Since everyone knows that this life is not the end to our existence (there is 1 of 2 destinations – everyone goes to one or the other), that there is a new life awaiting us… since we know this – do we know it personally?
“This Jesus is the stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief Cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” [Acts 4:11-12]
If there is any doubt about your destination, there is the ONLY path to a new life: with/in Jesus. No questions, no doubts, the one and only way. You can argue you are a good person and should be included. You are – but ONLY, ONLY in accepting the gift of salvation that is in Jesus. Scripture points and Jesus spoke it – there is no one ‘good’ but God (Mark 10:18)
If your retort is that my proof comes from scripture – absolutely! What is your authority… something man made? Can we really trust ‘man made’? And do you really trust another source? Look at your WHY you don’t accept Jesus’ gift, WHY you don’t believe in Him. He IS more than just a teacher. Is your response that He is only another man? Really. All of the healings and miracles He did came from only a man? Look at why He HAD to be a man.
If Jesus had not put away His divinity how could the sin be put away?
“Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:5-11]
So why DID Jesus come? Believer and non-believer are familiar with John 3:16. But there’s so much more to know – read verses 17-22:
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (v. 16)
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].
This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].” [John 3:16-22]
Jesus speaking: “Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you and most solemnly say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke [of the pen] will pass from the Law until all things [which it foreshadows] are accomplished.”
[Matthew 5: 17-18]
Yes I have used a great deal of scripture. It’s so you KNOW just how much God is giving us LIFE. So that you see there is a plan, a method available to all. We have been given free will to make our decisions. God never wanted robots or that’s what He would have created. He created man in His image and breathed the breath of life into us so that we could have relationship with Him.
“So it is written [in Scripture], “The first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual);” the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit [restoring the dead to life]. However, the spiritual [the immortal life] is not first, but the physical [the mortal life]; then the spiritual. The first man [Adam] is from the earth, earthy [made of dust]; the second Man [Christ, the Lord] is from heaven. As is the earthly man [the man of dust], so are those who are of earth; and as is the heavenly [Man], so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven].” [1 Corinthians 15:45-49]
As always – your choice, your decision. But if I could implore you… choose God’s Family.
[To the reader… if you’d like, please feel free to share this with those that need to hear what’s said. Mine were the hands that typed this – I believe it is was the Lord who focused the writing.]
