Devotional - 98-05-19 - Good News: 2

Luke 14:23...compel them to come in...

Tuesday: Christian or seeker, you are sadly effected by sin.

The Lord Jesus Christ has an invitation for whoever. It begins with that wonderful, precious word, "whosoever". Being both profound and simple at the same time, do you know what whosoever means? It means who so ever. The gospel invitation is that broad. No sin is so great, no guilt is so deep, but Christ can forgive. Who can He forgive?, Whosoever!

"Whosoever believes in Him, will have eternal life." (John 3:16)

For a second, let us think what Christ has done for us. He knew our guilt before He went to the cross. He knew that we would fall into sin, before He atoned for our sin. He knew that our just punishment was condemnation, our eternal ruin. Yet, knowing all this, He became justice for us. He died in our place that we might be saved. Sin has greatly effected us, grace may effect us even more.

There will come a day when the effects of sin will have their full effect upon the unrepentant sinner. They will have no more warnings. The voice of all those who speak of the gospel will be silenced. The joys of life will be overcome with misery. This day will come. The reality of eternity is for some, this very moment, a breath away.

When I was in High School I worked in a place that included a research morgue. It was against the rules, but no one cared and I got stuck cleaning up some stuff related to the cadavers. I was exposed to the fresh kills, or new bodies. I read the reports of how people died, and all the circumstances surrounding their deaths. Pictures I will never get out of my mind. But whatever the bodies looked like, whatever the reports said, the day had come. So will mine. So will yours. And that is the lasting lesson I learned. Death is on the way for me, the wages of sin are my reality, and unless Christ be my ultimate reality and the forgiveness that can be found in Him alone, there is no hope if I am to be judged by God.

This is the sad effect of sin. There are some reading this who may not see the fourth of July this year. Someday the gates of life will be shut. The topic today is that we are sadly effected by sin. Death is the reality and the great unknown that we all have in common. But with Christ, the following observation is often a great truth also; the worse you are, the more welcome you are. So while sin is a reality, the grace of Christ is an overwhelming reality because it conquers sin.

"That if you confess with you mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for it is the heart man believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation." (Romans 10:9,10)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Tim