The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Christ

  • Christmas Time is Here

    “For unto you is born this day in the city of David
    a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”
    Luke 2:11

    This has been a very crazy year. So much has happened. So much has changed. It is hard to believe that the year 2020 is almost over. And it doesn’t really feel like Christmas.

    Do you remember watching A Charlie Brown Christmas? As it opens, Charlie Brown is declaring to Linus, “I think there must be something wrong with me. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel. I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess.” He then continues by telling Linus all of the things he likes about the Christmas season, but that he still isn’t happy. “I always end up feeling depressed,” declares Charlie Brown. Linus tells Charlie Brown that only he could turn a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.

    If you remember how the show progresses, Charlie Brown is in charge of the Christmas program. He finds that everything he does turns into a disaster. In the midst of it all, he declares that he really doesn’t know what Christmas is all about. He then cries out, “Isn’t there anyone who can tell me what Christmas is all about?!”

    Linus steps up declaring that he knows what Christmas is all about. All should remember what Linus quotes to everyone: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:8-14).

    Most people in the world today seem to forget: What Christmas is all about. In the cartoon A Charlie Brown Christmas, the point is made. It is not the giving and receiving of Christmas gifts, the sending of Christmas cards, the commercialism that Christmas has become, and not even the Christmas programs that people try to make happen. The simplicity of the Christmas message is lost on the masses. It is purely what the angels told the shepherds in the field that night so long ago: “For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ” The good tiding of great joy was the birth of Jesus, the Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. One must understand that Christmas is about the greatest gift ever given: Jesus. God so loved us that He sent His only Son (see John 3:16). Then one must believe in what Jesus did when He came. He came to die (because of our sin). He came to give us life (because we cannot pay the penalty for our sin). Whoever will believe in Him, though they were dead in their sins and trespasses, yet shall he live. (Remember what Jesus declared to Martha, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” John 11:25). Each person must understand that Christmas is remembering the giving of the greatest gift given by God. It is available to anyone. But it must be received.

    Do you know what Christmas is all about?

    Have you received God’s gift (Jesus) into your heart and life?

    How to be Saved

  • God Loves You

    “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
    Romans 5:8

    What does it mean when someone says that God loves you?

    Paul was zealous for God. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees (this means he was very religious!). He knew God’s Word – better than most people. He went to the Temple (church to us today) all of the time. And when there was a new Way (Christianity) in town, he fought against it. Read what Paul wrote, “13. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14. And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1:13-14). In his persecution of the church of God, he even imprisoned those who believed in Jesus.

    Paul went on a special trip to find more of those who believed in Jesus, when he met Jesus for himself. He found out just how much God loved him. See how he understood what Jesus did for him: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God showed Paul how much He loved him by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for Paul, a sinner. That changed Paul’s life! He no longer went about persecuting those who gave their hearts and lives to Jesus, he became one of the most well known preachers in the New Testament! He completely changed.

    Paul penned the book of Romans for us to read. Within that book, one cannot help but recognize the sinfulness of people, the penalty of death for each person because of that sin, and the need of the Saviour, Jesus (the only One who can take away that penalty of sin). He explained the reason Jesus came into this world. Remember that God gave His Son, because He loves you!

    With that thought in mind, see the following: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God is waiting for you to come to repentance and know His Son, Jesus.

    When should you answer His call? “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Today is that day. Do not wait! 

    Read the following message Paul preached to those who placed their faith and trust in Jesus: “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6: 22).

    Now can you see just how much God loves you?

    How to be Saved

  • God’s Greatest Gift

    “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
    Romans 6:23

    “Remember the familiar Bible lessons of Jacob and one of his sons, Joseph. Joseph was the eleventh son and the last to be born to Jacob before he returned to the land promised to Abraham and Isaac. Joseph was a godly young man in spite of adverse circumstances in his life. God used him to save his family from starvation during a time of famine throughout the lands.

    “In the Old Testament, Joseph is one of the people we compare to a picture of Christ. … God promised to send One who would deliver a sinful people from their sins. The first time was when man sinned in the garden (Genesis 3:15), and then we saw God promise Abraham that all people would be blessed through his descendants (Genesis 22:18). We even saw a picture of what God would do—lay down the life of His Son. In this lesson, we see once again the promise of a mighty Deliverer who would come (Genesis 28:14). And better yet, we see a picture of a mighty deliverer in Jacob’s son, Joseph. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, they meant it for evil. ‘But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive’ (Genesis 50:20). God sent His Son, Jesus, to save the world from their sin. He was the greatest gift ever given. But sinful man crucified him (evil against Him), and God took what man intended to be evil and delivered us from our sins by Jesus’ death. Just as Joseph recognized that he was placed in a position to save the world from starvation, Jesus came to save the world from ‘the wages of sin … death’ and instead give us the ‘gift of God … eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ Notice the faithfulness of Joseph and the blessings of God upon him … for although he endured many problems (his brothers hated him; he was sold into slavery; he was falsely imprisoned and forgotten; and so on), he remained faithful to God. And God blessed Joseph’s life. …

    “Joseph is an excellent example of enduring hatred and rejection from family members and still walking with God. When he was sold as a slave, Joseph still lived as an upright young man, choosing to do what was right in God’s eyes. When falsely thrown into prison, God was still with Joseph, and Joseph honored God with his life.

    “… God promised to send One who would deliver a sinful people from their sins. …God planned to send His Son, Jesus, from the beginning, and he constantly reminded mankind that He would come, sometimes giving them a verbal promise and other times a physical picture (like Joseph) to help them (and us today) understand. Jesus is God’s greatest gift, for he came to save people from their sins. … Just as Joseph saved people from starvation, Jesus came to save mankind from sin.”

    “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

    (Excerpt from Year One Quarter Two, Lesson 4 of The Biblical Path of Life)

    What is the greatest gift God ever gave? His Son, Jesus—to pay the penalty for our sins.

    Have you accepted this gift?

    How to be Saved