A Response is Needed
A patient returned to the hospital clinic for the result of the investigations into her bowel problem. The Barium enema had shown an undoubted carcinoma in the transverse colon.
“I am sorry to say that you need an operation to remove the growth.”
The lady, in her fifties thought for a while and then replied,
“I don’t feel ill - so I don’t want an operation. I’ll try and find another way.”
She would not change her mind, even when it was explained that there was a very good chance that surgery would be curative.
“How foolish,” most people would say.
However a similar situation exists in our relationship with God. Our lives on this earth are limited. We will then all face God’s judgment. We cannot escape this.
As a young man Paul had persecuted the early church because he mistakenly thought it was based on untruths. But he became convinced that Jesus really was God’s Messiah who had stepped into history. He spent the rest of his life telling the world the evidence for this claim and explaining its implications for all people. During a talk to the leaders of the city of Athens he said,
“Now he (God) commands all people everywhere to repent for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31
We all overlook facts we don’t like! Certainly the prospect of God’s judgment is fearful.
“I don’t believe I’ll be judged,” is the usual ostrich-like attempt to hide.
However there is convincing evidence that to refuse to think about the coming judgment is foolhardy. God raised the Messiah to life three days after he had died by crucifixion. It is he who will judge you and me.
“But I don’t believe in the resurrection,” is another common response.
But many who say this have never investigated the evidence for Jesus or his resurrection. To refuse to believe without bothering to investigate will be no defence before God!
One Way
The Bible says,
“How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” Hebrews 2:3
Today we need to hear this again. To reject God is the most serious offence men and women can commit. The terrifying fact is that it is all too easy to be religious and yet still refuse to personally submit to the Lord of the universe.
Muslims
I have just returned from a country that has many Muslim inhabitants. One afternoon I wandered into a small densely packed area where the streets were only six feet wide and the houses were crammed together with no gaps between. Many children were running around. On the spur of the moment I entertained the children and their mothers with some coin magic and began to feel rather like the Pied Piper as numbers grew. I then produced a green silk that was covered with black stains and explained that this is what God sees in us. The stains represent our sin. There is nothing that we can do to get rid of the effects of our sin. Religious devotion cannot solve the problem of sin that is common to all humanity. Going to church or going to the mosque cannot remove our guilt. Becoming a religious leader cannot remove our guilt. There is only one way to have our sins forgiven and to become perfectly righteous. Only then can we become members of God’s kingdom. The only way is to submit to God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, and accept Him as our Saviour and Lord. Then and only then are we given the status of being righteous. We are righteous because we are in Christ who has paid the penalty for our sin and it is now Christ’s righteousness that God sees in us. To illustrate this I stroked the silk and it changed, becoming perfectly clean with no blemishes whatsoever.
“How shall we escape if we ignore such a salvation?”
This is important for people of all races. The Qur’an contains 95 references to Isa (Jesus) who is described as ‘Isa al-Masih’ – ‘Jesus the Messiah’ or ‘Jesus the Anointed One’. Surah 43:63 of the Qur’an says,
“And when Jesus brought clear proofs, he said, "I have come to you with wisdom and to make clear to you some of that over which you differ, so fear Allah and obey me.”
Such references surely mean it cannot be wrong to talk to Muslims about the claims of Jesus.
Jews
Do Jews also need to hear this message? The Apostles, Peter and John, were arrested by the Jewish authorities for speaking out about Jesus, the man they had had executed a few weeks earlier. The two spoke out boldly before the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body in Jerusalem that could authorise their deaths also,
“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men, by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
The members of the Sanhedrin knew all about Jesus. There was so much evidence to prove he was no ordinary person. He had claimed to be God, he performed extraordinary miracles, his teaching was awe-inspiring, he was willing to die for his beliefs and then had risen again. And here before them were two of Jesus’ disciples who spoke out courageously and were obviously convinced about Jesus and his resurrection. Some of the Sanhedrin’s members had already become followers of Jesus.
Both sincere Jews and Moslems try to achieve their own righteousness by obeying their religious laws. Law is like a mirror. It can show the dirt on our face but has no power to make us clean.
Paul was writing about religious Jews when he said,
“. . . no-one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Romans 3:20
Christians
To be born into a Christian family or country, or even to be baptised, confirmed or ordained, does not mean that a person is saved and will survive God’s judgement. Jesus himself, when describing the coming judgment in the Sermon on the Mount explained this clearly.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.’” Matthew 7:21-23
Being religious does not mean that my heart is committed to the Lord Jesus. Today there are many who call themselves Christians who think that because they are reasonable people and better behaved than many others, God will look kindly on them when the judgment comes. They are also trying to manufacture a righteousness of their own. The only perfect righteousness is that of Christ and we can be given this through commitment to him. Paul explains clearly that all people, whatever their religious tradition, are in the same boat,
“But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:21-24
Commitment to God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, gives us a pardon for all our sin. Faith is like the linkage that can join railway carriages together. Joining with other carriages gives a good appearance but there is no power to move them, let alone take them to their destination. Faith must be in someone, an engine that has the power to take us to God. Many people’s faith is in institutions or human leaders but these have no power to save. The Apostle John made the way clear,
“Yet to all who received him (the Lord Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
A man was relaxing on his rowing boat, gently drifting downstream on the Niagara River, some way above the Niagara Falls. There was very little current. The man was sitting in the boat enjoying life. He had good oars but wasn’t using them. Imperceptibly the current sped up until it was very swift, too swift for him to row to the shore. The boat is moving towards the Niagara Falls. He couldn’t save himself now.
However on the shore some onlookers have seen the difficulty he is in. They threw a rope that fell right across the boat. What does the man have to do to be saved? All he needs to do is hold onto the rope and he will be pulled ashore.
What does he have to do to be lost? He only has to neglect to take hold of the rope. He cannot save himself with the oars but there is a power that can save him. How foolish he would be not to take a firm hold of the rope. God has seen the peril we are in; he has thrown us the lifeline in the person of his one and only son, Jesus Christ. What must we do to be saved?
I was once given a visiting card with a difference. On one side was written a short excerpt from the account of Paul when imprisoned in Philippi. There had been a violent earthquake so that the prisoners could escape but didn’t. The prison guard recognised that God was with the apostles and asked the most important question anyone can ask, and then Paul replied.
Q. “What must I do to be saved?”
A. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”
On the reverse was another question.
Q. “What must I do to be lost?”
A.
The answer is nothing. Don’t take hold of God’s rescue and you will be lost. This is the message Jesus brought with him. Faith is only valid if it is the linkage to saving power. Religion and good living have no such power, the Son of God alone is able to save. Relying on religious activities is like trying to lift myself up by pulling on my shoelaces! I won’t move, however hard I try. Each of us is lost if we are not trusting and following the Lord Jesus.
“How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” Hebrews 2:3
BVP
