by David Brenneman
"Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”" Luke 7:36-50.
7:49, 50 Although Simon no doubt had heard Jesus teach, he had not accepted His message. Instead of inviting Him into his heart, Simon invited Him to dinner. Many people still have that sort of superficial relationship with Jesus. They are social believers-they would like Him as a dinner companion--but they do not want Him any closer, certainly not as Savior.
- Notes from vs 49-50 of Dr. David Jeremiah's Study Bible on Luke 7:49-50.
"Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.” Luke 10:23-24.
It's going to be a horrific day for countless trillions and trillions and trillions of people who fall into the catagory of what Dr. Jeremiah says in his notes. People who want the benefits from being around those who are saved in the Lord Jesus Christ but not coming themselves.
I've had those in authority over me in such a place in their lives. They can talk the talk, but certainly aren't walking the walk. They even gave great prayers at gatherings yet as Jesus said, their hearts were far from Him. Jesus said you would know people by their fruits did He not? It's not a matter of casting judgement upon others it's doing as Jesus said to do which is inspect the fruit. If He indeed commanded us to inspect the fruit, then by all means, INSPECT THE FRUIT.
"For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” Luke 6:43-49.
No doubt there will be eager and ready to accuse me, accuse you, of judging others. Read the Scriptures in context before you lay such accusations.
Some will read this post and think that I'm talking about them. If such a thought comes to mind...go to the Author not to the writer.
When presented with who Jesus was in ways that actually WERE on a level that even a child could understand it as Jesus said it would be and people STILL reject the word of God for them...which is to be saved...then yes, easily yes they have no excuse before whom they have to do...who is Jesus Christ the Lord.
We cannot just gather around others who ARE saved, enjoy the benefits, and then go on our way. The Scriptures say that a day has been fixed by the Father's own authority for the moment in time when the Church of Jesus Christ will be complete and for Him to return to gather that Church to Himself. Which He WILL do.
Countless millions and millions of this generation of people living today will be left behind because they loved to be at places where the real sheep of the pasture of the Lord were but did not want to really be saved by Him.
Everyone will be without excuse in the day we stand before Jesus. I cannot fathom how Jesus will do it because the vast amount of time it would take individually would probably TAKE eternity for each individual who's ever lived to stand before Jesus. The Scriptures say that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
In one of the Left Behind books LaHaye and Jenkins might be onto what it will be like on that day both the Behma Seat Judgment and the Final Judgement for all mankind. In His abilities and authority, Jesus will have a face-to-face with everyone who has ever lived all at the same time. This makes sense in the reality of the real world right now. Jesus is on His Throne and yet hears the prayers of all who are praying to Him right this very instant and nothing anyone has said has been missed, or dismissed because He can't keep up. His eye is on all who are on this world at all times and in all places...to the tune He is also fully aware of all the thoughts and intentions going on in everyone's minds and hearts.
It's extremely important to know for sure that you are saved. What comes out of your heart is but one indicator. If you can't point to a time when you came to Christ for salvation, you DO need to do something about that. You cannot just keep asssociating with Christian's and think that will sway the thinking of Jesus towards you on that judgement day. As Jesus explicitly said to those kinds of people He will say to depart from Him for He never knew you.
Do you want to hear those words from Jesus?
By the way huge mega 'churches' are growing with people who are only there to feel good once a week an do not have a real relationship with Jesus...and even those small 'churches' where there's pockets of the same...there's going to be a lot of people still here when Jesus comes to take home those who are His own.
As it's been said to me on more than one occasion, just because you walk into a McDonald's it doesn't make you a happy meal. Just because you step into a garage it doesn't make you a car.
You cannot call yourself a Christian if you have never come to Christ for salvation...personally...in your life.
It doesn't work that way. Jesus said the road to Hell is wide and the way to Heaven is narrow. Millions fall into Hell daily...and few are going to Heaven daily.
You my Dear Reader must have come to Christ for salvation yourself or your life will be shown to be a shambles before Jesus when He tests it by the fire of His truth of His Word.
Your good intentions, your taking care of others. Your 'trying' to live a good life and respecting others. You not stealing, you not doing the 'things' that the Bible says you shouldn't do. All YOUR efforts to live a life that might be 'good' in your eyes is still rubbish in the eyes of the Savior because you have never come to Christ for salvation. A life full of your efforts to be good is still a wasted life in light of eternity and compared to the only standard that matters: a life in Christ.
Many billions in this world right now have turned from God. They rage at Israel. They rage at Christians. They want nothing to do with the Son of God. Some even say there is no God. This is how it will be before Jesus comes. They have eyes to see and ears to hear but they are missing every ounce of evidence that's right before them that Jesus came, lived a sinless life, died a horrific death on a cross and arose 3 days later to give new life to all who call upon His name.
They live in fear that God might have them do something they don't want to do and that's more important to them than being saved from the penalty of sin, which is death.
They live in fear that God might have them give up something that they love rather than to trust that He has their best interests in mind.
They believe the lies of the ruler of this world over believing the truth of the Son of God who died for them.
You must choose to come to Christ on Christ's terms or you won't have come at all.
You can't do anything even if you had everything at your fingertips to give 100% all the time to save yourself.
Nobody can save themselves. If that were possible then Jesus died needlessly is what the Bible says plainly.
"But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:8-13.
My Dear Reader don't waste another moment holding onto the thoughts that being with saved people is good enough and counts for anything in the eyes of Jesus.
You my Dear Reader must choose yourself to come to Christ. That decision is yours and yours alone to make. Open your eyes, hear with your ears and come to the Savior who's been waiting for you all along.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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