Friendship . (John 15 v 13- 17)

 Friends are very important,I look back and think about some of the friends I've had ,one in particular stands out ,his name is Pat,I believe God sent him into my life at a crucial time.I had just come back to the Lord. I was still very vunerable,but Pat befriended me,and for those early years he was there for me.He did his best to support and encourage me,now my dear friend is in a nursing home suffering from Parkinson's disease.His life was filled with serving God,supported by his dear wife,the last time I spoke  to him I told him I loved him. Such friends are very precious,I value the friends I still have,the fact is we all need friends and we should value them,and thank God for them. But of course the greatest friend that anyone can have is Jesus,He is the perfect friend, I treasure His friendship above all others. I often tell Him  I love Him and could not live without Him he is unique.He is not only my friend but He is also my Saviour.That means He was prepared to die for me on the cross .When I think about this ,I'm  overwhelmed at such love,greater love hath no man than this.Friends come and friends go .but He is with me always,helping me,comforting me,strengthening me,loving me,and when I come to pass through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil,for He will be with me.

                                                     'I've found a friend;oh,such a friend!

                                                      So kind,and true,and tender!

                                                      So wise a Counsellor and guide

                                                      So mighty a Defender!

                                                      From Him who loves me now so well

                                                      What power my soul shall sever?

                                                      Shall life,or death,on earth,or hell?

                                                      No! I am His for ever'   (Words J.G.Small)

The real gospel . ( Romans 1 v16 )

 It was said of Spurgeon  ,''He preaches the real gospel,and God blesses him'', there are many god'swho are not  god's,so there are many gospels that are not gospels.There are so many supposed gospels ,and that's all one could say about them,when examined in the light of God's word,they are not real gospels  at all.There is only one gospel, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,it appears to many a foolish assumption, but it's not,it is foretold in scripture , One person wrote the following,'It is reckoned that there are 300 to potentially 400,predictions or prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament.These prophecies point to various aspects of the Messiah's life,death,and resurrection'.Another commentator points to the  historical  evidence of Christs existence by Roman and Jewish historians like Tacitus,Joseph,and Suetonius.And of course we have the four gospels acounts of our Savious existence.From a real Jesus we have a real gospel,a  gospel that is good news,to a broken world,a sinful world,a lost world,the real gospel shines as a light of hope where there is no hope,it is a sure and certain hope.Looking at the world as it is,the future has a cloud of depression hanging over it. It was Dante who wrote about the gates of Hell,with these words written on it ,'All ye who enter here,abandon all hope'',but with Christ  as our Saviour we have a sure and certain hope of heaven. ( Colossians 1 v 27-28)

                                                  'The real gospel is about a real Saviour

 

You have a choice ( Luke 14 v 15ff)

 Lets continue to look at Matthew 22 v14 ,and the opening words,'For many are called',I think back since I become a Christian the many people I have witnessed to,in sermons,in personal encounters,and even now on my blog.People who have heard the gospel call,and yet ignored it,walked away,put it out of their mind,or tried to,or thought some more convenient day and that day never came.There is an old saying which goes, ''Strike while the iron is hot'',means to take advantage of an opportunity as soon as it arises, before it disappears or becomes less favourable. When we hear the gospel we are being given the opportunity  of being saved,being forgiven,being set free from our sinful ways,of receiving eternal life,of having a relationship with God.There is so much more we could say,It is the mercy of God being shown to you,offered to you,by the grace of God,you see this Gospel is the power of God unto salvation,neglect all this to your cost.There is a modern song that goes,'Many are called ,but few choose to go',very true,here are some words from that song.

                                              'When the Spirit moved ,some calls you don't get twice,

                                              Friend that's just so.

                                              Don't gamble with heaven,don't sell your soul.

                                              Many are called few choose to go,that narrow road'.

