Who is this Jesus ?( Isaiah 9 v 6)

John 1 v1 reads,'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,and the Word was God'. Who is this Word John was writing about?.We have to turn to John 20 v 31,there John  tells  why he wrote his gospel,''that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,and that by believing you may have life in his name'. The  term Son of God is equivalent to saying He was God CP John 5 v 18,and in this chapter we have a clear declaration  by Thomas who confessed that Christ was His Lord and His God v28. There are seven wonderful 'I Am's',in John's gospel ,spoken by Jesus which points us back to what God said to Moses Exodus 3 v 13-14.So now let us turn to John 1 v1.there we read the term the ,'Word' this is referring to Jesus v 14 where we read ,'that the Word was made flesh and made His  dwelling among us'.   Verse 1 begins,In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God'Hendriksen writes,'This is snother way of saying that Jesus existed from all eternity' , 'Luke's  gospel  starts at the nativity,but John's starts with eternity,' ( Bruce Milne),in John 17 our Saviour is praying to God His Father He says,'And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began'. Next we read,'and the Word was God'.nothing can be more clear than that, as regards to our Saviours divinity, but John does not stop there he goes unto to say.'He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made'v 2-3.

                                                     'The great Creator became our Saviour'

He paid the price. ( 1 Peter 1 v18 -19)

 There is a saying ,'Nothing 's free in life' everything comes at a cost, there is an exception if you are a Christian, the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ(Romans 3 v23). We have the word gift mentioned, one does not pay for a gift,if you had to pay, it would no longer be a gift.But there are conditions we must repent of our sins,if we are to be forgiven, and if we are sincere we will be forgiven through Jesus  who died on the cross to save us.On God's side His Son Jesus had to pay the price for our salvation. Think what it cost Christ to come into this sinful world, what he had to gave up,the Bible tells us that He was rich ,yet for our sakes He became poor',(2 Corinthians 8 v 9),none of us would like being poor,but Christ choose to be poor.Now we are not talking about earthly riches,but rather all the fullness of His exsistence in heaven.His coming to planet earth, meant that he choose to humble Himself,not only by taking upon Himself the form of a servant, but by dying on a cross.Yes our salvation is free,but it cost Jesus everything,when on that cross the wrath of God was poured out upon Him.Although He was the sinless one ,His suffering was on our behalf  and .that we do not have to suffer God's wrath,when we trust Jesus as our Saviour. Just think if you are a Christian,you will never  have to suffer for your sins,heaven not hell is your destiny.

                                                   'When I think of all He's done

                                                    and for me the guilty one,can

                                                    you wonder why it is I love 

                                                    Him so'

                                                                                    

                                             

                                 

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Not make believe. ( John 20 v24- 29)

 Yes Christmas is coming,and the shops are full of so many thjings that have nothing to do with Christmas,but we will come to that later.One of my sons and his wife were visiting us, and I said to my daughter -in -law,ask me do I believe in Santa Claus,well she asked me,and I replied ,'I'm an agnostic'. well just a bit of fun.Who was Saint Nicholas?,it is thought that's were we get the idea of Santa from,it is thought that he is buried in Ireland, but others say he was buried in Italy(But he had an Irish passport in his pocket,again just a bit of fun).Lets stop all this Tomfoolery for its all make believe. One my young grandsons  had a revelation ,he told his parents that there was no such a person as Santa Claus,I realise that there are no faries at the end of my garden.In the midst of all the Christmas cheer unfortionately the true meaning of Christmas gets lost,and every year people will come to our carol service, and we hope that they will find the true meaning of Christmas,we keep praying that this will happen,don't give up, keep praying, that it will happen.Christmas will soon be over, but let us continue to make the gospel known,telling people the the true meaning of Christmas,and the reason for it ,which is,that he shall save His people from their sins ( Matthew 1 v21)The moment He came into this world his sole aim would be to die on the cross,for our sins.His coming was not an after thought,no God had a plan,for we read in Revelation13 v 8 that He was 'the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world', God in His sovereign purposes would provide a sure and certain means to save sinners,and so it came to pass.

                                                         'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ      

                                                         and you shall be saved.'

                                                                     Acts 16 v31

                                                         

                                                          

                                                             

Locked out.( Matthew 25 v 41)

 There we were just about to set off ,to see our family,it was very wet ,and windy, I went to lock the door,and I couldn't, because I had left the key in the other side of the lock,it meant we could not get back into our home. I must confess I was very upset, but we managed to get someone to come and solve the problem.He had to drill through the old lock,and replace it with a new one,so the problem was solved. It's not nice to be locked out of one's home,but there is a more serious aspect to this event. It reminds me of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 told by our Saviour, it is about a wedding,it was something different from modern weddings ,a lot of things went on before they were considered married,the bride would be  waiting for the bridegroom, not sure when  he would come.The 10 virgins mentioned in the story had be waiting  likewise for the wedding group to show them the way into the marriage celebrations.  Five of the virgins had no oil for their lamps and so it meant they had to go and buy some,but by the time they got back,they were not permitted into the marriage celebrations,they were locked out, unlike the other 5 virgins who were in and enjoying the wedding celebations. The story was aimed at the Jews  who should have been prepared for our Lords coming but were not,so they were locked out.Yes the foolish virgins left it to late,it is a reminder to all of us to be prepared to meet our God, before it is to late.When Mary of Orange was dying her chaplain sought to tell her the way of salvation.Her answer was;'I have not left this matter to this hour'.

