Martin Luther, in a letter to a former catholic brother struggling with his faith writes the following:

“If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [or sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2 Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.”

It is only in the context of the full letter – and only in this one letter – that Luther pushes the idea this far, to the every day person his advice in terms of living a Christian life was not to ‘sin boldly’ but to rather to focus on the cross and let the Spirit do the work in us.

What I want to highlight in this quote are the following points:

• This is from a letter between two priests and partners in the reformation, two ‘saved Christians’, in which they discuss the sinfulness of their own lives. Martin Luther is not telling Philip Melanchthon to go and sin, but rather to acknowledge his sinfulness. The fact that even those of us who aren’t struggling with what we would consider ‘serious sins’ are in fact sinners.
• He is telling us to own up to our sinful nature with absolute honesty – it is only when we are honest about our condition that we can seek out any kind of improvement.
• Luther is saying that even the righteous – or ‘holy’ – even us who have chosen Christ and call ourselves Christians, will still continue to sin – regardless of how hard we try not to – and that no man can be perfect.
• He is saying that our justification is through faith and faith alone, although we try our utmost to live a holy and godly life.
• Even though we continue sinning – even though we do x, y, or z (insert your sin here) after being born again, even though we remain imperfect, this does not make the sacrifice of Christ less perfect, and nothing can separate us from His love.
• He teaches us to continue in prayer – in building a relationship with THE ONE WHO SAVES US – because it is in Christ alone that our salvation is found – and the sacrifice of the Spotless and exalted Lamb of God was not a small price or a meagre sacrifice, but that the grace of God is without limitation.

In writing this, I want to encourage you not to let your conscience become an idol in the place of God. I also want to mention that I’m not saying that we have a license to sin because of grace – but that the grace of God, His Spirit and a relationship with Him is ultimately what we must strive for. Sin will always have consequences – regardless of the infinite grace of God.

In reference to this passage by Luther, the critic G. C. Berkouwer, in his book ‘Faith and Sanctification’, wrote:

He does not say ‘Sin till you are blue in the face,’ or ‘Sin for all you’re worth,’ but ‘Sin bravely.’” With this word –whatever the libertine may do with it– he intends to exorcise the terror of the believer who has discovered some sin in himself and has now lost sight of the grace of God. An abundance of grace can subdue the power of sin… In order to signalize the superabundance of grace, he contrasts it –Luther is a vehement man– with a thousand sinful enormities a day. His intention is not to yield quarter to Antinomianism but to upset a construction which would make sin and grace of equal weight, and therefore he exhorts the sinner to have courage.

The ’construction’ the phrase “sin boldly” meant to upset is the scales we use to balance our righteousness. Instead of weighing our wrong doings and our good deeds against the letter of the law, we are to give over to the Living Word of God and to the guidance and unction, the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus in John 16:5-11: speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit:

“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

It is the Spirit that convicts us of sin and convinces us of righteousness.

I give a warning, but also hope.

Jesus warned against wolves in sheep’s clothing – he warned against false teachers and prophets – he told us that many would twist the scripture to their own liking and advantage, and use it for the advancement of their own agenda. If you are doing anything, or NOT doing something because a PERSON with a TITLE told you so, this is not enough. Don’t be bound by fear or limitation – don’t let anyone tell you that you are not righteous enough, fervent enough, holy enough – because Jesus paid for it all and He has a unique purpose for your life.

Measure everything against the word of God. Like the Luther quote above can be measured against the whole of Romans 5:20-21:, although I’d like to quote the last two verses:

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Everything must be measured according to the Word.

Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.” (NKJV)

Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.” (NKJV)

Jesus came to turn our nothingness into something – He came to fill that God shaped gap. He came to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

He should always be our life source. He is the one who makes everything new again – He came to tear the curtain and to show us that there was nothing behind it, for He was already in our midst just as He is now. He desires to live in you – and His blueprint for your life is not to make copies of copies – His blueprint for your life is unique – His blueprint for your life is unique to you. The measure of His grace is infinite, and how much of it flows in your life is completely dependent on your relationship with Him.

