Jesus Light

Romans 8:1-9 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”

The Bible is very clear that Christianity is a life or death matter. “Life” meaning “Eternal Life” with God in Heaven, and “Death” meaning the Second Death in “Eternal Damnation” in the Lake of Fire of Revelation 20:11-15 & 21:8. God’s Holy Word tells it like it is, but why are so many ignorant of this truth? We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners by nature. The natural man, the unregenerate sinner, has no desire or inclination to turn to God. Justly, God owes us nothing except His everlasting wrath for our sins. The “Good News” of the Bible is: that because of God’s love, forgiveness & salvation has come, by divine mercy & grace, only through the work of the sinless Son, Jesus Christ to anyone who repents and believes. The “real” Jesus is the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God; our atonement and redeeming Savior. But why don’t people know about this Jesus that came to “seek & save” the Lost (Luke 19:10), or the Jesus that said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17), or the Jesus of John 3:16-18 that "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”?

The Jesus that is presented to the world today, however, often bears little resemblance to the Jesus we find in the Bible. In other words, many people respect a Jesus who does not exist. Nowadays, you hear of a Jesus that came to give us a “better life”, that wants everyone to be prosperous and experience every pleasure, and that would protect and conserve the earth’s natural resources ... and that's it. So many people understand Jesus to be the supreme ethical teacher who is concerned with accepting all into His kingdom, even if they never repent or believe (cheap grace & easy believism); however, reducing the purpose and teachings of our Lord to any of these ends up domesticating Him. Then we might as well pray: “Our Genie, who art in Heaven, grant me my wishes.” Do we desire a false Jesus that embraces the culture’s values without challenging them to Biblical knowledge, righteousness, obedience and holiness that meets God’s values? If so, then He is a “safe” Jesus, who is no threat to the established secular humanist way of doing things. Yet Jesus Christ did not come into this world to be “nice” or “safe”, and all roads do not lead to Heaven. Jesus said that there is a wide gate and a broad road that leads to destruction and many enter through it (Matthew 7:13) Who exactly is Lord?

Psalm 4:2 “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?”

Our Lord, Christ’s coming produces life and peace among His people, but it also sets the fallen world against His own. The Cross and the blood of Christ brings with it the promise and blessed assurance of final redemption that will include all who believe and put their faith in Him alone. At the same time, it becomes a stumbling block to the unrepentant and foolishness to the hardened heart against God. Nobody wants to think that any of their friends, family members or anyone else is going to the fiery lake of burning sulfur in Hell, where they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. But making up a Jesus light, and presenting sin and disobedience to God’s Word and Will as “no big deal” is heresy that saves nobody. If you want to know the true perspective on the seriousness of sin, look at the extreme nature of the solution to the problem. If sin were “no big deal”, would God have sent His only begotten Son to die a horrific death on that cross for the sins that we committed against Him to deal with it? If you are truly compassionate about the Lost and worried about the souls of Sinners (which we all were at one time), then get out there and tell others about the gospel truth of Jesus Christ, our one true living Lord and Savior – the Light of the World.

Psalm 40:4 “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.”

In Christ, Brian