Rick Stoneking:  

y and buried him in a cave and sealed it with a giant stone. A guard was kept at the entrance to make sure no one would try to take Jesus' body. I could not stop weeping even though His last words were, do not fear, I will see you again. I couldn't begin to understand those words at that moment But Sunday morning His words became clear. He was raised from the dead and now lives to make intercession for all people who have truly placed their complete faith and trust in Him alone. None could ad anything, not so much as a thought to save themselves. It was His way or no way.. Today we call Him Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. You see this man who was my Counselor, is none other than Jesus Christ, the living, loving Son Of God, who loved me and gave His life for me. I owed a debt I couldn't pay.so He paid my debt He didn't owe. There is a point in life when we become consciously aware we have sinned against God by going our own way, doing our own thing, and living unto ourselves. This is because we are born with a sin nature. God has declared that there is a penalty for sin. The bible says "For the wages of sin is death" that means spiritual death not just physical death. But that verse goes on to say - BUT the "Gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE - through Jesus Christ our Lord. God is holy and just, and must punish sin. He has declared that the wages of sin is death, physical and spiritual; death. Yet, He does not want any to perish but that all should come to repentance and receive Eternal Life. God loved us - His creation of whom He was "Well Pleased" prior to our downfall. Because of what Eve did in the Garden of Eden, then drawing Adam into it, all their bloodline is forever tainted by sin. Because of His great love for us God didn't want any of us to perish - that is to spend eternity in the lake of everlasting fire. But the only way to escape this death penalty is with a pure sacrifice - the only way to atone for our sin and sins. That was the problem. Since we are born in sin and live according to that sin nature, we will never be able to offer up a pure sacrifice to satisfy our sins once and for all. We saw that in the yearly sacrifices of the Israelite's. You see, since Mankind's fall in the Garden of Eden we have all received a sinful blood line-Sin. Then there are those we refer to as sins, plural, Those are our individual sins. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" Thus we are doubly guilty. We are guilty because of our sinful bloodline and because of the sins we commit. He provided a way for us to escape the death penalty. It is by our accepting the "FREE GIFT of Eternal Life" through the work of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. That work was the shedding of His pure blood in payment for the forgiveness of our sin. We cannot save ourselves nor even help save ourselves. We cannot do anything to save ourselves from death concerning our sin. Our only hope is our Lord Jesus Christ alone, through our faith in Him alone, in His finished work alone. Jesus Christ, being fully God and fully man, completely pure in all ways, paid the penalty IN FULL for mankind's sin - yours and mine - if we would just believe in Jesus Christ for who He is and for what He has done for us. He did for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. In other words, He paid a debt He didn't owe for our debt which we couldn't pay. The Bible says: For by grace are you saved through faith and that NOT of yourselves, it is the gift of God, NOT of works lest any man should boast. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. This is a simple truth to hard for some to believe. I made my decision. Now, the decision is yours. DO YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND THAT YOU - WILL - GO TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE? YOU CAN KNOW FOR SURE! 1 John 5:13 If you aren't sure, email me at Rev dot Stoneking at gmail dot com Eternal Life is God's FREE gift to you just for the asking. Why not ask Him right now? READ GOD'S WORD. THERE YOU WILL LEARN THAT GOD ALWAYS MEANT FOR YOU TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, HOW YOU LOST IT BEFORE YOU WERE BORN, AND HOW TO RECEIVE IT AGAIN ONCE AND FOR ALL IS CONTAINED IN ITS WORDS. YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE!!