Follow-up to January 15th teaching

Why did the Israelites as a whole reject Jesus? I think you could point to different things. They were unwilling to accept that Jesus was God who took on human form. The salvation they were looking for was not the salvation they needed. They were looking for a Messiah to deliver them from their bondage to the Romans rather than their bondage to sin. Jesus, however, came to deliver us from sin and death. 

They rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah because they believed they were already saved. The Jewish people believed salvation was national, not individual. They believed salvation was for the Jewish people only, not for Gentiles. 

But God’s way of being right with Him is accepting by faith that Jesus is the Son of God who came in human form, lived a sinless life, was crucified on the cross for our sins, and then rose from the dead. God’s way of being right with Him is based on what Jesus did rather than what we do. Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”

Unsaved Gentiles are in the same boat as the Jewish people. They want to believe they can make their own way to God and obtain salvation through their own means. This is the reason we have so many other belief systems outside of Christianity. Many want to believe that if there is a God and Heaven, they should be allowed in because they are a good person.

The truth is, unsaved people don’t believe they need saving because they won’t see the reality of their bondage to sin. They won’t accept that they have a sin problem. All of man’s problems can be traced back to sin and man’s rebellion toward God. Unless a person is willing to accept that they need saving, they won’t accept Jesus as Savior.

Even if they were willing to acknowledge their sin, they still want to believe they can come to God on their terms. The truth however is there is God’s way and no other. John 14:6 – “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

If you have not been born-again, my prayer for you is that Jesus will open your eyes to see your true condition. That you will see your need for salvation.  That you will see that the salvation you need is not from drugs & alcohol or other addictions, anger issues, or any other issues you may be dealing with. The salvation you need is from sin and death. Once you have that, the others will eventually follow.