First of all I would like to get right to the point here. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most beautiful message in the entire world. It is so totally fair because there is not a person in the world that is excluded from the offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ. That means that any person who recognizes their own wretchedness, and lost condition can be saved no matter what. The wretch in America, has the same opportunity as the wretch in Africa. The wretch in Ireland, has the same opportunity as the wretch in Australia. The wretch in Russia, has the same opportunity as the wretch in Iraq. The wretch in Iran, has the same opportunity as the wretch in Israel. Every single person in the entire world is eligible for salvation because we all have the very same qualifications. What do I mean by that? Well the Bible makes it clear that all have sinned and sin is what separates us from God.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:10-11)
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
Every single person in the world falls into the category of sinner, whether or not they believe it. A person may protest, jump up and down, scream as loud as they can, but it means absolutely nothing in the sight of God. Your sin (include yourself there) separates you from the true and living God.
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)
You may declare that you are a spiritual person if you so desire, but your sin still separates you from the true and living God. Many still declare that they are a “good person” and that they will eventually end up in Heaven. Many have a mental image of the scales of justice, with their “good deeds” on one side, outweighing, their “bad deeds” on the other side, and they believe that God still sees them as basically good. But that is simply not true. God’s Law does it’s job well and it shows us to be the wretches that we truly are, but still qualified for eternal life in Jesus Christ.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)
The Law of God silences every single person in the world from justifying themselves before a holy and righteous God. If a person still insists on declaring their own “goodness” and their own “righteousness” before the true, and living God, then God’s Law will be the ultimate judge of their life! Yes, this is a most serious issue that we are talking about here. Either God is right, or they are right, but they both cannot be right! There are still many who think, believe and teach that Israel is somehow exempt from what I have quoted from the scriptures above. Many believe that Israel is still in covenant with God, even though they have rejected the salvation that God offers all through His Son Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist encountered the religious Jewish people he made it clear that God was not impressed with their lineage through Father Abraham.
Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Matthew 3:5-10)
Do you see that? John made it very clear that God was not impressed with those who were of Israel, and who claimed Abraham as their spiritual father. John preached repentance because the Lord is concerned about the heart of the individual and not where they live, or who they claim to know. Jesus Christ, the one who was not received by the majority of the Jewish people in Israel (John 1:11) spoke along the same lines as John, who prepared the way for Him:
I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. (John 8:38-45)
You will not hear passages such as the one above quoted in many modern day “churches”, because the majority of “churches” are politically correct, and they do not want to offend anybody. They do not realize that they are smothering the truth, which the Lord Jesus Christ desires all to hear (a Satanic setup for sure). Jesus could not have made it any clearer to his own (Jewish) people. He came to save them, but they were not interested in being saved (for the most part). Jesus Christ was not interested in the physical land of Israel, but He was interested in the hearts of every individual who resided in Israel. Jesus is the very same Lord, who beckoned the people of Israel to follow Him for centuries, but they were not willing to do that.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Luke 13:34-35)
The Lord had been calling Israel to repentance for centuries, and when He came to this earth and walked this ground, they still rejected Him. Jesus even gave them a parable regarding the vineyard, where He prophesied His own death at their hands. (Matthew 21:33-46) The call to Israel to repent and believe the Gospel is the very same call to the Gentiles to repent and believe the Gospel! If a person refuses to believe in Jesus then the wrath of God is upon them, whether they are Jewish or Gentile. (Mark 1:15, Romans 1:16)
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)
If a person refuses to believe in Jesus Christ they are already condemned, according to Jesus Himself!
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)
The Lord Jesus Christ confirmed this truth, after He was killed and rose from the dead, and continued to boldly proclaim the Gospel!
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15-16)
The Jewish apostle Paul thought that he was a “good person” and a holy and righteous man, until the Lord opened his spiritual eyes one day. (Acts 9). Paul thought that he was so right, and he thought that “his way” was the only way, that he went about persecuting and consenting unto the death of Christians. But after Paul was converted he wrote these words:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:8-9)
Every wretch in the world (including those in Israel), have the very same EQUAL opportunity to be saved. It is only the perfect blood of Jesus Christ that will justify them, along with the rest of us, before a holy and righteous God. When the Holy Spirit comes inside the heart of the true believer, it is then, and only then, that they will understand what the TRUE circumcision of the heart is all about. That is the desire of Almighty God for all people throughout the world. So who is a Jew according to the scriptures? Here is the answer to that question, and it comes from a person who was both a Jew by nature, and a Jew who was spiritually circumcised (Spiritual Jew) through FAITH in Jesus Christ. The Jewish apostle Paul declared that a Jew is the one with the INWARD circumcision of the heart. This flows beautifully with the New Birth (You must be born again) that Jesus preached to the Jewish ruler Nicodemus. (John 3:1-22)
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:28-29)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
