JESUS! DO NOT BE SO HARSH!

This is an excerpt from the Gospel according to John. The words in red are actual statements that were made by Jesus Christ, the Son of God approximately 2000 years ago. The words in black are my own commentary on those verses.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)That is the verse that you often see written on placards and held high by Christian fans at baseball and football games all across the country. God gave His Son to be the sacrifice for wretches like you and me to keep us out of an everlasting hell.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17)The purpose of God sending his Son was not one of condemnation, but one of pure unadulterated love toward mankind.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)Listen to Jesus preach the word of God here. Jesus said that those who believe in Him are not condemned, and then He turns it around and declares that those who do not believe in Him are condemned already! Folks that is a very heavy statement for a person to make would you not agree with me here? I do believe that Jesus would not be a popular man in too many places today. Jesus certainly did not seem to be very tolerant did He? Would you say that Jesus was a little bit harsh here? Please keep in mind that He was God in the flesh! This man was flat out telling everybody that He is the one that they need to believe in, or they were condemned already without any questions asked. Folks that is the position of Jesus Christ and that position has never changed. In fact it is absolutely impossible for that position to change. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)Here we have Jesus telling us that the reason for the condemnation upon a person is because of their love for darkness. Every single one of us who truly know the Lord Jesus Christ, also realize that the Lord saved our souls out of darkness, whatever form of darkness that might have been. We were once “by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:3) We loved our darkness until we decided to turn from our sinful ways and come to the cross of Christ and receive mercy for our sins. We were all hell bound until the time we came to the “light of the world” (John 8:12) who is Jesus Christ.For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:20-21 ) Jesus said that those who do evil hate the light. People that break into houses, businesses and automobiles usually do it at night when it is dark and people cannot see them. A person who truly desires salvation will want to make sure that their heart is right in the sight of God and not man. Folks Jesus Christ is the one who is going to judge every one of us, and He is the only one that you should be concerned about regarding the truth! There is much that is done in the world today that is done solely to be seen by man and for man’s approval. What good is it if you please man but you never please God? What good is it if you make a name for yourself in this life and then die in your sins and end up in Hell? If Jesus spoke these words we need to take them to heart. We must never forget the fact that the same one who created ALL things (John 1:1-3) also allowed Himself to be put on the cross, not for His own sin but for the sin of humanity.For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)

DOES THE WRATH OF GOD ABIDE UPON YOU?

Does the wrath of God abide upon you? What does the Word of God (Bible) have to say about this?

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)

Oh what a powerful verse in the scriptures do we have here. The Word of God tells us that the wrath of God abides upon those who do not believe in the Son (Jesus Christ). The reason for this is because Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father sent into the world to save us. There is no plan “B” when it comes to the issue of salvation. Every single one of us is a sinner in need of a Saviour as the following scriptures declare:

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10)

How many of us can lay claim to the title of being righteous? None is the answer that the Bible gives us.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)

How many of us fall short of the glory of God? The Bible tells us that we all fall short of God’s Glory!

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. That means that we deserve the payment for our own sins which is death. Every person without Jesus Christ is spiritually dead in the sight of  Almighty God. Without Jesus Christ we have a piece of real estate in Hell that is waiting for our occupation. It is paid for and you earned it. There will be no need for a mortgage either. I am not giving you my own opinion but I am simply telling you something that is true according to the Bible. In fact Jesus Himself declared the following:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)

Jesus tells us that a person is already condemned if they do not believe in Him. The Bible tells us that it is only the blood which can atone for the sin of a human being.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)

If you study the Word of God you will see how the Jewish High Priest would take the blood of the sacrifices into the very presence of God to atone for the sins of the children of Israel.  It was the sacrifice of a “substitute” that made the difference as the Lord was showing the people the seriousness of their sin and the justice which they deserved.  The Lord  also showed them His awesome mercy in pardoning them. Where is the Jewish Temple today? There is none! How come we do not see the animal sacrifices anymore?  We do not see them anymore because Jesus Christ died as the perfect “substitute” for us approximately 2000 years ago. At the moment of the death of Jesus Christ, the veil in the Jewish Temple was torn in half from top to bottom by the supernatural power of Almighty God. (Matthew 27:51)  The sacrifices have been obliterated because there is now a New Testament (Covenant) in the blood of Jesus Christ. To reject this New Covenant is to reject salvation.  To reject Jesus Christ is to reject Heaven! To reject Jesus Christ is to reject the only mercy that can rescue your soul from an eternal Hell.

Growing up as a Roman Catholic I was taught that there was a place called Purgatory, but when I was born again in 1989 I knew for sure that there was no such place as Purgatory. Listen to me now, there is not a second chance for you after you die. There is no relative of yours who will be able to pray you out of Purgatory and into Heaven. Jesus preached about Heaven and Hell and He was most emphatic when He did that. Jesus said     “… repent ye and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15) and that is what you need to do.  Listen to what Jesus Christ declared after He rose from the dead.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15-16)

Jesus told us preach to the world because He loves all people throughout the world. We are living in a day where the preacher waters down and sugarcoats the gospel so as not to offend anyone. I choose to follow the example of Jesus Christ, the one who went to the cross to save my soul.

