Jesus Christ, God in flesh, is your Lord and Creator. You can try and deny Him, you can attempt to claim He is something less than God, you can even try to rationalize Him away, but you cannot escape the fact He exists and that He is your only hope of salvation. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the second person of the Trinity. He is eternally divine and the Creator of all things. There was never a time that Christ did not exist and He was not a creation of anything else. There are many who claim Jesus to be of their religious persuasion. They make Him to be a teacher, a prophet, an angel, or a created being who took on divinity. In every single case, they are wrong, because all fail to understand who Christ truly is. He is Lord and God over all and there is no greater being than He.
It is important to rightly understand who Jesus is. If you do not approach Christ as your divine Lord, you will not receive the only means of salvation that is offered through Him. These are not minor or inconsequential details. If you attempt to find salvation in a Christ that is less than the Bible’s revelation of Him, then you are worshipping a false Christ that does not exist. And a false, non-existent savior cannot save you. To rightly understand the gospel message, you must rightly understand Him of whom the gospel speaks. Knowing this then, that Jesus is God, you need to understand why He is the only means of salvation.
You have all that you need to know of God’s existence. You have all of creation which testifies of a Creator. From the vastness of the universe to the intricacies of the atom, all creation works with a clockwork precision that can only point to an intelligent Creator who designed it all. No cosmic accident can truly testify to the wonders that we see with our very eyes. Additionally, you have something that the theory of evolution can never account for, a conscience. All of mankind has an innate understanding of right and wrong, of good and evil. While societies will seek to change and modify laws in order to permit things they know to be wrong, the very fact that you desire to see justice done speaks to the fact that you know morality exists outside of yourself. There is an outside moral law, a code of right and wrong that can only exist if there is a Person who has authored it. Absolute moral laws can only exist if there is an absolute moral Lawgiver.
Therefore, you know that there is an all powerful Creator who is interested in His created beings and that He desires them to know right from wrong, that there will be justice for those who commit acts of evil. No matter how you may seek to explain this away, you know that this Creator is God and that his moral law, the conscience He has given you, will one day be used to judge your life before Him.
God’s law is not simply a set of do’s and don’ts that He came up with. They are a very reflection of the character and nature of God. When we stand before Him, we all will be judged based upon how we lived according to His perfect righteousness. When we look at the Bible, we can see the moral law of God summed up in the Ten Commandments. Each law reflects the perfect nature of God. We are commanded to rightly worship the Lord and Him alone. As the perfect, all powerful Lord and Creator, there is nothing that deserves our love and adoration as He does. Anything less than wholehearted, perfect worship for the entirety of our lives is sin. Additionally, all mankind is created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, when we act in a manner that is not completely selfless toward others, we sin against Him who created us all. Anger, malice, lust, theft, murder, covetousness and more reflect a sinful attitude in which we elevate ourselves above others, believing we are better and more deserving than they. We are then sinning against He who commanded us to love the beings He created.
When we pass out of this life, we stand before the Lord our Judge, who will examine the books of our lives. Every lie ever told (white lie or deliberate, harmful deception), every lustful look and thought, every time you desired something that God had not graciously provided to you, each time you took something that did not belong to you, all hateful thoughts and words (even those spoken when no one could hear you), and each time you denied God by worshiping an idol created in the mind, or when you blasphemed Him by rejecting His existence, all will testify to your sinful heart and mind. The perfect Judge of the universe will examine all such things against His perfect righteousness and rightly condemn all who have rebelled against Him in lawlessness. Such sin against a perfectly righteous and eternal God can have only one punishment: eternal, conscious torment in the pit of Hell. There is no end, no early parole, and no pardon once a sinner is consigned to the lake of fire. It is eternal, without end, and no cry for mercy will be heard.
Yet, just as such punishment is for those who rebel against God, He has made a way of escape, a means of salvation for sinners. Man cannot atone for his own sins; he cannot absolve himself when he is already guilty. Nothing man can do will erase what he has already done. The wages of sin is eternal death in Hell. That is the legal requirement of God’s law. God cannot simply declare forgiveness without just payment being made for sin. To do would be capricious and unjust. Therefore, God satisfied the requirements of the law Himself. He paid the price sinners deserve so that the guilty might be set free.
God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, in the form of Man, to fulfill all the requirements of the law. He lived in His earthly life in complete obedience to His Father in thought, word, and deed. There was never a time that Christ sinned in any capacity against God; He perfectly fulfilled all that the law required. In doing so, Jesus as our representative, lived the life that no sinner could. Then, Christ willfully allowed Himself to be arrested and illegally tried for crimes he did not commit. And He was voluntarily beaten, bloodied, and put on a cross where he endured the full wrath of God due to sinners. He was buried and on the third day, rose Himself from the grave, defeating the power of sin and death. In doing this, Christ satisfied the righteous wrath of God on behalf of sinners, yet provided a promise of eternal life for those whom the price was paid.
