People today are fine with Bible talk as long as Jesus is made out to be a good teacher or a legendary miracle worker or something tame like that, but call him the Son of God and insist that they believe and they’re gone.
Jesus said plainly to the people of his day and ours, “I am the bread from heaven that brings life.” He is the food that they must eat to receive everlasting life. His blood shed for them because of their sin is their only hope! Jesus’ broken body and shed blood is our only hope! We too must believe. If we do not, we are dead in our sin.
Ephesians 2 begins with a description of our condition apart from Jesus and ends with a call to receive salvation by faith.
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:1-10, NIV)
How do you react to these words or to any words that convict you? Conviction is intended to point you toward your need for a savior. It shows you to be a sinner in need of saving. It exposes your guilt and calls you to believe and be forgiven.
But some, I hope none of you, hear God’s convicting voice and turn away from Jesus rather than to him. They slam their Bible shut. They turn off the radio. They reject their Christian friends. They walk away from the church. They deride the pastor who preaches the truth.
Paul predicted this reaction to the gospel in his second letter to Timothy.
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NIV)
There are “churches” today that water down the truth. Their “preachers” say what pleases the people to keep their job and grow the franchise. There is little if any mention of the serious and eternal consequences of sin. The blood shed for us on the cross by Jesus is rarely spoken of. And thousands, maybe even millions, are being damned to hell because of this milquetoast message.
Friends, Jesus is the one and only Son of God. You are a sinner who must believe on Jesus or be condemned to eternity in hell. Don’t walk away from Jesus or from his message of hope. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. The good news is you can come to the Father through faith in the Son. Those who refuse to believe are condemned forever. The good news is those who believe in Jesus are not condemned. Believers receive eternal, everlasting, forever and ever life.
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