New Wineskins
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Jesus is the only way to God, Jesus is God, if you believe in Jesus you shall not perish. But if you don’t place your trust in Jesus, then you will perish. Jesus talks about this eternal perishing as hell, hades or eternal fire.
That’s why the resurrection of Jesus is so central. He performed miracle after miracle, proving he was divine, including the ultimate miracle, when he rose from the dead, validating every exclusive claim he made about himself. So, when other religions honor Jesus as a prophet or a good teacher, but not the Son of God, they are not placing their trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, and Jesus himself said he’s the only way to heaven. How do Christians respond to this heavy truth?
1. Some Christians ignore the whole issue. They choose to avoid the question, they want to live their best life now and not get dragged down by all that heavy truth. It’s much easier to get caught up in sports, career, a new season of their favorite tv show than to really feel the weight of what this heavy truth implies.
2. Some Christians change Scripture. They can’t imagine that their God would ever allow something like that to happen, so they change Scripture or change God to fit with what’s comfortable for them. Everyone wins, we all get a participation trophy, there are no eternal consequences to our sin.
3. Some Christians know the truth but just don’t care. Some acknowledge that people who don’t believe in Jesus are going to hell, they admit that hell is real, but they just don’t care enough to actually do anything about it. As selfish as this is, if some Christians were honest they would say, “I’m good, I’m going to heaven. Everyone else is on their own.” The problem with that approach is: if we’re that heartless and if there’s no love of God inside of us for others, then have we actually given our lives over to God?
4. Some Christians acknowledge the truth of Scripture and they do something about it. If the first group avoids the issue, if the second group changes Scripture to make themselves more comfortable, if the third group knows people are going to hell but through their actions they just don’t really care, the fourth group acknowledges the truth of Scripture and does something about it.
Jesus is the only way to heaven, hell is a real destination for those that don’t trust in him, and there are hundreds of people you interact with every month that are on the road to eternal separation from God in hell. That is the painful, uncomfortable, but honest truth. So, here’s the million dollar question: what are you doing about it? What are you willing to do about it?
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