Choose Life, Salvation
John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Choices
Every human being makes choices throughout our lives. Some choices do not have serious consequences such as what do we eat or wear today; but other choices may affect or jobs, marriages and relationships with friends and family, etc. As the consequences of our choices become more serious, then the more effort that is put into evaluating the choice. To properly evalute our choices we will study God's word, ask others who may have experienced similiar situations, read good Christian books, consult some good biblical sites on the internet and so one.
Early in history of Genesis we see Noah and his family were building an ark. All the years while building the ark, Noah was preaching to the people of his day about an impending flood that God told him would come. These people had a choice to believe in what God had said about the flood and then enter into the ark for safety. We see that the people choose to laugh, ridicule and not listen to what Noah was preaching. The day came when the Lord finally closed the door of the ark as the flood was about to come; and all those who did not choose to believe were lost forever in the flood and in eternity with God in Heaven.
Down through history there are many examples in the Bible where people had choices extended to them by God, over and over again. We also see over and over again where people resisted the call of God to them. Many choose the wide road, the way of the world and then end up in an awful place called Hell.
The Bible tells us that we have a choice, to believe God by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and believe we are sinners and that he has paid the penalty for our sin by going to the cross. We can also choose to reject what God’s word says and will eventually die and find ourselves lost forever in this awful place the Bible calls Hell.
By choosing not to accept Jesus Christ, we automatically are choosing to reject; there is no middle ground.
Some say a loving God would not send anyone to Hell. In reality God does not send anyone to Hell; it is us by making the choice not to believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour that we send ourselves to Hell. It is no fault of His, it is our choice.
Before you leave this reading if you already have not chosen Him, you will choose today.
In Matt. 7:13,14 it says Narrow is the way that leads to life ... No sinner can pass through that gate, until he is saved from all his sins. He must recognize he is a sinner, be inwardly changed by asking Jesus christ to forgive him of his sin; otherwise he cannot pass through the gate of life, he cannot enter into glory, he will only see everlasting punishment in Hell. We are all given a choice, so why do we not choose life.
So why we don’t believe:
Our eyes are blinded. 2 Cor. 4:3,4 says "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing (lost), whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
This is the time or age in which we live that applies to these passages. This present world is based on a system that is at war with God. We don’t reject the truth because we are blind; we are blinded because we reject the truth, by the things of this world, by families who believe in a false religion, peer pressure, and by those who outwardly practice a form of Christianity with no saving grace.
In this day we see an increasing diminishment of God, helped by the media, talk shows, self-help books, etc:
In our present North America tradition we see increasing hostility to Christianity in government and education, and the elimination of "traditional" or "canon" learning from our institutions.
The world replaces supernatural explanations with natural ones, because men are ignorant of spiritual truths. It is easy to automatically screen out possible supernatural explanations simply because they conflict with natural explanations.
We see inconsistency of world religions, the lies of Evolution, so called human wisdom that lacks God's wisdom.
1 Cor. 2:14 says But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Still others are fooled by incorrect Church teaching by un regenerated individuals, family traditions, materialism, doing good works or deeds, baptism, being a member of a Church, and so on.
The Bible says in:
John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Acts 16:31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
