"I
will look to the Lord. I will wait for God to save me. I will wait for
my God to listen to me" (Micah 7:7). Who is the Lord our God? The answer
to this question is found in Micah 6:18-20. Wwe are never wasting our
time when we look to the Lord.We are never wasting our time when we wait
on Him. He listens to us. He saves us. What wonderful words we have in
the last three verses of Micah. God forgives our sin. He overlooks our
rebellion. Better than our sin is God's salvation. Better than our
rebellion is God's redemption. God is not angry forever. He shows mercy
to us. God's wrath was poured out on Christ so that His mercy might be
poured out upon us. Jesus took our place. He died for us. He drank,
fully, from the cup of our condemnation so that we might drink, fully,
from the cup of His salvation. God has compassion on us. He overcomes
our wrongdoing. He sees what we are really like. He sees us in our sin.
He also sees what we can become. He sees us in His grace. Overcoming our
wrongdoing means more than forgiving our sin. The forgiveness of our
sins is very wonderful. It is not, however, all that God does for us and
gives to us. There is also the changing of our lives. God throws all
our sins into the deep sea. God is faithful. When we think of the
faithfulness of God, we're thinking of more than forgiveness. There's
also the faithfulness of God, keeping us for Himself, working in us so
that our hearts and lives may be, more truly and more fully, set apart
for Him. We think of God's great salvation, and we say, "'Tis mercy all,
immense and free." We know that this great change in us did not begin
with ourselves. It began with God. It began with His eternal love.
"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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