"Hope and Despair"

“Hope and Despair”

 

 

He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.  Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God---children not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  John 1:10-13.

 

To me these verses of Scripture give HOPE and DESPAIR in the very same context.  The Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, was with God from the very beginning, because the Word, Jesus, was God, and through Him ALL things were created, as a matter of fact, without Him nothing was created that has been created.  (v1).

 

Though He created the world, the world did not recognize Him, and much of the world still refuses to RECOGNIZE or ACKNOWLEDGE Jesus Christ.  He came to His own people, the Jewish Nation of Israel, and even they refused to RECOGNIZE or RECEIVE Him.  Much of the Nation of Israel like the rest of the world, still REFUSES to RECOGNIZE Jesus as the Messiah, or the Son of the Living God.  This is the DESPAIR that is upon this sin-sick, wretched, depraved, and DOOMED world, the REJECTION of Jesus Christ, the ONLY source of SALVATION for a lost and dying world.  A lost people who are dying, and will face condemnation and the sentence of an ETERNITY in Hell, at the hands of a RIGHTEOUS and HOLY JUDGE

 

Yet to ALL who did and will receive Him, those who BELIEVED and will BELIEVE in Him, today, He gives the ability to become the Children of God.  This is the ONLY WAY to receive Jesus Christ and to become a part of God’s Holy Family, who will inherit ALL the glories of Heaven, and be able to live with Christ and the Heavenly Father throughout ALL ETERNITY.  This is the HOPE that is offered to ANYONE who will BELIEVE, with ALL their HEART in His name and RECEIVE Him as their SAVIOR and Lord.

 

So the question that I pose to you today is:  “Are you LIVING with HOPE? Or are you LIVING with DESPAIR?  If you are LIVING with DESPAIR, and DOOMED to face the judgment of your sins, and the condemnation of your soul, and to be sentenced to an ETERNITY in Hell.  You are NOW given the opportunity to TURN AWAY and LEAVE your life of DESPAIR and to RECEIVE your adoption into the Family of God, and to LIVE in HOPE for an ETERNITY in Heaven.  You do that by:  coming to God with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him, and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION and start LIVING with HOPE for an ETERNITY in Heaven.  Do it NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!