Thought for Today 05/20/2021: Meet the God of Second Chances

By Greg Holt on May 23, 2021

Regardless of what you’ve done, come to Jesus and be saved

“And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” Romans 9:26

By Greg Holt

(ICB) Our gracious God is the God of second chances. Too many have I heard say that they have “done to much wrong” to be forgiven. This simply isn’t so.

Still others are so self-righteous that they seem to believe they can save themselves without the help of the god they worship, whether this be through ignorance or willful misappropriation of the Scriptures, it has the same sad end, a one way trip to Hell.

^“3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3

But God! He is the God of second chances, be it because you are a prodigal, because you have railed against Him in your anger, or because you believe(d) things about the Lord that are not true – the reason does not matter (I did all of these things). What does matter is the unimaginable and boundless grace of God, the grace that saves you (Ephesians 2:8-9) – if you will simply come to Him and repent of your wrongdoing, accepting Jesus into your life and thereby gaining the most precious gift you will ever receive, the salvation of your eternal soul.

“⁹that 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.” Romans 10:9

In times of old in Israel, the people disobeyed God, they worshiped other gods and were deep into idolatry and many other sins. The sins of Israel became so bad that God made the stunning proclamation that He was divorcing them (Jeremiah 3:8–10). Therefore, Israel was taken away to Assyria by the Assyrian King (2 Kings 17:5–7) because of their idolatry and their extreme disobedience to God.

And yet even when God’s chosen people, this being the Jewish people had sinned so deeply and so long against the Lord, He chose to forgive and welcome them back into the fold. Israel had a decorated history of disobedience to God, of idolatry – even practicing child sacrifice to the false god Moloch (Jeremiah 7:31).

“¹⁰Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” Hosea 1:10

Romans 9:26 refers to the above verse as does 1 Peter 2:10:

^“10which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

Since it is evident that God chooses to forgive His own people, a very stubborn and hard-hearted people, He will also forgive me, and you – all who choose to come to Him can and will be forgiven regardless of what you have done. Heaven is for the forgiven, not the perfect.

One sin is enough to condemn us to Hell. Thankfully, Jesus Christ provided the way to have our sins be forgiven. Simply come to Him with a repentant heart, believing that His death was and is enough to save you, that you cannot save yourself by your own works, and that you can only be saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

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