God is not a product. He cannot be boxed in, He cannot be bought nor sold. God is not a man, and He does not play favourites.

Through Christ you have become a son, or daughter, of God. Yes, we will have many mentors, and we obey our spiritual leaders (as Romans 13 advises – but also realize as per Hebrews 13:18 that Paul asks us to pray that these leaders stay honourable in their conduct, meaning that they can also stray from the path – as Luther expressed in the letter above) – but never make them idols in the place of God. Never make doctrine an idol in the place of God. Never make religion an idol in the place of God.

Jesus was a revolutionary – He came to give us relationship in the place of religion. This is the biggest part of the blueprint.

He has a plan for your life – a plan to restore you. A plan to make you new. A blueprint reboot.

Pray this prayer with me: “Lord, allow me to set aside every altar I have built, every idol I have created, help me cast away every single thought, idea and doctrine that is not from you. Let me not honour or exalt flesh and blood, or good works or man-made constructs in place of Your glory, goodness, and grace. Let me build a relationship with you. Anoint the ears of my heart that I may hear your voice and build a relationship with you that is not dependant on anything besides Your Spirit living in me. Open my eyes and let me see things for what they are, let me see Your love and grace enveloping me. Let me be open minded about the way forward, and realize that You did not come to bring us religion – but a revolution of the heart, a revival, a restoration in our relationship with You. ”

Life is filled with questions.

“Who am I?”

“Why am I here?”

“What is the meaning of life?”

“Where is all of this going?”

And ultimately- as my dad used to say – the biggest and deepest philosophical question of them all, is simply “Why?”

Do you know who you are?

Are you looking for deeper meaning in your everyday life?

You have come to the right place.

The search for self and purpose has always been a compelling journey. The pursuit and formation of identity towards self-realization (the fulfilment of one’s own potential) is an ongoing process that all of us, whether aware of it or not, go through. We are constantly changing, developing, growing, evolving into ‘something’ – the question we are asking today, instead of any and all other questions we might’ve come up with for this preamble – is just what this ‘something’ should be defined as.

According to Merriam-Websters online dictionary Identity can be defined as follows:

Identity noun:

• The distinguishing character or personality of an individual.

• The condition of being the same with something or asserted.

Peter Weinreich defines identity as follows:

“A person’s identity is defined as the totality of one’s self-construal, in which how one construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity between how one construes oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as one aspires to be in the future”

In other words – your identity is something that is built and constructed over time. A term I prefer is self-concept. This term, used in the social sciences, proposes that our identity as a whole is made up of various concepts and beliefs about ourselves – created, constructed and gathered together through external and internal stimuli and experiences – and that it includes our ideas of our past selves (where I was) and future selves (where I’m going) to form a complete picture of who we are. Your self-concept is the total of everything you’ve ever experienced, where you’ve been, what you did – every word spoken about and by you, every thought that ever crossed your mind, and every truth or untruth you have assimilated or made a part of yourself. What you will do, say and become in the future flows from this. A healthy self-concept will lead us on to a happy, fulfilled life.

The unfortunate reality of life, however, is that not all of us come from happy homes. We did not all have rose-tinted childhoods. We did not all make good choices as youths or young adults. Life is not always fair. Trials, tribulations and tragedy has crossed our paths – and not everything that doesn’t kill you makes you come out stronger – many of us have come out of our storms weary, burdened and tired, and some of us never seem to recover.

The good news is that even though this might be a grand truth in the greater scheme of things – that hardships do happen across our paths every now and again, that trials and tribulations do come, there is always hope. Hope of reconciliation. Hope of restoration. Hope of renewal.

I would like to share with you from Romans 5:

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 boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I believe that God had a specific blueprint in mind when He created you – just like He had a specific blueprint in mind when He created me. He had an idea of what He would like us to be like – what He would like us to become.

