There are some who believe they can lose their salvation and talk as if their hope of heaven is hanging by a thread that can at any moment be broken by something they do.  They speak as if salvation is their work; if not to obtain it, to keep it.  I have always wondered how a person could truly know themselves and believe that their salvation was dependant on something they could do.  My 26 years of being a Christian have proved, if nothing else, that I am a “wretched man” as the scriptures would say; there is no good thing in me that would warrant heaven.  If for a moment Christ would take His hand from me, I would spiral to the depths of hell; that is not mere rhetoric, I believe that to the core.  If it were not for Christ I would never make it to heaven; I would not even have a prayer of entering that place apart from Him.

It has always amazed me, likewise, how low a view some have of Christ’s saving power.  Most will admit that they needed Christ to save them, but many have trouble believing that Christ will also keep them:

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”  (John 10:28)

More amazingly still, many seem to put more stock in their own works to keep their salvation than they do in Christ!  If Christ cannot keep you “blameless to the end” do you really believe you can?  How is that that Christ chose to save you, but is not able to keep you?  Was He not aware of what you are when He called you to be His own?  Was He taken by surprise to later discover things about you that He was unaware of when He saved you?  Christ knows the totality of who you are, yet, “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

But let’s not stop there:

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!  For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”  (Romans 5:9-11)

I happen to believe His sacrifice is effectual and complete; Christ is my righteousness, I have none of my own.  He paid the whole price and bore the complete penalty for my sin- past, present and future.  (1 Corinthians 1:30, Hebrews 9:26, 10:12-13)

If Christ cannot keep you, how in the world do you think you can ever keep yourself?

Is He all your righteousness, every bit?  Then you have everything you need in Christ!

I wrote “Today’s Lyrics” in 1991, six years after being born again; I had come utterly to the end of myself.  I realized that night that I had a choice; it would either be Christ and… or Christ alone.  If it was Christ and… my works, my efforts, my righteousness etc, then I had no hope of ever getting to heaven, not even a prayer; if it depended on me at all, I would mess it up.  I saw that night what I’d seen when I first got saved… It is ALL of Christ, it is none of me; Christ is EVERYTHING.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, who are you putting your trust in when it comes to eternal life, being saved, and making it to heaven?  I pray it is not yourself!

Here’s are the lyrics I wrote that night:

Read Galatians 2:21

How precious is the blood He shed!
The only means of righteousness!
So all the praise should go to Him,
It’s nothing that I’ve done…

No works of mine deserve applause
Or make me pleasing to my God,
The Spirit points me to the cross
And to the Savior’s blood

For there the plan of God fulfilled
Ran down Calvary’s darkened hill,
His light had come into the world
His blood had touched it’s soil

His hands, His feet, His wounded side
All are there to testify-
There is no room for human pride

And shall I turn and just pretend
That I can somehow add to them?
Can one commit a greater sin
Than that?

Today marks the 4th anniversary of my Mom going to be with the Lord after an almost 2 year battle with Ovarian cancer.  The night before she died I had a sense that the time was drawing near, and that we had only a little bit of time left with her.  I went out for a walk and spent a good while praying.  I knew that “to be absent from the body” was to be “present with the Lord”.  But it never quite dawned on me until that night that “to be absent from the body” was to be absent from me.  I would no longer be seeing my Mom walk this earth.  I would not hear her voice again or see her smile while I was in this place.  I was very close to my Mom so the pain of this was very real.

There are some who will try to tell you that death is just a natural progression of life, and even become poetical about it.  That is not what the bible says; death is actually an enemy, and anyone who’s experienced the grief and loss that comes from losing the ones we love the most, knows that. 

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”  (2 Corinthians 15:26)

There will come a day when:

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  (Revelation 21:4)

Crossing from death to life

As I walked and prayed that night I knew the time was near that I’d be losing my Mom.  And as I came to the end of my prayer, I asked Jesus to take my Mom “into the presence of His glory”.  The next day she departed this world; it was on her birthday.  I had time to bring her a rose, say good morning and “Happy Birthday Mom”, and read her Psalm 23 by her bed.  With my brother and sister beside me, we surrounded her bed and watched her take her last breath.  The pain was overwhelming, but so was the joy I had in knowing my Mother had given her life to Jesus Christ and that she would be with Him for eternity, and that one day I’d  be seeing her again.

The final word is not death.  For those who belong to Him, the final word is “life everlasting”!

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”  (John 5:24)

I wrote the song, “In The Presence of His Glory”, the day after my Mom’s funeral.