There is only one plan of salvation for both Jew and Gentile  and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. There is only one way to be reconciled back to God and that is through the blood of the Son of God. (Romans 5:8-9)

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:9-12)

Eternal life is found only in the Son, Jesus Christ. A person who rejects the mercy which God offers in his Son simply continues on in their condition of spiritual death and ends up in an eternal Hell. Will that be you?

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Matthew 23:33)

JESUS CHRIST: WHY DOES HE UPSET SO MANY PEOPLE?

It has been roughly two thousand years since Jesus the Christ (Messiah) walked this earth and yet His name has been known throughout the world during that whole time. Not only that, but this same Jesus who came to this earth with a message that raised up such fierce and cruel opposition is still doing that today, even though He is not physically present on this earth. Jesus the Messiah, was rejected by the majority of the Jewish religious population of that day, and for the most part things have not changed. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:10-11) Just think about that for a minute. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the very person who made the world, and His own people rejected Him when he arrived in human form. Jesus would constantly prove Himself as the Messiah through the use of the scriptures, but they would have none of it. In all fairness though, the rest of the world has rejected Jesus as the Messiah also. The people of Islam insist that God does not have a Son, and they say that Jesus is nothing more than one of the prophets. There are countless religions that refute the idea of there being only one way to Heaven, and they scream against the people who would preach such a message. The message of tolerance and a false unity is what is being preached in the world today. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, (Deuteronomy 10:17, Revelation 17:14, 19:16) and that still upsets the religious crowd of this day, who will not allow “… this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14)

BE YE RECONCILED TO GOD

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own:  but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord.  If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;  if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.  (John 15:18-20)

Here is a word of exhortation from the Lord Jesus Christ to His followers.  The Lord was telling them (and us also) that they (we) should expect hatred and persecution from the people in the world.  Jesus, the one who came down from above, the one who was without sin and who went about doing nothing but good, was hated and persecuted by many.  The Lord Jesus Christ told His followers that the reason that they would be hated and persecuted was because they were “not of the world.” To the natural mind this may be a little hard to understand, but to those who have had their “spiritual eyes” opened by their merciful Saviour it is not hard to understand at all. Any person who has put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and has been born again of the Spirit realizes that this “world” is not their home.  Any person who truly knows the Lord as their Saviour also realizes that it was nothing but the mercy and grace of God that brought them into His kingdom.  We realize that the blood that Christ shed was for us and for our own sins and not His.  That is the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that is what is offered to every single man and woman on planet earth.

But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.  He that hateth me hateth my Father also.  (John 15:21-23)

The Lord told His followers that they would be hated and persecuted because their persecutors did not know Him (the Father) who sent Him.  Jesus was speaking of the Father who is in heaven above and the one who sent Jesus, the “Lamb of God”, to be the perfect sacrifice for their sins.  Jesus went on to say that those who rejected Him had no cloke for their sin because He had spoken to them.  In other words, the Lord was telling them that their was no excuse for them because He had preached the Word of God to them.  If that same Word of God was living inside of them, they would have received Him when He came. We must never forget the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven above to redeem the world.  Every sacrifice in the Old Testament was merely a type and a shadow which pointed to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross. There are prophecies galore in the Old Testament which pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ which were fulfilled to the very letter.  And yet with all of this, when Jesus Christ came into this world the majority of the Jewish people rejected Him.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:11-12)

The Lord Jesus Christ was rejected by most of the Jewish people, but the Lord still offered salvation to every one of them who believed in Him.  The Jewish people had the scriptures in their possession and the Lord was making it clear that those same scriptures testified specifically about Him!

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.  (John 5:37-40)

This is one of the most powerful rebukes in the Word of God from the Lord Jesus Christ to His “own people.” He told them that the very scriptures which they held in their possession, and in which they were assured of eternal life, pointed to Him.  The Lord was standing right before them and yet they wanted nothing to do with Him.  The very heart of the scriptures and the central thought of those scriptures was all about Christ.  He told them that they would not come to Him, the only person that could give them that eternal life which they desired!

If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:24-24)

The Lord did not leave His followers without any hope.  In fact He told them that the Spirit of God would be their comfort and the same one who would direct them into the truth.  What more could a person ask for.  Yes we will be hated by those who do not want Jesus Christ but the Lord promises to be with us through it all. For those of you who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ you must realize that there is no cloke for your sin outside of Jesus Christ according to His own words.  Listen to what the prophet Isaiah said about this subject:

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

This verse destroys the myth of the “good person”.  It encourages us to come to the Lord for mercy and to be reconciled back to God through His Son Jesus Christ.  God puts no difference between the Jewish and the Gentile person.  We all fit into the category of sinners in need of a Saviour.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)