Monday, July 28, 2008
Make the Right Choice
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
As we look over the pages of history, it’s interesting to read the statements that have been made about Christ.
Pontius Pilate said, “I find no fault in Him.” Napoleon said, “I know men, and Jesus was no mere man.” Strauss, the German rationalist, said, “Jesus was the highest model of religion.” The French atheist, Renan, said, “He was the greatest among the sons of men.” Theodore Parker said, “Jesus Christ was a youth with God in His heart.” Robert Owen said, “He is the irreproachable one.”
Yet all of these titles and descriptions fall short of identifying Jesus for who He really was: the Son of God, God in human form, the Messiah.
Many today would describe Jesus as a great moral teacher. But in his book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis responds to such a statement by saying that if this were the case, then Jesus was either a lunatic or a devil. He goes on to say, “Let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
We don’t have the option of saying that Jesus was a great moral teacher. How could He merely be a teacher and say the things He said with His exclusive claims of divinity? And what about saying He was the only way to God the Father? Certainly, that would be wrong if it were not true.
So Jesus really leaves us only two choices: to either accept Him, believing that He is indeed God the Son, or to reject Him. But to say He was a great man or a religious man is simply not an option.
Copyright © 2008 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
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-Greg Laurie
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