The following stories are from the very heart of God given through Jesus Christ concerning God's great love for all the people of this world. We are all very precious to Him and He loves us very dearly to the point that He was willing to make such a painful decision to sacrifice His very life to
purchase our salvation for us. And He demonstrated His love in action by coming down in humility and genuine love in the person of Jesus Christ and dying on a cruel cross to redeem us from sin and eternal death.
If you summarize it all in one sentence it will be something like this:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
You can personalize it by inserting your name within in the bracket below and repeat it slowly a few times, you may experience a trickle of the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of His love for you.
"For God so loved me that He gave His one and only Son that if I believe in Him I shall not perish but have eternal life."
How wonderful and marvelous is His love for us! How could we ever reject such a love as this. His deep love for us motivated Him to give His life for us, knowing that there is no other way.
So listen to the stories Jesus told them about God's love for them and the consequences of rejecting His offer of love in His Son.
Jesus told these stories to the chief priests and elders of the people of the day who had been following him (Matthew 21:33-44).
"There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a vine press in it and built a watchtower. Then He rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time appeared, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then He sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his only son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance, 'So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these tenants?"
"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," They replied. "And he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;' the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to peaces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
(Matthew 22:1-14) Jesus talked to them again in parables, saying
"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
"But they paid no attention and went off -- one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burnt their city.
"Then said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and wedding hall was filled with guests.
"But when the king came in to see the guests he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding cloths. 'Friend' he asked, 'how did you get in here without the wedding cloths?' The man was speechless.
"The king told the attendance, 'Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside, into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth.'
"For many are invited, but few were chosen."
This time He told this story to His disciples (Matthew 25:1-13).
"The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. But only five of them were wise enough to fill their lamps with oil, while the other five were foolish and forgot.
"So, when the bridegroom was delayed, they lay down to rest until midnight, when they were roused by the shout, 'The bridegroom is coming! Come out and welcome him!'
"All the girls jumped up and trimmed their lamps. The five who hadn't any oil begged the others to share with them, for their lamps were going out.
"But the others replied, 'We haven't enough. Go instead to the shops and buy some for yourselves.'
"But while they were gone, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked.
"Later when the other five returned, they stood outside, calling, 'Sir, open the door for us!'
"But he called back, 'Go away! It is too late!'
"So stay awake and be prepared, for you do not know the date or moment of my return."
Another Parable He put forth to them, saying:
The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemies came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?
'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?'
But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.'
'Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into the barn"' (Matthew 13:24-30).
Then Jesus sent the multitudes away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, 'Explain to us the Parable of the tares of the field.'
Therefore, let us leave the matter of separating the wheat from the weeds (true believers and unbelievers) till the Day of Judgment when the Son of God will do the harvesting. Till then let us continue to love one another and share the Gospel to all who will be interested to listen.
Here Jesus is showing us how to identify godly teachers and false teachers.
He is also telling us to walk the talk; trust God and live in obedience to God's commandments, and not to be like the sons of the wicked giving lip service.
Jesus says,
"The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field" (Matthew 13:44).
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls, When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it" (Matthew 13:45).
"Once again, the kingdom of God is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it upon the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
"This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked. "Yes," They replied (Matthew 13:47-50).