X. How Can I Express My Gratitude To Jesus     

 Christ For His Love And Sacrifice For Me?

            As the Garden of Eden was given to Adam and Eve complete and perfect so is the gift of GOD'S salvation given freely to fallen humanity—complete and perfect.  There is nothing man can do to enhance what GOD has accomplished “in Christ.”  Therefore, GOD calls all mankind to come to Him, “without money, and without price.” Isa.55:1.

         The promise of salvation for the human family is simply due to the boundless love of our Creator, Who became “the Christ.”  And all that we see in Him, the healing, the praying, the tears and the hope, these are exactly the same qualities our Heavenly Father lives by.  Said Jesus, “I and my Father are one.” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Jn.10:30; 14:9. As “Jesus wept,” so has the Father.  Of all the creatures that live on the Earth, only man sheds tears through emotion.

             “God is love.”—He is nothing else.  And love is an emotion! Everything said and done through His Sovereign Will is based on His Love.  And even though GOD’S greatest gift next to life, freewill, is utterly abused by Satan and his minions of demons and unrepentant men, GOD’S love can still be seen; and that after all is said and done, GOD will be vindicated of every accusation against Him.  The love and sacrifice of Christ to restore, for all eternity, the universal tranquility He established “In the beginning” proves His innocence.

1.   Is it true I cannot truly serve GOD without His power to draw love and affection from my heart?

Jeremiah 31:3  The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with _____________________  _______  ____  __________  _______.

John 6:44  No man can come to Me, _________  _____  __________ which hath sent Me ________  _____: and I will raise him up at the last day.  

Psalms 119:32  I will run the way of Thy commandments, _______  ______  ________  ______________  _____  __________.  

Isaiah 26:12  LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for ______  ______  ______  ______________  _____  _____  ________  ____  ____.

Isaiah 57:19  ___  __________  _____  __________  ____  _____  ______; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.

2.  What will help maintain my sense of gratitude and peace?

Philippians 4:4-9  Rejoice in the LORD alway: and again I say, Rejoice. [v.5] Let your moderation [or gentle patience] ____  __________ unto all men. The LORD is at hand. [v.6] Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by ____________  ______  _____________________ [or earnest petitions] _______  _____________________ let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [v.8] Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are ________, whatsoever things are ____________, whatsoever things are ________, whatsoever things are ________, whatsoever things are ___________, whatsoever things are of ________  ____________; if there be any ____________, and if there be any ___________, think on these things. [v.9] Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, ____: and the God of peace shall be with you.  

3. What acts of kindness bring joy to my Saviour?

Matthew 25:35,36  For I was an hungered, and _____  ________  _____  __________: I was thirsty, and _____  _________  _____  ____________: and was a stranger, and _____  _________  _____  _____: [v.36] Naked, and _____  _____________  _____ : I was sick, and _____  ____________  _____: I was in prison, and _____  _________  ________  _____.  

Deuteronomy 15:7,8,10,11  If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: [v.8] But thou shalt _______  _________  _______  _______  _______  _____, and shalt surely _______  ______  _________________  ______  ______  ________, in that which he wanteth… [v.10] Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall ______  ____  ____________ when thou givest unto him: because for this thing the LORD thy God ________  ________  _______ in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

            How a man treats his fellow man is the greatest evidence of how he relates to GOD and His government, as it is written, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar” I Jn.4:20. 

Micah 6:8  He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to ____  ____________, and to ________  ___________, and to _______  ______________ with thy God?

4. When hard times come, what Bible lessons will disarm

     my frustration and the temptations to give up my faith?

Job 1:20, 21  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, [v.21] And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD ________, and the LORD _______  ___________  ________;  ___________  ____  ______  _________  ____  ______  _________.

            The lessons drawn from Job outline every hardship a man can face in this world.  Job’s trust in GOD stood every test, as GOD’S words testified that he was “a perfect and an upright man” (Job 1:8).

Psalm 119:71  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that ____  ___________  ___________  ______  _______________ (boundaries of righteousness).