In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, it says that God has plans for us, for good and not for evil. Over the years it has always been a passage that I have applied to myself – a promise for me – the promise of a hopeful and prosperous future. Recently, however, I have seen this verse through a new lens.

John describes Jesus in John 1:1: as the Word, or LOGOS.

Encyclopaedia Britannica has the following to say:

Logos, (Greek: “word,” “reason,” or “plan”) plural logoi, in ancient Greek philosophy and early Christian theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning. Although the concept is also found in Indian, Egyptian, and Persian philosophical and theological systems, it became particularly significant in Christian writings and doctrines as a vehicle for conceiving the role of Jesus Christ as the principle of God active in the creation and the continuous structuring of the cosmos and in revealing the divine plan of salvation to human beings. It thus underlies the basic Christian doctrine of the preexistence of Jesus.

In other words, John 1:1: could be read as follows: In the beginning was the PLAN, and the PLAN was with God, and the PLAN was God. God’s plan for the salvation and sanctification of His creation was to give Himself. Jesus therefore is GOD incarnate and moving in our midst.

While amongst His disciples, Jesus promises the outpouring and baptism of the Holy Spirit (John 14) – the indwelling of His Spirit in the hearts of believers. We see this outpouring and the expansion of God’s Gracious Kingdom throughout the book of Acts and onward in the New Testament.

We’ll have a look at two more passages, before revisiting Jeremiah:

Acts 1:4-8:

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

We see here a promise, by Jesus, that the disciples will receive the Holy Spirit, and that the impartation of His Spirit will give them a new identity and purpose as witnesses to the ends of the earth.

In the third chapter of Colossians, Paul urges us to set our minds and hearts on the things above, where Christ is. This does not literally imply that there are things ‘above’ us, but rather implies the priority of certain attitudes, behaviours, principles, and goals. It implies that we must strive to be imitators of Christ (Eph 5:1). He reminds us that our identity is to be fully rooted in Christ.

I share with you an earlier statement by Paul in the same letter to the church in Colossae.

Colossians 1:15-20: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

From the very beginning we were created by Him – through Him and for Him.

Now let’s look at the promise in Jeremiah 29

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

If we look at the full chapter we find that this is not a promise made to an individual – but to a collective. This does not diminish the fact that God has plans for you as an individual, but on the contrary, makes the promise so much bigger.

God not only has plans of good FOR you, He also has plans of good THROUGH you.

This is a promise of restoration. It is a promise of liberation from the chains that bind us, freedom from the captivity of sin – but also a promise of empowerment. Through the Gospel we are made new.

In Romans 5:6 (shared earlier) it says that while we were still powerless Jesus died for us on the Cross. It also states in verse 1 and 2 that there has been a change in our state of being – where before we were condemned under the rule of the law, we are now justified – the death warrant has been torn to shreds – and we are standing in God’s grace. A paradigm shift has occurred. We were powerless – but now the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead works in us and through us. We were walking with one foot in the grave, now we are standing fully in His grace.

This is the same grace that was paid for by the blood of the Spotless Lamb, the sacrifice of our High Priest and Intercessor – our Messiah, our Saviour – the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. The same blood that washes away our iniquity and sin and paid for the healing of our infirmities. (Isaiah 53). It is the blood of Jesus that restores us, that nudges us back on the track, towards the beautiful blueprint God had in mind when He first imagined you.

2 Corinthians 5:12-19:For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Once again, in verse 19 we see the usage of the word LOGOS – the divine plan of God. Through the impartation of the Holy Spirit, Paul goes on to explain, we have become ambassadors of Christ – the physical hands and feet of the unseen God. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God is in us and wishes to work through us so that we may be distributors of the goodness and the grace that He has given us.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul makes it clear that we have received a new identity through Jesus and our reconciliation and identification with His death, burial and resurrection through the baptism of the Holy Spirit – that the old has passed away and that we are new creations and ambassadors of Christ. Not only does Paul tell us that we have a new identity – he tells us who we are (new creations, ambassadors of Christ, ministers of reconciliation).

