APART FROM JESUS
“Being
justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His
blood, to declare His
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God.” -Romans
3:24 -25
There
is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of
God’s love, holiness and justice and power. Apart from Jesus, we
will never come to know God and what He is like (1
Timothy 2:5).
Without Jesus, we will be forever lost to God’s salvation. We may
believe in God, generally, and believe that He is great and holy, but
without Jesus and His salvation, we will perish.
Many
years ago, I read a story of a German statesman who was approaching
death. Sad to say, this man had been an agnostic throughout his long
life. There was also a Christian minister living in the same town and
the diplomat both knew and respected him. The diplomat, knowing that
death was closing in, invited the preacher to come to his home and
talk about God.
There was one stipulation to the
invitation, however: the
preacher must not mention the name of Jesus Christ a single time in
the discussion. While
he welcomed general teaching about God, he did not want it to include
Jesus of Nazareth.
Strangely, the minister agreed and in
the first session he discussed at great length the love of God. Since
God has manifested His love in so many ways, this was not difficult
to do without referring to Jesus Christ.
After an hour or
so he closed the discussion, still without mentioning the name of
Christ, and left. On his second visit, the minister talked about
God’s power and wisdom, still discreetly refraining from a
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
On his third visit, the
minister discussed the holiness of God, His hatred of sin, and the
absolute necessity of righteous judgment being poured out upon every
sin. The clergyman called attention to the fact that God could not
condone sin in any form and remain holy Himself.
At the
conclusion of that discussion the statesman turned to the preacher
and noted that he had said strong things. He added, “Isn’t
there a solution? Can’t anything be done to escape the judgment of
God against sin?”
The
Holy Spirit had been working on the dying man, and on the
next visit the diplomat greeted the minister by insisting, “You
must tell me the whole story. In these past few days, you have talked
about God’s love, about His wisdom, about His holiness and
judgment. Is there no solution? Is this all there is to God’s
message?”
The
preacher stood by his bed and looked directly at him, replying, “No,
I have not told you the whole story, but it is all I can tell you
under the circumstances. You have forbidden me to mention the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and apart from Him there is no solution.”
Immediately the statesman responded, “Sir,
I apologize. Please tell me how my sins can be forgiven; tell me
about this One who can forgive my iniquity and release me from the
judgment of wrath which hangs over my head. I do want to know God’s
truth.”
Naturally,
the man of God opened the Word of God and explained the redemption
through the Lord Jesus Christ to the dying sinner. The diplomat
believed and called upon the Lord Jesus to save him. That preacher
was right: apart from the Lord Jesus there is no message. Apart from
the Lord Jesus, we have absolutely nothing specific to say about
Redemption.
Apart from the Lord Jesus, we cannot know the
fullness of God. Apart from the Lord Jesus, we cannot tell the good
news of what God has done for us.
Jesus is our good
news.
Jesus is our gospel.
And that’s the
Gospel Truth!
-preacher D. G. Miles McKee
Comments