Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 03.02.2004
You can experience Godīs love
God loves the righteous more than the sinners. His love that you can experience as a sinner is only a shadow of the love you will experience after becoming His friend.
God is good to everybody
"He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matth.5:45 However people don't feel that God loves them. Instead they accuse God of their unfair destiny. Many hearts are full of fierce bitterness towards the Almighty.
All may not admit that they are rebelling against Him, but actually hate against God is the basic attitude of the whole mankind. This hatred is put into practice in many ways.
Some express their hate by living just as if He would not exist. Some others express it by saying "He does not exist". Unconcern and denying His existence are evidences of passive hate. They who give a creature their worship, although it belongs to God only, are active in their hostility towards God. The most extreme form of hating God is allying together with evil spirits fighting against God.
The loving relationship between God and man has been broken, because man has wronged against God and tries to blame his sin on God. How is God reacting to accusations of man? He doesn't quarrel with us. He is quiet and lets our own heart speak against us. He is sad because of a sinner. The consequences that wrongdoers must meet, hurt God's heart. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from the good God.
"He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matth.5:45 However people don't feel that God loves them. Instead they accuse God of their unfair destiny. Many hearts are full of fierce bitterness towards the Almighty.
All may not admit that they are rebelling against Him, but actually hate against God is the basic attitude of the whole mankind. This hatred is put into practice in many ways.
Some express their hate by living just as if He would not exist. Some others express it by saying "He does not exist". Unconcern and denying His existence are evidences of passive hate. They who give a creature their worship, although it belongs to God only, are active in their hostility towards God. The most extreme form of hating God is allying together with evil spirits fighting against God.
The loving relationship between God and man has been broken, because man has wronged against God and tries to blame his sin on God. How is God reacting to accusations of man? He doesn't quarrel with us. He is quiet and lets our own heart speak against us. He is sad because of a sinner. The consequences that wrongdoers must meet, hurt God's heart. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from the good God.
God's love for a sinner
God has demonstrated His love for a sinner in this: Christ died for him/her. He laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. Our punishment was upon Jesus so that we would get life. God's wrath stroke His Only Son on Golgotha so that we could be saved from His wrath.
People living in sin are enemies of God, but He loved His enemies by preparing the way to eternal happiness for them. Where is the heart who sees this precious love? What are the preconditions for experiencing God's love?
The first precondition is that man admits that God is just and innocent and that he himself or she herself is unjust and guilty. It is important to humble oneself in just those things of which a sinner has accused God for a hard destiny and has said: Why has God allowed this to happen to me? Jesus and God's Spirit help us to humble ourselves by testifying to the truth. Who listens to the truth gets power to humble oneself!
Jesus says: "For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens me." John 18:37 If a sinner humbles oneself to confess that God is innocent in everything, he also understands that Jesus is the innocent Son of God.
If man doesn't accept the truth of his/her sinful heart he can never experience God's love. Also he/she is unable to see God in Jesus. The sinlessness of the Son of God is the light of the world. It is the true light that gives light to every man.
The second precondition is that man admits that also the punishment of his/her sins was once upon Jesus on Golgotha. Looking in faith at the crucified Son of God brings reconciliation between God and man. We can experience God's love when we clearly understand the meaning of the work Jesus did on the cross! Through this deed it is easy to own the forgiveness of one's sins. The Saviour feels very near and dear.
It is very lovely to experience that God has forgiven me as a sinner. Unfortunately many stop here. They put up shelters under the cross of Jesus and say that it is good for us to be here. God wants to give more. He wants to justify a godless one. He makes a sinner into a righteous one, who experiences the same love that Jesus experienced from His Father.
Washing away our sins is not the whole salvation. "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Titus 3:5 Both washing and renewal of the heart are included in a rebirth. When a heart is washed a sinner experiences God's love for the sinners. When a washed person gets a new heart from the Holy Spirit he starts to experience God's love for the righteous ones.
