7/8/2026 Bible message

The Most Loving Truth You’ll Ever Hear

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:01

The most loving truth you'll ever hear. Why Jesus is the only way. Welcome to Unchained Made for More. Hey everyone, and welcome back to, like I said, Unchained Made for More. So I am so thankful you're here today. Whether you've been walking with Jesus for decades or you're struggling with your faith, or maybe you're just curious about who he really is. I want you to know something before we begin. You are deeply loved by God. This episode isn't about condemning anyone. It isn't about attacking an other people or other beliefs. It is about talking honestly about the greatest question every human being will ever answer. Who is Jesus? Because the answer to that question changes everything. Not just for this life, but for eternity. We live in a world that tells us truth is personal. You'll hear things like follow your heart, believe whatever works for you. Every religion leads to the same God. As long as you're sincere, that's what matters. At first those ideas seem sound like kinda kind and accepting, but here's the problem. Two completely opposite things cannot both be true. If one religion says Jesus is God, another says he was only a prophet, and another says he never existed as the Son of God, they cannot all be correct at the same time. Truth doesn't change because our options change. If God is who he says he is, then he, not our culture, defines truth. Jesus said in the Gospel of John in chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Notice he didn't say I am a way. He said I am the way. That isn't arrogance, it's love. If your child was standing in the middle of a burning building and there was only one safe exit, wouldn't you tell them exactly where it was? You wouldn't say, huh, any door will do. You would point them to the one door that leads to life. That's exactly what Jesus has done. Can I share something personal? I've searched for healing. I've searched for answers. I've lived through abuse. I've survived betrayal. I've endured surgeries, chronic pain, and days when simply getting out of bed felt impossible. There were moments when I questioned God, moments when I wondered where he was, moments when my heart was broken in ways I never imagined. But here's what I've learned. Nothing in this world could heal what was broken inside of me. Not another relationship, not success, not pretending I was okay. Only Jesus. Only Jesus could meet me in the darkest places and begin putting all of the many pieces back together. Did my circumstances instantly change? No. But my heart did. You see, there was a season in my life when I was so angry with God. I went through a season when I did everything I could to show him. Have you ever gotten angry at your parents and thought, I'll teach them a lesson, I'll show them? That's exactly what I did. I set out on a path of complete destruction. I didn't understand why all of these things happened to me. I kept thinking, God, why? Why? I was such a good person. I wasn't perfect, but I loved you. I served you. I gave my life to ministry. Why? Why would you let this happen to me? But looking back now, I realized something that changed everything. God didn't do those things to me. We live in a broken world because of sin. Ever since humanity turned away from God, pain, sickness, abuse, betrayal, death, and suffering have become part of this fallen world. Sometimes we experience the consequences of other people's sinful choices. Sometimes we face trials that God allows and uses to strengthen our faith. And sometimes we simply we don't understand why certain things happen this side of heaven. But one thing I now know is this God was not my enemy. He was not trying to destroy me, he wasn't standing far away watching my pain with indifference. He was the one grieving with me. He was the one pursuing me even while I was running from him. He was the one who never ever stopped loving me, even when I was angry enough to walk away. Notice that scripture doesn't say all things are good. Some things are heartbreaking, some things are evil, some things should have never happened. But it does say that God is able to work in all things, redeeming what was meant for evil and bringing beauty from ashes. I couldn't continue living the way I was living anymore. One day I was driving home from work. I pulled my car over because I couldn't carry the weight of my sin and my anger any longer. I came before my holy heavenly father and repented of everything I had done. You know how a little child runs to a loving parent after doing something they know they shouldn't shouldn't have done. That's exactly how I came back to God broken, sobbing, with nothing to offer except a heart finally surrendered fully. I remember crying out, Father, I'm so sorry And please forgive me And do you know what I found? Not condemnation, not rejection, not an angry father waiting to say I told you so I found grace, I found mercy, I found open arms, he gave me peace that didn't make sense, hope when I couldn't see tomorrow, strength when I had none left. That's why I say Jesus isn't just a good teacher. He isn't one option of among many. He is the Savior who rescues people who could never rescue themselves. He gave me, he gave me peace that did not make sense, hope when I could not see tomorrow, strength when I had none left. That's why I say Jesus isn't just the good teacher. He isn't one option among many. He is the one and only Savior, named Jesus Christ, who rescues people, who gives us grace, who loves us through it all. And one of the biggest misunderstandings today is I'm a good person. Can I lovingly tell you something? Being a good person has never been a standard. The Bible says in Romans 3 23, for we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every single one of us, me, you, your pastor, your neighbor. No one stands before God because they earned it. No one. That's why Jesus came. He lived the perfect life we could not live. He died the death that we deserved. Then he rose again so that everyone who believes in him can have eternal life. Salvation isn't earned, it is received by grace through faith. The cross just wasn't a tragic event, it was God's rescue plan. Justice and mercy met at the cross. Our sin was placed on Jesus. His righteousness is offered to us. That is the gospel. Not try harder, not be more religious, not clean yourself up first. Come to Jesus just as you are. Then let him transform you from the inside out. Why this matters so much? Why does this matter so much? Because some people say, why can't everyone just believe whatever they want? Well you can. You can believe whatever you want. God gives every person the freedom to choose. But God tells the truth. If I truly believe Jesus is the one who can save, then keeping that to myself would not be loving you. The most loving thing we can ever do is point people to Christ, not with pride, not with anger, not by winning arguments, but with compassion, humility, and truth. Good people don't go to heaven, forgiven people do. Can I say something that might surprise you? Can I? Good people don't go to heaven. Now, before you stop listening, hear my heart. I'm not saying there aren't kind people. There are people who volunteer every week, they give generously, they love their families, they help their neighbors, they would give you the shirt off your back off of their back. Many of them are genuinely wonderful people, but being a good person has never ever been God's standard for entering heaven. As I said in Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Notice it doesn't say some have sinned. It says all. That means every single one of us, we have all fallen short of God's perfect holiness. Sometimes we compare ourselves to other people. We say, Well, I've never murdered anyone, I've never stolen, I'm a better person than most. But God, He doesn't compare us to other people. He compares us to His perfect righteousness. Imagine taking the world's best swimmer to the edge of the ocean and saying, Haha, swim to Europe. Go ahead now. Have fun with that. They may swim farther than anyone else, but eventually they're gonna still fall short. That's what our goodness is like when we try to earn heaven. Some may appear more moral than others, but every one of us falls short of God's perfection. The prophet, oh I'm sorry, the prophet Isaiah says something incredibly humbling. All of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. All of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. That doesn't mean good works are bad. It means good works cannot wash away our sin. Only Jesus can do that. The Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for it is by grace you have been saved. Through faith, it is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Did you catch that? Salvation is a gift. You don't earn it, you receive it. That's why that cross is so beautiful. If we can earn heaven by being good, Jesus never would have needed to die. But because we couldn't save ourselves, Jesus came to do what we could never do. That's why Christianity isn't ultimately about becoming a better person. It's about becoming a new creation in Christ. As it says in Corinthians, as the Bible says in Corinthians 5.17, it's in 2 Corinthians actually 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Religion says do. Jesus says it is finished. Our response isn't to work for salvation. Our response is to trust the one who already completed the work. What about people who've never heard about Jesus? This may be one of the hardest questions that people ask. What about someone living in a remote village who has never heard the name of Jesus? It's an honest question. And I want to be careful not to answer beyond what Scripture says. