Jesus is All About Love and Forgiveness, but also Justice

          One of the arguments from the anti-Chick-fil-A side is that we need to be
     more like Jesus, who loves everyone and doesn't condemn people for "being
     who they are."  They want to make it seem that they are on the right side, and
     we who have a biblical worldview are the ones who are wrong.
    

          Jesus IS a loving and forgiving God, but He also is righteous and will bring
     judgment to those who feel that they are so good that they have no need for
     Him.

          Early on in His ministry Jesus preached a message of "repent and believe."
       He told the woman caught in adultery to go and leave her life of sin.

          The Jesus of the Bible was willing to condemn the hypocrites who rejected
     His message of the Gospel, and also tried to keep others from coming to Him
     for salvation.  In fact an entire chapter (23) of Matthew is full of Jesus' condem-
     nation of the Scribes and Pharisees.

          He warns those listening to Him that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
     and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:11).  Then, He began
     His criticism of the teachers of the law and Pharisees.

                                    
                                            "Woe to you, teachers of the law and
                                              Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut
                                              the kingdom of heaven in men's faces.
                                              You yourselves do not enter, nor will
                                              you let those enter who are trying to."
                                                                                  Matthew 23:13-14

         
          The Pharisees and Scribes were not only working against Jesus, but also
     trying to keep others from receiving salvation through Him.  Of course, that
     didn't keep Jesus from saving them anyway, but it angered Him that they
     would work to prevent the people, who looked to them for religious guidance,
     from receiving salvation through Him.

          Over and over in His preaching to them, Jesus called the Scribes and Phari-
     sees hypocrites, who were blinded by their hatred for Him and what was good.


                                           "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
                                             you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea
                                             to win a single convert, when he becomes one,
                                             you make him twice as much a son of hell as
                                             you are."
                                                                                      Matthew 23:15


                                           "Woe to you blind guides!  ... You blind fools!
                                             ... You blind men!" 
                                                                                      Matthew 23:16,17,19


                                           "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
                                             you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the
                                             cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed
                                             and self-indulgence.
                                           "Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup
                                             and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."
                                                                                      Matthew 23:25-26


                                           "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
                                             you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed
                                             tombs, which look beautiful on the outside
                                             but on the inside are full of dead men's bones
                                             and everything unclean.
                                           "In the same way, on the outside you appear to
                                            people as righteous but on the inside you are
                                            full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
                                                                                         Mathew 23:27-28


          Jesus even accused them of murdering the prophets who had preached the
     word of God to the Jewish people.


                                          "You snakes!  You brood of vipers!
                                            How will you escape being condemned
                                            to hell?  Therefore I am sending you
                                            prophets and wise men and teachers.
                                            Some of them you will kill and crucify;
                                            others you will flog in your synagogues
                                            and pursue from town to town.
                                          "And so upon you will come all the
                                            righteous blood that has been shed on
                                            earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood
                                            of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you
                                            murdered between the temple and the altar."
                                                                            Matthew 23:33-35


                                                            **********


          God the Father has given the task of judgment to His Son, and that is what
      He will do one day.


                                        "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has
                                         entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may
                                         honor the Son just as they honor the Father."
                                                                              Matthew 23:22-23a


          When Jesus comes again, He will separate His people who have been made
     righteous through His blood, from the wicked who refused to follow Him.


                                        "(Jesus said), 'When the Son of Man comes
                                         in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He
                                         will sit on His throne in heavenly glory.  All
                                         the nations will be gathered before Him, and
                                         He will separate the people one from another
                                         as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
                                         goats.  He will put the sheep on His right and
                                         the goats on His left.

                                       "Then the King will say to those on His right,
                                        'Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
                                         take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared
                                         for you since the creation of the world."
                                                                            Matthew 25:31-34


                                       "Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart
                                         from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal
                                         fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
                                         ... Then they will go away to eternal punish-
                                         ment, but the righteous to eternal life."
                                                                           Matthew 25:46



                                                       **********


          Yes, Jesus is a God of love and mercy and forgiveness, but He also is a holy
     God who is righteous and will condemn those who reject Him and His message.