Jesus Unmasked: The Truth Will Shock You (12 page)

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.
There is only the
terrible expectation
of God’s judgment and the
raging fire
that will consume his enemies.
For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Just think
how much worse
the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the
blood of the covenant
, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.
For we know the one who said,

“I will take revenge.

I will pay them back.”

He also said,

“The
Lord
will judge his own people.”

It is a
terrible thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. . . .

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!
Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

“For in just a little while,

the
Coming One
will come and not delay.

And my righteous ones will live by faith.

But I will take
no pleasure
in anyone who turns away.”

But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose
souls will be saved
.

Only God could write a story like this through dozens of authors over thousands of years with one theme: Jesus Christ, the tabernacle.

Chapter 13 — Jesus Is the Sabbath

Here’s an offer you shouldn’t refuse. Jesus Christ commanded, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

That should make you go, “Ahhh.” Because whether you know it or not, you are working. Hard.

Work Righteousness Is Our Natural Bent

Every person on the planet has a little courtroom in their brain called “the conscience.” Your conscience is that voice in your noggin that nags you when you have done something wrong, and everyone has one. Everyone.

This alone should cause the atheist to backslide and become agnostic. Evolution simply can’t explain why every culture shares the same basic set of values: no stealing, no murder, no Lady Gaga. Wait, sorry, a Lady Gaga-free society should be the law.

Skeptics point to a few cannibals here or there, but even cannibals don’t like being cannibals. Go ahead, ask one. If you can.

Overall, morality in every culture is the same: lying, cheating, hurting, dishonoring parents are verboten worldwide. Why?

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the
Law written in their hearts
, their
conscience
bearing witness and their thoughts alternately
accusing
or else
defending
them,
on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (Rom. 2:14–16).

Where did the conscience come from? Certainly not from Charles Darwin. God created and implemented the concept.

An Atheist Conundrum

If you are an atheist, you have an impossible time explaining why you know that murder is wrong. Without an objective standard for morality, you can only have preferences.

The only way to know you are speeding is if the law has determined a particular speed and posted the number. If no authority determined how fast we can or cannot drive, then there would only be speed preferences and nobody could give you a ticket for driving 70 in a school zone.

Without an objective lawgiver, there are no laws, only preferences.

God Is the Reason for Math

If you hate algebra and trigonometry, whatever that is, please don’t let this make you bitter. Math exists because God exists.

If the world is randomly designed through time and chance, then math should never be consistent. Math exists because a Creator exists who designed the universe with laws and intelligence. What makes two plus two always four? God.

Math is consistent because God is consistent.

God Is the Reason for Science

Every time a scientist, whether Christian or not, does an experiment anticipating a consistent outcome, he is giving a hat tip to God. Without God, there would be no scientific laws. Without God, experiments would never have the same outcome twice.

The field of science was championed by Christians who realized this and decided to figure out exactly how God created and sustains the world. They attempted to “think God’s thoughts after Him.”
1

Every atheist who believes in morality, gravity, and does math is a closeted believer.

The Creator Is the Reason for Creation

If Richard Dawkins wants to prove that God doesn’t exist, then he needs to make all the stuff go away. Short of that, it is evident there is a Creator. Why? Because there is a creation.

The heavens are
telling
of the glory of God;

And their expanse is
declaring
the work of His hands.

Day to day pours forth
speech
,

And night to night
reveals
knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard (Ps. 19:1–3).

There really is no reason to prove that God exists — it is self-evident. Even a child intuits that God exists. Nobody will be able to stand on judgment day and ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

What about the Natives on Boingo Boingo?

What happens to natives on Boingo Boingo who never hear about Jesus Christ — does God send them to hell?

1. The Boingo Boinguese have heard a sermon from God each and every day of their lives. It is the sermon entitled: Creation. The creation is perpetually screaming to anyone who will listen, “Look! God exists.”

2. The Boingo Boinguese have a conscience that should cause them to cry out to the Creator, “Help me. Rescue me.”

3. This may sound a little harsh, but the question is not, “Should someone go to hell?” The question should be, “Has that person sinned?” The painful truth is that everyone sins and God is not obliged to save everyone. It is only by His grace that He saves anyone. Everyone deserves to go to hell and God is not beholden to save anyone.

4. Everyone knows that God exists. They don’t know Him in a saving way, but everyone knows God.

Everyone Knows Who God Is

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness
,
because
that which is known about God is evident within them
; for God
made it evident
to them.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly seen
, being understood through what has been made, so that they are
without excuse
.
For even though
they knew God
, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom. 1:18–21).

