Young Man is Receptive to the Gospel!

Jake’s Religious Background and Upbringing

Alright, Jake, so we're here at Weber State University, and we're just asking people some questions. So, what is your spiritual background, Jake?

I mean, my parents liked to read from the Bible, but I just never found time to go to church, especially after I graduated from high school.

Okay. Did you grow up here? Yeah, from Ogden. Okay, from Ogden. Now, would your parents say that they're LDS, they're Latter-day Saints, or what are they?

I know that my dad's family is, but I don't know about my mom's.

So, when you were growing up, you would say they didn't really bring you to sacrament meetings, you didn't go to the ward meeting houses or anything? So you just kind of grew up in a household where sometimes they'd read the Bible, they'd talk about God a bit, but really not any organized religion for you, you would say?

No, not really. Okay. So, did you get into anything, youth groups or anything, as a teenager, did you say?

I have a few friends who are LDS, and they would invite me to go camping, we go camping every year.

Yeah, and you'd have to sit through some stuff and hear some things? Yeah. Okay, so now how old are you, Jake? I'm 22. 22. Now as a 22-year-old, what would you say you believe? Do you believe that there is a God, do you pray at all, what would you say?

I guess it depends on how well I did on my last test. I'm just kidding. Okay, yeah, yeah. No, to be serious, I don't really know. I know my parents, they pushed it on me pretty hard, and I guess that's why I rebounded back off of it.

Oh, okay. If I find something important in my life that I feel like I want to go and seek out, and it helps me, then sure, why not?

The Ten Commandments as God’s Law and Tutor

Okay, so I'm going to ask you something. Have you ever heard of the Ten Commandments?

I have, yeah. I don't know what they are, but I've heard of them.

Okay, so let me tell you a few of them. Some of them would be, you know, God says, I am the Lord your God, there is no other God besides me, you shall have no other gods besides me. There's things like honor your father and your mother.

Number six is you shall not murder, then you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, you shall not bear a false witness or lie. Things like that, and one especially is you shall not take the Lord your God's name in vain.

So the Bible talks about the Ten Commandments are called the law in the Word of God, and they call them a tutor in a way. You know what a tutor does, right? It teaches us, informs us, helps us, and so the law of God is called a tutor.

So if I were to take you, Jake, and we were to play back a DVD of your life, and we put all that you did up against some of those commandments that I listed out, how would you turn out? The ones you listed?

Yeah. Um... Have you ever lied before? Very good. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so what do you call people who lie? Uh, liars. Okay. Have you ever stolen before? Hmm... Anything, you know, insignificant of its value.

Like when I was taking candy out of the pantry without permission? Does that count?

Maybe not from your home. Have you ever stolen from a business or anything like that? Yeah, okay. Okay, uh... Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain? Oh, yeah. Yeah? Okay. That's a bad one. And so the Bible says, do not commit adultery, and you know what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospels?

He says, if you even look at a woman or a young girl with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery in your heart. Would you say that you've lusted before? You've done those things?

I mean, that's what you just said, yeah.

Okay, so based off your own admission, if we put you up against the tutor, the law of God, you would be a lying, blaspheming, adulterer at heart. And so here's the thing. You know what the Bible says about people like that?

The Bible says that God is perfectly holy and just. That He dwells in irreproachable light. That He is holy, holy, holy, thrice holy. And by God's very nature, He must punish those who sin. Now, I'm going to touch on something in a second.

The Justice of God and the Problem of Human Sin

Let me put it this way. If you were in a small town, and there was a judge, a local judge, and there was someone who was up for trial. And that person had lied and falsified things to the court, had lied and falsified things to police.

They had committed rapes and abominations like that. They've committed crimes. They've committed murder, things like that. And let's just say that person goes up and stands before the judge. And he goes, well, you know what?

I may have done these things, but I've been generally a pretty good guy. I've helped my parents out. I've helped my grandma. I've given to charities here and there. And I've seen a homeless guy, and I gave him a buck one time.

And if the judge was there and said, you know what? Surely your good outweighs all that bad. I'm going to let you go free. And let's say all the public was there. The whole town was there. What do you think the town would do?

If everybody saw. If everyone saw him just let a man who just committed murder and rape of people, even their own family members. I don't know. I don't know if I would fly. Right. Jake, there would be public outcry.

People would say, that is a bad judge. That is a wicked judge. How could he let a bad man go? And so you might think, well, what we do isn't that bad, though. Who am I affecting? Well, it's not based off of who we're affecting.

It's based off of the fact that we've offended a holy God whose standard is perfection. But the good news is, and the Bible calls it the gospel. You ever heard that word, the gospel? So the gospel is this.

