There's No Middle Ground

By Gobel Brockman

     I begin this week with a rather bold statement:

     Either Jesus was the biggest liar and fraud that has ever walked on the face of this planet, OR He is exactly who He claimed to be. There's no middle ground. 

     I submit to you that it is impossible to be "neutral" about Jesus.You see, the message of Easter is a bold proclamation that all of creation is subject to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If He is not who He claimed to be, we can ignore Him and His message. However, if He IS who He claimed to be, we must - and at some point we WILL - submit to His authority. Allow me to say it this way:

     "In the book of Exodus, God revealed Himself to Moses as "The Great I AM." In His lifetime Jesus made a lot "I AM" statements about Himself. In John 8 He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." (The religious leaders knew what He meant by that, for they immediately sought to stone Him.) In John 10 He said, "I AM the door of the sheep. All who came before Me were thieves and robbers." In John 14 He said, "I AM the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me." At various times He said such things as "I AM the bread of life," "I AM the good shepherd," I AM the light of the world," and "I AM the resurrection and the life." There are many other things that He said about Himself, and many things that others said about Him that He did not discourage. All of this leads to the conclusion that Jesus is one of two things: He's either the biggest liar and fraud that has ever walked on this planet, or He is exactly who He claimed to be. There is no middle ground. There's no claiming that He was just "a good moral teacher." Good moral teachers do not make such outrageous claims about themselves and attempt to deceive the very people listening to him. Simply put, Jesus is either a liar or He is everything that He said He was. So how do we know which is true?"

     "At one point Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (He was talking about His crucifixion and resurrection.) They indeed destroyed His "temple" on the cross, but three days later Jesus was raised physically from the dead. In that moment every "I AM" statement that He made about Himself was confirmed. His death paid the price for humanity's sin, which forever proved the He is indeed "the way, the truth, and the life." Millions have found their way out of darkness because He forever proved that He is indeed "the light of the world." And when the stone was rolled away from the grave and the angel asked, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' He forever proved that He was - and IS - "the resurrection and the life."

     "There are some in Christianity who seemingly try to present Jesus as a life-enhancing product to be obtained, as if His primary role is to cater to our whims and desires. They ask, "Is your life a mess? Come to Jesus and let Him make it all better!" That seems to be the message of this generation. I submit to you, however, that Jesus is not a "life-enhancing product" at all. Jesus is the sovereign King of Kings and Lord of Lords who both demands and deserves our complete obedience and worship. It is this Jesus to whom you and I will one day stand before and give an account of our lives. You may say, "I don't believe that." That doesn't matter - you'll be there anyway. Every knee will bow before Him, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Why? Because Jesus loved the unlovable, gave hope to the hopeless, and offered grace and mercy to those who would receive it - and He's still doing so today. Jesus defeated sin, death, Hell, and the grave, and He is forever Savior and Lord. Yes, Jesus made many claims about Himself, but He then backed up every one of those claims with actions that no man or demon could deny or defeat."

     "In His life, in His death, in His resurrection, and in everything that He has done since - every salvation, every baptism in the Holy Ghost, every healing, and every miracle - Jesus has forever proven that He is EXACTLY who He claims to be."

     So the question that remains is simply this: are you going to surrender to Him now - or later? Your choice will last for eternity. Choose wisely.