In The Presence of His Glory

Holy is the Lamb
glory to His name
round about the throne
all the angels sang
 
Glory to the Lamb
Who sits upon the throne
All of the redeemed
Worship Him alone
 
And every single heart
That’s been washed in His blood
For all eternity will sing of Jesus love…
 
In the presence of His glory
no eye has seen, no ear has heard
all the wondrous things that God’s prepared…
for those who love Him
there is no night
in the presence of His glory
 
In the presence of His glory
all the sadness, pain, and heart’s despair
has disappeared and can be found nowhere…
for those who love Him
there is no night
in the presence of His glory
 
Behold the sight of 10,000 angels singing,
“There is no night, before His throne!”
There is no fear of the sting of death remaining
“There is no night!  There is no night!”
 
Holy is the Lamb
glory to His name
round about the throne
all the angels sang
 
Glory to the Lamb
Who sits upon the throne
All of the redeemed
Worship Him alone
 
And every single heart
That’s been washed in His blood
For all eternity will sing of Jesus love
 
In the presence of His glory
The sting of death will fade to heaven’s sky
In Jesus Christ you will be glorified…
And joy will reign,
there is no pain
in the presence of His glory!
 
And joy will reign, there is no pain…in the presence of His glory!

“I know so many things have changed
But Jesus Christ is still the same,
And He is standing at the gate
Calling to you

You might think after all you’ve done
He wouldn’t care about you now,
But that’s the thing about His love
It keeps holding on…

And I’m praying for you,
cause you used to follow Jesus…”

Today’s lyrics are from a song I wrote called, “I’m praying for you”.  Over the years I’ve had many friends, and known many people, who started down the path of life and for one reason or another got sidetracked.  Some started well, but when faced with life’s disappointments, questioned the reality of a loving God.  Some chose sin over obedience and seemingly just walked away.  Another was hurt badly by someone else sinning against them.  One friend of mine rose like a rocket and burned brightly for a brief moment in time, and then just as quickly, fizzled out and faded away.  I could go on and on about all the possible reasons people fail to stay in the faith.  I could enter into the debate of whether they were even saved in the first place, and know that some would probably say they were never really Christians at all.  But what would be the point?  All I know is that the love of Jesus Christ is the strongest thing in all the universe. 

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38-39)

When I think of those who once named His name and now no longer follow Him, I appeal to the love of Jesus and I pray for them.  I know He’s longsuffering; I know He just doesn’t let go, as we so often do when frustrated by others.  There is no love like the love of Jesus!  Do you believe that?  Then pray!  Call out to Him and appeal to His mercy and love for those you know who have left the way. 

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”   (Matthew 18:12-14)

“When I think about the world He created,
it makes me want to say a prayer to Jesus…” 

My lyrics today are very short!  I’ve been working on a song that’s all about God as Creator, and it’s just filled me with awe again at who He is.  The Word of God takes it for granted that when we look at His creation we’ll immediately acknowledge the creator. 

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”         (Psalm 19.1) 

Yes, of course!  It should be obvious to the whole world… everything about creation shouts, “Creator!” 

As I work on my song this morning I’m holding a brand new guitar.  It first drew my attention because of it’s beauty as it sat there in the store.  As I picked it up and sat down I was further impressed by it’s workmanship and the way it felt in my hands.  As I began to play it’s tone resonated through the room as if it were a sound from heaven… this was going to be my guitar!  And so it was.  I arrived home with my newfound treasure and began to explore everything about it.  I learned it’s creator was TJ Baden.  He had a vision for the very acoustic guitar that lay in my hands.  It didn’t just appear there out of nothingness!  The creation required a creator.  There were luthiers who made the guitar by hand according to TJ Baden’s plans.  How is it that we so readily accept and understand this when it comes to human creation, but fail to see it when it comes God’s creation?  The world is not here because you or I made it, any more than the guitar I hold came about because of me! 

Who came up with this idea?

“When I think about the world He created,
it makes me want to say a prayer to Jesus…” 

When I look at this awesome world around me in all it’s fascinating complexity and variety, I can’t help but want to know something about the creator.  Who thought of this world, planned it, and formed it?  How did the endless expanse of the starry night sky come to be?  Who is the creator of all this?

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”  (Romans 1:20) 

Without excuse… Creation shouts, “Creator!”  Every time you see the sun you should know you didn’t put it there!  You had nothing to do with the moon or the stars that shine at night.  Everything about creation suggests design, a plan, a mind behind it all.  There was a big bang and it all just appeared?  Really?  Even my guitar required a creator… billions of years of evolution still can’t make a tree turn into a guitar!  But I’m supposed to believe this vast universe with all it’s intricate design slowly evolved from nothing? 

