived in Him. When he turned things over to Christ, he lived in victory. He said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

God wants other people, especially those I live with, to see Christ in me. But how do I deal with others when they irritate me? I can try to always be kind and loving, but I have tried this many times and failed.

I have a choice. I can try to do everything myself or I can turn things over to Christ. I can say, "Lord, You know the problem I have getting along with others. I am tired of doing things my way and failing. I am turning this over to You. I am going to let You handle things." The Lord loves for us to do this!

A baby does not learn to walk by your telling her how to walk. You must put her on her feet and let her try to walk. She will fall again and again, but you must keep putting her on her feet until she learns to walk.

The Christian life is like this. Turning things over to Christ and depending on Him is new to me. I must practice doing this! I will fail many times, but Christ will keep picking me up until I learn how to "walk" with Him.

You will never know what Christ will do for you until you start turning things over to Him. When you fail, confess it to the Lord at once. He will forgive you! Then start again, depending on Him. Begin doing this today!

A teenage girl had become a Christian, and she wanted to attend a meeting of the youth group. When she asked her mother if she could go to the youth meeting, her mother became extremely angry and said, "No! You can't go to that meeting! I want you to stay home tonight!"
She had a choice. She could have gotten into a big fight with her mother as she had done so many times before. Instead, she decided to let her new Friend, Jesus, handle the matter. She said graciously, "Is there something you would like me to do around the house tonight?"

This response shocked her mother. In unbelief she said gruffly, "Yes. Get out in the kitchen and do the dishes!"
The girl cheerfully began the project. She was happily washing the dishes when her mother came in.
The mother was amazed at the change in her daughter's attitude. She asked gruffly, "Do you have any homework to do?" The girl replied that she had done her homework.
Minutes later, the mother returned to the kitchen and with soft gruffness said, "Since you have done the dishes and your homework, I guess you can go to that meeting tonight; but make sure you come home right afterward!"
—Bill Gothard
Jesus Christ is my Best Friend.
Though He is Lord of God's universe, Christ wants to be my Friend. He said, "You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you…I call you not servants…but I have called you friends…" (John 15:14-15).

There is no friend like Jesus! At times I am discouraged, but He is always there to help me and encourage me. Many times I do not know what to do, but Christ is God. He knows exactly what I should do. He is never too busy to listen to me and help me. He loves for me to come to Him with every burden. The Bible says, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain [strengthen] you…" (Psalm 55:22).

When I need to know what I should do in a certain situation, I can turn to my Best Friend. He lives in me and He is God. He knows exactly what I should do. He is pleased and even delighted when I realize that I do not know what to do and turn to Him. He loves for me to do this! As I pray and wait on Him, Jesus will guide me.

Victory is a gift from God. The Bible says, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57). Victory comes from turning things over to Christ who lives in us instead of trying to do everything ourselves.

Even the great apostle Paul himself had one failure after another until he learned this secret. Afterward, he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

Before I began turning things over to Christ, when somebody said something mean to me, I would say something mean back. I knew that did not please the Lord, but I could not help it. Now I have a secret power. Jesus Christ, the Son of God lives in me. I can turn things over to Him. I can smile and say a kind word back. The Bible says, "A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous [harsh] words stir up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).

Perhaps I have a really bad temper. Sometimes I manage to keep from losing my temper for a day or so. Then I lose a BIG temper! I am always ashamed when I do this because I know that I failed the Lord Jesus.

What should I do? I should turn my bad temper over to Jesus. I say to Him, "Lord, you know I cannot control my bad temper, so I am turning it over to you. You take control." I relax and let Christ live His life in me.

A little girl had learned how to have victory over temptation. Someone asked her how she did it. She said,

"Before, when the devil came knocking at my door to get me to do something wrong, I would go to the door and say, 'Don't you come in! Don't you come in!' But he would come in anyway.

"Now when the devil comes knocking at my door, I say, 'Lord Jesus, will You please answer the door?' When the devil sees the Lord Jesus, he bows low and says, 'I am sorry. I have come to the wrong door,' and he turns and leaves."

Christ is my "Beloved."
The Christian life is a love relationship. Christ is not only my Best Friend, but He is my "Beloved." No one loves me more than Christ. He gave His life for me. No one ever loved me like that.

Christ loves me with all His heart. When you love someone like that, the thing you want most of all is for that person to love you the same way. That is exactly what Christ wants. He wants me to love Him with all my heart.

It is easy to say, "I love the Lord Jesus," but the proof of my love is my actions. Jesus said, "He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me…" (John 14:21).

