The Original

TITLE: The Original
DATE:  Sept. 27, 2019

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

TEXT: John 14:^ ESV - 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

When you hear the words, “Accept no imitations.”, you know you are being encouraged to embrace and hold fast to that which is the real deal, the original, the one-of-a-kind, the unique, the one which has no peer.

When Jesus was with us, He observed, “There are a lot of false Messiahs out there. I encourage you to accept no imitation Saviors.” Jesus was absolutely right to extend that warning to the generations of believers who would follow in the centuries to come. 

He was right because, over the years, millions of people, intelligent, sincere people have ended up following counterfeit Messiahs who have promoted their own false doctrine. Which is why, echoing our Lord, it is the job of Christians, to point out that which is fake and encourage sinners to follow the Real Savior, Jesus Christ. To do that, we might take a lesson from the officers in the US Treasury.

Their job is to track down counterfeit bills and the criminals who make and distribute them.

You would think, to be able to identify counterfeits, these folks would be trained to study all the different types of fake money being printed. You might think it, but that's not what they do. What they do is spend hours with "real" money.

They come to know how the bills look and how they feel.

These agents don't have to become acquainted with all the different types of "funny money." That would be a never ending job. Instead, when the agents are intimately familiar with the real thing, everything else stands out as false.

In the religious world today there are a multitude of pseudo scholars who dissect the words and life of the Savior. They throw out one set of teachings and question others. Even worse, there are messed up messiahs who say “They, not Jesus, are the way, truth and life.”

No matter how strange these doctrines; no matter how weird these messages, there are people who willingly gamble their lives, and their eternities, on these false messiahs.

To combat them, we can try to investigate every false doctrine, every questionable leader. It is far better, and a more solid investment, to become solidly acquainted with what the Savior teaches. We need to see how He finds the lost; how He reaches out to those who were unreachable; how He is a friend to those who have no one else.

We need to hear, and believe, Scripture when it says there is no other Name under heaven, given among men which can save us.

When we know God and His love this way, we shall be able to clearly identify all false doctrines, and Messiahs, which are fake. That way, when Jesus says, “There are a lot of false messiahs in the world.”; I shall be able to reply, “Yes, Lord, but I know the real Thing.”

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for being Truthful and Real. Send Your Holy Spirit to defeat all those who would compromise the full Gospel message of salvation; and call back those who have been confused by counterfeits. In Your Name. Amen.
 
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html