Romans 7:24-25 Wretched man that I am, who can rescue me? Thanks be to God it is done through Jesus Christ!
What if someone said, “I am a murderer, but praise God I am saved. I am an adulterer, but that’s just how God made me. I’m a pedophile for Jesus and a pastor.” WHAT? I hope you would be shocked and outraged. However, that is a teaching in some “churches” today.
In truth, there are only a few basic responses we can give to the darkness within once we recognize it:
- Evil is good … “Born this way, so God’s okay with it.”
- God is evil … “This is how God made me, so I want nothing to do with Him. He doesn’t exist for me.”
- Help! … “Who can save me from the wretch that I am? How can I be made anew?”
The biblical response is connected to death and resurrection: His and ours. When we recognize our desperate state, we are at a crossroad of the broad and narrow ways. The gate to the broad path says, “No change, no pain, no death required.” The narrow gate reads, “Total overhaul: death and resurrection.”
Jesus didn’t need His death, we did. He could have come, preached, healed, then ascended back with the Father – no problem for Him, but no hope for us. Without His death, we have no hope. Without our death (to self, sin, darkness), we have no resurrection. You may well understand this simple message, yet there are many on the broad road to destruction who believe they are Christians. It is crucial that we learn to communicate the true gospel in love and mercy to those who are perishing. Remember: if they hate you for speaking truth, they first hated Him. If you suffer so that some may be saved, remember that He was mocked, tortured, and crucified. Pain and death are hard, but without them there is no resurrection! And resurrection is the central point of Christianity!