I have always been a firm believer in the friendliness of Jesus. Now, you may think that that thought isn’t the most profound thing that was ever said, but you know, I wonder just how many people think about Jesus being friendly. We know with confidence that He loved those He came into contact with and He was fair and compassionate. But not too many people think about Him as just being a friendly guy. We like to think of Jesus as one who was always deep in thought. One who chose His words carefully, as though He was constantly in “teacher mode.” Sure He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” but He was also filled with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. He knew what Solomon had said nine centuries before; that a man who has friends must show himself friendly. Pr.18:24 KJV I think that Jesus would have been a great Friend –a Friend who stuck closer than a brother. In the Gospel of John, Jesus and his disciples were invited to a wedding in the town of Cana. It was here that Jesus performed His first miracle at the request of Mary, His mother. He hadn’t healed the sick, He hadn’t raised the dead, He hadn’t performed any miracle whatsoever that would cause the bridegroom to invited Him. What I mean is this. Jesus was followed by the multitudes because He had met their needs and because they could see the miracles that Jesus performed. People wanted to be around Jesus because He was great and powerful. But this couldn’t be so with the invitation to the wedding because He hadn’t performed any miracles yet. Do you see what I mean? So, I wonder why Jesus was invited –perhaps simply because He was a friendly person and probably nice to be around. Cana was just a few miles north of Nazareth during the time Jesus grew up. Maybe the family of the bride and bridegroom knew Jesus’ family. Maybe they knew Jesus and just liked Him for who He was and not for anything that He could do for them… now there’s a thought! Wouldn’t it be nice to have people want to be around you just because they thought you were neat? That’s one of the advantages of being poor, you know that those who want to be around you aren’t just after your money! Someone once said that Christians are the only Bible that some people will ever read. St. Paul said that Christians were living epistles (letters) read and known by all men. He goes on to say that our lives declare that we are living letters of Christ, written not with ink but by the Spirit of God. So, what do you show the world about Jesus? Is Jesus friendly in the eyes of them that know you? Oftentimes, being friendly is one of the greatest evangelical tools God has ever given us. And guess what? No one is ever poor who has a lot of friends!

One of the most tragic beguilements of this age is the lie that countless people have bought into. And that is this; That Jesus Christ is one of many ways a person can attain the divinity that they are searching for. People know the difference between right and wrong and for the most part, people want to be right. It is only after many failed attempts that a person may give up hope in attaining their goals and settle for mediocrity. From the Eastern religions and Human Secularism to Islam, Judaism and Christianity, adherents to these faiths strive to ascertain their “Pie in the Sky” or Utopia here on earth. Concepts of Heaven are as diverse as opinions in the United Nations. But logically speaking, I believe it is only possible to have one Heaven in existence. For example, I have my conception of Heaven and you have your conception of Heaven. But what if they differ? What would happen if my conception of Heaven included you being there, but your conception of Heaven didn’t include me? There is only one conclusion: We shall conform our ideas about Heaven as it actually is, or in reality, we shall never obtain it. But someone may say, “Who shall say what heaven is like? Who has the right to determine heaven for everybody else?” That’s easy; the One who created it. And He said that He has established His throne is Heaven. (Ps. 103:19) So, not only is He the Creator of Heaven, but He also rules over it. God made the heavens and the earth and He sets the rules as to what Heaven shall be like and who shall be there. As far as what Heaven is like, chapter 13 of Matthew gives us many clues yet its full discloser still eludes the mind of man. But as for who shall be there and make it their eternal dwelling, God has left that up to His Son, Jesus Christ. People don’t understand, they think that Jesus was just a good man or just another teacher that could show people how to get to Heaven. But they are wrong Jesus is the way –He is the only way!
I would like to leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis. In his book, Mere Christianity he offers a reasonable and logical case for the Deity of Christ: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic –on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
God gave man the free will to accept Him as Savior and Lord but He did not give men the freedom to think of Him any way they wished. Jesus is Lord!

