There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. We are all lost to God and deeply estranged from His holiness and eternal life. We are born sinful- not just sinful deeds, but hearts and minds that are hard wired to selfishness and sin. It is like a disease and infiltrates every part of our being. We are blind to God’s ways; deaf to His message telling us to turn away; stony hearts that have no love for God or Christ or the work of The Holy Spirit, and our persons in themselves are dead to who God is and what He requires of us.

We are in a desperate state. There is no way we can get ourselves up and clean up our lives, so that we will be acceptable. God is totally holy, pure, righteous and cannot accept us on our terms. The truth is we haven’t got any and lie dead, decomposing and sleeping our way into the grave and an eternal place of punishment – hell.

Perhaps you think you are doing quite well, and are a very nice person who reacts well to others and tries to treat other people well. After all, if we do not act and speak well we will have no friends. This shows up our problems… Our motivations for doing certain things are suspect and in real terms, are selfishness covered over with respectability. Our enemy keep us lulled to our situation before a holy God, and we walk through life being duped by our own thought processes.

Maybe you think I am going too far- people are not that bad… ?

The web of life gets complicated and as we go on in the world, the burden of guilt and blame builds up, and we all carry it to the grave, unless we are enlightened.

How far would you go to rescue an enemy? How long would you persist in seeking her in order to bring her to God? How much of you time and effort would you give for another? When we start to reach out to the people around us, we are suddenly confronted with a reality that we might not have seen in ourselves. People do not want to face up. People are happy as long as they have what they want. The role of selfishness in our lives is huge, but we might not recognize its various faces. How do I break through this in myself and another?

We might invite them to a meeting; talk to them about what Jesus has done; pray for them; give a Bible to read and some literature… That’s about all we can do… There must be a deep work in the inner soul, for anyone to be changed and made right towards, God. The change is spiritual and only the Holy Spirit can do this. Only he can show me my need for forgiveness and change, and awaken a desire for God and cleanness.

The love of God is so amazing, deep, all-encompassing. He is prepared to wipe the slate clean, and start a work in my heart, that will change me in every way, and actually make me holy. God does not need humans, but He wants us and has gone to extreme lengths to make people fit for heaven.

We are all “estranged” until God makes us righteous and brings us right into His family…

There is no other message like this – a truth that changes lives and minds and intentions, and gives eternal life….