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the only savior. Jesus is the only savior. In Acts 4.12, we read, Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind, which we must be saved. The Bible never presents another way to be saved apart from Christ. At the same time, Scripture also tells us that God is perfectly just, He is perfectly holy and perfectly loving. The book of Genesis 18, 25 asks this powerful question. Will not the judge of all of the earth do right? The answer is yes. God always does what is right. We can trust his character when we don't know every detail of how he will judge each individual purpose. The Bible also tells us in Romans 1.20 that God's creation reveals his eternal power and divine nature so that people are without excuse. Creation points to the creator. But creation itself does not proclaim the full gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus gave his followers the great commission. In the gospel of Matthew 28, 19 through 20, Jesus commands, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. If people could be saved without hearing the gospel, there would be no urgency to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Instead, the New Testament is filled with believers risking their lives to tell others about Jesus because they believe the message of the gospel was the hope of the world. So rather than asking, what about the person who has never heard? Maybe, just maybe, the better question is: what about those of us who have heard? What about us that have heard? We know the truth. We know the hope found in Jesus. We have been entrusted with the greatest message ever given. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 10, 13 through 15. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Then he asks, how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they've not heard? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? Church, this isn't just for missionaries. That's for us, the workplace, your neighborhood, your family, your school, your social media. God has placed people in your life that I may never meet. You don't have to have all of the answers. You simply you have to be willing to point people to Jesus. Because someone once pointed you to him. If there were ten different ways to God, we'd spend our whole lives wondering if we picked the right one. We'd live in fear, always asking, did I do enough? Did I choose the right path? But because God loves us, he didn't leave us guessing. He came to us in the person of Jesus Christ and said, This is the way. That's not cruelty. And that's mercy. That's mercy. It's like a loving father standing at the only bridge over a canyon calling his children, Come this way. I don't want you to perish. God's heart is that everyone would be saved. Before I close today, I want you to hear something that often it gets overlooked. Sometimes people picture God as someone who is just waiting to judge, but that isn't the picture that the Bible paints. Listen to what Paul wrote in 2nd or in Timothy 2, 3 through 7. Enduring, endure suffering. Along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Think about what I'm saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things. 2 Timothy 2, 3 through 7. Did you hear the heart of God in those verses? God is not looking for reasons to keep people out of heaven. He is looking for every opportunity to bring them home. From the very beginning of Scripture to the very end, we see a God relentlessly pursuing people who have wandered away. When Adam and Eve sent in the garden, God came looking for them. When Israel repeatedly turned from him, he sent prophet after prophet to call them back. And when the world was lost in sin, God sent set God didn't send another set of rules. He sent his son, Jesus Himself, said in the gospel of Luke 19 10, for the Son of Man came to seek to save the lost. Think about that. Jesus didn't come searching for the self-righteous or the people who thought they had it all together. He came looking for the broken, the weary, the ashamed, the addicted, the doubting, the religious, the rebellious. He came looking for people like me. He came for looking for people like you. The cross wasn't God's backup plan. It was his plan all along. The greatest demonstration of God's love wasn't simply that he told us he loved us, it was that he proved it. In Romans 5.8, it says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Notice what the verse doesn't say. It doesn't say Christ died for us after we cleaned up our lives. It doesn't say he waited until we finally got everything together. It says while we were still sinners, that means his love reached out to us at our worst. If you ever believed you're too far gone, if you've ever thought God could never forgive someone like me, if you've ever carried shame that no one else knows about, hear me clearly. Jesus went to the cross knowing every sin you would ever commit. And he loved you enough to lay down his life anyway. That doesn't mean everyone will be saved automatically. Love never forces itself on anyone. God invites us, he calls us, he convicts us, he pursues us, but he also gives us the freedom to respond. That's what Jesus said in the Gospel of John in chapter 3, verse 16 through 18, that whosoever believes in him will have ever will have eternal life, while also explaining that those who reject him will remain under condemnation. The invitation is open to everyone, but it must be received by faith. So today, if you're listening and your heart is stirring, don't ignore it. That may be the Holy Spirit drawing you to Jesus. Don't wait for a better time. Don't convince yourself you'll come to him someday. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6 2, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation. Friend, Jesus isn't calling you because he wants something from you. He's calling you because he wants you. He wants to forgive your sins. He wants to restore what sin has broken within you. He wants to adopt you into his family. He wants to give you the hope, peace, and eternal life that can only be found in him. That is the heart of God, a father who loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. I don't want to rush past this moment. Maybe you're driving down the road like I was one day several years back. Maybe you're sitting in your living room. Maybe you're in the hospital bed. Maybe you're in a shower. Maybe you've listened to this entire episode and you've realized that you know about Jesus, but you never truly surrendered your life to him. Or maybe there was a time when you walked closely with him, but somewhere along the way, life happened, pain happened, disappointment happened, sin happened, and today he's calling you home. He's calling you home. Can I ask you something? If today were the last day on this earth, if today was your last day, are you certain you would spend eternity with Jesus? Not because you've been a good person, not because you've gone to church, not because your parents were Christians, but because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone. Romans 10, 9 through 10 tells us if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart, not just here, but here in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Friend, that invitation is for you right now, not tomorrow, not when you've cleaned your life up, not when you finally feel worthy. Jesus is calling you exactly where you are. Before I pray, I just want to sing a song that's meant so much to me over the years. And as you listen, don't think about my voice. Think about the words. Think about what Jesus has done for you. If your heart is stirring, don't ignore it. That may be the Holy Spirit lovingly calling you to come home. Come home.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