To be clear, everyone is not in a right relationship with God, but they do know who He is. Therefore, everyone is without excuse for not responding to the inner light that God has graciously provided them.

Two Responses

Humans have two responses to the conscience and innate knowledge that God exists:

1. They suppress the truth so they can live unrighteously (Rom. 1:18).

2. They suppress the truth and create their own god which allows them to work hard to appease their man-made deities’ demands.

Perhaps you have fashioned a god in your mind that can be appeased by your good deeds. Perhaps you think that your god is satisfied with an occasional act of kindness or visit to a church. You are not the only one.

Every Other Religious System Is Works-Based

Because of the conscience, man has concocted all kinds of religious schemes in an attempt to feel guilt-free. Notice the consistent theme in each and every world religion except biblical Christianity.

>
Roman Catholicism: grace plus good deeds, plus sacraments, plus last rites, plus confession, plus penance.

>
Mormonism: works plus grace.

>
Jehovah’s Witnesses: grace plus good works.

>
Hinduism: The only way to be liberated is through social and religious obligations: in other words, works.

>
Buddhism: Ceaseless labor in an effort to throw off karma and attain extinction (nirvana). That is both work righteousness and depressing.

>
Islam: Each follower must perform the five pillars of Islam (Shahada, declaring that there is no other god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet; Salat, five prayers daily; Zakat, give 2.5 percent of income to the poor; Sawm, fast during the month of Ramadan; Hajj, take at least one trip to Mecca during one’s lifetime). That is a lot of work.

It is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone who announces, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). In other words, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. No works. No lists. No do’s. It has all been done for you by Jesus. Why?

1. All of your righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). We don’t even have the ability to do good works that appease God. All of our good deeds are contaminated.

2. Justice does not work on a balance system. Imagine a guilty criminal telling the judge, “Your honor, I know I robbed that bank, but I gave some of the money to the poor.” The judge would laugh. Good works do not offset crimes.

3. God will not be bribed. Imagine a criminal telling a judge, “Your honor, I know I am guilty, but I baked these cookies for you.” The judge would accuse the criminal of trying to bribe him. God will not be bought.

4. If you could do good deeds to contribute to your salvation, then you would deserve some credit for going to heaven. God insists on getting all of the credit because He is the One who has done everything to earn forgiveness for you (Eph. 2:8–9).

What about Judaism?

Even though Judaism was never intended to be a work righteous religion, it had become works-based by the time Jesus came to earth. Biblical salvation was always intended to be “by grace alone.”

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to
boast
about, but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? “
Abraham
believed
God, and it
was
credited to him as righteousness
.”

Now to the one who
works
, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
But to the one who does not work, but
believes
in Him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith
is
credited as righteousness
,
just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God
credits righteousness
apart from works.

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been
forgiven
, And whose sins have been covered. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account” (Rom. 4:1–8).

Unfortunately, most of the Jews missed grace. Instead of responding to the Law by calling out to God for help, they responded in typical human form, “We’ll do it. We will keep the laws and God will be pleased with us.”

That is why the Jewish leaders created a manual for keeping the Ten Commandments. Instead of receiving the Ten Commandments and crying out to God for the Messiah to deliver them, they created a rulebook that makes Obamacare legislation look like bedtime reading.

Sabbath Laws

The fourth commandment given to Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness was, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exod. 20:8). But the Bible doesn’t give instructions on HOW to keep the last day of the week holy. So what did the Jewish religious leaders do? They created 39 categories of laws with hundreds of do’s and don’ts.

Here are just some of the 613 Sabbath rules invented by the Jewish rabbis recorded in the Mishna. No, these are not made up.

>
No grey hair plucking. That was work.

>
No chair moving as you could make a furrow in the dirt and that is tantamount to farming.

>
No bathing because you could spill water and you would be working when you wiped it up.

>
No mule or horseback riding; not because that was work, but you might be tempted to break a switch to whip the horse. That is work.

>
No knot tying.

>
No writing; at least no more than two letters.

>
No fire extinguishing, even if great damage could result from the fire.

On and on and on they go. Sabbath rules became the centerpiece of Jewish religious life as a system for earning forgiveness. Talk about a burden.

How to Get to Heaven

The rabbis had turned the Sabbath gift of rest into a method for working one’s way to heaven. What made a Jew a faithful Jew was obedience to the rabbinical Sabbath rules. It is safe to say that this was their pet commandment.

The Pharisees were the Sabbath rule writers. They were the Sabbath rule keepers. They were the Sabbath rule enforcers. Don’t mess with their Sabbath.