September 25, 2005
Text John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see
life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
As I read the Editorial cartoon in yesterday’s paper I was reminded of a quote by Edmund Burke “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”
The cartoon was attempting to honor Simon Wiesenthal -- the recently departed famous “Nazi Hunter”.
Mr. Wiesenthal has spent almost 60 years in this activity. Many war criminals were brought to Justice thanks to his efforts.
However the cartoon helps to spread two of Satan’s greatest lies.
It depicts a scene that is obviously hell. In the scene is a caricature of Hitler, and caricatures of what appears to be Goebbels, Gehring, and Himmler. The next caricature is of Satan speaking to Hitler and associates.
Satan states “ You’re in one place Simon Wiesenthal won’t be coming to hunt for Nazis”
The implication is clear -- Simon is in heaven .
Satan -- the master liar -- often mixes in enough truth to camouflage the lie. We can all agree that the Nazis depicted were truely evil -- not in anyway followers of Jesus -- and that they certainly deserved punishment and/or death and hell.
We also know that Mr. Wiesenthal did much good in his life. Hence the first lie -- salvation by works.
We know also that Mr. Wiesenthal was of the Jewish faith --- unless he was a secret believer -- like Nicodemus or Joseph of Aramathea -- He not only would not trust Jesus as his savior, he would think that he was a fraud, a liar, a lunatic, or just a nice misguided insane illegitimate ordinary man with carpentry skills.
And now you have the second lie -- Satan wants us to believe that all nice people get to heaven -- and that there are many paths -- Satan wants us to falsely believe that our great loving God could not possibly condemn someone -- He loves everyone -- He is our
buddy. How could He be so nasty. Are not the Jews, Muslims, Mormans, Hindus, Buddhists and the New Age “Neo-Druids” and other pagans all nice people? Don’t they do good works and love each other. Don’t they protect the environment? Don’t they raise
smart children? Why should they be punished for not believing the “foolishness of the cross.” which for us is the power of salvation.
We know the truth and must speak the truth in as loving a way as is possible or evil will triumph in the hearts of many doomed people.
Paul tells us that we are fighting not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The final victory was already secured for us By Jesus on the Cross -- but there will be many casualties between now and when Jesus returns.
Satan is slick -- Satan is “enlightened” -- like all liars he tells us what we want to hear. Go ahead do it -- you deserve it -- look out for number one -- you are the master race, you should run the world -- go ahead everybody cheats -- Jesus is not the only way -- God keeps score, do some more good deeds and you will make it to heaven etc., etc. ad infinitum.
These lies are blasted at us every day --Newspapers, Radio, Television, the Internet -- We are taught the “Politically correct line” repeatedly in our self centered, self loving, pleasure seeking “politically correct” culture..
I have some very large very old pine trees in my yard. As they approach death, they are producing more pine cones than ever before in an attempt to survive as a species in this area.
Satan is doing the same thing -- He lost the decisive battle on Calvary -- the victory was won by Jesus but Satan is spewing out more lies than ever in an attempt to win as many souls as possible before his ultimate demise.
We know the Biblical truth -- we are saved by Grace, through faith, we can not save ourselves - it is a gift of God - we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. We can not stand before our Holy God -- we are not good enough . We can only approach Him
clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Because of Jesus we have received the spirit of sonship and because of Jesus we can call God “Father”.
We know and believe John 14:6 --- Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
We know and believe Acts 4:12 --- "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
We all know and believe John 3:36 --- "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."
Websters dictionary defines wrath as: violet anger, vehement exasperation, indignation,fury
Does this sound like a welcoming speech to heaven?.
Paul tells us in ephesians how to fight: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your
waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in
the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
How do we tell a perishing world that Jesus is the only way? How to we correct the lies of Satan?
Paul tells us that we must speak in love. If we don’t it is just noise. We must in love tell the gospel, we must counter Satan’s lies. We must try to be salt and light to a smug, sophisticated pagan world in the name of Jesus.
The Bible makes it clear that there is no salvation apart from Christ. We can not limit God who may act as he wishes --but we can not say that there is salvation for anyone apart from faith in Christ. He has made it clear to us that there is only one way and that way is Jesus.
I often make an analogy to a bus trip. There is the Jesus bus that goes to the Father and eternal life with Him. There is the Satan bus that goes to death. By God’s Grace we are put on the Jesus bus when we are baptized or come to faith as an adult. The bus makes
many stops - we get off to see the sights. Many do good works, many sin - but we keep riding the Jesus bus because we trust Him as our only way to the Father and eternal life. As we continue in His word and sacrament (Bible reading and Communion), we become
more and more like Him. We are moved by the Holy Spirit to this obedience, service and good works not so that He will love us but because He loves us.
The Satan bus is on a one way trip to death. Yes there are people on this bus that do good things and are good people. Sadly the bus is on the wrong road. They can however switch buses and ride with Jesus if they stop to listen to the Holy Spirit and confess that they are powerless without Jesus. Faith in the Living Word - Jesus - comes from hearing the word of God - the Bible - preached through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts.
There is no middle ground -- there is no third bus.
Unfortunately Simon Wiesenthal rode the wrong bus -- He may even be seated next to Hitler in hell. We must spread the gospel of Jesus so that other good people will not perish.
In The Name of Jesus