Where do I go for answers?

“When I think about the world He created,
it makes me want to say a prayer to Jesus…“ 

When I had questions about my new guitar who do you think I went to?  Well, first I went to the store.  And that was good, but then I thought, “Why not get a hold of the people that made my guitar and ask them?”  Well, last night I got a call from TJ Baden himself!  He not only answered all my questions, but told me many new and interesting things about my guitar that I never knew.  He also shared with me some of his design philosophy and I began to see the heart behind his creations.  What a privilege to talk to the man who knew my guitar inside and out, without whom I wouldn’t even have had the opportunity to own this instrument.  Now that is exactly what God would like to do with you.  The creator of the world you live in is not only offering to answer your questions, but He can tell you much more about this world and yourself than you ever dreamed!  His creation is all around you, and you have the ultimate privilege of knowing the Creator himself. 

Ever searching but never finding

As I open my guitar case and go to remove my guitar I notice in the soundhole a label that says, “Handmade by Baden Guitars”.  I have a great big clue who made it, and just staring at the spruce top and maple sides isn’t going to get me anywhere in learning about my guitar if I don’t follow that clue!   In the same way, the universe has God’s stamp and signature, and the Word of God tells us that everything was made by and for Jesus.  Wouldn’t it make sense to start with Jesus then in our search to find the answers to life and existence?  Just staring at the creation isn’t going to unravel it’s deepest mysteries… 

I put my new guitar down long enough to watch a PBS special recently on the history of telescopes.  Since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated by astronomy.  It’s impossible for me to look at this stuff and not think, “Wow! Who is this God who formed all these things?”  As I watched the program I was swept away by the immensity, complexity, and beauty of what I was seeing.  Our world is intricate enough- venturing outside it is staggering!  But I couldn’t help but think, “These people will never find the answers looking through a telescope.”  Creation demands a search for the Creator.  Endlessly looking to creation itself for the answers of life will only end in futility.  As the scripture says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is forever praised.  Amen”  (Romans 1:25) 

Some lyrics that are better than mine!

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world…” 

(Psalm 19:1-4) 

In other words… Creation shouts, “Creator!”

“Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

If He can bear the whole world’s sin
then who am I to say to Him,
that mine is just too much?

Surely such a sacrifice
is worth my very heart and life…
Look at how He bled and died,
Look at how He loves me!” 

I hardly need to say a word about my lyrics for today… God’s love is amazing!  He has power to forgive sins, but not just power… more than enough power!  When I start to believe that my sin is just too bad to forgive, or that I’ve sinned the same sin one too many times to be forgiven, I remember that Jesus’ death was powerful enough to take away the whole world’s sin! 

“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”  (1 John 2:2)

Think about it:  That’s the whole world’s sin for all time, not just my lifetime.  If He can do that, then who am I to say that mine is just too much to forgive?  There’s mercy for you in Jesus, and not just enough, but overflowing, overwhelming mercy, far exceeding any sin you have committed.  The power of what Jesus did on the cross for you, is greater than your capacity to sin.  In all ways His blood shed on the cross is enough; you cannot sin more than He is able to forgive!  That’s how powerful His sacrifice for you is!

Now, having said that, there is something you can do if you want to continue on and die in your sin… You can turn your back on Jesus and say no to His forgiveness, but why would you?

Doesn’t a love like His demand your very heart and life?  Do you really want to walk away from the One who loves you more than anyone else in all the world, whose love goes beyond the grave and promises to be there for you throughout eternity?  Look at how He loves you!  He paid the penalty for sins you committed and offers you eternal life!  He doesn’t accuse you of sins you’ve committed, but washes them away!

“Surely such a sacrifice
is worth my very heart and life…
Look at how He bled and died,
Look at how He loves me!”

“He’s God’s only forgotten Son
Pushed away by a world gone wrong,
For there’s never a thought
Of the love that He brought
And no thanks for the things that He’s done

He’s the treasure of God’s own heart
To a world living in the dark,
And if they only knew
Even had just a clue
Their denial would tear them apart…”

Do you need any more proof of the reality of sin than that God’s only begotten Son could be so easily laid aside and forgotten?  The world goes on from day to day with barely a thought that it lies under the judgment of God, oblivious to the obvious… we will all one day die and have to face Him.  What’s even more startling though is God’s made a way of escape for all of us and we ignore it:  He sent Jesus to free us from the certain judgment that awaits us, and we don’t even care!  Tell me that sin isn’t real!

