“…a time to heal … and a time to build up.”
Ecclesiastes 3:3
The first time I saw Lynx and Cheetah I fell in love with them.
I was willing to pay the price to adopt them. I would redeem them – purchase them out of the pound, never to return. They would not die at the pound, as so many animals do.
In paying the price to purchase them from the pound, we would have a new relationship. They would become my kittens, and I would become their owner. I would be their alpha, and they would join my pride.
I would love them and care for them. And give them an amazing life of adventure!
Their first adventure in their new home was a bath! They hated it and squirmed and meowed like the wild cats they had been. But the bath removed the fleas and the dirt and the grunge they had gotten from life in the wild and in the pound. And now their fur was so soft and beautiful!
Their second adventure in their new home was receiving a beautiful new collar. The collar had a small tag with their new name, their new owner, and contact information to return them to their new home if they should ever get lost. Their new blue collars even matched their beautiful blue eyes.
Their third adventure was meeting Sarah, Elizabeth, Carolyn, Rebekah, and David, my five children, when they all came home from school. Lynx and Cheetah received many pets and were held lovingly, but all they wanted to do was escape and hide. Their wild instincts enabled them to find amazing hiding places. They hid in the closets, behind the clothes. They hid under the beds. They hid in the drawers in the furniture. They hid in the cabinets. They hid under the sofas, and on the chairs under the tables. They even climbed the hanging clothes in the closets like trees to hide on the very top shelves in the closets. Lynx and Cheetah were experts at hiding in the house, but the children became experts at finding them and petting them. Within a few weeks Lynx and Cheetah were looking forward to pets and playtime with their new family.
My paying the price to adopt Lynx and Cheetah is a picture of Christ paying with His life on the Cross to bring boys and girls and men and women into a new personal relationship with God. Before the foundation of the world Christ loved each one of us. We were born in sin and condemned to death because the wages of sin is death. But God sent His beloved Son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin on the Cross. Jesus redeemed us from the bondage of sin to enter into abundant and eternal life with Him. Faith in Christ ushers us into the family of God.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
God’s heart lovingly provides eternal salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.
Supplemental Material for New Home
All men and women, and boys and girls, have sinned.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23
Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–
Romans 5:12
To sin is to fall short of God’s standard. Sin is an inner nature, inherited by every person from Adam, which is evidenced by opposition against God, against Christ, against other individuals, against the Law, against one’s own body (1 Cor 6:18), and against authority. Sin initially appears to be attractive, offering an enticing allurement to those who choose its path, yet the end of sin is invariably bondage, misery, unanswered prayer, separation from God, and death. There are many words used in the Bible to describe sin.
- Sin [Heb hatta’t – offense, sin; root chata – to miss; used 293 times in the Old Testament] is to miss the mark or standard established by God’s Word. It can be an offense against God or man, and was 1st used when God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door desiring to master him (Gen 4:7).
- Transgression [Heb pasha – break away from authority, rebel, revolt; used 134 times in the Old Testament] is willful rebellion against and independence from God.
- Iniquity [Heb avon – perversity; from root avah – to be bent, crooked, twisted, perverted] is a perversion or twisting into error, often expressing the twisted inner character and guilt of the sinner. All of creation groans under the effects of sin.
- Disobedience [Gk apeitheia] unpersuadable, obstinate rejection of God’s will
- Error [Gk plano– root for English word planet] wander from path (doctrine, morals), lead astray, deceive
- Fault [Gk aition] crime, legal grounds for punishment
- Iniquity [Gk anomia; a nomos (law)] lawlessness, defiance against God’s laws
- Transgression [Gk paranomia – para (against), nomos (law)] law breaking; [Gk parabaino] go aside, beyond the commandment of God
- Ungodliness [Gk asebeia] defiance against God’s person
- Trespass [Gk paraptoma] false step
- Unrighteousness [Gk adika] not righteous, not right with God/His standard
- Wickedness [Gk poneria] bad, worthless
- Evil [Gk kakia] evil
Sin separates us from God.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Isaiah 59:2
God is holy, displays His wrath against sin, and will judge sinners.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness
Romans 1:18
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15
God loved us and sent a Savior Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sin and provide salvation to all who believe in Him.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Romans 5:8-9
Jesus redeemed us and paid the price to remove us from the marketplace of sin. Jesus paid our ransom to set us free from the bondage of sin, to forgive us of our sins, and to provide us with eternal redemption.
and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:12
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
Ephesians 1:7
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29
God cleanses believers from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.
I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.
Jeremiah 33:8
Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
John 13:5-10
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:7
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
God’s Solution to mankind’s sin problem, achieved through Christ’s superior sacrifice, permanently removed the consequences of sin.
- God promises to blot out (erase the records and debt) our sin (Ps 51:1)
- To cleanse (from defilement and corruption) us from our sin (Isa 1:18)
- To wash (clean dirty clothes) away our sin (Acts 22:16)
- To forgive (to remove a burden) our sin (Mk 2:7)
- To be released (from our bondage) from our sin (Rev 1:5)
- To cover our sin with a heavy cloud (Isa 44:22)
- To make our sin white as snow (instead of scarlet) Isa 1:18)
- To put our sin behind His back (Isa 38:17)
- God will not remember our sins (Jer 31:34; Isa 43:25)
- God has buried our sin in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19)
- God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12).
Salvation for men and women, and boys and girls, is through faith in Christ alone. Over 100 verses in the New Testament clearly reveal that Christ alone is the one and only way to God and heaven, the one and only truth about salvation and forgiveness of our sin and its consequences, and the one and only source and provision of eternal life. When we believe in Christ as our personal Savior and receive His gift of salvation through faith we have a new relationship. We become His people.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Acts 16:31
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved
Romans 10:9
Jesus said to her, “ I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies”
John 11:25
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
John 14:1-3
[Jesus] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Titus 2:14
We are adopted into the family of God.
so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:5
We become the beloved children of God.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name
John 1:12
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children
Eph 5:1
We have a new name – “Christians” – followers of Christ.
To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial,
And a name better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.
Isaiah 56:5
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.
Revelation 2:17
God loves us and cares for each of His beloved children, giving us abundant life today and eternal life forever in heaven.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
He who believes in the Son has eternal life
John 3:36a
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
John 5:24
Jesus will return again for believers, escort us to heaven, and rescue us from God’s future judgment of sin and wrath to come.
and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1:10
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:6
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Romans 5:8-9
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
God’s heart lovingly provides eternal salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.
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