John
3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through Him might be saved. NKJV
When an earthly King comes from a foreign land, he
is always greeted by the hierarchy of the country he is coming to with great
respect and admiration. The security for the coming King is much heightened and
no stone is left unturned to make his arrival safe, secure, and satisfying. The
King usually arrives with a great many servants and a huge entourage or
security force of his own with much pomp and circumstance. It is no secret
event usually and every effort is made to announce his expected arrival to all
of the visiting country.
However, when the King of Kings (Jesus Christ) came
the first time into this world He created, He came with no great theater or
might or great power (which He could have done because He is God) but He came
as a baby through the womb of a virgin woman, so that He could die a death for
all humanity to satisfy the Righteous requirements of a Holy God and reconcile
men and women to God. When our Lord came the Jewish Religious hierarchy met Him
with indifference at first and then they became indignant by the attention He
began to receive from the common people and especially from the tax collectors
and sinners. He had to be made like His brethren by putting on human flesh. He
is so identified and united with His human brothers and sisters that He buys
back from sin and darkness that He will eternally live in His glorified human
body a body like His we will have with Him in Heaven.
When we look around our world today, we find most of
humanity indifferent to the Lord Jesus Christ because they don’t see their need
for Him and frankly speaking don’t want Him. It is OK to celebrate His birth at
Christmas or to even practice some form of religion, but to acknowledge Him as
King and receive Him as the Lord and Master of their lives seems more than
should be required for one to live a good life now and go to Heaven at death.
The Lord Jesus Christ has come this first time with a mission of gathering to
Himself all of those given to Him by God the Father before the foundation of
the world. He has not come with His wrath to judge the world but instead He took
God’s wrath (against human sin and rebellion) on Himself at the cross and
defeated sin and satan there.
The elect of God is not some list He made before
He made the world of all the good people He will save but the elect of God are
the “whosoever wills” (Romans 10:13 For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. KJV). You
may ask, “Am I one of the elect?” The last time I checked the pronoun the Apostle
Paul used in Romans 10:13 meant then and still now whatever person.
You are one of the elect if and only if you call upon, which means to request
earnestly the Lord Jesus Christ for aid, help, forgiveness, and deliverance
from your sin and guilt.
“If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the
backs of the elect I
would go around lifting shirts. But since He didn't I must preach
"whosoever will" and when "whatsoever" believes I know that
he is one of the elect. If
grace does not make us differ from other men, it is not the grace which God
gives His elect. ” Charles
Spurgeon
“The elect are
whosoever will, and the non-elect,
whosoever won't.” Henry Ward Beecher
“He that boasts of being one of God's elect, while he is willfully and
habitually living in sin, is only deceiving himself, and talking wicked
blasphemy.” John Charles Ryles
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and
Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple
I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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