God has demonstrated His love for a sinner in this: Christ died for him/her. He laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. Our punishment was upon Jesus so that we would get life. God's wrath stroke His Only Son on Golgotha so that we could be saved from His wrath.
People living in sin are enemies of God, but He loved His enemies by preparing the way to eternal happiness for them. Where is the heart who sees this precious love? What are the preconditions for experiencing God's love?
The first precondition is that man admits that God is just and innocent and that he himself or she herself is unjust and guilty. It is important to humble oneself in just those things of which a sinner has accused God for a hard destiny and has said: Why has God allowed this to happen to me? Jesus and God's Spirit help us to humble ourselves by testifying to the truth. Who listens to the truth gets power to humble oneself!
Jesus says: "For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens me." John 18:37 If a sinner humbles oneself to confess that God is innocent in everything, he also understands that Jesus is the innocent Son of God.
If man doesn't accept the truth of his/her sinful heart he can never experience God's love. Also he/she is unable to see God in Jesus. The sinlessness of the Son of God is the light of the world. It is the true light that gives light to every man.
The second precondition is that man admits that also the punishment of his/her sins was once upon Jesus on Golgotha. Looking in faith at the crucified Son of God brings reconciliation between God and man. We can experience God's love when we clearly understand the meaning of the work Jesus did on the cross! Through this deed it is easy to own the forgiveness of one's sins. The Saviour feels very near and dear.
It is very lovely to experience that God has forgiven me as a sinner. Unfortunately many stop here. They put up shelters under the cross of Jesus and say that it is good for us to be here. God wants to give more. He wants to justify a godless one. He makes a sinner into a righteous one, who experiences the same love that Jesus experienced from His Father.
Washing away our sins is not the whole salvation. "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Titus 3:5 Both washing and renewal of the heart are included in a rebirth. When a heart is washed a sinner experiences God's love for the sinners. When a washed person gets a new heart from the Holy Spirit he starts to experience God's love for the righteous ones.
God's love for the righteous
God has expressed His love for a righteous one by making a home in his heart. "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." John 14:21,23
Is it not better if God makes us temples for Himself than if we make Him a temple for us under the cross? Do you think that all who believe in Jesus, have experienced how He has "shown Himself" to them? Many have received Jesus as the atoning sacrifice of their sins, but not as their Lord and God. They have experienced cleansing but not got a new heart.
Really, it is possible to be cleansed of all sins, but remain without a new creation. Paul stresses the importance of getting a new heart by saying: "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation." Gal.6.15
Cleanness without a new creation leads to losing the faith. "If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning." 2Peter 2:20 Jesus says the same when He speaks about an evil spirit who comes out of a man and later wants to return to the house he left. "When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." Matthew 12:45
It is dangerous to be saved partly. Jesus and His Father should move in the cleansed heart. If not then backsliding is on the way. Peter says about this that "it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." 2Peter 2:21
Jesus said: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them." Peter said: "They turn their backs on the sacred command." Did Jesus give a command when He cleansed us? Yes. Others obey it, others don't. Notice, the command can be obeyed only by the power of the gospel. Therefore it doesn't give us any credit. Love experienced through the gospel, gives the power to carry out this command. Obeying this command lets us experience God's love towards the righteous. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.
So how can we experience the love that those living in their sins never can experience? By taking our stand on the gospel. The first precondition is that the one who got forgiveness also forgives others. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34 If you don't forgive, you have not taken your stand on the gospel.
The second precondition is that the cleansed one publicly confesses that Jesus is his/her Lord and God. "And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us." 1John 3:23 If you are ashamed of Jesus, you have not taken your stand on the gospel.
From where comes the power to obey this "sacred command"? How could anybody believe in the name of Jesus, if he doesn't see the greatness of that name! If you after your experience of cleansing give yourself totally to Jesus, you will notice that your heart will be changed so that you fulfil the preconditions. Instead if you decide to live for yourself, your salvation remains half-finished and finally even what you have will be taken from you.
