No Wiggle Room
46 Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”
48 The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. 51 Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?”
54 “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me. 55 You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
59 So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple.
John 8:46–59
So many think that Jesus is this gentle, mild-mannered man that never raised His voice, was always politically correct, was interested in only helping minorities and…
…was just plain nice…
Really?
Yes, and there are all sorts of other versions of Jesus… like this one… running around… out there…. in people’s minds…
And… when you hear the words, “Now what would Jesus do?”
What does… come to mind? What are people getting at?
It is usually not the Jesus of the Bible, that they are asking we emulate.
What does Jesus do?
He Judges. He condemns. He is a surgeon with a very precise hand, cutting away with a very sharp knife…
… the many things we hold dear… the many things we would like to keep…
But He never compromises…He never gives one inch to sin coddlers…or their sin…of any kind.
Yes, He comes for sinners…and yes…to forgive sinners…
But that is not the same thing as people think.
First…He judges…and this all the time…
…and when He says not to judge…it is not what people are quoting Him for.
No, Jesus gives no one… any wiggle room! None!
In fact, He presses the Law more than anyone else.
That Law, that Jesus preached…and taught…and insisted upon…
… was not just about what we did… with our hands… outwardly…
No, it was about what we conceive inwardly…in our minds and hearts. What did you dream of? What did you want and desire? What secrets were we harboring?
Jesus tells us that even if we don’t actually do any of that…what we wanted to do…what we thought about…fantasized about…
According to God, we have, in fact already had done it.
So… no… there is no wiggle room…to slink away with…then.
No… there is no wiggle room to escape justice… then. None!
We are what we are…what He says we are…
And we know it…even if we are not sure of the details of our case…but…be sure…He does.
So, when we encounter this Jesus, understand that this IS the real one…our Jesus…the same Jesus…as He always was…is and will be.
This is the Jesus who preaches the unfiltered…non-watered down Law. Who passes judgment on our…and all sin.
And we CAN say…as so many do…all manner of things about Him. We can call Him insane…a megalomaniac who thinks He is God, a magician…in league with the devil…a fake…or just another would-be religion maker.
Or we can ignore the Bible and come up with our on own version of Jesus as so many also do.
But when we meet Him in the Bible, we meet Him as the Word of God who uses His Word as a mirror to show us who we are and how we measure up to God’s…His… Jesus’ standards.
And we either face these standards…and our lack of measuring up to them, or we do what most people do…
…remain unconverted and head right into hell.
But make no mistake about it, when He points the finger…He is pointing it at me…at you…and at everyone.
So…stop then…stop trying to justify yourself. Stop trying to find legal loopholes. Stop trying to re-interpret what He is condemning us for…as something other than just what it is: Sin…wrong…and destructive.
Accept it. There is no way out of His verdict of our guilt.
What is the best thing to be done, then?
Plead guilty.
Let His Word turn us around. Let Him cut you…let Him cut as deep as needed to bring His healing process.
Well…but that would kill me!
Well…yeah! That it will.
That is how bad we are. We need to be killed. He needs to kill us…and that is exactly what He is doing to us…
…all so that He can resurrect us without that which He is condemning us for…what He is condemning us to death for.
All so that we will end up without our disease.
That is the purpose of the Law. To Kill us. In the end it will kill us all. It must. There is no way to rise again healed unless we let Him do this…kill us.
He will not compromise. There is no other way. We cannot do better…ever! We cannot make up for any of it, no matter how hard we try. Humankind cannot be rehabilitated. We have to put down. Each and every one.
So go ahead. Pharisee. Go ahead follower of the devil…and you are if you hold to any of his lies.
And we do…
Go ahead, adulterer…fornicator…sodomite…pornographer…
Go ahead, murderer, gossip…thief…
…coveter…idolater…
You who are stingy and inhospitable…
You who are despisers of God’s House…preaching and His Word.
Go ahead and plead guilty. Let Him stop and kill all of that in you…as He must do…same as in me.
Yes…let Him change your mind. Accept His declaration of all of it…as being as evil, damnable sin.
What is left then…? … dead and dying ground that He plants saving faith in…
Because He has already been condemned, punished and killed for all of those sins listed…and for any that were not.
He has stepped in and took your place at the executioner’s head-chopping block…firing range…lethal injection table.
He has already been blamed for all that you are and all that you do…and… in eternity He did the time in the dark black cell.
What is left then? What do you do now?
Contrary … yes we are to be contrary… to all that is listed above…
Yet this can only be done IN HIM…within His walls…under and by His Grace and Mercy…and only because of the Freedom He gives through the Gospel…in the Gospel…by the Gospel….
That is, only by and in… because of…and in the midst of Him… with His things… Where He gives them… by His Word…
Which is the same thing…for us…right now.
Only a person forgiven of a crime can know what forgiveness is…can walk away free. Only a person who is forgiven a life-time of evil, guilt and shame…can know true forgiveness…and really be free.
If in our condition, we think we are already free…free to do what we please because we have decided what is good and right for us to do…
We are bound up tight in a very dark place.
And we will remain there if we refuse His sentence…His Judgment…
The Son must set you free. Then and only then are you in fact.
But it is only again ever so in Him…in Christ…with Him…
You in Him and He in you forever. That is the true human condition. We are only what we were meant to be…what we were created to be…in that state. We were made to be companions of God…together.
We cannot even be true companions to each other unless it is with Him too.
As one pastor said once, plead guilty so that you can be acquitted and go and live forever with the judge.
That is the only way out of all of this. He is the ONLY Way…the ONLY Truth…and the ONLY Life…no one gets to the Father…the Judge…the King…but in this way.
And He is offering. It is a limited time offer. It only lasts as long as your life…or as long as the world lasts…whatever comes…or I should say, goes first.
So yes, you are guilty. Yes, you are facing a death and an eternal life sentence.
But Jesus is offering you complete forgiveness without any strings. To make you truly human…like He is…the way you were created to be: Living, breathing, running, singing…laughing…
Forever…
Forever to live in His House and…out into the wide open fields…at play…as a child of God. It is yours right now.
Amen.
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