The apostle Paul said that his great ambition in life was to please the Lord Jesus. That should be my ambition in life also. Since Jesus lives in me, He goes wherever I go. He sees what I see. He hears what I hear. This means that I must ask myself some questions:

Is Jesus pleased when I choose friends who do not love Him? No, He is not.
Is He pleased when I hang around with those who use bad language and do wrong things? No, He is not.
Is Jesus pleased when I watch movies and television with bad stuff? No, He is not.
Is Jesus pleased when I listen to music which has dirty words in it? No, He is not. If I truly love the Lord Jesus, I will not want to do anything that would displease Him or make Him ashamed of me.
Do you want to be a happy Christian? The secret is loving Jesus with all your heart and spending time with Him, reading His Word and talking to Him in prayer. The more you love Jesus, the more you will enjoy Him. When you love Jesus with all your heart and live to please Him, you will be a happy child of God! The Bible says,

"Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass" (Psalm 37:4-5).

1. A Christian is a person in whom Christ lives. Christ Himself is in Heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, but He lives in me by His Spirit.
2. Christ is God's greatest gift. God meets my needs by giving Christ to me, to live in me.
3. The secret of the Christian life is depending on Christ who lives in me. He is God! He can do anything! I must practice turning things over to Christ and depending on Him. He loves for me to do this!

Memory Verse
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
My Prayer
“Father, You know how hard it is to live for Christ. I thank You for giving me Your greatest Gift—Christ who lives in me. Teach me to depend on Christ, instead of trying to do everything myself. In Christ's name I pray.”

Moses—the great deliverer
"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him [God] who is invisible." Hebrews 11:27

When Moses chose to obey God, it seemed as though he had thrown his life away. For forty years he was an obscure shepherd in Midian. Then, one day, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush.

God told Moses that he was to go to Egypt and bring His people out of Egypt. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and say to him, "Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son…and I say unto you, Let My son go, that he may serve Me…" (Exodus 4:22-23).

Moses and Aaron delivered God's message to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."

God sent nine great plagues on the land of Egypt to cause Pharaoh to let Israel go. Each time Pharaoh would seem to change his mind and promise to let Israel go if the Lord would take away the plague. But when the plague was removed, Pharaoh would harden his heart and refuse to let the people of Israel go.

Finally God said to Moses, "Yet will I bring one plague more upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go." The final plague on the land of Egypt was that the Lord would pass through the land at midnight, and the firstborn son in every family would be killed.

The children of Israel were told to take a lamb for each family. The lamb was to be killed and its blood collected in a bowl. Using a branch of a bush, they were to put the blood on the two sides of their doorway and on the top of the doorway. God said, "…when I see the blood, I will pass over you…" (Exodus 12:13).

At midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. There was not a house among the Egyptians where there was not a dead son. Even Pharaoh's eldest son was killed. But in the homes of the children of Israel, the firstborn sons were spared.

What was it that saved Israel's firstborn sons on that awful night? It was the blood of the lamb. What is it that saves us? It is the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God.

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and told them to leave Egypt and to serve the Lord as He had told them. The Egyptian people also begged the Israelites to leave and they gave them silver, gold, and precious stones.

The children of Israel went out of Egypt with great wealth. There were about 600,000 men, besides the women and children. They took all their flocks of sheep and all their herds of cattle.

God took His people out of Egypt, a type of the world, that He might have them for Himself. This is what God is doing now. He is saving people and taking them out of this evil world that He might have them for Himself.

 

[RiverOL]

Man, We've Got Problems!

What in the world is wrong? Is there a solution?

We can build computers that can solve the most complicated problems in just seconds, but we can't solve the problems of sin and immorality and prejudice. We can build beautiful cathedrals but we cannot stop people from hating. We can put men on the moon, but we can't live with each other here.

What's wrong? Why can't we build a peaceful society? Why can't we get along with the members of our own family?

The social reformers have lots of theories about what's wrong with us and how to cure our problems. But their theories just don't work. You can't make people love each other, and you can't make people be kind and unselfish by just passing a law that they should.

What is our problem? It's sin! That's always been man's problem. I know it sounds old-fashioned to talk about sin. We don't like to talk about it. We've about ruled the word out of our vocabulary—but we haven't ruled it out of our lives or out of our society.

We will never understand ourselves, our fellow man, or mankind throughout this whole planet earth until we accept what the Bible says about the human race—that it is in rebellion against God.

How did we get into such a disastrous condition? The Bible tells us that it came about through the disobedience of the first man, Adam.

The Bible tells us that man was created by God. Man did not come up from lower forms of animal life through the slow process of evolution. Adam was created by a direct act of God. God did not create millions of people to populate the earth; He created only one man and one woman. The entire human race came from these two people. Jesus said, "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'" (Mark 10:6)

What was Adam like when he was created? He was perfect. Adam was no hairy, ape-like creature of low intelligence. He was created in the image of God, and that means that he was perfect.

"Well, if man was perfect when he was created, something must have happened to him, because he sure isn't perfect now."
You got that right! Something did happen to man. The theologians call it "the fall of man."

Actually, there were two falls. One happened long before man was created, and this involved the angels. It is important that we know about it.

As you probably know, angels are spirit beings. They do not have bodies; therefore, we cannot see them. Nevertheless, they are very real beings.