The Pharisees came to Jesus and asked for a sign, in fact, they demanded that He give them a sign just after Jesus cleared the Temple. They wanted to know by what authority that He would cleanse the Temple of those who were selling and those who were money-changers. From Jesus’ point of view these things needed to be removed from His Father’s House because it was suppose to be a house of prayer. So, because Jesus not only had the authority, but He also had the power (obviously!) He cleansed the Temple of man’s ambitions and greed. To the Jew, a miraculous sign was proof that Jesus had the authority to do what He did. But Jesus knew better. He knew that a sign would never be sufficient for the unbeliever. And so, He said to them, “destroy this Temple and I will raise it up in three days.” They couldn’t understand what He was talking about either for not only were their hearts closed but their minds as well. Jesus was talking about His body and was referring to His resurrection. But notice that what Jesus said was more like a promise than a sign. Sure the resurrection is a sign for all of us who believe but it was more like a promise that God gave even from the beginning of time. This promise is surer than the earth that we are standing on. Though the nations rant and rave and the peoples of this earth don’t want anything to do with God, nevertheless, Jesus is sitting on the right hand of the Throne of God while His enemies become His footstool. God made another promise to Jesus and that is this; Jesus’ kingdom will never end. Not only did God make the promise of a coming Savior good and not only did Jesus make His promise to rise again good, but God will make His promise to Jesus good. He already has! We are just waiting for the time when He thinks it best to reveal His Word. His Word is His promise and, Brother and Sister, He is going to make His promise good to you and me. Look up, for your redemption draweth nigh! O, did I forget to tell you that because Jesus rose from the grave that that is the sign that we also will rise again!?

Someone once asked, “How many times can you subtract 100 from 800?” Before you try an answer, let me warn you that the question was asked in a book of riddles. Makes all the difference, doesn’t it? You see, 100 can be subtracted from 800 only once. For as soon as you subtract 100 from 800, 800 ceases to be 800. Riddles are fun and at times very eye opening. Riddles usually catch us in our normal pattern of thinking which generally does not entail thinking things through. For instance, what is always coming but never arrives? –Tomorrow! I’m not very good with riddles. I guess I think too much “within the box.” But, since I’ve become a Christian, I try to think things through a little more often. One such thought is the choice that Moses put to the children of Israel:
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life…” Deut. 32:19,20
Don’t you think it is a little odd that Moses said that he was giving them the choice of life and death on that very day? Certainly he wasn’t implying that he was going to put all those who would not choose life to the sword. And who in their right mind wouldn’t choose life over death? Either Moses was being awful silly or he meant something more than any superficial reading could discover. First, I would like to share what the Apostle John had to say about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He believed that Jesus came to give us understanding, so that we may know God –who is true. And we who are believers are in Him who is true –even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and Eternal Life. John tells us in another place that whoever has the Son has life, and again, that Jesus Christ came to give us life and that, to the full. And finally, he said that in Jesus was life and that life was the light of men. Now if I’m hearing this correctly, I do believe that God is trying to tell the world that if you are here without God in your life, then you are not really living at all. Sure, you see yourself walking around breathing and talking and doing all those things we associate with living, but if God is not in you –you’re dead. In keeping with our first riddle: if you take God out of your life you are not living, because when you subtract God from life, life ceases to be life. There is no neutral ground here on earth, either we are dead or alive. This is why we should be the most thankful people here on earth. For God, who is rich in mercy, has made us alive in Christ when we were dead in our sins. You see, some folks think that just going to church, or being nice, or things like that will constitute a good life. But the Bible says that if Jesus isn’t living in your heart, then you don’t have life.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36

Where did the faith of our fathers go? Have you ever just stopped to think why the things of God, and in particular, the Christian faith, is so scorned and mocked these days? I truly believe that we are on the cusp of a religious transformation. The world has a much different opinion of religious things and matters of faith than we do. This different opinion arose from years of what Ravi Zacharias referred to in his book, Deliver Us from Evil, as the secularization of our culture. Quoting from “Gaily the Troubadour,” Ravi said, “What does secularization really mean? With a touch of humor and an edge of sarcasm, the following lines summarize this new reigning world-view.

First dentistry was painless. Then bicycles were chainless,
Carriages were horseless, and many laws enforceless.
Next cookery was fireless, Telegraphy was wireless,
Cigars were nicotineless, and coffee was caffeinless.
Soon oranges were seedless, the putting green was weedless,
The college boy was hatless, the proper diet fatless.
New motor roads are dustless, the latest steel rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religion –godless.

We fundamentalist (those who believe in the infallibility of the Bible) have always been troubled by the liberalism that is both in the secular world and in religious circles and its attempt to reduce the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a bloodless fairy-tale. An article found in Redbook, August 1961, entitled “The Startling Beliefs of our Future Ministers,” included the results of a survey taken among several major denominational seminaries. These questions were asked and answered as follows:
“Do you believe in the physical resurrection?” 54% said, “No.”
“Do you believe in the virgin birth of Christ?” 56% said, “No.”
“Do you believe in a literal heaven and hell?” 71% said, “No.”
“Do you believe in the deity of Christ?” 89% said, “No.”
“Do you believe that man is separated from God by birth (the doctrine of
depravity)?” 98% said “No.” or they were not concerned about this.
“Do you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?” 99% said “No.”

That survey was taken over a generation ago brothers and sisters! The faith you and I possess is priceless. It is very rare, and by definition, anything that is rare, that people desire, is very valuable. We are very rich in the eyes of God.

“Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.” 2John 7&8