THE GREATEST INVITATION - ΝΙΚΗΤΕΣ

by Maurice Paine

THE GREATEST INVITATION YOU COULD EVER RECEIVE

During your lifetime you may receive some very exciting invitations but none to compare with the invitation everyone may receive from God. This is an invitation to salvation, to come back to God, to be saved. The object of this booklet is to describe and remind you of this.

BAM Bible Study Booklets
THE GREATEST INVITATION

BAM Study Booklets
Written by Maurice Paine
The By All Means Gospel Trust
Is a missionary society dedicated to the spread of
the message of the Christian Gospel
Published by
The By All Means Gospel Trust
PO Box 7778 SOLIHULL B92 7AG (UK)
www.bam-gospeltrust.org
Unless otherwise stated, Bible quotations are from the New International Version 1

THE GREATEST INVITATION YOU COULD EVER RECEIVE

OUR NEED FOR SALVATION

Our world and everyone in it needs salvation. Our world needs saving. Our leaders have used all the language they can find to describe the way that innocent children suffer, millions of refugees are displaced and where suffering and torture are inflicted. We are told in many cases that it is the worst that has ever happened, yet the reading of The Old Testament and what men did to one another those years ago shows events just the same as we see happening today. The pages of history are filled with hatred, evil and barbarism that has blighted our race when we would like to read of peace and progress. The account given us in the Book of Genesis is quite short but enough to show us how it all began.
That act of disobedience committed by Adam in the Garden of Eden has burst open sin, greed and inhumanity-to-man on an unimaginable scale.
Read the first chapter of Genesis if you would see the need for salvation. Someone needed to do something. One act of wilful disobedience did not produce a determination never to let it happen again. A hundred years ago everyone was describing the First World War as the war to end wars. We were serious about it, but very mistaken.
Today when we pick up a newspaper that graphically describes the latest affray or outbreak of conflict in an unexpected part of the world we see that our peace treaties and good intentions have been swept away in a moment. Modern media sees to it that we can all realise that there is something inherently wrong; our world needs saving. Those living in peace and safety today can be the suffering ones tomorrow.
The Bible is God’s Word to man and describes for us the reason all this has taken place and continues to do so. In the first verse of Genesis chapter three we read “now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made”.

AN INVITATION PREPARED FROM THE BEGINNING

That was the first appearance of the evil that infected the world. God made the world and pronounced “God saw all that he had made and it was very good “(Genesis 1.31). But immediately the need was for attention to the disease of sin introduced by the serpent and spreading through every generation.
God’s invitation is probably best pictured for us in the message that went out from the Feast the Lord has prepared in Jesus’ Parable. It was “Come, for everything is now ready”. (Luke 14:17) God has done everything to make His invitation possible. This preparation began with the good news of God’s attention to Adam and his wife Eve as they huddled naked before Him. It heralded a plan of salvation that stretches over the centuries of the Old Testament dispensation.
We read “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and for his wife and clothed them”. (Genesis 3:21) The tragedy of sin was immediately attended to by God’s provision. That covering in the beginning developed over the years of The Old Testament until we
find Jesus as providing the propitiation or covering for man’s sin about which man had shown in himself unable to do anything.
To fully understand the value of salvation we need to look at the devastation inflicted upon the world by that Fall in Genesis. We do not know why sin was allowed to get a foothold. But the fact we must accept is that it did. And it is the fact of sin not the reason for it with which we must deal.
Look at the devastation that one act of disobedience caused. We see that it was no isolated case. There was fallout between Cain and Abel, both of whom must have been told that an animal sacrifice was needed if they were to approach God.
Cain’s was an offering of vegetables and so was not accepted by God. While they were both in the field “Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Genesis 4:8) and so we get the first recorded murder. Only at the end of the fourth chapter of Genesis do we read that “people began to call on the name of the Lord”. (Genesis 4:26)
For his murder God had said to Cain “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” and he was destined to be a restless wanderer on the earth (Genesis 4: 10-12). His punishment was so severe that Cain said “My punishment is more than I can bear”. (Genesis 4:13)
The state of war between man and His God continued and escalated throughout the days of the Old Testament and we recognise that it was fuelled by the activity of Satan, who entered through the serpent to deceive Eve.
The conflict that opened in the Garden of Eden continued as God unfolded His great plan of salvation in type, in figure and in actual prophecy.
Salvation needed an invitation. We need to be invited to God’s feast for us. Man had been banished from the presence of God and he needed help if this was to be restored. That this happened was graphically displayed when in Noah’s day God said “come thou and all thy house into the ark” (Genesis 7:1 AV)).
It is only in the sixth chapter of Genesis that we read of man’s wickedness becoming so great on the earth that every indication of the thought of man was evil continually. Wickedness had mushroomed and would continue to do so and does right to the present day when the forces of evil may be seen as they rise repeatedly in all the nations of the earth.

