Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
There are many people in the world who have not heard the message that God will completely forgive them for what they have done in their past. Our sins add up during our lifetime, creating a huge debt that we simply cannot pay. But God sent Jesus into this world to die on the cross and pay the debt for our sins. For those who have never been baptized or become a Christian at one point in their life, God has a special gift for them. He wants to forgive them for all the wrong things that they have done. He doesn’t want your money and He doesn’t want your sacrifice. He wants to give you something, a Divine gift of His mercy and Grace. It’s incredible to think that our God would lay down His life for sinners. He cares about this world so much that this is exactly what He did for them. He doesn’t want people to perish, but wants them to come to a place of repentance. God will wipe away all the sinful things in your past, so that we can have a clean slate and start over.
There are people in this world who wish they could start their life over from the very beginning. If they could, they would be a different person, and take a different direction than they did when they were young. Many people make New Year’s resolutions, but none of these things solve the problem that each of us share; unforgiven sin and the weight of one’s conscience. God wants to cleanse our conscience, and wipe away all of our iniquity. Each of us have been born through a woman, but to inherit eternal life we must be born again by God. This new birth begins when we are baptized in the name of Jesus, washing away our sins, and starting a new life.
“And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Acts 22:16
To obtain eternal life, we must be born again. It doesn’t matter how old you may be, we must become children once again.
Matthew 18 ¹ At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ² And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, ³ And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
In our flesh, all of us have done wrong things and made numerous mistakes along the way. But God is willing to forgive you, if you place your faith in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. As we have had parents in our flesh, we must begin to serve the Heavenly Father, as one of His new children, and part of His Spiritual family.
John 3 ¹ There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:² The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. ³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? ⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. ⁸ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
God wants sinners to be transformed into saints which will ultimately require your obedience to His will. You will need to renounce sin, and mortify the sinful deeds of the flesh. We must reject the old person that we were in our past and embrace the new creature that we must become. God reaches out to this sinful world and gives them the opportunity to do this very thing through the gospel. God’s grace is the greatest treasure that you could ever obtain, and you never want to receive it in vain. God gives it to us for a reason, so that we can ultimately become transformed into what He wants us to become.
2 Corinthians 6 ¹ We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. ² (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) ³ Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
Many of the religious leaders were getting upset at Jesus simply because of the types of sinful people that were following Him. But one thing they couldn’t understand is that they were repenting of their sins, something that a lot of religious people refused to do.
Matthew 9 ⁹ And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. ¹⁰ And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? ¹² But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
¹³ But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The Apostle Paul was preaching the same message of repentance, warning people to turn from their sins.
Acts 26 ¹⁹ Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰ But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Each of us has walked in disobedience at one time or the other, but we can find forgiveness with God, by placing our complete faith in Jesus Christ. Look at the grace that God bestowed on the Apostle Paul, and look at the changed life that resulted because of it. For those of you who have never become a Christian, God has an incredible gift for you. There is great hope found in Christ Jesus. He wants to cleanse us from our iniquities so that we can become a child of God.
How many times have people said, if I could only start over,…but this is exactly what is available to us through Jesus Christ. God is perfectly just and will punish sin both now and eternally, but He is so loving and kind that He laid down His own life to deliver us from the penalty of our sins. Sometimes an Earthly judge will expunge your past record. It might be kept sealed and hidden from the view of others, so that you can have a fresh start in society. On the other hand, God wants to completely expunge your entire past life of sin, so that you can someday live forever.
You’re never too old to start over. You’re never too old to take a new direction. You’re never too old to repent. After all, it’s….
…..Better Late than Never
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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