STAND & BELIEVE & TRUST & LIVE!
“He rules the world with truth and grace.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!”
“JOY TO THE WORLD”—Isaac Watts
In looking at the Christmas trees standing within people’s homes, I have come to notice a truth, one that maybe you have noticed as well. Once all the Christmas gifts have been given, and as the tree now stands with only the tree skirt, the tree looks so bare. Truly, it is the gifts resting around the base of the tree are what make the Christmas trees look complete.
Consider for a moment, the process of decorating and un-decorating our Christmas trees.
- We bring in the tree.
- We string our lights around and around, filling our Christmas trees with light.
- We hang special ornaments, tributes that we have gained over the years, upon the small limbs, hopeful they won’t be bumped and come crashing to the floor.
- We place an angel, ribbon, or star (or even a snowman’s head as I saw last night) upon the top of the Christmas tree.
- We place a skirt, towel, or cloth around the base of the Christmas tree to hide the stand.
- THEN, we place the gifts, the packages, the giftbags below and around the bottom of our Christmas trees.
Last evening, my husband and I took our final gifts that were under our tree to our “final” Christmas gathering, and now our tree looks so bare. So today, I will dismantle the Christmas tree, even though there remain two gifts that I have taken from below the tree: a gift I overlooked and a gift for someone who could not be with us on Christmas day.
This morning, as I sat in the dark, looking at the Christmas tree lights for the final time this season, I read a list of influential people who died during 2022, and I wondered: How many of these people knew Jesus as Savior and Lord?
The Bible is clear.
In the final book, it reveals how all who accept the free gift of God’s Salvation (all who believe, all who trust God, and all who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord) will STAND around the throne of God and LIVE eternally within God’s glory.
Please do not believe me, but please read God’s Word with me.
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;
(Revelation 7: 9-10 NASB)
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God
who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb.”
God’s gift of Salvation requires mankind to “do something.”
No, a person cannot work for his salvation.
No, a person cannot “do” anything to earn his salvation.
Nevertheless, there is a requirement necessary in order to receive God’s gift of salvation.
Let’s read what the prophet Moses told the children of Israel when they continually were plagued by the serpents’ bites and experienced death. God gave Moses the instructions required.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.”
(Numbers 21: 8-9 NASB)
So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
- All of the Israelites (who had been bitten by the serpent, who felt the poison raging within their bodies) who looked at the bronze image lifted up high—LIVED!
The Son of Man spoke of this in the verses proceeding John 3:16. Jesus did so because he was foretelling His death when he would be lifted up on a cross and become the source of life for all people who had been born into the infected sinful state that destroys.
- All (who believe and trust God at His word, who believe and accept and confess Jesus as Lord) will stand together around God’s throne as we worship Him forever &—LIVE!
- All (who look to Jesus with faith as the crucified and risen Lord) receive—ETERNAL LIFE!
God has not changed since the moment He created the heavens and the earth.
God has not planned and re-arranged His plan according to mankind’s sins.
God knew from the beginning how we sinful people would need a Savior, would need the Salvation offered through the Son of God.
And God knew the underlining requirement of what each of us must accept by faith so we can receive His Saving Grace!
So, the Truth is the Truth is the Truth!
We must STAND!
We must BELIEVE!
We must TRUST! &
As we do, we will LIVE!
Do we Individually know where we stand with God?
Collectively the Israelites stood around the bronze serpent lifted high.
Collectively the Israelites looked up at the bronze serpent lifted up on the flag pole.
Yet Individually the Israelites had to stand, had to believe, had to trust, and were given LIFE.
Do we Individually know where we stand with God?
Have we Individually believed?
Have we Individually trusted God?
If so, then Individually, God will give each one of us eternal life!
Let’s see what the prophet told the children of Israel.
“If you will not believe, you certainly shall not last.”
(Isaiah 7: 9b NASB)
In other words:
If we (you and I) do not stand firm in our faith, then we will not stand at all!
If we (you and I who are the children of God) do not stand firm in our faith, then others may not come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord!
Once we STAND, BELIEVE, TRUST, & LIVE, we are to share our testimony with the world.
We cannot be selfish with our witness, but we must share Jesus with the world of people surrounding us.
We cannot be lukewarm with our testimony of faith, because so many are dying without Jesus.
God tells us so!
- GOD KNEW THE REQUIREMENT WE EACH NEEDED IN ORDER TO RECEIVE HIS SALVATION!
- WE NEED TO KNOW WHERE WE STAND IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!
- TRULY, THERE ARE ONLY TWO ETERNAL SIDES: BELIEF—OR—UNBELIEF!
- WE NEED TO STAND & BELIEVE & TRUST & LIVE FOREVER WITH HIM!
- WE ALSO NEED TO STAND IN OUR BELIEF & TRUST THE LEADING OF GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT AS HE LEADS US TO BOLDLY WITNESS TO OTHERS!
- GOD KNOWS HOW WE NEED TO STAND IN FAITH FOR HIM SO OTHERS TOO—WILL BELIEVE BY FAITH IN GOD & TRUST & RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE!
Therefore, may we be convicted as we read what God states.
“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
(John 3: 14-16 NASB)
so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
(Revelation 3: 16 NASB)
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Origin of the creation of God, says this:
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
“I, the LORD, am your God,
(Psalm 81: 10 NASB)
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”