Worth A Thousand Words

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  I agree.  I want to share a picture with you that I saw yesterday for the first time.  Many of you may have seen it already, but it is worth looking at again.  This picture uses imagery to preach the Gospel and it is beautiful!  God bless you all!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

That picture speaks the Truth of John 14:6, which is a strong statement of finality and hope!  No one, meaning every person who has ever lived (including you and me), will be able to come to the Father in Heaven, except through Jesus!  We have all been scarred by sin and we all need a Savior.  No amount of effort or “good works” will ever be enough to get us to the Father.  Without Jesus we will fall short of God’s glory every time.  We can never make it to Heaven on our own!  We desperately need Jesus!

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:22-24

“For the wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

“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.  Whoever believes in him 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.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16-18

We are justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ alone!  We cannot earn our way into Heaven and if we try to, we will fall short and end up paying the wages of sin ourselves.  That is a price that we cannot pay!  Jesus died for us that by His wounds we would be healed!  Jesus is reaching out to you!  You don’t have to be condemned!  Please take His hand and be saved!

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

1 Peter 2:24

“But he was pierced for our

transgressions,

he was crushed for our

iniquities;

the punishment that

brought us peace was

upon him,

and by his wounds we are

healed.”

Isaiah 53:5

Take a look at the picture again and read John 14:6.  Does that look like and sound like we can earn our way into Heaven?  Can that man floundering in the water boast that he did something to save himself?  No, he is desperately reaching out to the only One who can save him!  There is no boasting in Heaven and no amount of works will ever get you there.  We are justified by faith.  Faith in who?  Only faith in Jesus!  It is His blood alone that forgives our sins!

“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  Where, then, is boasting?  It is excluded.  On what principle?  On that of observing the law?  No, but on that of faith.  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Romans 3:25-28

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 2:21

“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

You take His hand by faith!  Believe in Jesus and be saved!  Let Him rescue you out of sin and death!  None of us can pay the price for our sin!  Death is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire full of weeping and gnashing of teeth!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

“for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13

There is only One God and there is only One Way to Him.  Consider the words of finality Jesus spoke regarding coming to the Father and choose eternal life over death!  Let Jesus save you!  He will bring you safely home to Heaven!

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time.”

1 Timothy 2:5-6

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

1 John 5:11-12

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”

2 Timothy 4:18

Amen!  To Jesus be the glory for ever and ever!  Not us!  Not our works before or after accepting Christ!  Just Jesus!  To Jesus be the glory for ever and ever, amen!  Faith in Jesus is our only hope of eternal life!

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, remember, any good works you do after accepting Christ are NOT being done to earn your salvation!  Any and all good works we do as believers are being done by the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us and they were prepared in advance by God for us to do.  They are for His glory alone, not our salvation!  We could never earn our salvation and we can’t lose it once we believe!  Our salvation is a gift from God that was bought and paid for in full by the Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen!

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Ephesians 2:10

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:13-14

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:1-2

Grace and peace to you all!

“I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Jesus speaking in John 10:28-30