ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY - PART 78

                                             ONE HEARTBEAT                                                AWAY

      PART  78


(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)


Charles Spurgeon said:

"My heart was fallow and covered with weeds, 
but on a certain day the great Farmer came 
and began to plow my soul. Ten black horses
were His team. and it was a sharp plowshare
that He used, and the plowers made deep 
furrows.

The Ten Commandments were those black 
horses and the justice of God, like a plowshare,
tore my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, helpless, hopeless. I thought
hell was before me.
But after the plowing came the sowing. God
Who plowed the heart in mercy, made it 
conscious that it needed the Gospel, and then
the Gospel seed was joyfully received."


The purpose of the Law 
is to show men that they
need a Savior. No one
can keep the Law, so if
that is what we are
trying to do, we are
without hope. When we realize our hopeless condition, we should be
very happy to hear what Jesus has done fore us.

Are you ready to  joyfully  receive what Jesus has done for you, as was the man in the account
below:

"And when they had come to the place which
is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, 
and the malefactors, one on the right hand 
and the other on the left. 
Then said Jesus, Father forgive them for they
know not what they do. And they parted His raiment and cast lots.
And the people stood beholding. And the rulers
with them also stood deriding Him, saying, He
saved others, let Him save Himself, if He be
Christ, the chosen of God.
And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to
Him and offering Him vinegar.
And saying, if Thou be the King of the Jews,
save Thyself.
And a subscription also was written over Him
in letters of Greek, and Latin and Hebrew,
THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
And one of the malefactors who were hanged,
railed on Him saying, If Thou be Christ, save
Thyself and us.
But the other, rebuked him, saying , Dost thou
not fear God, seeing we are in the same
condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due
reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me
when Thou comest  into Thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was
a  darkness over all the earth until the ninth
hour. 
And the sun was darkened and the veil of the
 temple was rent in the midst.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice,
He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My
spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. 
Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying Certainly this was a righteous man.
And all the people that came together to that
sight, beholding the things which were done,
smote their breasts, and returned.
And all His aquaintance and the women who
followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off,
beholding these things.
(Luke 23: 33-49)

The truth is that all of us are like one or the other of the two thieves who were crucified next to
Jesus. One mocked Him, and the other recognized that He is God and looked to Him for forgiveness
of his sins. 
The passage above also makes the point that  we
get to heaven, not by being good, but by repenting of our sins and by placing our faith and trust in
what Jesus has done for us.

next post  4th February