This is the “chief of sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, with the Gospel Light Minute X Podcast #391 titled, “It Is Time for You to Meet the Greatest Friend of All Time” I’m here to remind you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me.
Joseph Scriven wrote:
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
O, what peace we often forfeit
O, what needless pain we bear—
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
The man who wrote this nineteenth-century hymn was familiar with grief and loneliness. Scriven was engaged twice, and both times his bride-to-be died before the wedding. He fought depression all his life. It was after one bout with depression that he wrote the words to this song.
He could write those words because he had discovered the reality of friendship with Jesus Christ. Jesus understands our feelings because He lived on earth as a man. Jesus knows what it is like to be lonely. He suffered the pain of rejection and cruelty, and he felt hunger and thirst. The Bible describes Him as “a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”.
Yet Jesus did more than just sympathize with our troubles. The Bible says that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, and that “the wages of sin is death”. But God transferred our sin to Jesus Christ, His sinless Son, to make us right with God.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day. He experienced God’s wrath in our place. Because of that, those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are given the right to know God as their Father. And God has promised that He will never leave or forsake those who put their trust in Him.
God does not promise an easy life, but He gives those who trust in Jesus the privilege of taking everything to Him in prayer and the confidence to know that He hears them and will answer.
What God requires is that you and I turn from our sins and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Bible says in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
To believe in Christ means you acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to be good enough to meet God’s holy standard. Christ alone made the perfect sacrifice to pay the price for your sin. He died for you, even though you are a sinner. God promises that all those who believe in Jesus and trust in His perfect sacrifice for their sin will have everlasting life.
Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Friend? If not, you can right now. If you believe that Jesus Christ died in your place and rose again from the dead and you are willing to trust Jesus Christ with all of your heart so you can go to Heaven, please pray with me what is called the sinner’s prayer: Holy Father God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I admit that I have sinned against You and that I have broken Your Ten Commandments. I have lied before. I have stolen things before. I have lusted after people and things before. I have dishonored and disobeyed my parents. I have taken Your holy Name in vain. For Jesus Christ’s sake, please have mercy and grace upon my soul and forgive me of all of my sins, my failures, and my faults. As I now believe in Your Holy Son the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that He suffered, bled, and died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to repent of my sins past. Help me to turn from my old, evil life and follow You in the new life. For it is in Your Name I pray. Amen.
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Thank you for listening to this Gospel presentation. If you have decided to trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour after listening to this podcast, please email us at gls@gospellightsociety.com and let us know. To find out more about what you need to do after trusting Christ as Savior, visit GospelLightSociety.com and read “What to Do After You Enter Through the Door”.
The tract this podcast is based on is published by Crossway, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread God’s Word to the world through the printed page and other media. You can order copies of this tract online at Crossway.org.
The Gospel Light Minute X 