God
speaks to His people with a promise of blessing and a warning against
disobedience. The blessing is there, waiting for us. We lose out on the
blessing when we continue to walk on the pathway of disobedience. God
says to us, “Plough new ground for yourselves, plant righteousness, and
reap the blessings that your devotion to Me will produce.” This is the
promise of blessing, with its call to return to the Lord. Alongside this
promise of blessing, with its call to turn to the Lord - “It is time
for you will come and pour out blessings upon you” (Hosea 10:12), there
is God’s warning against following a way of life upon which His judgment
rests: “But instead you planted evil and reaped its harvest. You have
eaten the fruit produced by your lies” (Hosea 10:13).
"The Son of Man came to save the lost" (Matthew 18:11). In Matthew 18:12-13, Jesus speaks about sheep. He's really speaking about us. He is the Shepherd. We are His sheep. Sheep wander away from the shepherd. We wander away from the Lord. The shepherd looks for the lost sheep. Jesus has come to seek for us and find us. He brings us home to God, our Father. Through His saving grace, we receive new life - a life in which we rejoice in our great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He delivers us from the condemnation, which our sin has brought upon us. He brings us into the knowledge of His forgiveness. This Gospel of salvation changes us. It teaches us to live in the power of God's love. Jesus speaks about "the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:12,23), "the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:14,24) and "eternal life" (Matthew 19:29). Jesus' way of thinking and living is so very different from the world's way of thinking and living. He chall...
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