He also explains our purpose – what we are (the righteousness of God in Christ) (verse 21). Finally, Paul answers the biggest question – why we are, and the answer is that we are to be ministers of reconciliation, committed to the LOGOS – the divine plan of salvation, the mighty name of Jesus. We are to impart this freedom to the unsaved.

What then becomes of the old? Even though it has passed away, does that mean it is forgotten?

1 Peter 2:9 states that we are a royal priesthood, a peculiar people called to proclaim the goodness of Him who called us out of darkness and into the light.

The old things that have passed away refers to our old ways of thinking and doing – a kind of transfusion has taken place.

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The Spirit now guides our thoughts and actions, and no longer the flesh. We think and are mindful – as per Colossians 3 – of the things above, where Christ is – His priorities now become our priorities, our hearts break for that which breaks His heart.

A heart transplant has taken place. No longer do we have hearts of stone – it has been replaced by a heart of flesh – a heart that beats for God and His children.

Our thinking is renewed and our old darkness is illuminated, our past is now a proclamation of the goodness of God – the fact that He has taken us from such depths and placed us on the solid ground, that He has planted us upon the Rock of our Salvation.

As a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, as someone who has made a lot of mistakes and has walked a long and oftentimes strange, occasionally confusing, and sometimes arduous but ALWAYS wonderful and rewarding road with Jesus – as someone who has found peace and comfort in the shelter of His arms – I know that there are many things in my past that I am not proud of, but that there is reason for celebration in our boasting in Christ and His redeeming love, the same love that took me from the slow of despair and made me rise up with wings as an eagle. And these same things that I am not proud of, these same old wounds that still hurt when they are opened up, are battle scars that prove my victory in Christ. These same old things – my past has become a proclamation of the fact that our God still saves, that Jesus still loves, that the Holy Spirit still moves.

My mess is a message, and the tests I have been through a testimony – and the same goes for you. Don’t let the enemy remind you of your past, don’t let him keep you down. We have been redeemed by Christ’s eternal and ever enduring love, we have been saved through His grace. You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh, and nothing can ever separate you from His love and mercy except yourself.

I leave you with two final passages from John 14

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

According to the definition earlier in this article, identity is defined as:

1. The distinguishing character or personality of an individual.

2. The condition of being the same with something or asserted.

The second definition felt out of place when I was writing this, and I think it’s because we have a built in desire – more than the desire to fit in – to stand out and be unique, to be special, to be our own person.

But the longer I spent in front of my laptop, the more it made sense. The more it felt necessary.

The flesh will always oppose the spirit and will always overwhelm the spirit if we allow it.  Peter calls us a peculiar people, he calls us pilgrims, he calls us strangers.

Peter calls us pilgrims and strangers because we are to be in the world but not of it. We are ambassadors establishing the Kingdom in a foreign land. We are always to recognize and remember our citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why Paul cautions us to walk according to the Spirit – to walk by faith and not by sight, and to run this race with endurance.

We want to be like Jesus. We want to follow in His footsteps.

In one of His parables, Jesus told the disciples: The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. (Luke 6:40)

And even though the parable is about the blind leading the blind, about finding proper mentorship, it does have deeper spiritual implications. In John 14 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as the one who will TEACH us and REMIND us, the one who will COMFORT us, the one who will FIGHT FOR US (ADVOCATE).

Paul tells us to not be conformed to this world, but to be different through the renewal of our minds – this renewal of our minds is found in our reconciliation through Christ and the impartation of His Spirit.

Reconciliation is the action of bringing two opposing objects (whether an argument, an account or in our case – ourselves) into agreement. Through our reconciliation with God, we put ourselves aside and realize that less of me is more of Him. To grow to spiritual maturity in Christ we need to lose ourselves in Him. We need to become more like Him (1 John 2:6, 1 Peter 2:21, Philippians 2:1-5). Through surrendering wholly and completely to Him, through seeking, and praying, and longing and thirsting – ardently and passionately pursuing God in everything we do, and through the unction of the Holy Spirit at work in us, we take on the character of Christ. He becomes our identity. Our identity is in Him.