                                                   ' I tell you,now is the time of God's favoir,

                                                     now is the day of sakvation'

                                                               2 Corinthians 6 v2.

Don't ignor Him. ( John 1 v 12)

 When one thinks of how God has spared this world up to now,we may wonder why,when one considers humanities track record.The awful wars that continually go on and on and on.We could point out mankinds fallenness,showing a disregard for God's ,morality,or for God's  ways.When the promised Messiah came,we are told that they did not receive Him (John 1 v 11),they of all people should have recognised Him but they didn't.But they are not one their own, for we read,' He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,the world did not recognise Him'.(John 1 v10 ) The effect of humanites fallen nature is very severe,and dark, even to this day His own people still won't receieve Him,and likewise the world does not recognise Him. Consider the month we are in ,its the month in which Christmas falls,the very name Christmas will be heard by millions of people who will receive cards,and Christmas presents, but they will not receive Christ. God the Father sent Jesus into this world because He loves humanity (John 3 v6). Someone has said would it be different if He came again?,Studdert-Kennedy in His poem 'Indiffernce', wrote the following,

                                       'When Jesus came to Birmingham they simple passed Him by,

                                       They never hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;

                                        For men had grown more tender,and they would not give Him pain,

                                        They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.

                                                                    'Ignored by the many

                                                                     Received by the few.

                                        ' But in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still

                                                                   The dear Christ enters in'.

                                                                           Words P.Brooks

                                      

                                                                  

Blindness ( John 9 v 39)

I recently had my eyes tested ,and the optician told me that my eye sight was near the point where I wouldn't be able to drive. It is consider ,if you cannot read a number plate at 29 meters you are not fit to drive ,and so I would loose my driven licence.Like a lot of old people I needed cataract surgery,and so I was referred to a hospital to have the problem dealt with. I have had one eye done the worst one,and will have the other one done in a short time.So today I went out and looked at some cars number plates and without my glasses on ,with my operated eye I could see them clearly. Let us consider a spiritual application, the unsaved man is blind to spiritually (1 Corinthians 2 v 14). I thought of Israel who have not accepted Jesus as their Messiah? ,yet they have the scriptures that clearly show that Christ is their  Messiah.The Apostle Paul had a great burden for his people the Jews that they would be saved,he tells us that blindness in part has happened to them, (Romans 11 v25)other translations calls it a hardness.This is a judgement by God (Romans 8 v18).As one writer comments,'it is as if a veil lies over their hearts and minds'. But lets broaden it out to all of mankind,they are spiritually blind,blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4 v 3-4),and by their hard hearts,like Pharaoh of Egypt,( Ex 7 v 13) Remember God is sovereign and He will show mercy to whom he will show mercy (Romans 9 v 18) There is hope for we read in 2 Corinthians 3v16 'But when-ever anyone turns to the Lord ,the veil is taken away'.

                                                       'I once was blind but now I see

                                                       by God's mercy and grace,

Holiness ( Psalm 139 v 23 - 24)

 What do you think of holiness? it is seen by many non-Christians as a kill joy, some Christians may even agree with that.It is emphasised in God's word a lot, because it is of the utmost importance.But first of all let us consider, the Bible calls God,''The Holy One'' over fifty times it is mentioned in the Bible ,and the Spirit God,''Holy Spirit '' ''ninety times. Christ is called the ''Holy One of God''.The hymn writer declared,'OnlyThou art holy', God is absoluetly holy,it is hard for us to grasp this truth.In our unsaved state we could not look upon such holiness,we would be burnt to a frazzle.Moses was told,'you cannot see my face ,for no one may see Me and live' (Exodus 33 v20),it will not be until we stand in glory will we be able to look upon God. R.C.Sproul said,''When we understand the character of God, and when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and hopelessness'.The unsaved person does not grasp this,but will ,one day.Through Christ death on the cross God has made for us, away to know God , as our Father.Through Him we can come boldly into God's holy presence. (Hebrews 4 v16) As Christians we are set apart by God to be holy,it is obivious that while we are accepted by God now,yet we  still are imperfect,and so God declares to us Christians,'Be holy ,because I am holy' ,(1 Peter 1 v16/Lev 11 v44)These words are a challenge to all of God's children,of course we will never be fully holy here,but we must daily strive after holiness,long for that goal,until we are in glory.

                                                       'Robert Murry Mc Cheyne said,

                                        'Lord make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be'.