A sure conclusion, death. But wait, there's more!

I have this one more idea to present before I an get into Faith.

Imagine yourself standing on the edge of a cliff with your back to the crevice. Now lean back just enough to where one of your feet comes off the ground and gravity and the laws of physics begin to take over and you are hopelessly going over. Now stop right where you are. This is life. This is where you live. It is where we all have lived. Because sin entered into the world and the wages of sin being death, life is merely a footing lost with a sure conclusion, death.

But this is not where God wants you to live. He wants to set you on a sure foundation, a tried stone.

Isa 28:16
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

Zion is the capital of The Kingdom of God. So what is this foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation that he has laid? The question should not be what is this but who is this? It is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only tried stone on which we can stand. He is the foundation and only footing that is secure. His foundation is precious because it was bought with a price that no one could ever pay.

1 Peter 1:18-20
18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

The person that believes in Jesus shall “not make haste”. I like the NIV version on this. It says
Isa 28:16
“the one who trusts will never be dismayed.”

Living a life with one foot on the ground and the other on its way over the edge is definitely a life of dismay. God knows this. That is why he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we could be saved. And what is it that we are being saved from? Certain death. And what is it that we are being saved to? Absolute life.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here we see again God’s love toward us. He chose to rescue us before we ever knew that we needed rescuing. When did he decide to do this? Let us look in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:4-5
4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Wow! Here again we see that we were in God’s plan way back when. He wants to have a relationship with us. One that is holy and blameless. And according to verse 5, we have been predestined. But who is it that is being predestined? Is it just a few or some certain select group that God is adopting to himself? Whom did he have in mind?

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Looks like everyone is predestined. So then why is it that some will die in their sins while others will receive everlasting life? Well let us take another look at what it is that God is offering us.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Looks like God is offering us grace and it is a gift. Not a gift “from” God but the gift “of” God. So what does that mean? It is the gift that makes God, God. It is the attribute that sets him apart from all other gods.

Choice.

Let us go back to the cliff to where we are dangling. Here we are hanging between life and death. We look up to see God extending his hand toward us so that we can grab hold of it and be saved. But what is it really that God is extending to us? He is offering to us the most powerful gift that he has to give. A gift that if taken, can bring life into anything that is dead, dying or cursed. It is the gift of choice, God’s grace.