Was the cross really necessary? Why did Christ, the sinless one, have
to die? Weren't we really
good enough for God if He would just overlook our worst faults? Couldn't
we do something
ourselves to make us acceptable to God? After all, didn't He create us in
His image?
Are we all condemned to hell?
In Romans 3:23, God said that "all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God." We’re not
what God created us to be and none of us possess within ourselves the
power to become what
God wants us to be. But, while we are "helpless," we are not "hopeless." God
has provided a way
for us to get to heaven. The Bible says that God commands all men everywhere to repent, "for He
has fixed a day when
He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man He has ordained."
[Acts 17:31]. The
Judge will be the Christ He raised from the dead.
He has made a way for us to escape the Lake of Fire and the
eternal torture that awaits the
non-believer. The God who commands us to repent doesn’t leave us
incapable of response.
Oh, He is so rich in mercy, so abundant in grace, and so great in His
love! In fact, John 3:16 says
that "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever
believes on Him should not perish but will have everlasting life." This
famous scripture, known
and loved around the world, makes it unmistakably clear that Jesus Christ
is God's only Son.
By the same token, Jesus Christ is man's only Savior. Christ is not "one"
of many ways to God, nor
is He "the best of several ways." "He is the only way!"
Jesus Himself said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes
unto the Father but by
Me." [John 14:6.] Christ is the never changing "way," He’s the never failing "truth,"
and He’s the everlasting "life."
Jesus is the "way" you can be saved, and the "truth" that you can be
sure, and the "life" that you can
be satisfied. We're told in the scriptures that Jesus "humbled Himself unto God and
became obedient unto death
on the cross." [Philippians 2:8]. For that reason, God gave Him "the
Name that's above every
name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee would bow, and every tongue
confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord." [Philippians 2:10-11]. The Bible says that there is salvation in no other. Acts 4:12 "Neither
is there salvation in any other;
for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved." There is only one name that opens heaven's doors and God's heart, and
that's the name of Jesus. There's only one name that can break the power of sin and set us
free of that sin, the name of Jesus. Far from being narrow and unfair, this is the most gracious and fairest
of all possible solutions to our sin
problem. God didn’t leave us to ourselves to find a way back to Him.
Which one of us knows
where God is that we could find Him for ourselves first and then create a
path that any others could
and would follow?
God alone knows what it takes to bring us back to Him. The Bible says that God longs for all men to be saved and to know and
understand this truth.
God is on one side and all the people are on the other side, and
Jesus Christ, as man Himself, is in
between to bring them together, by giving His life for all mankind.
This is the extraordinary thing that has been done by our
extraordinary God. Maybe you already believe in Him. Maybe you’re reading this out of
curiosity, or maybe you’re
reading it with conviction. Maybe you protest it or maybe you praise it.
Maybe you have never had
anyone explain the gospel of Jesus Christ in terms you could understand.
This has nothing to do
with how knowledgeable you are or how intelligent. It has to do with your
eternal soul and it's
eternal place of dwelling. I enjoy explaining how much God wants you to spend eternity in heaven and
not in hell.
Here's how it works. Romans 5:19 says "for as by one man's
disobedience many were
made sinners, so by One shall many be made righteous." You and I did
not become sinners
by anything we did, so we can’t be made righteous by anything we can do.
Someone else
did something and that made you and me sinners.
We can’t escape responsibility for our sins, even though another
caused us to be sinners.
By the same token, someone else had to do something in order for us to be
made right with God. The Bible sums up all mankind in the lives of two men, Adam and Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive."
Adam sinned and as a result all of us are sinners. But Adam
doesn’t bear the guilt alone
because we "all have turned aside unto our own way." [Isaiah 53:6].
We are twice guilty, once because Adam sinned and twice because we
ourselves have sinned.
The matter of sin goes far deeper than our behavior. It goes to the
very core of our being.
I’m not a sinner because I sinned, I sin because I am a sinner.
Sin is not about what you do, it's about who you are. We are
sinners. The solution has to go deeper than religion. It has to be from
God and be substantial and real.
The Gospel, the Good News, teaches that God is not interested in merely
changing our behavior.
He’s fully dedicated to changing me and to changing you. The Bible states
this in 2
Corinthians 5:17 "if any man is in Christ Jesus he is a new creation.
Old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new."
You can be born again today and be made new through faith in
Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, read Romans 5:6 God demonstrated His love to us in
"that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us." Again, look what the Bible says in Romans
8:32: "God, that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely
give us all things?"
Whatever you need to live a godly life you’ll find in Jesus
Christ alone.