Today, God commands that all sinners everywhere repent, turn from their sins, and trust in the completed work of His Son for the forgiveness of sins. If you will do so today, God promises to send you His Holy Spirit and make you into a new creation. He will set you free from the bondage of sin and death. He will change your heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He will change your desires to satisfy your flesh and give you a desire to follow Him. Your sin will be put on Christ at the cross; His righteousness will be put on you. You will be seen perfect in the eyes of God and He will grant you eternal life in Heaven.
This is the most important message you can ever hear, that you can be cleansed of your sin, and that eternal life is available to you in Christ. Turn from your sins today and flee to Jesus, find forgiveness in Him today.
Yo I’m confused about a few things here, wonder if you could clear them up for me. More than a few things to be honest, I actually find the whole system rather confusing. I’ll just throw out the first couple questions that come to mind, and ask that you kindly reply and attempt to please clear them up for me.
1) God, Jesus, Christ, the Lord… how many different people, or entities is that? I’ve never understood, and I’m honestly not trying to be snarky.
2) Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, Anglican, Lutheran… and on and on… How does one choose the right one? Are they all right, or just one? Who decides? And wasn’t Jesus a Jew? I was raised Catholic and that Jesus being a Jew part always threw me. Also why we went to one church and other Christians went to a totally different one… so I’m going to heaven but they aren’t? Odd, to say the very least
3) The question I just gotta have answered if I’m to believe any of it… I’m pretty sure the bible says something along the lines of: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”. I do apologize if I am quoting incorrectly, but I am very certain I have the jist of it. Soooo everyone just goes ahead and ignores this part? Aren’t rich folk meant to give all their worldly possessions to help the poor? I gotta tell you, if that was indeed the case, I would be much much more inclined to get on board.
Thanks for your time. I hope I haven’t offended anyone as that is certainly not my intent 🙂
Jesus,
You have thrown a lot of questions into one comment that would truthfully be impossible to answer in the detail the comment boxes allow. However, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
1) There is one God, there are not multiple gods. God exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each is a distinct person, yet all are God. That is a lot to absorb and our minds cannot rationalize it in a sense in which we can compare it to something in this world.
2) There are multiple denominations within Christianity due to the limitations of our human minds. What we MUST submit to is the Word of God. The Bible is the final standard for right and wrong. It clearly articulates who God is, His eternal plan of Creation and Redemption and is without error. It is infallible, inerrant and inspired of God. Thus, all those who claim to be Christians must submit wholly to it. There are core doctrines that one must adhere to in order to call oneself a Christian. Among these are: the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 3 persons, one God); the Deity of Jesus Christ; that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man; that man is a sinner without the ability to save himself; that salvation comes through Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, in faith alone; that Scripture is the sole means of discerning the truth and will of God. This is not the entirety of core doctrines, but gives you an idea of what one must adhere to. There are numerous “Christian” groups that deny some of these doctrines and attempt to add their own traditions (i.e. the Catholic church teaches you must merit salvation through your works). Any group which denies these doctrines is not Christian by definition.
3) The passage you site (Matthew 19:24) is NOT about rich people giving to the poor in order to merit salvation or to gain favor with God. The passage describes a time when a rich young ruler asked about how to receive eternal life. He asserts he has kept all the law of God, but Jesus exposed that he worshipped his own riches. He did so by telling the ruler to give up all that he had and follow Christ. The man walked away unwilling to give up the idolatry of his riches. It was not the giving of his money to the poor that would have saved him. It was the repenting of his idolatry of his money and placing his faith in Christ alone that would have saved him from his sins. This is why Christ said it is easier for a camel to go through the idea of a needle, because those who trust in money have little to no desire to trust in God alone. My concern with you statement that you would be more inclined to “get on board” with Christianity if the rich gave away their money is that, much like the young ruler, your trust seems to be that in the giving and receiving of riches. Should Christians help those in need? Yes, and the huge number of Christian charities, hospitals, adoption agencies, etc. testify to the fact that we do. But giving to those in need does not merit salvation. It is merely the evidence of a heart changed by God to value Him and His commandments rather than the things of this world.
Jesus, I hope I have answered your questions to your satisfaction. We appreciated your writing to us on this page. If you would like to talk more, I encourage you to email us through the “Contact Us” link at the top of the page. We would love to talk with you.
Chris