The Son Story
When the message of the man and his son was told, a few believed, sincerely thanking the man and gave due honor to both him and the son for his sacrifice. Others acknowledged the man and his son, but didn't really think too much about it, flippantly dismissing it with the wave of a hand: "Oh, yeah, whatever - thanks a lot", and then went about there business forgetting all about it - treating it as unimportant. And still others said: "It wasn't really his son that died, it was someone else" or "It never happened, it's all just a big lie."
Put yourself in that mans place. How would you regard those who disgraced your son and treated his sacrifice as a common thing, or worse, treated it as a lie? With how much more wrath, will God Almighty deal with those who treat as common or deny the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus Christ? God loves you, and has poured out His wrath against sin upon His own Son, Jesus Christ, that you might have eternal life. But if you continue to reject Christ - God's wrath against sin must and will fall on you!
I have heard the bragging, the mocking sneers and seen the condescending smiles. But rest assured, on that fateful day, if you do not now repent and turn in humble contrition to Christ, you will not be bragging, sneering, smiling or laughing. Oh, you will most assuredly be joining the Devil, if you refuse Christ, but you will not be‘shouting', and neither will he. There will be no ‘weed' there either - only the "worm which dies not" eating your eternally damned flesh. There will only be the red-hot, broiling fires to comfort you - and you will be too busy wailing and gnashing your own teeth to ‘shout' at anything. Eternal flames, eternal separation from God - and the blackest of hate. The heavy and eternal hand of an offended God crushing you, and holding you in derision, mocking and sneering at your pitiful pleas for mercy - because you rejected His Son!
I hear the complaint "God is not fair! If that's the kind of God he is then I want nothing to do with Him!" But who are you, wretched man, to call God into account? Where were you when He created the heavens and the earth? Will the man who is created, say to the creator "why have you made me this way"? Who are you? Does God answer to you? He does not. But all men, most assuredly, will answer to Him.
Do you think you will give him a good ‘talking to' on that great judgment day; and tell him in glowing terms of all the times when He has erred - and inform Him arrogantly of all His unfair ways? Not hardly. For it is written: "...that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19). And the vain, sinful, abominable and foolish reasoning's of your puffed up, proud, fleshly mind - will keep you out of the pit of Hell "no better than a spiders web will stop a falling boulder!" The offense of the cross is this: Man is offended when he is told that he is rotten to the core because of sin; that none of the good things he HAS done, nor any of the bad things he HASN'T done, will earn him one bit of acceptance or favor with God.
People look at each other with what is called 'comparative righteousness'. We look at others and say to ourselves: "Yeah, I have done a few bad things, but I think I do more good things than bad - and besides, I have NEVER done THAT." But God declares that every human being, regardless of what they do or don't do - is rotten to the core because of sin. Say for instance, a man robs a bank. He goes before the judge and says: " Yes, your honor, I robbed the bank, but I have never murdered anyone, I have never lied under oath, never assaulted anyone - I don't deserve punishment because of all the things I have never done." How far is that argument going to get the man? In the same manner, God's Word declares: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is GUILTY OF ALL" (James 2:6). God's Holy nature demands a standard of absolute perfection - an impossibility for any sinful human being to attain.
God's only plan of salvation is simple. God sent His perfect, sinless only begotten Son into the world to pay the price for the sin of mankind. When we admit that we are sinners, repent (propose in our hearts to turn from sin) and believe that Jesus died for us, then God declares us perfect - not because we are perfect, but because His Son, Jesus, is perfect. It is a legal work and declaration in God's Court of Law. Because Jesus paid the price for our sin, God can legally declare all who come to Him through Christ - perfect.
"For God so loved the world (all of mankind), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish (suffer the sentence of sin - which is eternal Hell), but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
Merely speaking words religiously does not save anyone. Remember that God see's the innermost thoughts of every human being - nothing is hidden from God. But if you will pray this prayer, in sincerity toward God and believe it in your heart - God will give you eternal life and restore your fellowship with Him. God loves the sinner, every human being, but hates sin and must legally pass the sentence of eternal Hell upon man because of the sin attached to man. The ONLY way to separate us from the sin every one of us is born into - is by accepting the price God paid FOR US - the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
"Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner, and that I cannot free myself from sin. I believe that you sent your Son, Jesus, to pay the sentence for my sin. I repent of my sin and ask you to forgive me, Lord Jesus. I ask you to come into my heart Jesus, wash me clean of my sin and be Lord of my life. I confess you with my mouth Jesus, and I believe in my heart (inner being) that God raised you from the dead. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Amen."
As long as there is breath, there is hope.
Don't wait to accept Christ, death has a way of taking us by surprise.
