Songs Of Deliverance, Sing Them Back Home
Over the years I've pondered often on the deep subjects of life and death. And eternal salvation, or the lack of it.
Ecc 7:20,29
Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that does good and sins not. Only see this which I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.
Truth is, man must be reborn. The gospel of Jesus Christ tells the story and the story is the way to eternal life. When I began to think deep on these things I was reminded of an old song from my early days. It's a sad song about life and death, an old country song about a prisoner waiting on death row for his coming execution, and his sadness as he thinks over his life. He wants someone to Sing Him Back Home before he dies. As I've listened to the song, in my mind I've compared it with the truth of scripture and the position of every created being on earth. Until faith in Jesus Christ comes we are all on death row. This is not a popular truth, but it is truly God's truth. We have to believe the gospel and be rebonr if we are to live with God eternally.
Call Them Back Home
Just like the prisoner in the song, the natural man is a prisoner to his sin, captive to powers he is ignorant of and defenseless against. He is living out his years as a man waiting on "death row", on the broad path to destruction. He knows no better, he lives in spiritual darkness. He needs to be enlightened.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
That's the good news of the gospel. All men are born into spiritual darkness. They need to be redeemed and reborn into a new godly nature. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the way to peace, both in this life and in the life to come. Jesus died on the cross so that man could be set free from his captivity and be granted a pardon. The wretched man who is without the Lord is invited to come back home to God and his mercy where he belongs..
Matthew 7:13-14
Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.
The gospel truth in songs and testimonies can be effective in warming hearts to the truths of the eternal. They might cause a man to stop and evaluate where his life is headed and what the end of it will bring. God's desire is that all who journey on life's broad and sinful path be rescued and redeemed through demonstrated love and the hearing of gospel truth, for his eternal salvation. The spirit of Christ is present in heartfelt truth. It has the ability to pierce hearts and bring repentance and salvation and deliverance to the sinner. This is not to say that just singing church songs will save souls. There's more, but it's a beginning. God looks on the woundings of hearts and works passionately to bring heart attitudes into a place of openness to his truth and into greater blessing..
We pray that men will hear songs of deliverance that will begin a work to turn back the years of loss and sad endings. That minds will be renewed and some will come back home to a Father who loves them and passionately seeks the saving of their lives, and their eternal soul. The blessings are for this life and the life to come.
.
Psalms 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Psalms 85:7
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.