AN OPEN INVITATION

We make thousands of decisions in our lives. As a matter of fact, everything that happens to us in one way or another comes from choices we make. Honestly, most choices are not too urgent, but one choice is absolutely critical, and the choice is urgent, and that choice is this:

Have you answered the open invitation Jesus has sent you?

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

1. THE OPEN INVITATION

Jesus Christ has issued an open invitation to all men, women, boys, and girls. It is an invitation to have fellowship with Jesus, the Son of God.

Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

All are invited. There has been a personal invitation issued, and that invitation comes with some magnificent benefits.

A. Benefits Attached to the Invitation

1. Eternal life

John 10:28 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

If you accept the invitation, you will live forever with Jesus Christ as well as with all of the others who have accepted His invitation, and your eternal life will be much different than this life.

Revelation 21:3–4 “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

With the invitation comes the promise to live with God forever with no death, tears, sorrow, or pain. All of your old memories of life on this sin-soaked planet will be erased. All things will become new.

2. Adoption

Eternal life is a pretty good benefit, but something else, maybe even better, happens when you accept the open invitation, and that is that you will be adopted into God’s family as one of His children.

Romans 8:16–17 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Say yes to the invitation, and you will be adopted into the family of God, and being in the family of God entitles you to a major blessing.

You will receive the same inheritance from God as Jesus Christ. Now, I do not know what all that means, but I know it is good.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

Say yes, and you will receive eternal life, and you will adopted into the family of God.

There is, however, one problem. The invitation is open to all, but it is very exclusive.

2. The Expiring Invitation

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

All are invited, but you must respond to the invitation today. Why? Because no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

James 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Death is all around us. Literally, everywhere you go you face the possibility of death. No one knows what lies ahead for us in the future. You must accept the open invitation today while it is still being offered.

What do I mean by while it is still being offered?

Well, the one sending the invitation has the right to withdraw the invitation.

Proverbs 29:1 “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

Exodus 10:27–29 “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.”

Time after time, Moses extended God’s open invitation to Pharaoh. Finally, God withdrew the invitation. God would no more offer an invitation to Pharaoh. That’s why the invitation must be answered today. It has to be answered today because if God withdraws the invitation, there is no remedy.

3. The Fine Print

Anything that sounds too good to be true always has some fine print to read, and the open invitation is no exception. The open invitation does have some prerequisite conditions that must be met.

A. You Must Be Sinless.

Uh-oh! Houston, we have a problem!

Romans 3:12 “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Above all of His other attributes is God’s holiness. God is a holy God. If I am going to respond to His open invitation, I must be holy too. On my own, however, I cannot be holy because I am a sinner. What am I going to do? Time is running out. I must decide.

Above all of His other attributes is God’s holiness. God is a holy God. If I am going to respond to His open invitation, I must be holy too. On my own, however, I cannot be holy becau,se I am a sinner. What am I going to do? Time is running out. I must decide.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God so loved me and so desired my fellowship, obedience, and love that He came to earth just to make His righteousness possible for me. To be able to send me an invitation, God had to kill His own Son, Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:32 “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

Before God sent you an open invitation, all the sins attached to your name that would have disqualified you from what God is offering you was taken care of by Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Hebrews 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

Your invitation has been delivered to you with the return address written by the blood of Christ. God knew you could not have eternal life with Him until your sins were removed, and the only one worthy of becoming you is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who make God knowable, and because of that, God crucified His Son to pay for your sins.

1 Peter 1:18 “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;”

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

Before He could send you an invitation, God had to remove what could keep you from Him, and that was your sin, but your sin was taken care of by Jesus on the Cross of Calvary.

B. You must accept the invitation.

If you refuse to respond to the invitation, what God has planned for you does not matter. You must accept the invitation.

Romans 10:9–10 “That 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Accepting the invitation requires you to do two things:

1. Confess the Lord Jesus.

What does confessing the Lord Jesus mean? Lord means you are acknowledging Jesus as God, and Jesus means you are acknowledging His humanity. It is that simple. Jesus is God, and Jesus is man. He had to be God to be sinless, and He had to be human to die, to die for you sins so that you could receive an invitation.

When you confess the Lord Jesus, you are placing Him on the throne of your life and removing I.

2. Repent from your sin.

Acts 3:19 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”

Notice what Luke says. Repent and be converted. To be worthy of an invitation, you must repent.

By repenting, you receive the stamp of approval that says you are worthy to receive the benefits attached to your invitation. It means that you are placing yourself into His hands to use the way in which He sees fit.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Confessing the Lord Jesus and repenting from sin means that you are no longer in control, but Christ is because Christ has bought you with His precious blood.

3. Believe.

Believing in Jesus Christ is not like believing in leprechauns.

Believing in Jesus Christ means that you have absolutely no doubt in your heart, soul, and mind that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to earth as a baby boy in Bethlehem.

It is to believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. It is to believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins on the Cross, and it is to believe that Jesus is alive today because God resurrected Him on the third day.

Revelation 1:17–18 “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

It is the type of belief that affords you the ability to stand with Jesus when the rest of the world comes against you.

4. Announce to the world your acceptance of the invitation.

Matthew 10:32–33 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

When you say yest to the invitation, you need to declare it publicly to the world by word, thought, and deed. Once you announce your acceptance of the invitation, you need to be baptized and to serve in a local body of believers.

The decision is yours. You have been invited. You must RSVP!