That save me I was I was lost, but now I am found. I was blind but now I see my chains are done, I've been set free. My God my second has fans on me and I'm ending love amazing.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

If today you want to place your faith in Jesus, I want to help you respond. But first let me say something very important. There is nothing magical about repeating words after someone else. A prayer it doesn't save you. Jesus saves you. The Bible teaches that we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And if today you're turning from your sin and placing your trust in Him, you can talk to Him right where you are. If you don't know what to say, let this prayer simply express what's already happening in your heart. Father, I know that I have sinned against you. I know I cannot save myself. Today I turn from my sin and I place my faith in Jesus Christ. I believe that he died on the cross for my sins and that I believe that he rose again three days later. I ask you right now, God, forgive me, make me new, teach me to follow you for the rest of my life. Thank you for loving me even when I was far from you. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for your amazing grace. It's in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, because you genuinely believe in Jesus, not just in here, but here, and have surrendered your life to him, please don't keep it to yourself. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 32, whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge my father. I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven. Tell someone, please tell someone, tell me. Find a Bible-believing church. That is so important. Read God's word daily. Be baptized as a public declaration of your faith. And if this episode was part of your journey to Christ, I would love to hear your story. Please reach out to us. We would be honored, honored to pray with you, celebrate with you, and help you take your next steps with Jesus. Remember this. The enemy may remind you of your past, but Jesus reminds you of his cross. The enemy says you're too far gone. Jesus says, Come. The enemy says you're still bound. Jesus says, My chains are gone. I've been set free. Friends, that's not just lyrics of a beautiful song. That's the promise of the gospel. Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus. Because if the Son sets you free, you will be free.