Pastor Herk continues: When Joseph found that Mary was pregnant and before his divine visit from an angel of the Lord in his sleep explained, by mercy and grace he justly planned to send her away secretly for the best social outcome. The reason that God sent Jesus into the world was also for our best present and eternal outcome. God’s Law states that the punishment for sin is spiritual, physical and eternal death (the Second Death in Hell). Our just and holy sovereign heavenly Father must punish sin, but this loving God, in His mercy and grace, provided a plan of Salvation, a narrow gate and path on Redemption road through the atoning work of sinless Jesus Christ (God with us, incarnate) on the Cross in our place. Romans 3:21-24 tells us, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
But, belief by faith is a choice. John 3:16-18,36 declares, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Ephesians 2:1-5,9 confirms “And you (repentant born-again Believers) He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” God rightfully could have dealt with sin by the punishment of spiritual, physical and eternal death already in place.
The Lord Jesus explains in John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. The Apostle Paul reinforces this truth in Galatians 5:16-18, So I say, walk by the Spirit [in the light of righteousness], and you will not gratify the [dark and sinful] desires of the flesh. For the [fallen] flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit [light], and the Spirit what is contrary to the sin nature of the flesh [darkness]. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. That is why Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, instructs us in Matthew 7:13-14 to “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Jesus Christ is not a way to forgiveness and eternal life; He is the Gate; the one and only way.
The Savior of the World [Jesus Christ] proclaimed in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The late pastor of Moody church in Chicago stated: “Jesus Christ is not a problem; He is the solution to every problem for life, for death, and for eternity.” That is why God send Jesus from Heaven to Earth that Christmas morning.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on the Advent of Jesus Christ in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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