Son of Hope - David Berkowitz

May God bless everyone who is reading this message. My name is Romans 10:13.
It says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." Here it is clear that God has no favorites. He rejects no one,
but welcomes all who call upon Him.

I know that God is a God of
mercy who is willing to forgive. He is perfectly able to restore and
heal our hurting and broken lives. I have discovered from the Bible
that Jesus Christ died for our sins. He took our place on the cross. He
shed His blood as the complete payment God required for our sins.

The Bible says, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Furthermore, it says, "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). These passages make it clear that everyone has sinned. Some like myself, are worse sinners than others, but all
have sinned. Therefore, we must all acknowledge our sins before God,
own that we deserve God's judgment for eternity, and realize that we
are LOST!

When we reach the point of realizing that we are lost,
guilty, ruined sinners, then we will be ready to accept the Saviour
whom God has provided for us. Who is this Saviour? He is the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the Creator of the universe and the eternal Son of God,
and who has come into this world as a Man. As perfect, sinless Man, He
suffered and died on the cross for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).
Then He was buried and on the third day He rose again in victory, for
death could not hold Him. If you realize you are lost and need a
Saviour, then place your full, undivided faith and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ who died for your sins. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes, we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Have you put your
name in this verse? To reject the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the
cross is to reject God's perfect and only gift of salvation and eternal
life.

Here Is Your Opportunity
Friend,
here is your opportunity to get things right with God. The Bible says,
"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" (Romans 10:9,10).
So believe in your heart that these words from the Bible are true and
apply to you. Please consider what I am saying. I beg you with all my
heart to place your faith in Christ right now! Do not be ashamed to do
this! Do not wait for a more convenient time! Tomorrow is promised to
no one. Do not wait for your death bed, for you may not have one!
"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).

What Difference Will It Make?
Once
you place your trust in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, the Holy
Spirit will start a life-long work of transformation in your life (Romans 12:1,2) so that you will begin, finally, to do works and deeds that are pleasing to God (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:14).
With some this work may proceed more rapidly than with others, or may
be intermingled with failures and setbacks. But the more your focus is
on Christ your Saviour, the more the Holy Spirit will help you to get
the victory over the sin patterns in your life (Romans 6-8) and to be
increasingly changed into a moral likeness to Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Best of all, you now have the assurance of eternal life with Christ (John 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
in heaven, at which time your growth in holiness and moral likeness to
Christ will be complete: "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as
He is" (1 John 3:2).

Concluding Comments
I
am not sharing this message simply to tell you an interesting story.
Rather I want you to taste the goodness of God in the life of a man who
was once a Satan-worshiper and a murderer, to show you that Jesus
Christ can bring about forgiveness, hope, and change.

I was
involved in the occult and I got burned. I became a cruel killer and
threw away my life as well as destroying the lives of others. Now I
have discovered that Christ is my answer and my hope. He broke the
chains of sin, self-will, and depression that had me bound. He has
turned me from a path leading to eternal damnation in the lake of fire
to the blessed assurance of eternal life in heaven. God has
miraculously transformed "Son of Sam" into "Son of Hope." He wants to
perform the same kind of transformation in your heart and life today!

Thank you for reading this. May God bless you.

Love in Christ,
David Berkowitz, March 1999