Deception and blindness is at the heart of all sin; Adam and Eve succumbed to it in the garden (Genesis 3) and we’re still blinded to this day.  The serpent told Eve, “You will not surely die”.  If there was ever a one trick pony, it’s the Devil.  He hasn’t changed a word since his original lie, and we keep falling for it… hook, line and sinker.

Do you want to know if sin has actual power?  Ask yourself what sane man would willingly board a bus to hell when God is offering a ticket to heaven free of charge?  The very Creator of the universe sent His Son into the world to rescue you from an eternity in hell and you don’t even care? I don’t need anymore proof of the blinding power of sin than that!  God’s Son comes to forgive you, and wash away your sin, and you toss Him aside because you have better things to do with your life than mess around with “religion”?  I hate to say it, but you’ve been blinded to the greatest love the world has ever known!

“The god of this age (the devil) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  (2 Corinthians 4:4)

The greatest thing that’s ever happened to this world was the entry of Jesus into it.  Do you know Him?  Are you living for Him?  Is He forgotten, or loved by you?

If you’re seeking, go here.

If you’re wandering away from the truth, go here.

“Why did a Holy God
even give us another thought?
He could have held His breath
and the world have died-
Adam by Eve’s own side.
and that would have been the end.”

I heard a preacher recently thunder the wrath of God.  Actually he was very soft spoken, but His words carried the message of God’s judgment.  I’m not totally against that either.  You’ll find that I talk about these things in many of my posts.  There are biblical truths that have been largely discarded, and the message of God’s holiness, wrath, and judgment is almost completely absent in today’s church.  These are truths that need to be taught again.  Scripture teaches, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”  (Hebrews 10:31)  The NASB version puts it this way:

“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I wonder how often you hear that preached today?  It is the truth, and it’s something we need to remember and take very seriously.  Our God is holy and we better be careful to never forget that.  I won’t mention names, but there are some who have appeared and taken up that message, and taken it up very strongly.  You can find their videos on YouTube, their messages on various blogs, and maybe you’ve even gotten an email or two from a friend who’s been shaken by the gravity of what they’ve heard, and it’s caused them to sit up and evaluate their relationship with God.  I think that’s a good thing.  If the bible is telling us that it’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God while we go about acting like it’s no big deal to encounter Him, we’ve got a problem!

But I would like to mention another problem:  If we get so focused on the message of God’s judgment and wrath that we forget His mercy, we have an even bigger problem!

“He could have held His breath
and the world have died-
Adam by Eve’s own side.
and that would have been the end.”

God could have ended everything with Adam and Eve.  He could have withheld His breath and their sin would have been the last human sin He ever had to deal with, but He didn’t do that.  What does that tell us about God?  It tells me that His heart of mercy is greater than His desire to send judgment.  It tells me that His love is higher on the ladder than His wrath:  God will find a way to send mercy, and remove judgment, even if it means Him paying the highest price.  He proved that to us by sending His Son as a sacrifice who would bear the penalty for our sins, taking upon Himself the wrath we deserved. 

A return to holiness preaching

Yesterday while listening to a revival preacher in a church we were visiting I heard 1 1/2 hours about God’s judgment, wrath, and displeasure with sin, but God’s answer to our sin problem was never really presented!  I was left with the feeling that God could, and would, smote me for my disobedience and that I “better get right with God”.  The way that I was “to get right with God” was by repenting of my sin.  (More on that later…)  Furthermore, I was told (along with everyone else in the room) that when I stood before Him, if I hadn’t gotten rid of all my “blots and blemishes” I wouldn’t have a prayer in the world of getting into heaven and would be cast straight into hell!  Over and over we were told of our need to be righteous and to live right.  We were reminded that God hates our secret sin.  We were reprimanded for not truly being His disciples if we failed to live correctly, and warned that we would ultimately be found to be fakes and cast out by Jesus with a word:

“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

You could hear a pin drop!  And rightly so.  Where do you hear anything like this preached today with any kind of seriousness?  There are tons of places in the bible that warn of self deception, sin and God’s wrath, so why don’t we ever hear any of these things being preached? Many in the church are waking up to the fact that just calling oneself a Christian doesn’t cut it.  Just praying a prayer to “get saved” doesn’t cut it…  So we’re beginning to hear the other side:  God is a holy God and wants us as His children to be holy.  Preaching holiness is scriptural and we need it… but…

Working my way to heaven?