That even though we have this law, and you and I, Jake, I could never live up to it. I was trying all that I could as a young man. I could not live up to it. LDS people cannot live up to it. You cannot climb the ladder to get to heaven.

And here's what the gospel is. The gospel is that although we deserve hell and eternal condemnation, the Bible says that the good news is that God sent His one and only Son, who is God in the flesh, God from all eternity, Jesus Christ.

And He came to earth. He stepped into His own creation. Jesus came here for sinners, for Jake, for Wade. He came for people like us who could not attain the law, who could not earn salvation. And He literally lived the perfect life.

All the things that you failed in, all the things that I failed in, He never failed once, it says. It says in Hebrews chapter 4 that He was tempted in all ways, and yet He was without sin. In Peter's epistle, it says that He is without sin, that He's perfect in every way.

And so the thing is, man, He lived that law that we couldn't perfectly. And it says that He went onto that cross. He went on that cross, and God would not accept anything you and I could give. As if God is the righteous, perfect judge, we can't go before God and give Him anything.

There's no money we can give. There's no good works we can give Him. And that's when Jesus steps in, and He becomes a sacrifice. On that cross, He took the punishment and the wrath that you and I deserve on that cross, and He died there on that cross, and He was buried.

And then He rose again three days later, proving that He has conquered death in the grave. And it says that He is alive forevermore, that Jesus is alive today. And it says that after that, He ascended into heaven, and He rules and reigns from a throne right now.

And the Bible says He's going to come back, and He's going to judge the living and the dead. He will one day judge us, it says, for all the careless words and deeds we've ever done. And if you were to stand on the day of judgment one day, Jake, and you were to stand against the tutor of the law, you would be found wanting.

You need the sacrifice of Christ. You need Jesus' atonement. His work on the cross needs to be applied to your account. And He says if you believe by faith, if you repent from your sins, turn to Christ, and believe on Him for salvation, He will save you.

He will save you, and it's by His grace. So what do you say to all that, man? I mean, that was a lot. Yeah, yeah, I talked for a while, you talk.

I mean, I've heard a little bit about it. Of course, my parents have talked to me about that kind of stuff a little bit. I have some good examples, though. I never really thought about it like a courtroom kind of situation.

Yeah, okay.

I don't know. I don't know what to think. Where will you go when you die, Jake?

Probably six feet in the ground, and I don't know. Okay. I don't know after that.

You don't know? Are you kind of unsure even if there is a heaven or hell or something like that?

I mean, I had a friend talk to me about Buddhism. That sounds sick. But, I mean, I've also heard more people talk about it, like Christianity. Yeah, yeah. And that also sounds like it's pretty good.

Christ Alone Is the Only Way to the Father

Well, here's the thing, man. And I know you probably got to get to class soon. But there's people all over the world who are saying they have the truth. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah's Witness, Christians.

Everyone's saying, we've got it. We have the truth. And now there's some people in this world who try to say, look, they're all just different pathways to the same thing. The Bible says otherwise. The Bible says the gospel is inclusive in that it's for everyone.

And yet the truth is exclusive in that there's only one way. It says in John 14, verse 6, it says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It says no one goes to heaven, no one goes to the Father but through Him.

It's not through Muhammad. It's not through Buddhism or nirvana or internal enlightenment or all these things. There's only one pathway to heaven, and it's through Christ and Him alone. It's not even through a false prophet at the Mormon church or anything like that.

It's literally biblical Christianity sees the Bible and understands the Bible to be the infallible, inerrant word of God. It is the truth. There is no other truth. Some people say, well, you know what, Jake, you have your truth.

I have my truth. That would mean if you believe something different than me, Jake, that would mean if we had a contradiction, then that would mean that something one of us believes isn't the truth, right?

Sounds like an opinion, yeah. Yeah, it sounds more like an opinion. So my suggestion that I want to make to you, man, is don't wait another second. Think about what is truth. Where will I go when I die?

Because James says this life is like a vapor. It's going to go by quick, man. You don't know if today even something could happen. We are called to get right with God. We are called to, you know, be reconciled to him because we're at enmity with him and Christ can make us at peace with God.

You know what I mean? So that on the day of judgment, God will go, you know what, Jake, Jesus paid your penalty in full. You are saved because of my son. My son died for you, Jake. And so welcome into the arms of your Savior.

That's what can happen. So today's the day of salvation, man. Don't wait another second. Pray about it. Consider it. If you have any questions, actually, you know, this is our church phone number. You can text it.

You can e-mail, man. We are here for you. So I'm not going to go hunting you down, Jake, on campus. You're welcome to come find me again. Yeah, okay. Well, we're here for you if you ever need anything.

We appreciate your time, man. Yeah, all right. Yeah, thank you for talking with us. Yeah, all right.