Jesus: Friend or Enemy? (June 11, 2024)

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14)

Life can be viewed as a sequence of weighty decisions that will ultimately determine our earthly legacy and our eternal destiny. The absolute truth of God’s Word makes perfectly clear that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, the exclusive source of salvation and everlasting life. We all face the most crucial and important choice that we will ever have to make—whether to receive Jesus, God’s beloved  Son, through faith as our personal Savior or to reject His offer of salvation and bear the everlasting consequence, “the lake of fire…the second death.”  (Revelation 20:14)

The Father sent Jesus to die on the Cross to redeem us of our sins and to make available to all that so choose the opportunity for divine forgiveness and intimate fellowship with Him forever.  The LORD will never impose upon us His will that none should perish, but that every sinner, all of humanity, should come to Him in repentance and receive His mercy and grace. God created each of us with a free will to decide for ourselves whether we’ll spend eternity in His presence in the paradise of heaven or apart from Him in a real place of never-ending suffering that is hell.

“You can’t get rid of Jesus Christ,” said the late Bible teacher and pastor Dr. J. Vernon McGee. “You are either His friend or His enemy. You have to make a decision about Jesus. You either accept Him or reject Him.” One day everyone will stand before Almighty God to give an account of our earthly lives and answer for what we have done, good or bad. Will you approach God’s judgment seat cleansed by Christ’s shed blood and clothed in His righteousness or come shamefully naked in your unrepentant sinfulness? Will Jesus be your friend or your enemy?

“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.” (John 5:22-23)