A Warning About Jesus
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Mt. 4:17
“Turn to your neighbor,” the pastor at a church I attended told the congregation. “Say, “Jesus loves you, and so do I.”” I have gone to countless churches where the pastor tells people to “turn to your neighbor and say such and such,” and I have heard a vehement emphasis on telling the world how Jesus loves us. I have a warning about Jesus, and it’s this.
God so loves us He sacrificed His only begotten son Jesus to provide a way for His creation to be restored to Him and to have eternal life, and Jesus loves us so much He went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so we could repent and believe in Him and turn to God and His ways and be forgiven and be given the opportunity to spend forever with God for those of us who choose to live according to God’s ways, BUT Jesus did NOT make His grand entrance into the New Testament proclaiming the Kingdom of God preaching to the masses, “I love you! I love you! Turn to your neighbor and say “I love you!”” Know what Jesus preached?
REPENTANCE! He didn’t preach on love at all in that very first “sermon.” He preached that the people needed to repent of their sins with true godly sorrow, turn away from their wicked ways, and turn to God and live according to His ways. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so we could believe in Him, be forgiven by God, get a free ticket to heaven, and spend the rest of our lives on earth enjoying our worldly wicked ways. He died on the cross to bear God’s wrath at us for our sins that separate us from God so we could REPENT and TURN to God, leave the world’s wicked ways behind us, and devote our lives now and forever to God!
Do you believe Jesus has changed His mind since then? That He would walk into today’s churches, give us hugs, pat us on the backs, tell us to turn to our neighbors and talk about love, then plop down in a pew and wait for the sermon and picnic after church? Or would He love us so much He would come bounding into the churches and preach the TRUTH that we must REPENT, believe in Him, follow Him, committing our lives to God almighty forever?
We need to preach, hear, and practice love, but if we leave out REPENTANCE, we are bound for hell and will miss the love of God forevermore that is offered us through Christ.