THE LOST

When a man/woman is brought to the end of himself/herself, when he sees himself as a helpless, hopeless wreck when he sees the utter emptiness, hollowness, and vanity of all earthly things; when like the prodigal son he comes to himself and feels the depth and reality of his need, then there is room in his heart for God - Yehovah and God - Yehovah delights to come and fill it. “To this man/woman will I look.” To whom? “To him/her who is a humble and contrite spirit.”

When a man/woman takes his/her true place in full submission to the sovereign will of God - Yehovah and believes in the one whom He sent and repents and is baptized, God - Yehovah meets him/her with full forgiveness for his/her past sins, and gives him/her the power of His indwelling Spirit and now looks upon him/her as a new creation, a son/daughter and a member of the body of God's anointed one, the called-out Assembly and he/she also become a temple of God due to God's indwelling Spirit in him/her. He/she is also grafted into the true Israel and becomes with the seed of Abraham – Jesus, a co-inheritor of all that was promised to Abraham and to the lord Jesus when Jesus comes to take his place on the throne of David at Zion at the end of this age.

Now for a man/woman to know what it means to repent and why he/she should be baptized let's look at the commission God gave to Paul. Acts 26:16-18 But arise, and stand upon your feet: for to this end have I appeared unto you, to appoint you a minister and a witness both of the things wherein you have seen me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto you; delivering you from the people - Jews, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send you, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God - Yehovah, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified – set apart by faith in me.

Every true minister of God - Yehovah, everyone who preaches the message of Jesus – the good news about the coming Kingdom of God - Yehovah, will preach forgiveness and repentance in the name of Jesus, as an ambassador of the lord Jesus. If they preach the message that Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles preached they will open the eyes of those who hear, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God - Yehovah.

We see from the above statement we see that every unregenerate Jew and Gentile is blind and in darkness and under the power of Satan. They may imagine themselves to be free and their own master to go where they please, do what they want, think for themselves, speak, and act as independent beings. The unregenerate man/woman does not realize that he/she is a slave to sin which makes Satan his/her lord and master.

A man's - woman's life and his/her salvation depends upon him/her taking God - Yehovah His word, and believing what He says because He says it! God's - Yehovah's word says that man/woman in his/her natural unconverted state is Satan's bond slave. It speaks of Satan as “the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air,”, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” It speaks of man/woman as “led captive by Satan at his will.” The good news message of the Kingdom of God turns men/woman from “the power of Satan to God - Yehovah.” Thus his/her eyes are opened; divine light streams in; the power of Satan is broken, and the delivered one finds himself/herself in the presence of God - Yehovah. All this is through faith by the grace of God.

When the ambassador of God's - Yehovah's anointed one Jesus stands up and preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom as a herald of salvation, he proclaims in the most unqualified manner a present, personal, and perfect salvation to all who hear, and all who hear are then responsible then and there to believe or reject the massage. To accept is life in the coming new age, to reject is to end up destroyed in the lake of fire which is the second death. It is the duty of all believers to set forth the truth of the atoning work of the lord Jesus as the only righteous ground for the forgiveness of sins. All men are called upon to repent and be baptized completely committing themselves to walk in faith and obedience toward God - Yehovah. That total commitment to God - Yehovah involves considering the old man as dead and living out life as a new creation dedicated to serving God - Yehovah in all things.

Paul's gospel set forth a full, clear, unqualified present forgiveness of sins and the believer's entire deliverance from this present evil world. A complete cutting of every sinful link with the world, and entire deliverance from the present power and rule of sin. All true-hearted believers must strive for personal holiness – put off sin, and seek to become more like the lord Jesus, realizing he is the way, the truth, the life, and the light that shines forth from his indwelling presence in us. In doing so we will be showing forth the character of the lord Jesus as expressed in the fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control...

A man/woman who believes in the lord Jesus and walks in committed obedience to his words has the life of God's - Yehovah's anointed one communicated to him, dwelling in him and flowing out from him in all that he/she goes about doing in this world. To be in God's anointed one and have him indwelling us enables us to act by the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in the spirit and put aside the works of the flesh. To live in the world, but not to be of the world. It is then we are to go out to seek and save the lost, to deliver them from the power of Satan's influence in their lives and offer them a way to deliverance from sin and entrance into the Kingdom of God. Our God and Father Yehovah will give us the enabling power of His Spirit to go forward sending forth the message of salvation for we know that whatever He asks us to do He will always provide us with the means and power to accomplish what He asks of us!