Just as David describes His need for God, likening it to a deer, who panting for water, dips his whole head into the stream, my prayer for you is that you will desire to find God. Just like He promises in Jeremiah – that you will pray and call on His mighty name, and that He will hear you, that you will seek Him with your whole heart and find Him and plunge head first into the depths of the Heart of God. That you will lose yourself in Him and thus be found – that His DESIRE of GOOD for you in your own life and THROUGH you in the lives of others will prosper.

It is in Christ that we find our reason for being. It is in Christ that we find our hope. It is in Christ alone that we truly find ourselves.

Come and find yourself.

#blueprintreboot #themoveofGodison #comefindyourself #revivalisnow

As an exercise in practical soteriology I have taken the principles of salvation and applied them to a mundane event – this is Bus Stop.

We begin with a basic logical formula:

Problem + Plan = Solution

The Problem: God created man and gave him authority over all the Earth and all that was in it, but man gave it up when he partook in the fruit of disobedience, when he ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Evil overwhelmed them and they were cast out of the Garden. Mankind was cast into death because of their iniquity, for as through one man sin entered the world, so also death entered the world through sin. Because of Adam’s silence, because of their compromise with sin, we are dead to sin.

The Plan: In Genesis 3:15:, shortly after man had taken part in sin, God made a promise which runs like a thread right through the entirety of the Bible. This promise summarizes the whole plan of salvation – that the Messiah will come and deliver His people from the captivity of death.

The Solution: God who is rich in mercy loved us so much that He stepped down into darkness to deliver us from the forces of evil. He who gives source to all light stepped down into darkness to free us from the bondage of sin and death. Christ is the fulfilment of the promise. The cross became His banner, as He bore all our sins and iniquities, every torment and every infirmity. The cross became His banner, His banner is love.

All of this being said and done we can now explain the Bus Stop thought experiment.

The word of God states that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and also that death came to all men through Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12). It is based on these two observances that we assume our separation from God.

As it is impossible to state that we are nowhere, I want to make a statement saying that we find ourselves at a bus stop. This bus stop is called “Death”. We are all dead to sin, and thus we find ourselves in “Death” – waiting for a bus to the end of the line.

It has been suggested that we find ourselves, currently, in a kind of purgatory – that this is the in between – between Heaven and Hell – but I would beg to differ.

For one, in 20 years of ministry I have yet to find a scripture even loosely suggesting this kind of thought.

Secondly, I personally, and with good reason, believe that we start out in hell – we are lost from the very get go – dead to sin and destined for eternal damnation. It’s like you’ve got a reservation there. Your room, for all intents and purposes, has already been booked. Out tickets have been punched. That is the direction of life without God – the destination of those who do not find salvation.

My reasoning is as follows – when I say that we start out in hell, I’m speaking in future tense, meaning – that is our destination when we start this journey called life. I say this because man has fallen into a state of total depravity, as the Romans passage says – for all have sinned.

Romans 3:10-18:

¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. ¹²They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. ¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: ¹⁴Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: ¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood: ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways: ¹⁷And the way of peace have they not known: ¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes.

We find that none are righteous, this corruption being a very integral part of who we are. We find that our lifestyle has become quite apathetic concerning God, that we’ve all been walking on the broad and easy way. Our walk, our talk and all our ways have become corrupt, and so has our goals – we have become seekers of hedonistic, self-satisfying pleasures.

Now that we have described the bus stop, it might be of interest to us to explore the reason for our wait there.

Usually when we wait at a bus stop it’s because we have a destination, because we have a goal, a purpose. I used to be a waiter (good at waiting), but I grew impatient. We will get to that in a moment though.

You have a purpose. God says unto Jeremiah, in the very first chapter of Jeremiah – “before you came from you mother’s womb I foreordained you as a prophet to the nations. Before you were born I had chosen you to do something for Me and my children.”

