THE GOOD NEWS

 

2 Corinthians 7:8, "Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it- I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while- yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." We see here that sorrow is not repentance. Godly sorrow brings us to repentance. Repentance is not to be made sorry. Otherwise that would mean, being made sorry makes us sorry. That doesn't even make sense. Worldly sorrow brings death. Godly sorrow brings repentance. Either way the guilt is not repentance. It comes before repentance. Godly sorrow is the guilt we have when what we do doesn't line up with what we believe. This sorrow becomes worldly if we do not take it to God. We then will cut God off and live separated from him, trying to go our own way, trying to cheer ourself up with activities, positive thinking and creating an image for ourselves outside of Gods design... all because we were too prideful to take it to God and repent. Godly sorrow will always bring us repentance. Repentance is to change direction. Simply put, it means we were going the wrong way and we turn around to again go in the way of the Lord. You can bet that if your belief at any point gets off course from the Word of God, you will be going off in your own way, and unless you turn around at some point, if you keep going your own way, it will bring you death, which is separation from God. But repentance will lead you to salvation. Repentance isn't salvation, but it leads you to salvation and it leaves no regret! So now what exactly is salvation? I'm glad you asked!

Many people believe that salvation means going to heaven when you die someday. Which enables people to say a prayer and live unchanged by the gospel until they die and go to heaven. Its a self seeking motive for life preservation. Salvation isn't life preservation and its certainly not heaven someday. Scripture says salvation is for TODAY. And eternal life doesn't begin after you leave this earth and die someday. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. It started when the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The Kingdom of God doesn't come by observation, the Kingdom of God is in our midst. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom. No flesh can glory in his presence and no one can look in the face of God and live. If you know the Word at all you know what I'm saying is true. Salvation comes from the greek word sozo. God brought heaven to us!! Through Jesus!! If we reject his Son, we reject salvation.  Sozo means saved, healed, delivered, made whole, protected and kept safe and sound.  It is through the Word made flesh that we are healed, delivered, made whole, protected and kept safe and sound. Jesus the Son of God is the Word of God in the flesh. Anyone who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is a false teacher. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues the teachings has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring his teachings do not take them in your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work(2 John 1:11). What did Jesus teach? The Kingdom of God! What is our great commission? Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. What did he command us? First, to love the Lord God with all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind. Second, love our neighbor as ourself. We can not love people without first loving God and we cannot love God if we don't first know his love for us. For God so loved you that he gave you his only Son that if you believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son to condemn you but to save you through him! When we hear truth and are made guilty, we acknowledge our guilt. We take it to God through his Son and we turn from believing that which was a lie and we believe truth which is repentance. Repentance (believing truth) leads us to salvation which brings us eternal life (knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent). Salvation is for today. Jesus saves today. He is one person and he is the Seed. If you receive him, he is in you. Like a woman receives the seed of her husband to bring forth new life, so does the bride of Christ receive the Seed who is Christ that brings forth new life. If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things pass away and all things become new. Death is then swallowed up by life. This is how we are set free, this is how we are saved, this is how we are delivered, this is how we are made whole. The gospel is not about us going to heaven. The gospel is that God brought heaven to us through his Son. The world is only getting darker because we turned down the light of the world. We are here to destroy the kingdom of darkness, not be apart of it.

John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." In Exodus 33 God said, "You cannot see my face, for no one may see my face and live." The Word is God and no one can look on his face and live. The Law is the ministry of death. The Gospel brings the message of reconciliation. Sin was cursed in the flesh, which brought death. Jesus is the Resurrection and in him we live a new life. We die to sin and we live unto God. The Law of the Spirit of life has freed us from the Law of sin and now we are made alive in Christ Jesus. I am not trying to be a Christian. I am not trying to be forgiven. I am not trying to be free. I AM BECAUSE HE IS!!!! I am new because of what He did for me. I have been delivered from the dominion of darkness and placed in the Kingdom of the Son of His love. I have been made right though the blood of Jesus. I am not a product of what I have been through. I am a product of what I believe and I believe the Word of God! You only remain in the curse if there is no repentance. We produce fruit when we keep up with repentance. We will be known by our fruit. What fruit does your life produce? Is it of your own works or that of God eternal who lives in you? What image are you carrying inside you? The image of God or the image of man? Are you depending on the letter of the law that kills or the Spirit of God who brings life? When man believed the snake over God, the man took on the image of the snake. We all know no matter how many times a snake sheds its skin its still a snake. Just like our flesh, it sheds everyday but no matter how much the flesh sheds its still flesh. But when the blood is shed, the blood is the life of the creature. When the blood is shed, the old life passes away and the resurrection life comes forth. Look at John 3:14, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." Now read Numbers 21. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and it was in the wilderness where he would get Egypt out of his people. They spoke against God and against Moses, asking, "Why have you brought us out here to die, there is no bread, no water, we detest this miserable food! Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them and they bit the people and many of them died. The people then went to Moses and said, "We sinned against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes from us. So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. The Law of sin and death was conquered by the Law of the Spirit in Christ. The Israelites were under the curse of death, they confessed to sin against God and God made a way for them to be released from that curse and live. That way is His Son. Moses told them take a bronze snake, put it on a pole that everyone who is bitten will look on it and live. Even as Moses lifted up the snake, so shall the Son of Man be lifted up. The curse they received for their disobedience was the poison from the snake, the sting of death is sin. In the Hebrew Law, cursed is anything that hangs on a pole. God cursed sin in the flesh, that which was killing his people for their disobedience brought them to repentance, which saved them from the curse that was in the flesh. Sin no longer has power over you who live by the Spirit. That is why we have the blood and the bread. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He became what we were, so we can become as He is!

For God so loved you that He gave you his one and only Son, that if you believe in Him you will not die but you will have life. God did not send his Son to condemn you but to save you through him.