Give with joy

We are lost without Him

If a person’s heart and his eyes are open and he wants to know, then the Spirit of God is going to bring in the great truth to his heart and make these things quite real and living to him. We sometimes use the expression, “You’ll be lost if you don’t accept Christ as your Savior.” The truth is you’re already lost whether you accept Him or not. But the point is you will continue to be lost, friends, if you do not accept Christ as your Savior. And now it’s your reaction and reception of the Word of God that’s going to determine whether you’ll be saved or not. Will you trust Christ? Will you accept Him as Savior?

He brings us close

“And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother and my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” You see, today if you are in Christ and you’re saved today, you are closer to Him than His physical mother and physical brothers in that day. And the important thing is to be rightly related to God in Christ. And having received Him as Savior, then we have the right to become the sons of God. And that brings you mighty close to Him.

God does the choosing

We see the sovereign purpose of God in choosing and ordaining the 12 apostles. Whether we like it or not, He does the choosing. Remember, He said. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” It’s not irreverent to say that since He chose them and they did not choose Him, He’s responsible for them. That’s a real comfort to know that. God has saved you, begun a good work in you, and He’s going to stick right with you, friends, and He’s going to see you through.

Fellowship is the priority

“Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” Now that is the thing He’s saying to them is that: It’s more important to be related to Him and to have fellowship with Him than to fast. There’s one thing today, friends, to be religious and put up a front, it’s another thing to enjoy fellowship with the Lord Jesus and love Him.

Only God can forgive sin

“Who can forgive sins but God only?” Only God can forgive sin, you see. No judge has any right to let a criminal off. His business is to enforce the law. God’s the moral ruler of this universe, and He must defend His own laws. He can’t be lawless. That’s just one thing even God can’t be. Having made the laws, why He obeys those laws. And His laws are inexorable; they’re not changed at all. But you and I are guilty before God; we need forgiveness of sins, and He forgives—not just because He’s big hearted; He forgives us because Christ paid the penalty for our sins.