One man, Adam, got us into all this mess, so God decided that One Man
would get us out of it. God looked down the corridors of time and examined each of Adam's
descendants. He looked
at you, and He looked at me, to see if there was anyone who could pay the
price for the sins of
mankind. There was none. Not even one. So, God did it Himself. God became
a man, the man
Christ Jesus. He lived among us, He was tempted in all points like we
are, yet without sin.
When Christ died on the cross, it wasn’t to pay the penalty for His own
sins because He had none.
God took the death of His holy Son and counted it as the payment for our
sins, yours and
mine. Millions of people around the world and throughout history have believed
in Christ and will spend
eternity in heaven instead of hell because of that. It's no wonder
Christians ask you to believe
this with us today. Jesus Christ is incomparable in His grace. He was
and still is unassisted in
His work as our Redeemer.
It’s significant that His birth shows how much we were worth to Him,
that He, God, would
humble Himself and become one of us, a lowly man. He showed us how we
should live.
Our "forgiveness" is in His death, our "hope" is in His resurrection, and our
"promised glory" is in His
coming for His believers to take them to heaven. Romans 6:23 Tells us the truth; "The wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Then read Romans 5:20. There the Bible
reads; "Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound." Sin abounds in Adam, grace
abounds in Christ. You
were born the first time into the consequences of Adam's fall. You had no
choice in the matter.
But, now you can be born again and enter into the full benefits of
Christ's obedience. Here you
do have a choice. No one else can make it for you. It's your decision. Centuries ago there was a great military leader named Joshua. He stood
before a vast assembly of
people, something over 2 million, in his nation's capitol, and he issued
this simple and direct
challenge; "Chose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my
house, we will
serve the Lord." [Joshua 24:15.]
Joshua's challenge brought a revival to his nation and salvation to his
home through his choice to
follow Christ. If you haven't already done so, won't you trust Christ
today? You can make a
difference in your home by following Jesus. And then, we, as Christians,
can make a
difference in our nation. April 15, 1912, about one week after my mother and dad were married,
that brand new ship the
Titanic, set out across the North Atlantic on it's maiden voyage. [There
is a movie about it now
that drew record crowds.]
It was carrying about 2200 souls. It was supposedly unsinkable.
Then the unthinkable
happened. It struck an iceberg and sank in minutes, costing the lives of
almost 1500 people.
Less than half that many were saved.
They posted a list of names on the shore, with two columns, one with a heading:
"saved" and the other:
"lost." There was no distinction as to rank or place in life for the
names on those lists, or
anything else, just "saved" or "lost." This planet earth is just like a huge ship on it's maiden voyage in
space among the planets of God's
heaven, and it's on a collision course with a great and terrible day of
God's judgment. Don't
worry about the mile wide asteroid that they thought might hit the earth.
God has other plans.
He tells us in the Bible so we know what to expect.
There are a lot of people that laugh at the idea of that judgment day,
even think it is unthinkable,
but the unthinkable will occur. The "unsinkable" will sink. Christ is
coming back in judgment of
this world.
That final day when the names are posted on the shores of eternity we
won't be listed according
to our wealth, our position, works, fame, achievements, or religious
affiliation. There will be
two columns of names, "saved" and "lost."
On which list is your name going to appear? 2 Peter 3:9. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some
count slackness, but is
long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all
should come to
repentance."
God desires all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. There is no question about God's choice for you. He’s already done all that is needed for you to be saved. The choice is now yours alone. Romans 10:13 says that "whosoever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." That includes you. If you haven't already, will you call on the name of Jesus today?
If you’re wondering how to go about it, the Bible puts it in the clearest and simplest of terms. Romans 10:9. "That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." This simply means to honestly "confess" to God that you are a sinner and "believe" that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for your sins, you will be saved immediately. God acknowledged payment for your sins by raising Jesus from the dead. This calls for a public confession of a private faith. That's what God is asking you to do. If you haven't already, I'm asking you to do that now before it is eternally too late. Once you die, it’s too late to make a decision. Hell will be your new home for eternity. One of my dearest young friends just died. He lived about a month after being diagnosed with cancer. That's how uncertain everybody's life is. I've spent quite a little time telling you how much you matter to God. Now will you take a few moments and tell God how much He matters to you?
If you want Jesus to be your Savior and your Lord, to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to God and place His Holy Spirit within your heart and life, please accept His offer now. He gives us the power to live the life that truly pleases God, the life that God had intended for us from the beginning, and your destination will be heaven for eternity . That's why Jesus died on the cross. He died for my sins. He died for yours, too. Trust Him today.