WHAT MAKES JESUS
SPECIAL? by Pastor Rick Sams
Imagine you�re in an apartment building many stories
high. Posted clearly in several spots in your room are directions for how
to escape in case of fire. Suddenly a fire breaks out. You start for
the fire escape just outside the window.
Then your roommate drops the
bomb that he�s not going with you. He�s upset that one who built the
apartment building and gave those instructions only provided ONE way out.
"How intolerant and narrow-minded could the builder be?! Your roomie is
going to protest the builder�s exclusive instructions by sitting there as the
fire burns.
You�d say he was crazy, right? There is a way out,
clearly made available to all who will take it to save their lives, and offered
by the one who was qualified to say that was the only way out.
That�s
exactly what many do who protest God�s clear instructions in His Word about
escaping any "fires after this life is over. This is not the time to
debate whether hell�s fires are literal or spiritual, or whether they even
exist. I�d like us to look at how credible is the one who gave us the
directions for escape (and who talked a fair amount about hell, indicating it
was real)?
His name is Jesus. He said: "I Am THE way, the truth and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John
14:6). There is only one honest way to interpret what he said.
Not
only did Jesus make this exclusive claim, He backed up his claim as being the
ONLY fire escape by his sinless life (Hebrews 4:14-15), and his fulfillment of
hundreds of prophecies predicted hundreds of years before his birth.
His
culminating proof came when he rose from the dead, just as he said he
would. Then he was seen by over 500 eyewitnesses who were still living
when Paul challenged people who might doubt this astounding miracle to go talk
to them: "Most of them are still alive (I Corinthians 15:6).
Jesus
is uniquely qualified to, not only describe the way to eternal life, but to BE
this way. Because he is "�Immanuel�--which means, �God with us�
(Matthew 1:23).
Have you made Jesus special in your life?
How? Have you made him your Savior? No better time than this New
Year.