The enemies of God's grace...
I've noticed a few things over the years. For example, what the enemies
of
Jesus Christ hate most about Christian believers is our relationship with
God. The fact that we enjoy God's favor, participating in His joy and
peace, infuriates them.
Even today, in this modern age, we can still see the rage of Cain (who
murdered his brother -- see Genesis, chapter 4) played out again and
again.
Cain was Abel's brother, and had been around enough to see that Abel was
not
a perfect man. And so it no doubt added to his anger that God accepted
Abel
and his sacrifice, but did not approve of Cain's. Very possibly, he had
thoughts like, "Abel is no better than I am. Why should he be accepted
into
God's favor, while I am not?"
And so Cain decided to get rid of his brother. He attacked his brother
and
succeeded in murdering him.
Enemies of the gospel also try to get rid of those who believe and share
the
good news. They've been trying, in fact, ever since there was a gospel.
Nearly two thousand years ago, religious leaders argued bitterly with
Jesus,
and eventually worked things around so that He should be murdered. (But
that was hardly the end of the story, was it?)
And even after Jesus was raised from the dead, the warfare went on.
Attacks
on Christian believers began right away, before the faith had even reached
beyond the city of Jerusalem. And today, religions that foster evil in
human hearts, and people who reject the gift of the Lamb of God, still
resent those who claim to know God and to have the joy and peace of Christ
within.
They resent anyone who testifies to having been forgiven, cleansed and
accepted by God through faith in Jesus Christ. They oppose the gospel
message and fight bitterly to silence the messengers, any way they can.
Yes, they do so to this very day -- as anyone can see on many of the
public
(usenet) newsgroups. (This group is an exception, because of the labors
and
love of Zane).
But the enemies of God cannot stop the grace of God or the power that is
in
the shed blood of Jesus Christ. They cannot hinder God's Spirit.
Nor can they keep souls from being saved, rescued, and transformed by the
regeneration of the Holy Spirit of God. And I believe that as their
failure
becomes more and more evident, the anger and hatred in them deepens,
burning
hotter.
Some of them will eventually surrender to Jesus Christ, making peace with
God. This is what happened to Paul, who had been called Saul. He had
been
a bitter opponent of the gospel. But his life was changed completely, one
day, when he came face to face with Jesus.
In fact, the book of Acts says that many of the priests and religious
leaders -- of whom some had opposed Jesus Himself --eventually came around
to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. See Acts 6:7 & 15:5, for example.
But many who hate the truth of Jesus Christ will remain God's enemies as
long as they have breath. They will die as God's enemies. They will
never
approach the light because they're afraid to have their sins exposed. (See
John 3:17 -20 for more on this.) In so doing, they reject the one offer
of
eternal life and forgiveness of sin that God offers to all people.
In their darkened minds, they think (with ostrich logic) that if they
pretend sin and evil do not exist, then such things will not be counted
against them. I believe the term for such reasoning is "denial". Victims
of fatal diseases are said to go through a stage of denial.
But denying truth cannot change the reality of life, death and eternity.
Sin is a deadly disease that will certainly ruin the life of any human
being, if allowed to go unchecked. For even if the rot of sin does not
appear in this lifetime, it will come to light when we stand before God
Himself. And the Bible makes it clear that all whose names are not
written
in the book of life will pay the ultimate price for their sin.
And yet Jesus promises that all who trust in Him will be spared such a
judgment --
"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who
sent
me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from
death to life." (The Lord Jesus, in John 5:24)
God offers life and His own joy (see Nehemiah 8:10), and His own peace
(see
John 14:27), as well as the gift of eternal life (John 11:23-27) to all
people. There's no reason to think that we must simply grit our teeth and
continue on in darkness, confusion, and spiritual death. There is no
reason
for anyone to die physically, without hope and without a clue as to what
will happen to them when they are judged by God for their sins.
See what the Bible says to believers in 1 John 5:9-13 --
"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this
is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes
in
the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has
made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has
given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us
eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who
does
not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written
to
you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you
have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the
Son of God."
All who trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life have will have joy because
their sins are forgiven. They have peace because know who saves them, and
they will know that Jesus Christ will make a place for them in heaven, in
the Father's own house (John 14:1-3).
They will enjoy the favor, and acceptance, and kindness of God. God
treats
them as His own children (and they truly have become His children, through
faith in Jesus), while the rest of the world must still be treated as
those
who rebel against the will of God.
Who really needs Jesus?
Everyone has sinned. But not everyone will face God's judgment for sin.
Only those who resist God will bear the wrath of God against sin. All who
come under the umbrella safety of Jesus Christ are protected from God's
righteous judgment.
As the Bible says --
He who lives in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of
the
Almighty, will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in
whom
I trust." ... Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those
who
know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with
them
in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will
satisfy them, and show them my salvation. (Psalm 91:1,2, & 14-16)
Jesus Christ is that safe place with God. Jesus Christ is the one and
only
person who can save us, as the Scripture says:
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Whoever trusts in Jesus has eternal life. They've passed beyond, "out
from
under" the sentence of death (which we all deserve, Romans 3:10, 23, &
6:23)
and into the kingdom of God's own Son. They've been forgiven of all sin
as
Isaiah talks about in 43:25, 44:22, & 45:22. They have joy unspeakable
and
full of glory (1 Peter 1:8) and a peace that the world cannot know (Romans
5:1, 14:17, Philippians 4:6,7).
What about God's enemies?
On the other hand, the enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot know
peace, nor can they experience true joy, and they only have God's judgment
and condemnation waiting for them when they leave this world.
And so like the evil master they serve, they thrash about, trying to wreck
anything of light, anything from God that they see working in the lives of
others. Like Cain, they seek to destroy the joy others may have.
They refuse God's grace, and they want to convince others that there is no
grace, no sin, no evil -- no eternal life. Since they themselves have no
hope, they cannot see why anyone else should have hope or joy or peace
with
God.
And that's what we see all around us to this very day.
Jim
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