ATTN: Unbelievers, Unconverted –
Bear with me, if you will. Consider this text in Scripture:
Mark 10:17-22
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: “˜Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
To All:
Salvation is free, but it ain’t cheap. Salvation is free, but it’s gonna cost ya something. Salvation is free, and if you’re one of the hell-deserving, law-breaking, darkness-loving, light-despising sinners whom God has so graciously given His free gift of salvation, then you should be aware of the high cost you may someday face because of Christ. To those of you who’re yet to be confronted by the Gospel…I want to address you.
However it is you’ve happened upon my blog, I don’t know. Whether it was a google search, an “accident”, or whatever, I ask you don’t turn a blind eye to this. Everyone will be accountable one day. You can be sure of it. Whether you think Christians are quacks, or not, that’s really irrelevant. The question is, what do you think of Christ? Better yet, Who do you think Christ is?
Elsewhere, I’ve written the following. Please consider its content…
I exhort you to heed the command of God to repent and believe on His Son Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. This is not a hokey, “God loves you and has a plan for your life” thing, nor is it a plea for you to “find your purpose.” The Bible says in Proverbs 16, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of doom.” Does that send chills down your spine? The God of the Scriptures hates sin, and yet He loved the world so much that to those who believe, follow, and obey Him, He gives eternal life. With this change of mind (repentance), comes a change of action (sanctification) as secured and guaranteed by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you know not Christ yet, cast yourself at His mercy, for it is your only hope. No trust can you put in yourself or your goodness, for you have none. You are deserving of only hell, but God will never cast out any who come to Him.
How’s this to be done? Well, in Scripture God has given us a revelation of Himself and His standards. Originally God had made a covenant with Adam, the first of all mankind and, thus, the Representative of all mankind. Adam was created upright and holy, but when he sinned he plunged himself and all mankind (remember, he was our representative) into sin.
In this regard, all men are born spiritually dead and separated from God. Yet, even right after Adam’s transgression, God spoke of His plan of redemption. The seed of woman (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (Satan). Genesis 3:15 is the first time the Gospel is preached. You can read more about this here. Moving on to the crux of the matter. After Adam introduces sin into the world, mankind has the sinful misconception that somehow he can earn salvation with God. “Well, I’m better than so and so.” or “My good outweighs my bad”, etc. This is the mentality of our natures.
As has been noted, God had a standard with Adam. Adam broke covenant. There is a portion of Scripture which sums up all the law/standards of God. In this portion of Scripture we learn about the 10 Commandments. Guess what? We’ve all broken at least one of them. Repeatedly. Now, if this is God’s standard for “getting in”, then where does that leave all of mankind? On the way to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. So, if you answered “No” to question 1, you’re in the same predicament as everyone else. You cannot earn the salvation of God. You have nothing to offer Him. He will accept nothing less than perfection . . .THAT’S SCARY, HUH? Yet, my friend, there is hope.
You see, the first Adam failed in his covenant with God. But there is a second Adam. And He did not fail. His Name is Jesus Christ. As Adam represented all of mankind and plunged all mankind into sin, Christ represents His people and has secured all of them into God’s salvation. So, we’ve found that God requires perfection for entrance into His kingdom. But we’ve also learned that all mankind is sinful, thus no one is perfect. Scripture itself says, “There is no one righteous. No, not even one.” and “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If we are to stop here, there is no hope for any of mankind. But the Gospel means “good news” and it doesn’t stop here! We can never be perfect, thus we cannot merit God’s favor or salvation. But Christ can and did! He is the second Adam, the one Who crushed the head of the Serpent.
He came into this world, without sin, lived a perfect life according to the law of God, and then fulfilled all righteousness to be a sacrifice for those who would believe on Him, satisfying God’s requirement of perfection on their behalf! What glorious news! Do you believe yourself to be hopelessly lost and destitute, and sinful? Do you realize that in your wickedness you have offended the thrice holy God who knows no sin? Do you want entrance to His kingdom, forgiveness of sin? Then acknowledge your great rebellion against Him, cast your sinfulness aside, and plead to God for His mercy according to the merit of Christ! There is no mystical prayer that obligates God to do this. It is simply His offer of salvation for those who believe on His Name by faith, not trusting in anything of themselves, and who repent of their sinfulness, following Him, loving, knowing, and obeying His Word, and, if need be, dying for Him.
Will you?
We began this post with a passage in which a man was not willing to give up everything for the sake of Christ? Don’t go away sad because you want to hold on to something…or even, anything.