JESUS’ MINISTRY OF INVITATION

Jesus’ ministry was one of invitation. To the crowds that flocked to hear Him He said “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”. (Matthew 11:28) To Peter who offered to walk on the water to Him, He said “Come” and the Bible builds up to a great crescendo in its last four verses “The Spirit and the Bride say “Come!” And let the one who hears say “Come!”” (Revelation 22:17). God’s word to man is one of invitation. God’s invitation is the start of the whole thing.
Only the atoning work of Christ could assuage the ravages of sin and we have God’s great Invitation in a verse from Isaiah “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 45:22 AV) that makes attractive reading.
God’s invitation to Salvation is like passing from darkness to light, from the loneliness and helplessness of trying to please God, to the joy and exaltation of receiving from Him. Jesus said “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
But this and any other invitation needs accepting, recognising and receiving. Anyone now may have a gift from God because it was fully given. It is a fulfilment of the Old Testament promise through the Prophets “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1)

AN INVITATION TO MORE THAN SALVATION

Anyone who has the special blessing of God in their life has it because they have received the Divine invitation. From the beginning it has been the aim of the Devil to deceive men into thinking that his way is better than God’s way. He is described as a liar and the father of lies. He cannot speak the truth. He introduces other things to make God’s invitation less attractive. So Jesus said “You will not come to me that you might have life”. (John 5:40 AV) Jesus came that we might have life, life more fully than could be found anywhere else.
Acceptance of one invitation leads to another. Your eyes become opened to the good things that God has in store for those who love Him.
Call out in faith for the Lord to save you. Believe He will hear and expect Him to bless. Removing the curse of sin you find an invitation to sanctification. God who receives you cleans you and sets you apart. God’s word to every one of His children in the Old Testament was “Be holy, because I am holy”. (Leviticus 11:44, 45)
Jesus was holy, harmless and separate from sinners, as Peter told us in his letter, and God expects those who accept His invitation to don a garment of praise.
The Lord needs holy vessels separated for the task He has appointed them.
It is those also who have clean hands and a pure heart that can ascend the hill of the Lord. And those who carry the pure Word of Life need to be clean and sanctified vessels to carry this message of life. The call and invitation is more than being willing to go: it is laying aside all hindrances and for hands and heart to be unspotted by the world and uncontaminated by the environment.
The prophet Isaiah tells us of the call to sanctification. The Lord said “Who will go?” and back came the ready answer by the prophet, “Here I am. Send me”. (Isaiah 6:1-8)
We need to find why God changed from expulsion from His presence in the Garden of Eden to His invitation to be saved from the penalty of sin. Why did He make coverings of skin for the naked pair? Why when He was so disappointed with wickedness of man did He offer salvation to eight souls who accepted His invitation and entered the ark?

We can answer the question in one word, “Love”. God loved us, loved the world so much that He gave His One and only Son that whoever puts their trust in Him should not perish. His love made Him provide a way of escape from the penalty of sin. The cost was the life-blood of Jesus upon the cross.

AN INVITATION ONLY VALIDATED BY JESUS

All the prophecies and promises about this in the Old Testament were made on what was then a future event – the death of Jesus on the Cross.
Jesus was taken by wicked hands and slain as Peter said in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, but He, Jesus, gave His life. He was and is Jesus, the perfect sinless Son of God, whose life was worth more than all the sinners that were contaminated by the disease of sin. No sinful man could die for another sinner, his sacrifice would be unacceptable because impure. But once in the end of the age, Christ appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26) and when we were still sinners Christ died for us. This validates the invitation to be saved – The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin.
It follows that we must come to God by faith and be cleansed beneath the fountain for uncleanness opened at Calvary. To never come by faith to the place called Calvary where Jesus gave His life means there has been no propitiation or covering for your sin. But when you come as a sinner to the Saviour, call upon Him and realise something of the great price that was paid.
There is no saving merit in anything we can do to save ourselves. The Bible describes us as “dead in trespasses and sins”. (Ephesians 2:1) Because dead, we are lifeless and can do nothing about our state. Understanding this makes the sinner who repents eternally grateful: from accepting this salvation the way forward is to be separated from sin and dedicated to your Lord and Master.
You confess your sins but God does not just “drop” you on the shore of time, give you an assurance of sin forgiven and peace with God
and leave you there. There is an invitation to live a separate life. Once cleaned by the blood of Jesus you can never be the same again. The invitation to salvation is to be in Christ a new creation –born again of incorruptible seed, washed in the blood. So you may ask “what Next?” And the answer is to be separate and remain separate. Salvation is so life changing it is, as Jesus told Nicodemus, “born again”. It is a new life, new loves, new ways and the invitation is to be separate.

A SANCTIFIED LIFE

Once you have responded to the call for Salvation you meet the call or invitation to Separation.
“Come ye out from among them and be separate” is God’s injunction to his people. (2 Corinthians 6:17. Similar Old Testament passages include Isaiah 52:11) God called Abram out from his own people and through him built a separate people. Later the Apostle Paul enjoins Timothy to become “Made holy (sanctified), useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work”. (II Timothy 2:21)
When cleansed and made pure by the blood of Jesus we need to keep ourselves pure. Unspotted from the world (James 1:27 AV) is a phrase that James uses in his Epistle. When Jesus healed the paralysed man at the pool Bethesda and ventured to convert him He said “sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (John 5:14 AV) God gives new power to be clean and keep clean is what God would say to all His blood bought children. Jesus said to His disciples “Now you are clean” (John 15:3) and we need to keep clean. Jesus is described as holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. The believer is in the world but not of the world.
God’s call to salvation is to finding out how to keep clean. There is a warning in Jesus’ Parable about the man whose heart was cleansed and yet did nothing to fill the vacant space with goodness, a man whose later state was worse than the first. Jesus said “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45)
The Apostle described the many different vessels there are to be found in a great house. Here is the secret to God using you. He cannot use dirty vessels. (2 Timothy 2:20-21) Jesus’ command to His disciples was that they should go into all the world and preach the gospel. They need to be set apart for this calling. Be set apart for service; devoted and dedicated to the Lord who saved you and who will keep you from falling and present you faultless before His presence in the last day with great joy. (Jude 24 AV)
When all this is in place you may continue and conclude with the words of the Apostle Jude, “to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen”. (Jude 25)