<\/p>\n
\u201cYet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention\u201d (2 Chronicles 24:19).<\/p>\n
THE GOSPEL IS POWERFUL, BUT IT CAN\u2019T OVERCOME THE WILL OF A PERSON WHO DOESN\u2019T SEE THAT HE NEEDS TO BE SAVED. And for this reason, the gospel will not be of much interest to people today. Living in an age when the concept of \u201csin\u201d is no longer taken seriously, we should not expect the gospel to be widely received. It is only the penitent who will come to Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Actually, that last statement is not true. It is a fact that many today do \u201ccome to Christ\u201d without any consciousness of the sins they need to have forgiven. They come seeking relief from a wide range of temporal troubles: poverty, social oppression, physical ailments, psychological disorders, and emotional distress, to name just a few. Yet when people \u201cbecome interested in Christianity\u201d for these reasons, they are seeking something other than what Jesus went to the cross to provide. Jesus is not unconcerned about the lesser problems that we have, but He was very clear what His mission was: \u201cto seek and to save the lost\u201d (Luke 19:10).<\/p>\n
Jesus, then, is our Savior.<\/em> But is that what we want Him to be? We might prefer Him to be our surgeon, psychologist, or social worker, but the fact remains, He came to be our Savior. And the sooner we acknowledge that we are lost, the sooner His message will make sense to us. Not only are we lost, but we cannot save ourselves. In a helpless spiritual condition, we are doomed to die in eternity if we do not let Him redeem us from our rebellion.<\/p>\n But our self-sufficiency is not easy to give up. These days, science and technology seem to be a better hope. If there is a problem the scientific method can\u2019t solve, that is a problem we need not worry about. And as long as we believe that, we will view the gospel of Christ as little more than a relic of pre-modern superstition.<\/p>\n Indeed, until we humble ourselves before the painful recognition of our sin, we will find Jesus Christ to be insulting and offensive. We will not only be uninterested; we will be angry. How dare this ignorant peasant from ancient Galilee tell us, \u201cUnless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins\u201d (John 8:24)?<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more irritating than a Savior when you aren\u2019t ready to be saved\u201d (D. Sutten).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n