My friends, King Jesus will be coming back! And He will be setting up His Kingdom. He is the one who will be judging our actions, whether they are good or bad — and He will judge rightly. He doesn’t look at the sorts of things people look at — if we are rich or have a good job, if we are well-respected by other people, if we have a nice car or a big house, if we are handsome or beautiful, or if we went to church or said long prayers… No, He looks at what truly is in our hearts.
Unfortunately, each one of us has given into our own evil desires. We’ve lied to others, we’ve stolen things, we’ve cheated in order to get ahead, we’ve wrongly desired women or men who weren’t our spouses, we’ve hated other people (who are made in God’s image), we’ve held onto bitterness against others instead of forgiving them… All of these things (and more) have made us lawbreakers against God and have brought us into imprisonment in our sin. We have been taken captive by the devil, and we go around doing his sick and twisted will — and we enjoy doing it, because it feeds into our own pleasures.
But Jesus came to this earth (from heaven) 2000 years ago to free us from our sin; to loose us from this captivity; to break our chains of bondage in the kingdom of evil in order to bring us into the Kingdom of light — the Kingdom ruled by the Lord Jesus the anointed King. He bought us out of that kingdom of darkness through the ransom price of His own blood — like an innocent lamb being slaughtered. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but He decided to bear the weight of our sins for us, so we could become good and right and holy like He is.
So we each need to realize we’ve been walking the wrong road. We need to change our minds, deciding to leave behind the evil way we’ve lived and turn to God. Believe this message I’m telling you. Realize that Jesus died /for you/ when He was nailed to that cross.
But Jesus did not remain dead after He was crucified and laid in a tomb — three days later God raised Him from the dead! God proved to the world that Jesus was His dear Son, the one He had appointed as King. Jesus publicly humiliated all the powers of darkness when He conquered death. He was the first to be resurrected to a new life, and now He offers the hope of this same resurrection to each one of us! We, too, can live a new life!
So entrust your life to Jesus the King — make Him the Lord of your life. Realize that it was God’s incredible love for you that sent Jesus here to this earth. He didn’t have to send Jesus; He didn’t have to buy you out of your sin — He could have left you there, wallowing in your shame, on the road to everlasting destruction; but He didn’t! God wanted /you/ in His family; He wanted you to live in fellowship with Him.
So when you turn away from your old life and place your faith in Jesus as your Lord, believing that God raised Him from the dead, God does something wonderful in you — He gives you a new heart. You start to have new desires; your conscience wakes up.
Then you bury your old life by being immersed in water to unite yourself with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Not only has /Jesus/ died — /you/ have now died /with/ Jesus. The old life is gone and the new life is here!
Then another believer who has God’s Holy Spirit will place his hands on you and pray for you so that you, too, will receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus said (while He was on earth) that He had to go back up to Heaven so that He could send us the Holy Spirit. So that’s what Jesus did — He ascended to Heaven and sat down next to God (at the right hand of power), and He sent the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit gives us power to live this new life. He gives us comfort in hard times and speaks to us to teach us things we need to know.
The Bible calls this process of being united with Jesus’ death & resurrection and receiving His Spirit as being “born /again/.” We were all born once without our own conscious effort or thought, but now we can choose to be born a second time — born into God’s family. God literally adopts us as His children; His Spirit inside of us makes us His children, so that we can look up and say, “Daddy!”
What great love! What mercy! What undeserved kindness!
God took us out of our muck and mire and did so at the expense of the life of His dear Son! He so wanted to purchase us out of darkness and evil that He gave up His perfect, innocent Son. Wow!
So now, if we accept this, we are brought into Jesus’ Kingdom, announcing to everyone that the King is coming back! He will return from Heaven to bring judgment. He will establish His Kingdom on this earth and true justice will reign. Evil will be punished and goodness will flourish.
So turn away from your wickedness now while you have the opportunity! God has given you time to change your mind about the life you’ve been living! He has appointed a Savior, Jesus the King. There is no one else that God has chosen who can rescue you! Buddha can’t save you, your own good deeds can’t save you, Mohammed can’t save you, attending church can’t save you, being involved in the new age can’t save you — only Jesus can save you from your sins and from certain death and rescue you from this evil world. Come to Jesus and be rescued!
Then, when Jesus comes, we won’t have to fear Him — we won’t have to hide our faces because of our sin. Instead, as God’s children, we can welcome Jesus with shouts of joy, as our conquering Brother, as the one who has gone before us to rescue us, our Lord and Savior! “All hail, King Jesus! All hail the Savior of the world!” And when He comes, God will transform our lowly bodies so that they become resurrected, everlasting bodies just like Jesus’ body. No longer will we grow sick and die; we will live on forever. And we will rule and reign /with Christ/ in His Kingdom! Amazing!
What an incredible message! What a glorious Savior! Come, Lord Jesus!
My friends, step out of the darkness and into the light while you still have the chance to do so. Today is the day to be rescued! Do not delay. The King is coming!