David says – “Lord, my substance was not hid from thee, and also in Jeremiah God states that He has plans for us, plans for good and not for evil.”

In the first chapter of Jeremiah He states that He is the one who formed him in the womb, that he is the one who knitted him together in the dark place.

David, stating that his substance was not hid from the Lord makes room for two very interesting questions – are God’s plans for us a part of who we are? And What is God’s plan for us?

I believe that God’s plans for us form a very integral, central part of who we are, if we choose to accept His will. David says in Psalm 40: ⁸I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Somewhere else he asks God to enlighten the eyes of His heart – to open them.

We find that God’s will for us – His plans for good, are part of who we are, we just need to wake up and see it.

You might be wondering what God’s plan for you is, well, Matthew helps us out:

Matthew 18:12-13:

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? ¹³And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

At the start we said – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and later we read that we all have strayed, that we are all found on the broad and easy way. We are all found at a bus stop called “Death”.

Christ refuses to leave us there though – He is willing to throw all our plans and preparations away to seek you! He is willing to let man’s will fail, in order for His will to succeed. He is like a shepherd going into the mountains, and through the valleys, until He finds you!

In Zephaniah the prophet states that God is a mighty one who will save, that He will quiet you by His love; that He will rejoice over you with singing!

When a sinner comes to repentance Heavenly Choirs are alive with celebration.

As I’ve said before – when we wait at a bus stop we need a destination. There has to be a reason – and the reason is that God loves us. That we have become separated from him, but He still loves us.

Ephesians 2:4-5:

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Where are we going? That is a question often asked by more people than we choose to think about.

Going nowhere slowly is an expression often heard and said, one that is quite contradictory to God’s will. God says – come to me all who are weary and burdened. God calls the weary and the broken – a lost world is beckoned ‘come’.

When I look at the society that surrounds me it is clear that this call isn’t to a certain few but to the mass of the world.

We have a destination, a place we are meant to go – to Christ.

Isaiah 52:1-6:

¹Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? ²For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He is the one who bore our sins and our transgressions, all our burdens, our pain, our grief, our disease. He has paid the price, paved the way with His riches in mercy and grace. He has bought us a ticket that leads into Life Everlasting.

We are all waiting at the bus stop, and so often the bus comes our way.

Christ used the cross as a vehicle for our salvation – our salvation is not on the cross, but rather in the man on the cross.

By accepting Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, by allowing ourselves to be washed in the fount of His compassion and mercy, by allowing our sins to be washed away, we can draw near to God.

When the bus stops we have two choices – we can ignore it, or we can acknowledge it.

The Gospel is that bus – it is the vehicle that leads unto salvation. At the very core of it is our Driver, our Guide, our Teacher – our Deliverer – the Lord Christ Jesus.

We have two choices when we are confronted with the Gospel – we can ignore it, or we can acknowledge it.

Ignoring it means that we simply stay seated, exactly where we are – waiting for the end.

Acknowledging it means getting up and making your way toward the door, inspecting the bus, maybe even having a chat with the driver.

Today you are confronted with the Gospel which can be summarized in 1 Timothy 3:16:

¹⁶And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Christ is God revealed in the flesh unto us so that we could believe and be saved.

Christ said – no one comes to the Father except through me.

We also read in John 14:6:

⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

And in John 8:32:

³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Jesus is the Truth – He is the one that can set you free!

In Hosea we read that we are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge – because we do not know Him we stay seated in destruction – we stay seated at the bus stop called Death.

The Bus is there. It is now our choice to give up all we are, to step in through those doors, or to stay outside. Giving yourself as a passenger means surrendering yourself to the mercies of the driver.

This bus however leads to life, eternal life, your salvation, the redemption of your soul.

Do you choose to stay seated at the bus stop, waiting for your transport to the lake of fire, or do you get in.

God doesn’t blackmail us saying ‘choose life or I’ll send you to hell.’ The choice He offers is – ‘choose life, or stay where you are.’

And I choose life each and every time.