Mock Or Repent, What Is Your Reaction To Jesus Today?

Mock or Repent, What is your reaction to Jesus Today?

Minister Cedric A. Portis

4/20/03

Luke 23:35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

Luke 23:36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,

Luke 23:37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

Luke 23:40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

Luke 23:41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

Luke 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy

kingdom.

Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with

me in paradise.

The way I see it is that you have two choices when you come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You will either mock or repent. Because this is not just regular knowledge, we are talking about eternal salvation. The people and religionists mocked His claim to be the Savior and Messiah.

Both the people and the religionists should have been above this kind of behavior. In addition, they had every opportunity to believe, for Jesus had not hid Himself or His message of salvation, yet there were those who did not believe, therefore mocked Jesus.

A side note here, “But being part of a sinful riotous crowd and others who just disbelieved, they led each other to do shameful things.” Watch the company you keep. Don’t be influenced by the crowd.

Leaders both civil and religious, are still human or in the flesh. It is not the position or profession that makes a man, but the heart. A heart of unbelief and hostility, a heart willing to become a participant with the sinful crowd, will stoop to do shameful things, no matter the position or profession.

Which lead is to the a question this morning, “Why would one mock the claim of Jesus?” Well one reason is that mocking keeps you in your pseudo state of comfort, unwilling to change.

By this time in our account, everyone knew who Jesus was, and who He claimed to be. They heard of the miracle feedings, and the miraculous healings. They were aware of the crowds he would draw where ever He went. They knew first hand or had heard of His claims to be the Messiah. And with that knowledge each person had a choice to make; either accept Him or reject Him.

Is that not true for today? Everyone here today is here because of some knowledge of Jesus Christ. This knowledge has come from someone introducing you to Christ, a friend, family member or total stranger. However you got here, the fact of the matter is that you are here and a choice will be made by you in response to what you hear today about Jesus Christ.

You will either continue in your relationship with him, you will repent of your sin and seek a relationship with Christ, or you will reject him by mocking.

And by rejecting Him, you have to mock Him because by mocking Him, what you are saying to yourself is, “Jesus and what He represents and claims to be, is beneath me, therefore I don’t have to change, this knowledge has no bearing on my life, I can just go on like I have never come into this knowledge.

Mocking Jesus keeps you from having to look into the light.

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Let me make it plain to you, when you look at Jesus, I mean really look at Him with your heart, it will be the clearest mirror you will ever see.

You will see the real you, the real you that makeup can’t hide, that a new dress/suit can’t cover the real you, that a wig or weave can’t disguise what you see in that mirror called Jesus.

By seriously looking at Jesus, you will see yourself as a sinner. You will see the ugliness of sin that has been destroying your life and robbing you of joy and peace and keeping you from a saving covenant relationship with Jesus.