“And the Son of Man came to save those who are lost.” (Matthew 18:11 NLT)
Imagine, as Ray Comfort suggests in his ebook freewonderfulbook.com, that you are given the opportunity to go back in time to September 10, 2001. You’re speaking to everyone who will be in the Twin Towers the next day. You know most will die in the attack in less than 24 hours. Do you dare tell them that God has a wonderful plan for their lives? How do you prepare them for the fact that this, in all probability, will be their last chance to find eternal hope in Jesus? Will they even care?
The truth is, this may be our last day on planet Earth, yet, most people, even those who profess faith in Jesus, are more concerned about “What’s for dinner?” or “Am I going to get that raise I’ve been promised?” than “Am I ready to stand before the eternal God and give an account of my life?”
The sad and heartbreaking reality is that most people don’t give a thought to what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. Why should they? Few are sounding a clarion call “to repent and turn to God!” Why should they? They don’t see anything wrong with how they’re living. Sure, they could be more thoughtful, kind, or caring, but everyone has a bad day, right?
What if you had a court date in two weeks and you were facing the death penalty for murder? Do you think you’d give any thought to how that trial would go? Yet, every person on the planet will one day stand before the eternal God to give an account of their life on earth. Most people in America don’t have a clue what’s waiting for them when they close their eyes in death. And worse, they don’t care.
They can’t be concerned that Jesus died to rescue them from their sin. That He died to pay the debt they owe that even if they had an eternity, could never pay. They don’t think of themselves as having a sin debt. Unlike the person who committed murder and is going to trial, most Americans see themselves as “good” people, and all most of them have heard about God is that He is loving and kind. “How could a loving God allow a good person like me to go to hell?”
The fact that Jesus came to rescue them from an eternal death doesn’t make sense, because they don’t understand that they’ve broken the laws of God, who is not only loving, but just. And one day, sooner than they can imagine, they’ll stand before that loving God to give an account of their life. And like the ill-dressed man at the wedding feast in Matthew 21, they’ll face an eternity of separation from God. But why? Because they’ve believed the lies of Satan that the Holy God will ignore their sins because He loves them.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:18: “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.” And what is the purpose of the law? Paul writes in Romans 7:12-13: “But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.”
What does that mean? It means a lot, but for our purposes, it means essentially two things. First, perfect obedience to God’s laws is humanly impossible. Jesus alone met the demands of the law, and by so doing, was able, through His sacrificial death on the Cross, to free us from the certain death of trying to be good enough to deserve a place in heaven with God. But secondly, the law created a tangible target, enabling us to see what we were doing wrong and how our sins were clearly in defiance of God’s laws.
We’ll pick this up in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 