Somewhere during this preacher’s message I began to get concerned however.  Where was Jesus in all this?  The gospel was never really mentioned!  It was all about me “getting right” and I couldn’t help but think, “Man! Without Jesus, I have no righteousness.”  It was all about me repenting, all about me being a disciple, all about me getting rid of my own “blots and blemishes”, all about me “getting my robe clean”.  Hold on!  I thought Jesus was my righteousness.  I thought Jesus clothed me with His robe of righteousness.

“It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

The most serious error of all!

As much as I truly believe there needs to be a return to holiness preaching and “walking as Jesus walked”, we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the most serious error of all:  Forgetting Jesus!  After everything’s said and done, the only way we can stand before a Holy God is to be hidden in Christ.  He alone is our righteousness.  The most serious error of all is to forget that fact.  Like my wife said later as we sat in the parking lot discussing this… “I could scrub and scrub my robe all day long but it still wouldn’t be clean enough.  I would still have so many stains…”  Exactly!  You can’t scrub your robe clean enough to stand before a Holy God.  If you think you can, you still don’t understand just how Holy He is, (or how sinful you are!).

Hearing this “preacher of righteousness” reminded me of a few things:

1. God’s mercy triumphs over judgment.  The fact that the human race continued after Adam and Eve proves that fact!  He could have ended the whole thing right there.  Don’t get so focused on His wrath that you forget His mercy!
2. Even so, we need to preach about God’s wrath and judgment because those things are very real too.  God sent a flood, and He tells us that the present world we live in will be destroyed by fire.  We should be telling people the whole counsel of God, and talking about God’s judgment is part of that.
3. Don’t exchange one error for an even bigger error:  God’s Word tells us over and over again that we are to live holy lives because our God is holy.  Omitting to teach and practice this truth is a serious error.  However, in our zeal to reclaim the truth of holiness we need to be careful that we don’t commit an even more serious error.  Jesus alone is our righteousness, and He alone is the reason we will be able to stand before a Holy God.  If we forget this truth we have made the most serious error of all! 

We are not saved by our works, we better very careful that we don’t give people the impression that we are!

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”

(Galatians 1:6-9)

There’s one thing worse than not preaching holiness… it’s failing to preach that ultimately Jesus alone is that holiness for us.  No matter how hard we try, no matter how holy we get, if we don’t realize that Jesus alone is the only way to stand before a holy God, we’ve made the most serious error of all!

“Almighty God, omnipotent
thy wrath is strong-
but love was sent

Upon the cross, the word made flesh
gave us His robe
of righteousness…”

Jesus could have wiped me off the face of the earth because of my sin and been completely justified in doing it, but He didn’t!  Who believes in the God of the bible anymore?  The God of the bible is Almighty: all powerful, all knowing… and just.  He sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah.  In Noah’s day he sent a flood, saying, “I will wipe mankind, whom I’ve created from the face of the earth…” (Genesis 6:7)  He hasn’t changed.  In the New Testament we find this:

“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

God may have been tamped down and tamed in the minds of modern men but it would be wise to remember that He is still Almighty God.  He tells us what the future holds in 2 Peter 3:1-17 where it’s graphically laid out for us:  The same God who sent a flood will be sending fire!

“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

I urge you to read the whole chapter; the God of the bible is very much alive, and as my lyrics express, his wrath is strong.

Why the Lamb of God?

“Upon the cross, the word made flesh
gave us His robe
of righteousness…”

Praise God!  His wrath is not the end of the story:  Wrath will come, but first love is sent!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

We are living in a time of unprecedented grace.  God came to earth… His name is Jesus.  He put on our mortal flesh and walked among us.  He went to the cross and died for us as the sacrificial Lamb of God.  In that act of sacrifice, His blood was shed for our sins.  He paid the price and penalty of God’s judgment in our place.  All that we deserved as punishment for our sins, He took upon Himself.  In that act of love, He did something more… He gave us His righteousness.

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus gave us His robe of righteousness!  He took your sin, and gave you His righteousness.

Why judgment waits

2 Peter 3:9 tells us: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Judgment is being held back because God in His patience is giving you a chance to escape it!  Will you take His offer of love?

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

The same God who hates sin, who has sent judgment in the past, and who promises that one day the world will be destroyed by fire, is holding out His hand of forgiveness, mercy, and love to you.  Will you take it?

If you’re answer is yes, go here.

If you’re wandering away from the truth, go here.