Page 6—Smoke Signals, Wednesday, March 14, 1973
A Faith to Share
God's Way
By STANLEY BROWN
God’s way is the only way.
Jesus said “I am the way, the
truth, and the life, ” (John
14:6). One might ask, “The way
to what?The truth of what? What
hfe? Many individuals never
really stop and take an account of
who God is or why He sent His son
to die on the cross.
In the beginning God created
man so that He could have
fellowship with man. When God
created man He saw what He had
done and said that “it was good”
Genesis 1:31. God would come
and talk to this man in the cool of
the evening. One day when God
came to talk with man (Adam),
He could not find Adam. Adam
was off somewhere hiding from
God because Adam knew that he
was naked. The Devil had ap
proached Adam and Eve and had
gotten them to eat of the for
bidden fruit. God knew what had
happened. He had placed a tree of
forbidden fruit in the Garden of
Eden. He told Adam not to eat of
that particular tree. God gave
Adam the ability to make his own
decisions. Adam ate of that tree
and because he had disobeyed
God, he broke the fellowship with
God. God knew that something
had to be done to renew this
fellowship that Adam broke.
Throughout the Old Testament,
one can find where God had
promised to send a Savior. He
sent a Savior, this being his only
Son, Jesus Christ.
God still loved men even
though tliey had sinned. He knew
He had to make the provisions for
man to renew their fellowship
with Him. After all, He started
the whole thing and He knew He
had to finish what He started.
God showed His love to man in
many ways. In Romans 5:8 one
reads “But God commendeth His
love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.” Again in John 3:16 one
reads. “For God so loved the
world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting
life.” There are numerous other
verses that show how God loves
us as we are, but because man is
sinful he still lies out of fellowship
with God. Man’s sins will cost
man a lot. In Romans 3:23 one
finds “For all have sinned, and
come shart of the glory of God;”
Also inlJohnl:8we read, “If we
say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us.”
God tells us in Romans 6:23,
“For the wages of sin is death.”
This death is not only a physical
death that all will experience, but
it is a spiritual death that shall
last forever. Again in Romans
5:12 we read about sin and death.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death
by sin: and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned.”
Many individuals are so busy
looking at others and trying to
find faults in people who claim to
be Christians, that they really
have not stopped and taken ac
count of themselves. They go
about their merry way and live in
sin refusing to see how
they really are inside. They know
that they talk about people who
claim to be Christians and they
do not want any one talking about
them. If you know that you have
sinned and that you are heading
for a physical and spiritual death
and you want to do something
about it, then read on. If you are
afraid of what other people think
about you and you do not feel that
you need Jesus in your life then
stop reading, and do something
else. You would probably be
wasting your time.
I said that God has a way and
you can come to know His way as
you read on;
God’s way is through His Son,
Jesus Christ. This is the answer
to the question in the first
paragraph. Jesus is the way
for one to be forgiven of his sins.
In Matthew 26:28 Jesus said
“This is my blood of the New
Testament, which is shed for
many for the remission of sins
and renew his fellowship with
God.” In Romans 10:9-11 and 13
Paul tells us “That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised Him
from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For witli the heart man
believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For the
scripture saith. Whosoever
beUeveth on him shall not be
ashamed For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.”
It is more to believing the
historical point of Christ living
and dying and rising on the third
day. History proves this to be
true. Faith is the key word. This
faith according to hebrew 11:1
“Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen.” One must truly believe
in his heart that salvation is
through a free gift of God. In
Ephesians 2:8,9 one finds: “For
by grace are ye saved through
1
faith: and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; not of works,
lest any man should boast.”
You can see how sinful man,
that is doomed for hell, can
escape this chasm by placing his
faith in God for every detail of his
life and by accepting this free gift
of eternal salvation that God will
give upon your request. In
Revelation 3:20 Jesus says,
“Behold I stand at the door, and
knock: if any man hear my voice
and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me.” And in John 1:17 we
find, “But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on His name.”
Christ is waiting right now to
come into the heart and life of
each individual, who is willing to
give his life to Christ and allow
Christ to come into his Ufe and
take control of His life. He is
waiting to enter your heart also.
Won’t you let Him come in today,
this very moment. If you want
Christ to come into your life so
ONE WAY
that you can receive eternal
salvation along with a second
promise God made, found in John
10:10 “The thief cometh not, but
for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they
might have life and that they
might have it more abun
dantly,” then ask Christ to come
into your life.
While you are sitting here in the
classroom, cafeteria, squirrel
park, in the student center or
anywhere else you may be, just
take time to realize that you now
have to make as long as you live.
You can right this very minute
invite Christ into your life or you
may very well reject Him.
Whatever the choice, remember
that you must stand alone on that
final judgement day if you are
without Christ.
Here is how God illustrates in
His word as to how you can
receive Jesus right now. In Luke
18:10-14 as found in the Living
Bible, “Two men went to the
Temple to pray. One was a proud,
self-righteous Pharisee, and the
other a cheating tax collector.
The proud Pharisee prayed this
pjayer. “Think God, I am not a
sinner like everyone else,
especially like that tax collector
over there! For I never cheat, I
don’t commit adultery, I go
without food twice a week, and I
give to God a tenth of everything
I earn.” But the corrupt tax
collector stood at a distance and
dared not even to lift his eyes to
Heaven as he prayed, but beat
upon his chest in sorrow ex
claiming, “God, be merciful to
me a sinner; I tell you, this
sinner, NOT the Pharisee,
returned home forgiven! For the
pi oud shall be humbled, but the
humble shall be honored.”
If you pray the sinner’s prayer
“God, be merciful to me a sin
ner” and really mean it, then you
can rest assured in faith upon
God’s word that you are forgiven
and Christ has come into your Ufe
at this very moment. God will
keep His promise because He
does not lie.
Your new adventure will be
rough and long, but joyous. You
will find that you will need some
Christian fi-iends, need to read
God’s word, and need to pray
everyday in order to develop in a
Christian life.
Do not worry about not having
some great emotional feeling.
God said nothing about one
needing to have some great
feeling. Just trust God with all
the faith you have and walk with
Him in you daily life. You will not
find the Christian life an easy
road to follow, but inside you can
walk with an inner peace.
If you have accepted Christ,
tell someone how happy you are
that Christ came into your Ufe
because you asked Him to. Share
your faith with others each day
and Uve a happy Ufe for Christ.
May God bless you in your
decision.