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Vieraskieliset / In-english

Editorial: Faith is God’s gift

Siionin Lähetyslehti
Vieraskieliset / In-english
6.11.2013 14.58

Juttua muokattu:

1.1. 23:44
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Ac­cor­ding to Je­sus’ te­ac­hing, child­ren be­lie­ve in him. God gi­ves each child who is born in­to this world the gift of faith (Matt. 18:6). If a per­son does not have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to hear and be­lie­ve the gos­pel of the for­gi­ve­ness of sins, sin ta­kes over his he­art and he fal­ls away from the king­dom of God (Ef. 2:1). There are many pe­op­le in this world who live in un­be­lief, the king­dom of the wic­ked (Matt 13:38).

The Bib­le warns that if a per­son dies in un­be­lief, he will be dam­ned (Mark 16:16). Dam­na­ti­on is not pre­pa­red for man­kind but for the de­vil and his an­gels (Matt. 25:41). God wis­hes that not even one per­son would be con­dem­ned, but would re­cei­ve ever­las­ting life (John 3:16). For this re­a­son he cal­ls pe­op­le back to his king­dom.

A per­son li­ving in un­be­lief can­not make the de­ci­si­on on their own to re­turn to God’s king­dom. Je­sus said: “No man can come to me, ex­cept the Fat­her which hath sent me draw him.” (John 6:44).

God awa­kens the cons­cien­ce in the he­art of an un­be­lie­ving per­son through His law (Ro­mans 3:20). God’s law re­qui­res pe­op­le to be truth­ful in thoughts, words and deeds (Matt. 22:37–40). It in­di­ca­tes to man that he has faul­ted against God by doing sin.

A per­son awo­ken by the law reg­rets his sin and starts to ask what he should do to re­turn to being a child of God. Not one per­son is ab­le to earn sal­va­ti­on through his own works. We are all sin cor­rup­ted (Ro­mans 3:12). The Bib­le tel­ls that a per­son needs God’s grace to have their sins for­gi­ven and be­co­me a child of God.

The de­vil does not want to re­le­a­se his grip on man. Sa­tan will ar­gue that it is not worth it to re­pent. But Je­sus re­minds us: “For what shall it pro­fit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). The Bib­le warns us to not re­ject God’s call: “Whe­re­fo­re (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voi­ce, Har­den not yo­ur he­arts.” (Heb. 3:7–8). The most im­por­tant thing in a per­son’s life is to se­arch for God’s king­dom and his righ­te­ous­ness. God gi­ves pe­op­le all that they need in ad­di­ti­on to His king­dom (Matt. 6:33, Mark. 10:29–30).

God’s king­dom can on­ly be en­te­red through re­pen­tan­ce. Je­sus ex­horts: “The time is ful­fil­led, and the king­dom of God is at hand: re­pent ye, and be­lie­ve the gos­pel” (Mark 1:15). Je­sus sent his own to pre­ach re­pen­tan­ce and the for­gi­ve­ness of sins to all pe­op­le (Luke 24:47).

God’s king­dom ap­p­ro­ac­hes pe­op­le even to­day in the ser­mon of the gos­pel. When a per­son he­ars and be­lie­ves the sin-for­gi­ving gos­pel, Je­sus’ blood cle­an­ses his he­art and he re­cei­ves the Holy Ghost in his he­art (Eph. 1:13, Heb. 9:14). He can en­joy the pe­a­ce, joy and free­dom in God’s king­dom (Gal. 5:22, Rom. 14:17).

Through this jour­nal, we wish all our re­a­ders God’s bles­sings. Our pra­yer is that the ar­tic­les in this jour­nal would strengt­hen the faith of God’s child­ren and call un­be­lie­vers to God’s king­dom.

Pek­ka Ait­ta­kum­pu

Trans­la­ti­on: An­ge­la Hän­ni­nen

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­liit­tees­sä 11/2013

28.3.2024

Jeesus otti leivän, siunasi, mursi ja antoi sen opetuslapsilleen sanoen: ”Tämä on minun ruumiini, joka annetaan teidän puolestanne. Tehkää tämä minun muistokseni.” Luuk. 22:19

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