Salvation Message 1: "It's Time"

“It’s Time”

The title of my message is: “It‘s Time”. Turn with me in your bibles to Ecclesiastes 3:1. That’s Ecclesiastes 3:1. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

Yes, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. And the time to obey God is now.

My text is taken from Job 22:21-23. That's Job 22:21-23. "Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in thine heart."

Verses 21 and 22 are speaking to everyone who does not know God. They are telling you to become acquainted with Him. Acquainted means to have a personal knowledge of. It means to be familiar with. God wants you to know Him personally. He doesn't want you to just know ABOUT Him. He wants you to know HIM.

He wants you to have a relationship with Him. He wants to fellowship with you.

God wants you to know how much He loves you. John 3:16 tells us: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Turn with me to Revelation 1:5. That's Revelation 1:5. "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood," God, the Father, loves us so much that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were sinners, and we could not pay the price for our sin. Jesus Christ, loved us so much that He was willing to give His life, and shed His innocent blood for us.

God wants you to know His goodness. Turn with me to Psalm 25:8-9. That's Psalm 25:8-9. "Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will He teach sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach His way." God is so good that He will teach a sinner how to come to Him. If the sinner is meek enough to follow God's instructions, God will teach him how to live right and be like Him.

God wants you to know His grace. Turn with me to Ephesians 2:8-9. That's Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." God is so gracious that He gives us the faith to receive His gift of salvation. No one can boast or brag that he earned or bought his salvation, because salvation is the gift of God from God to us. For Jesus has paid the price for us. Salvation was too costly for us to pay, but through His grace God gives it to us by His Son Jesus Christ.

God wants you to know His faithfulness. Turn with me to Numbers 23:19. That's Numbers 23:19. "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath He said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

You can depend on God, whatever God says, because He does not lie.

God wants you to know his patience. Turn with me to II Peter 3:9. That's II Peter 3:9. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

For years, people have been asking: "Why hasn't Jesus come back the way that He promised He would?" Jesus is coming back, and He's coming back soon. He has not come back yet because He loves you. He is giving you a chance to repent and to accept Him as your Savior.

He wants you to spend eternity with Him. He does not want you to die and go to hell. I urge you to accept Him now, because tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.

Jesus is the only way that you can become acquainted with the Father. It is only through His blood that you can receive salvation. Turn with me to John 14:6. That's John 14:6. "Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life; no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.’" Neither Buddha, nor Muhammad, or Hare Krishna can lead you to God. They can't give you salvation. It is only through the blood of Jesus that you can come to the Father and be saved.

Let us say for example that you went to a Pistons' basketball game. When you got to the entrance gate you gave the ticket collector a ticket to the Lions' football game. Would she allow you to enter? I don't think so. What if you handed her a ticket to the Tigers' baseball game? Do you think she would let you in? Of course not. Perhaps if you handed her a ticket to the Red Wings' hockey game she would let you in then. No, she still would not let you in. She would tell you that the only way that you could enter the gate would be with a Pistons' basketball ticket. There is only one way that you can get to know the Father, and receive salvation and that is through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Let us go back to Job 22:23. That's Job 22:23. "If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles." Verse 23 is speaking to everyone who is out of fellowship with God. Everyone who is backslidden. Everyone who has accepted Jesus as your Savior, but for some reason you have turned away from Him. God loves you! He wants you to come back home to Him. He wants you to come back to where you belong. The world may have used you and thrown you away, but don't be afraid or ashamed to come back to God. You are His children! He loves you! Turn with me to I John 1:9. That's I John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confess means to say. It means to acknowledge. It means to agree with the fact. So, if you acknowledge and agree with the fact that you have sinned, and you confess that sin to God, He will forgive you of that sin or sins and He will bring you back into right standing with Him. It will be as though you never sinned.

Some of you may say, "I don't need God anymore. I am doing fine back in the world, doing my own thing." I want you to remember this: that the wages of sin is death. Turn with me to

Romans 6:23. That's Romans 6:23. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

God, the Father, has given you eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. You belong to Him now. You have no right to yield yourself to sin. Turn with me to I Corinthians 6:19-20. That's

I Corinthians 6:19-20. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Your salvation was bought by the innocent blood of Jesus Christ. You should glorify God in everything you do. It is time for us all to seek the kingdom of God, and to make Him the main focus of our lives. When we do, God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God will defend and protect us. He will not allow any weapon that is formed against us to prosper. When God becomes precious to us, when we delight in His word, when we love to do His will, and when we find joy in praising, worshipping, and praising, and praying to Him, we will become so close to Him that His thoughts will become our thoughts, His words will become our words, and His actions will become our actions. When we open up our mouth to declare a blessing over ourselves, God will bring it to pass, because it will be as though He has spoken it Himself.

It doesn’t matter what the world may think of us. If we humble ourselves and obey God, He will lift us up. He will use us to help deliver others. It doesn’t matter how old or how young we are. It doesn’t matter how we look. It doesn’t matter what color we are. It doesn’t matter if we are male or female. God can use us to help someone else. Even, if it's just one person.