If I did not know Jesus Christ and did not expect Him to return for me and for all who trust in Him, I would not, could not know love, peace, joy and hope.  I would know crushing disappointment, seething hatred, suffocating panic, and utter despair. Think about a Christ-less world for two minutes.  What do you see?

• Your very existence the result of an inexplicable series of accidents, a product of random chance, without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value.  
• No answer to existential questions and no point to pursuing them.  
• No defense against mounting threats and the geometric growth of risks.  
• No morality except the endlessly morphing whims of a conscienceless, restive mob.
• Surging lawlessness at every level; especially, an explosion of violent crime.  
• A wholly subjective and unequal “justice” imposed on the weak by the strong, rewarding allies and punishing foes. 
• A predatory, ruthless, remorseless culture of death and destruction.
• A clueless and corrupt ruling class the world over, that offers no solutions; daily demonstrating through its fecklessness and incompetence that it is purely self-interested and self-serving (and is even inept at that).
• Non-stop deception, propaganda, lies and distortions, aimed at manipulation and mind control.
• Suppression of the truth through censorship, intimidation, misinformation and disinformation, to intentionally misdirect and mislead.
• Rapid, continual proliferation of ever more ghastly and devastating weapons.
• No effective means of resistance against tyranny, nowhere to hide and no way of escape.

Okay.  Pencils down.  Time’s up…or it soon will be.  One thing’s for sure: conditions like these aren’t sustainable for long.  But I digress.  Please pass your paper to the person on your left.  What do you notice from our two-minute drill, about the features of a Christ-less world?

First, we see that while our lists of characteristics are not identical, they contain many of the same or similar elements.

Second, we note that each list is bursting with potential to cause the very effects currently witnessed across the globe, including high anxiety, stress and depression, declining physical and mental health, alarming jumps in substance abuse and drug overdose deaths, historic rises in crime and lawlessness, a significant increase in suicides, social fragmentation and division, rising dysfunction and collapsing trust in institutions, and so on.

Third, while we must acknowledge that many people do choose to live this way, we can’t help but ask, why would you?  Why, oh why when you have an alternative and the freedom to make a different choice, would you prefer to live in loneliness, darkness, squalor, anguish and desperation? Even more to the point, why would you want to lock this in as your future for all ages to come?

By God’s grace I do know Jesus Christ, and my fervent prayer is that others may come to know Him, too.  The Bible tells the story of one in particular who did, an extraordinary person named Saul, an observant Jew who was not only a very religious man, but also a violent persecutor of Christians.  Here is his brief self-description of that period of his life:

“Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6).

While on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians, Saul was confronted by Jesus, an encounter that turned Saul’s life around—indeed, turned it upside down.  Jesus told Saul that he was His chosen instrument to make His name known to the Gentiles and their rulers.  The change in Saul was immediate.  He started using his Gentile name (Paulus or Paul) and began to preach Christ, eventually becoming the great evangelist who carried the Gospel from Jerusalem to Europe. Just listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say about knowing Jesus:

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ…I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Philippians 3:7-11).

Paul’s exposure to Jesus certainly changed Paul’s opinions about Him.  It also changed Paul’s values, his priorities, his mission in life, even the goal of his life.  Paul traded all the things he prized and prided himself on as a dead loss, as “dung” compared to the excellence, the all-surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus as his Lord.

For Paul, from that point on, union with Christ was the only treasure worth having.  Through Jesus’ finished work on the cross, Paul obtained a new kind of righteousness that rested not on Paul’s imperfect attempts to obey the Mosaic Law, but on the pardon Jesus purchased for him with His own precious blood. This kind of righteousness could only be secured by faith in God’s promised forgiveness, not by human effort.

Paul now set his heart on knowing Jesus more and more deeply, on not only understanding, but experiencing the power of Jesus’ resurrection.  Paul went so far as to willingly enter into what he called, “the fellowship of his sufferings,” so that he might draw even closer to Jesus, even if it meant laying down his own life, as a martyr for Christ, only to attain eternal life in the end.

I, too, have come to know and love this Jesus. My heart’s desire is that you may know Him, too (if you don’t already worship and serve Him).  Jesus demonstrated His boundless love for humanity, in that while we were still sinners, in rebellion against Him, Christ died for us.  Through Jesus’ death on the cross for my sins, I have peace with God.  There is no longer a separation between me and a holy God—the just demands of the law have been satisfied (not set aside).  Jesus paid my ransom and my life belongs to Him, now.

In Jesus, I can also experience joy (something deeper and more lasting than the transitory emotion or fleeting state of being called ‘happiness’).  What Jesus has done for me fills me with amazement, thankfulness and praise, which overflows and permeates all other areas of my life.  Like Paul, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11). Those who know Jesus know that our circumstances need not control us.

Through union with Christ I have hope—not that this dark and dying world will suddenly unplug its life support, come off the critical list and become utopia—without Christ that’s less a fantasy and more of a cruel joke.  No, hope is not made of wishes and pipedreams.  Instead, it’s the natural result of confidence in a promise made by someone you trust with everything you are and everything you have, including spouse, family and other loved ones.

Perhaps the second greatest promise Jesus made to us (after salvation for those who believe in Jesus’ resurrection, repent of their sin, and confess Him as Lord) is found in the Gospel of John chapter 14, verses 1-3.  This is the sure and certain hope of the Christian, which we wait patiently for Jesus to personally fulfill:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Jesus has never lied to me.  He has never disappointed me.  And, He never will.  Therefore, I fully expect Him to come back for His own, to receive me into His presence, to usher me into the home He has prepared for me in heaven and that from that moment on, I’ll never be separated from Him.

Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He also said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

If there is one reading this message who does not belong to Jesus and who does NOT want to spend an eternity without Him, I am praying for you, that God the Father will draw you to Him.  Perhaps He is doing so right now.  Listen to Him.  Obey His Holy Spirit.  Come to Jesus.  Come just as you are.  Come now and He will receive you.  It will be His delight to raise you up at the last day.  You have His word on it.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you. Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)