Words of Death - Words of Life

1. You do not know me
2. You do not know where I am going
3. You do not know where I come from
4. You do not know my Father
5. You will die in your sin
6. You cannot come where I am going
7. You are from below
8. You are of this world
9. You will seek to kill me
10. You do what you have heard from your father the devil
11. You cannot bear to hear my word
12. You are of your father the devil
13. Your will is to do the devil’s desires
14. You are not of God
15. You dishonour me
16. You have not known God

Such is a brief summary of some of the words Jesus spoke to people in the Temple at Jerusalem.

A church sign near my home reads; “Out of faith? Come in for a fill-up.” Apparently this is intended to get bodies into the church building. Although it is just a sign, it signifies to me what so many want to do in order to win the lost – offer the meeting of felt needs.

In some cases, Jesus did appeal to people’s felt needs of spiritual emptiness, but never without identifying for them the false hopes in which they trusted. In many cases, that included words like He spoke above. Words that, by the way, were surrounded by invitation to come to Him and find life: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light [that gives] life.”

People need to know their real condition, anything less than that is a lack of love on our part.