The Simple Life

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” John  3:17-19  (ESV)   "Affirmatively. Our Lord mentions only the relation of faith to the legal aspect of salvation. This was enough, for he who apprehends believingly the work of Christ as the ground of his justification will not fail to experience it as a regenerative power. Many stumble through the simplicity of faith. They suppose that something difficult is required. But faith is identical with that implicit unquestioning confidence a person ordinarily exercises almost unconsciously in relation to almost everything he appropriates to his use: the fo...

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” John  3:17-19  (ESV)   Christianity is based on historical facts. We base our entire belief system in the facts surrounding Jesus Christ, who came to this earth, lived, died, and rose again. We are not about feelings, philosophies, or opinions. We are not about rhetoric, campaigns, or popularity. We are about Jesus.   The eloquent and the simple need to understand the same facts about Jesus. All that is important in life and death revolves around Jesus.   Do you know Him? How does that matter in your life?

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:17 (ESV)   God is loving, kind, and merciful. He has no desire to use His power and authority to harm His creation. The only way people will experience His wrath is if they choose to ignore His love. In essence, we are in control of our destiny. If we choose to respond to God, we will experience God's mercy and grace. If we decide to ignore His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, we will experience His wrath.   For now, the choice is still ours

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (ESV)   "When John Williams sailed in his missionary ship, he said as he touched a shore where he had never been before, where no foot of white man had ever trod, wherever he preached for the first time he had this for his text. No text could bear him beyond this. He could stand anywhere, on any shore, and cry, "God so loved the world."" (S. Coley)   God is the only one who is actually "fair." He treats all people the same. All have sinned, and all need Christ. This is simple to understand, simple to teach, and simple to apply.   Those who like to complicate the simple often turn into religious zealots. When you respond to God's love, you begin to live in the context of the way life is meant to be. In that context, life has purpose, direction, and fulfillment. So, why would anyone turn down such an offer?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (ESV) "I thank God for this word 'whosoever,'" remarked Richard Baxter, "did it read, there is mercy for Richard Baxter, I am so vile, so sinful, that I would have thought it must have meant some other Richard Baxter; but this word 'whosoever' includes the worst of all the Baxters that ever lived." (Richard Baxter)   Whosoever means whosoever. All humanity is the same in the most critical areas of life. All humankind will die, face God, and experience His mercy or His wrath. Those who receive His mercy are among the "whosoever" that believed. Those who experience His wrath are among the "whosoever" that rejected Christ.   For now, the choice is ours.   Dave Wager https://nightime.podbean.com/ https://davewager.podbean.com/ https://youngerolder.podbean.com/

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (ESV)   "In human governments, justice is central, and love incidental. In the Divine government, love is the central element, and justice only incidental. God wishes to exhaust all means of kindness before His hand takes hold on justice. When the waves of penalty begin to come in in fearful tides, then He banks up against them. His goodness is the levee between justice and the sinful soul." (H. W. Beecher)   "God is love, and there is a something about love which always wins love. When love puts on her own golden armour, and bears her sword bright with her own unselfishness, she goeth on conquering and to conquer. Let a man once apprehend that God is love, that this is God's very essence, and he must at once love God." (C. H. Spurgeon)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (ESV)   Charles Spurgeon often focused on small words that gave great meaning to various Scripture passages. In this familiar passage he spoke of the significance of the word “so.”   He said: “Pliny declares that Cicero once saw the Iliad of Homer written in so small a character that it could be contained in a nutshell. Peter Bales, a celebrated calligrapher, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, wrote the whole Bible so that it was shut up in a common walnut as its casket. In these days of advanced mechanism even greater marvels in miniature have been achieved, but never has so much meaning been compressed into so small a space as in that famous little word “so,” in the text.”   God so loved that He gave. I am thankful.