God created the angels to be His messengers or servants, and evidently He created an innumerable number of them. Among the angels created by God, one was especially honored. Apparently, he was in charge of all the angels. His name was Lucifer which means Light-bearer. Lucifer was the wisest, the most beautiful, and the most powerful of all the angels.

It seems that, for some time after he was created, this mighty angel loved God and served Him perfectly. But one day pride entered Lucifer's heart. He began to admire himself and to think how beautiful and wonderful he was. Lucifer decided that he should be worshipped instead of God. He said in his heart,

"I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God…" (Isaiah 14:13)

This marked the beginning of sin in the universe. Where did sin begin? It began in Lucifer's heart. Lucifer took God off the throne of his heart and put Self there. A creature of God had rebelled against his great and loving Creator.

Lucifer's name was changed to Satan, which means Adversary. Thus Satan began his career of hating God and attempting to overthrow the throne of God. Other angels—possibly one-third of all the angels in heaven—followed Satan in his rebellion against God. These fallen angels we know as evil spirits or demons, and they cause plenty of trouble in the world.

Now we come back to man. You may be wondering why we are so concerned about Adam and what happened to him. The reason is this—Adam was the head of the human family. He was the source of the entire human race. What happened to him affected the whole human race, and it affected you and me.

We have already said that Adam was created perfect. This doesn't mean that he couldn't do anything wrong. Adam had a free will—he could choose to obey God and he could choose to disobey God. That will was soon to be tested because God had placed one restriction on Adam and Eve—they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned them, "…in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17 NKJ)

Now Satan comes back on the scene. Satan hates God and he hates everything that reminds him of God; therefore, he hated Adam and Eve who were created in the image of God. Satan set about to get Adam and Eve to disobey God and rebel against Him.

Adam and Eve did disobey God. They did rebel against Him. They believed Satan instead of believing God. They took sides with Satan and rebelled against God.

The sin of Adam and Eve had devastating results. God had said, "…in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17 NKJ) The result of their sin was death. But what kind of death was it? It was spiritual death. That very day, they died spiritually, that is, they were separated from God. Later on, they died physically.

Another terrible result of Adam's sin was this: Adam's nature changed. Adam did just what Satan had done—he took God off the throne of his heart and put Self there. He became a rebel, setting his will against God's will. Instead of loving God and wanting to do His will, he now loved himself and wanted to have his own way.

The picture grows darker and darker. Adam passed this sinful, self-centered nature on to his children. Adam's first son, Cain, manifested his sinful nature by murdering his brother. And what's worse, Adam's sinful nature was passed on to every human being born on this earth.

Let's face it—the human race has been poisoned by Satan. This is our problem. The Bible speaks of "…the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." (Ephesians 2:2)

That's what we are—those who are disobedient. And "the spirit who is now at work" in us is the spirit of rebellion, the spirit of Satan himself. The Bible says that our old sinful nature within us is rebellious against God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will.

Why can't we build a peaceful society? Because we don't have the right material to build such a society. You might as well try to build a skyscraper out of m&d pies. We are arrogant and self-sufficient. We live our lives as though God didn't exist. Even if we do recognize God's existence, we don't want Him interfering in our lives. No wonder we have troubles.

Why can't we get along with each other? Because our hearts are bad. We are born rebels. Jesus knew what was in the human heart, and He didn't pull any punches when He told what was in our hearts. He said,

"For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" (Mark 7:21-23)

You say, "Wait a minute! I'm not that bad." No? Then how would you like to have every thought that has passed through your mind for the past two weeks flashed on local TV with your name attached to it?

Now we see the problem. But what's the solution? The solution is for us to be born again. Jesus said, "YOU"—no matter who you are—"must be born again." (John 3:7)

Why does every person need to be born again? Because every person has been born into a sinful race which is under the condemnation of God.

"But how can I be born again?"

Come as a sinner to the Lord Jesus and receive Him as your Savior. When you receive Him, you are born into the family of God. The Bible says,

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

When we are born again, we "participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). Think of this! Christ comes to live in us, and we have His life in us. That's what we need to make us loving, and kind, and unselfish.

One word of caution: When we are born again, we don't get rid of the old nature. No, we will have this as long as we are in this life. God does not take the old sinful nature away, but He gives us Christ's life to overcome it. We can sin, but we don't have to. We have a new power in us that enables us to be victorious.

What about the world? What's it coming to? As long as men continue in rebellion against God, things will continue to get worse. But a great day is coming, and it may be very soon. Jesus Christ is coming back to this world as its rightful Ruler. He will put down all rebellion and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. If you belong to Him, you will reign with Him. If you are still in rebellion against God when Jesus comes, you will be on the losing side and you will spend eternity with the devil and his crowd.

That's it, plain and simple. Do you want to do something about the problems of the world? Then the place to start is with yourself. Open your heart to Jesus and let Him work a miracle in you and give you a new nature. Then ask Him to use you to help someone else.