                                              ' Hear this, there may not be a tomorrow for you,

                                               believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,and you shall 

                                               be saved'

Called chosen. (Acts 20 v31)

 Matthew 22 v14 reads,'Many are called ,but few are chosen', Who does the calling?,all of us who know the Lord ,to some degree, how otherwise would people hear about Jesus and be saved,as Paul puts it,how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them(.Romans 10 v 14) You may think leave it to the professionals,not so that is a cop out,we all have a responsibility to witness to others.I  personally get frustrated that those who are ministers and are neglecting to proclaim the gospel.They rarely mention sin or speak of hell ,it's as if they are afraid of offending people,but in doing that they are offending God. Many are hearing the gospel now  through the internet,in the town where I live I saw a team of people witnessing in our town center, that encouraged me.The call of the gospel  goes out to many but our Lord says ,'few are chosen'.some people may struggle  with what Jesus said,but if Jesus said it then it's true we must accept that in the end salvation is a work of God,we must see that in it's fullness ,our responsibility is to be faithful in whatever way we can by telling  people about Jesus.

The day of the Lord. ( 1 Thessalonians 5 v 1-3)

 The prophet Zephaniah was called to proclaim God's word not to the Gentiles,but to the people in Judah,it was a very powerful message of judgement.Those who were consider to be God's people  had fallen away spiritually .Zephaniah was a contempory of Jeremiah and they  both tell us how the people did unspeakable evil,the most serious was forsaking God , and turning to god's that were not gods. .( Jeremiah 2 v10 -13) The opening verses of Zephaniah  declares that God's judgement was going to come upon them.The situation to say the least was grim,but they thought that the Lord will do nothing, either good or bad'. (1 v 12)How wrong they were as they would find out to their cost that judgement was coming in the form of the army of Babylon.This army would  conquer Judah slaying most of the population,a remnant would survive,but would spend the next 70 yrs in exile.Many people think that God does not exsist,or if  He does exsist,'' He does not matter''. But the fact is God is not an inactive God ,the day of the Lord is coming,it will be a day of judgement when the unsaved will call to the mountains and the rocks,fall on us, and hide us, from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6 v16)

                                                         'Nothing in all creation is hidden 

                                                          from God's sight.Everything is

                                                          uncovered and laid bare before

                                                           the eyes of Him to whom we 

                                                           must give account.'

                                                                        Hebrews 4 v 13

The law of God.(Galatians 3 v10 -14 )

 In Romans 2  Paul deals with God's righteous judgement in relation to the Jews and the Gentiles, he points out that the Jews who have the written law will be judged by the law.The Jew would take pleasure that they have the law,so in their pride they would say we are all right,This is what the daily prayer says,  'All Israel have a portion in the world to come,as it said ,your people are all righteous,they base this on Isaiah 60 v21.Paul challenges that by saying,'For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight,but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous Romans 2 v 13.He is not here, saying that the law saves,it doesn't ,he is stressing purely judgement day,when the unsaved Jew  and the unsaved Gentiles will be judged. Paul now goes unto to deal with the Gentiles how they will be judged by the law when they haven't got the written law.?well says Paul they do have the law in their hearts,It is shown by the fact that they know that murder is wrong,that stealing is wrong,that lying is wrong,that adultery is wrong and so on.So that is how God will judge both Jew and Gentile on Judgement day.

                                                    'Know that a person is not justified

                                                    by the works of the law,but by faith

                                                     in Jesus Christ'

                                                                   ( Galatians 2 v 16)

We all have a conscience (Romans 2 v 12 -16)2

 Let us continue looking at that hard conscience,there are many examples of it,the Nazi party was full of people who had a hard conscience,from those who served in the death camps.Hitler and his cronies and a vast number of other people.Stalin would have been one,there are so many.In the Times newspaper I read an artical on a young woman,she is involved in pornography,it is to debased to tell you of the things she does,it is truly dreadful,she truly has lost all sense of morality and decency .She and those  others I have mentioned could also be described has having a seared conscience, the idea of flesh burned by hot irons. In Exodus 7 v13 we read,'Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen', he did it four times,in spite of witnessing what God was doing. So God dealt with him by hardening his heart.Leon Morris says,  'Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to humble himself is made plain in the story.  God's hardening of him was a judical act,abandoning  him to his own stubbornness'