II Peter 1:3-8  According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  [v.5] And beside all this, add to your faith _________; and to virtue _______________; [v.6] And to knowledge _________________; and to temperance ________________; and to patience ____________________; [v.7] And to godliness ______________  ______________ and brotherly kindness __________ (or self-sacrificing love). [v.8] For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ____  _______  __________  ____  __________  _____  __________________ in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ.

5. What is the result of an increased knowledge of the truth,

     “as the truth is in Jesus?” (Eph.4:21)

Ecclesiastes 1:18  For in much ___________ is much __________: and he that increaseth ____________________ increaseth _____________.

         It is important to note that as we increase our knowledge to recognize Heaven’s sympathy toward the suffering of life the more we see the open warfare between good and evil, truth and deceit—love and hate.  And as we become increasingly aware of the reality of Satan’s betrayal of everything “holy, and just, and good” (Rom.7:12) the more we will appreciate and rejoice in the promise that “the gift of GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.6:23). 

It is GOD’S purpose for the last generation of Christians to view the value of life as Jesus views it that they may stand in “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev.3:10).  To accomplish this, GOD works to restore our minds and hearts to understand the value that heaven places on every life: to have a glimpse of the social fabric of heaven that will one day become the standard of living throughout “the new earth.”  And the more we come to appreciate what has been lost, the more we will appreciate GOD’S Word promising untold treasures of joy that await “his saints.”

Psalm 111:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: ___  ________  ____________________  _______  _____  _______  _______  _____  ______  _______________________: his praise endureth for ever.

John 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that ____  _____  _____  __________  ________  __________. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but ____  ____  ________  _________; I have overcome the world.

6. What does the Bible have to say about our gratefulness

     to GOD for His salvation through Jesus Christ?

Exodus 15:1,2  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, ___  ______  _______  _______  _____  ________, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Judges 5:1,3  Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, _________  ____  _____  _______ for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves… Hear, 0 ye kings; give ear, 0 ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

Psalm 69:29,30  But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, 0 God, set me up on high. [v.30] I will praise the name of God with a song, and will __________  _____  _______  __________________.

            The purpose of the Gospel is to spare every man from having to face the death that Jesus faced when He died on the Cross of Calvary (Heb.2:9).  Jesus Christ, the “Everlasting Father” of man has justified the entire human race through His shed blood “for the remission of sins” (Rom.3:25).  His ministers are called to believe His Testimony.  And standing blameless before GOD, openly show His salvation before the world, promising to all that through His Indwelling Presence the Divine Image can be restored in one’s heart.             

            But the whole world is trapped in a thousand false views of why we are here and what our purpose is as human beings.  And most are ignorant of the spiritual warfare taking place between good and evil, and just how intense the threat is against the human soul.  Even multitudes of professing Christians fare no better.  Much of this ignorance is because the ruling church in Rome has made GOD look tyrannical, ambiguous and even hypocritical through its doctrines and bloody history.  Nevertheless, GOD desires to be given the permission from church members and all of His children to “take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh.” Eze.11:19.  His “still small voice” solely works to this end, that Christ may be seen in the life—to His honor and glory.

The seriousness of man’s dilemma must be understood because we were all born with a nature that is fundamentally immoral, as GOD said, “for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen.8:21).  Add to that the physical weakening of life through man’s indulgence in sin, his polluting of the land, water, and air with a thousand chemical toxins, malnourishing the people with industrial agriculture, flavors and preservatives, and it becomes instantly obvious that man’s chosen course is headed to self-destruction. 

Even the moral degradation can be seen by examining the shift of social values from one generation to the next.  The preceding generation typically views a weakening of moral values in some form or fashion.  But while the ethical conduct of a society may change for better or for worse, the qualities of Jesus Christ are everlasting and are as sure today as they were when the LORD Jesus promised Adam and Eve that He would rescue them and their family from the death-sentence caused by their sin.  He has promised to all by His Word, “to save them that believe” (I Cor.1:21).  And it is because of His Covenant with the saints that each and every one faithfully prays: “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” Ps.119:49.  Every Bible believing Christian who sees the hatred of our society against Jesus Christ, and the evil spirit of men behind all the wars and the greed that continue to fill the Earth with violence, these precious believers in Jesus Christ stand united in their declaration that “they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” Heb.11:16.  This promise is as sure as the Ten Commandments are written in the permanence of stone.