Showing posts with label "The good Shepherd". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "The good Shepherd". Show all posts

Wednesday 23 March 2016

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd
Jesus said,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” 
                                                                                                                     John 1:10,11.
The apostle Paul writes,
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 
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 5:6-11.
Christianity is all about God setting the example. God reaching down in the form of His one and Only Son Jesus.
The soul purpose of Jesus’ life was to reconcile man to God.
I firmly believe Jesus came to this world to show mankind how far God would go in human terms to reconcile bring salvation into the world. That he would actually die for us.
The other reason I believe Jesus came into the word is that one day He will judge everyone on this earth.
Had He not come to this world. We quite justifiably could have said, “you are divine and all powerful. You couldn’t possibly know what it is to have all the temptations and problems of a human being.”
With Christ coming to earth however we cannot say that. Jesus knew what it was like to do things that are very human. He knows what it is to be tempted because He was tempted. Jesus knows what it’s like to feel the sun and rain against his face. To have friends.  To celebrate at a wedding. To be accused of a wrong you didn’t do. To be beaten mercilessly. To be put to death.
Jesus knows all of this. That is what gives him the right to judge us.
The important thing to remember about Jesus is he did not come to the world to condemn the world but to save it. Jesus speaking of himself said,
“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.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
         John 3:16,17.
Jesus was sent to save the world. You see it is by God’s grace we are saved and enter heaven. The apostle Paul saying,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
                                                                    Ephesians 2:8,9.
Salvation is a gift from God. A gift you can accept or reject. The choice is yours. Jesus speaking of himself said,
 “Whoever believes in him (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                                                John 3:16-18.
Do you have the faith to believe Jesus is the Son of God?
The Writer of Hebrews states,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
                                                                                                      Hebrews 11:6
The writer defining faith as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 
                                                                                                                             Hebrews 11:1
Please think about it.