God has expressed His love for a righteous one by making a home in his heart. "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." John 14:21,23
Is it not better if God makes us temples for Himself than if we make Him a temple for us under the cross? Do you think that all who believe in Jesus, have experienced how He has "shown Himself" to them? Many have received Jesus as the atoning sacrifice of their sins, but not as their Lord and God. They have experienced cleansing but not got a new heart.
Really, it is possible to be cleansed of all sins, but remain without a new creation. Paul stresses the importance of getting a new heart by saying: "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation." Gal.6.15
Cleanness without a new creation leads to losing the faith. "If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning." 2Peter 2:20 Jesus says the same when He speaks about an evil spirit who comes out of a man and later wants to return to the house he left. "When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." Matthew 12:45
It is dangerous to be saved partly. Jesus and His Father should move in the cleansed heart. If not then backsliding is on the way. Peter says about this that "it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." 2Peter 2:21
Jesus said: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them." Peter said: "They turn their backs on the sacred command." Did Jesus give a command when He cleansed us? Yes. Others obey it, others don't. Notice, the command can be obeyed only by the power of the gospel. Therefore it doesn't give us any credit. Love experienced through the gospel, gives the power to carry out this command. Obeying this command lets us experience God's love towards the righteous. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.
So how can we experience the love that those living in their sins never can experience? By taking our stand on the gospel. The first precondition is that the one who got forgiveness also forgives others. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34 If you don't forgive, you have not taken your stand on the gospel.
The second precondition is that the cleansed one publicly confesses that Jesus is his/her Lord and God. "And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us." 1John 3:23 If you are ashamed of Jesus, you have not taken your stand on the gospel.
From where comes the power to obey this "sacred command"? How could anybody believe in the name of Jesus, if he doesn't see the greatness of that name! If you after your experience of cleansing give yourself totally to Jesus, you will notice that your heart will be changed so that you fulfil the preconditions. Instead if you decide to live for yourself, your salvation remains half-finished and finally even what you have will be taken from you.
Your response to God
If you believed in the gospel, you were cleansed. Is receiving His grace your only response to God?
We cannot endlessly stand on the gospel, if we don't give God the whole response that belongs to the gospel. You thank God for His grace in Jesus, but is Jesus the Lord of your life? God is waiting for your reaction to His deed, God the Father exalting Jesus to the highest place, on His Throne, and giving Him all authority.
Think about this, God the Father trusted Jesus so much! Why would not you do the same and give Jesus all authority in your life?
The power to stay on the gospel comes from Jesus who has all authority in our life. If we let Jesus make home with us, He will affect all good in us.
When reading this writing did you experience that I am pressing Jesus to you? If that was your experience, you misunderstood me. I cannot give Jesus to you. Accepting my speech doesn't guarantee that you get God's grace. God Himself decides to whom He gives mercy and with whom He moves in. So pray God. He will answer you.
If you believed in the gospel, you were cleansed. Is receiving His grace your only response to God?
We cannot endlessly stand on the gospel, if we don't give God the whole response that belongs to the gospel. You thank God for His grace in Jesus, but is Jesus the Lord of your life? God is waiting for your reaction to His deed, God the Father exalting Jesus to the highest place, on His Throne, and giving Him all authority.
Think about this, God the Father trusted Jesus so much! Why would not you do the same and give Jesus all authority in your life?
The power to stay on the gospel comes from Jesus who has all authority in our life. If we let Jesus make home with us, He will affect all good in us.
When reading this writing did you experience that I am pressing Jesus to you? If that was your experience, you misunderstood me. I cannot give Jesus to you. Accepting my speech doesn't guarantee that you get God's grace. God Himself decides to whom He gives mercy and with whom He moves in. So pray God. He will answer you.
The Bible version used in references is NIV