People will let Jesus be anything, so long as we don’t declare Him to be who He claimed to be. Do you agree?
People will let Jesus be a nice man, a good teacher, a victor for the poor and oppressed, and an all-around good moral man. But will the masses of people let the one who walked on water to be a prophet, a Messiah, a Christ, or God in the flesh? Not hardly.
One of the basic tenets of Scripture is that if a person doesn’t have a right relationship with Jesus who is the Christ, then their entire eternity is blemished, marred, destined for wrath. Jesus confessed this reality once when he taught during the Sermon on the Mount that many people will end up thinking they’ll enter Heaven because of their works…but Jesus said they’ll end up in Hell because they had no real relationship with Him. Here’s what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Ultimately, there are a number of essential things that the Bible teaches a person must believe about Jesus Christ in order to be saved. This rules out millions (billions) of people who have never heard the gospel or didn’t surrender to it.
Here are 11 truths about Jesus Christ that you need to believe and heed. What do you think about these points? Do you agree that people need to heed the true identity of Jesus, as outlined below, in order to be saved? Why or why not?
- I believe that the second person of the Triune Godhead is the Son, whose name is the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1; 14:9; Hebrews 1:3-4), and that He is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (John 10:30; 14:9).
- I believe in His pre-existence, incarnation, virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, burial, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, and personal and visible premillennial return (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23, 25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1-3, 14; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 3:24-25, 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Hebrews 9:24; Revelation 20).
- I believe that God the Father created the universe according to His own will, through His Son Jesus Christ, by whom all things continue in existence and in operation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:2).
- I believe that in the incarnation, the eternally existing second Person of the Trinity accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity and so became the God Man while never divesting Himself of His divine attributes (Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:34-35; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 2:9).
- I believe that Jesus Christ represents humanity and deity in indivisible oneness (Micah 5:2; John 5:23; 14:9-10; Colossians 2:9), and as the only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), He lived a sinless life (Hebrews 7:26; 2 Corinthians 5:21) and died a propitiatory, substitutionary death bearing the full penalty of God’s wrath to save His people from their sins (1 Peter 3:18; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
- I believe that Christ’s death demonstrated love for all humanity, is to be proclaimed and offered to all, and is sufficient to save all (Acts 17:30; Romans 10:10-13; Luke 24:46-47), but that Christ’s death was designed to be efficacious for the elect alone (John 10:15; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 5:9).
- I believe He was buried, arose bodily, ascended into heaven, and is presently fulfilling His intercessory and mediatorial ministry as our Advocate and High Priest at the right hand of the Majesty on High (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:38-39; Acts 2:30-31; Romans 4:25; 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1).
- As the Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), the Head of His Body the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18), and the coming universal King, who will reign on the throne of David (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 1:31-33), He is the final Judge of all who fail to place their repentant faith in Him as Lord and Savior (Matthew 25:14-46; Acts 17:30-31).
- I believe that on the basis of the efficacy of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the believing and repentant sinner is freed from the punishment, the penalty, the power, and one day the very presence of sin; and that he is declared righteous, given eternal life, and adopted into the family of God (Romans 3:25; 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).
- I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished redemption through the shedding of His blood and sacrificial death on the cross, through the endurance and bearing of the Father’s wrath for sin upon Himself, and that His death was voluntary, vicarious, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive (John 10:15; Romans 3:24-25; 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24).
- I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One through whom God will judge all mankind (John 5:22-23), specifically:
- Believers (1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10)
- Living inhabitants of the earth at His glorious return (Matthew 25:31-46)
- Unbelieving dead at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15)
QUESTION FOR COMMENTING: What do you think about this list? DO you agree or disagree with me? Have I missed anything? Am I hard-headed and close-minded?
* Photo credit: Skott Яeader (Creative Commons)
The 
About Charles Specht
