Christ’s Invitation
The Word of God tells us that Jesus is looking to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). “That which is lost” refers to people, those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Anyone without Jesus Christ is lost in their sins and separated from God.
Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). We were lost. Jesus came to seek and to save us. That is what He does. That is what He brings. That is what He gives. Salvation. He is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. When John the Baptist saw Jesus walking toward him, he said, “Look! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
Christ is in the saving business. That is what He does. That is what He wants to do. He came into the world to live a perfect life in our stead and died on the cross for our sins. He was raised from the dead the third day to prove that God has accepted payment for our sins and now we can be forever free and clean from sin because of what Jesus did for us. He is a God whose mercy endures forever.
Jesus pleads and invites, but He does not force. In other words, He will not force you to become one of His followers. He will not force you to be saved. He will give you every opportunity to be saved because He loves you. He did all of the work that is required for you to be saved…because He loves you. But He will not accept the gift of salvation for you or force it on you. Being saved is a decision that you have to make for yourself.
The great invitation of Jesus is, “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Jesus invites us all to come to Him. We are all invited to the banquet. We are all invited to the party. Salvation is ours full and free because of Jesus Christ.
Once we come to Jesus and are saved by Him, we are to look to Christ continually. There is no life without looking to Him. We look to Him by faith, and we believe that He has the power and the ability and the willingness to bring us to salvation. And He would not invite us if He did not intend to save us and to keep us saved.
In the sixth chapter of John, Jesus said that the “work of God” is that we would believe in Him whom God has sent (John 6:29). The way to please God is to believe in the one that God has sent. Believe in Jesus Christ. The greatest invitation is to you.
“Repent and believe the gospel.”
“Come to me.”
Everyone who is “weary and burdened” can come to Jesus and receive salvation. You must know that you are important, because you are important to God. Because you are important to the Son of God. And what He thinks about you means more than what the whole world combined thinks about you. Jesus gave His life for you. Receive Him into your life and live your life for Him. It is as simple as that. And when you do, you will be saved forever from sin and the godlessness of this world. Come to Jesus Christ.
Dewayne Dunaway
