Happy Resurrection Day!
I call it as I see it and being a salesman by vocation I like to present things as they are and let you make an educated decision to buy. (or not) Much like God leaves the decision of whether or not you will receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior up to you. The difference is that according to the Bible, you don't actually "buy" your way in to Heaven because Salvation is offered to you as a free gift! You only need to make the decision to believe and receive the offer, or not.
I made the decision to receive Christ as my Savior some 30 years ago on April 19, 1979. That Thursday night I placed my eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus Christ and gave up trying to "buy" my way to Heaven through the concept of somehow having something to offer God. The reality is that we are all sinners and cannot offer God anything. Heaven is a perfect place and God is a perfect being. Although we are fashioned in His image, yet through the fall of Adam, we bear all the inherent faults of this sin cursed world that have marred that perfect image. If He were to allow us in to Heaven with our sin upon us we would have the same mess there as we have here on this earth.
You see, it is our sin that separates us from a holy God. We can't get rid of that sin by "buying" God off through our good works. The Bible tells us that our best deeds are filthy rags in comparison to God's righteousness and holiness. His perfection and righteousness and holiness and justice demand that our sins be paid for before we can have fellowship with Him. He cannot/will not allow sin to dwell in His presence. So what are we to do if we can't "buy" our way into Heaven?
The answer is astonishingly simple. We can't do anything. Nor is there a need to do anything because God has provided the way through the shed blood of His son, Jesus Christ. He has bought us with His precious blood as a substitutionary payment for the penalty of our sins. The Judge became the Judgment. And the proof that the payment was satisfactory is the Resurrection! The resurrection is the big red stamp of God's "PAID IN FULL" on my account. Since Jesus paid for my sin, I don't have to. I only have to accept that fact that He did it. You only have to accept the fact that He paid for your sins in order to receive Eternal Life with God forever in Heaven.
You may know the scripture found in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world (that's you and me, not the dirt) that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ) that whosoever believeth (trusts in, relies upon) in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Paul wrote the following in Ephesians 2:8, 9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." You see, I know I'm going to heaven because God has given it to me as a gift, not because of any good thing in me. If we were able to "buy" our way in through our good works, you know we would boast about it. We boast about every other purchase in our lives: the house, the car, the boat, the deal we cut on such and such; but when it is outright given to us free and clear, we have nothing to boast about!
I have nothing to boast about within myself; BUT I can boast of the glory of God in His provision of the free gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of His Son on that cross in my place. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
He took my sin and gave me His righteousness. If I have the righteousness of God through Christ, my eternal destiny and fellowship with God is restored. As we saw from John, we can have that eternal life by simply placing our faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Will you right now take a moment and tell God of your decision to receive His free gift? Or not.
6 comments:
I get it, and I don't disagree at all. However, this does seem to beg the question "what then?". The answer to this question is where the rubber hits the road IMHO. It brings us to questions of "cheap grace", legalism, "lordship salvation", and christian liberty. I just don't understand what I consider to be an overemphasis on free grace. Yes, it is/was free. There is nothing we can do to earn it, I get that, with all due reverence. What then? I think God's word has a lot to say on the matter.
you know who
Allen, TX
J,
The "what then" is also simple: walk in grace. The grace that saves us is the same grace that sustains us.
The problem for many is that we still want to "buy" it. Human pride kicks in, almost like the after dinner struggle for the waitress's check. In our pride we rarely want to take the free ride so we say, "Thanks for the meal, I'll get the tip". Sometimes we fall into the same mentality in regards to our service to God. We know that God saved us by His grace alone, but we still want to walk in our own strength, do our own part in "at least picking up the tip."
In reality, the abundant life is best experienced walking in His grace, led by His Spirit, trusting Him for our daily guidance. Thus, IMHO, grace can't be overemphasized. It is the foundational truth for salvation AND service.
The hardest times in my Christian life have been when I was in the "pick up the tip" mindset of meeting my Christian obligations: devotions, church attendance, walking uprightly, stopping sinful practices. In contrast, the best times of spiritual growth were when I was growing in Christ and my fellowship with Him by seeking His will for me through reading His word, hanging out with His friends, doing the types of things He would have me do, making decisions with His input in mind. Many of the activities are the same, it's the motivating mindset that makes the difference.
I'll pick up on the questions of "cheap grace", legalism, "lordship salvation", and christian liberty at a later point.
Like a good friendship it takes repetitive interaction to grow as a Christian. I've heard it said that He gives us what we need for the day in our "Daily" Bread and that this is sufficient for the day. If we stay focused on Him today and let Him deal with the future we do much better.
Best regards,
David
Tremendous blog bro. David! I especially like your simple but beautiful description of your conversion to Christ: "...I placed my eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus Christ and gave up trying to 'buy' my way to Heaven through the concept of somehow having something to offer God." Amen! May I link to your blog? May the Lord bless you my brother!
Brother David,
Thank you for stopping by. Yes,please do link to my blog. I guess that's what they're there for. Airing one's thoughts and interacting with others.
I happened "coincidentaly" to stumble upon your blog back on 4-19 regarding your topic of knowing one's spiritual birth date. As I mentioned there, it's nice to know the date, but more importantly to know the Savior daily.
Many are saved at an early age and many are perhaps assured of their salvation at a later date.
God's keeping the books and He knows not only the date, and day, and hour, but the very millisecond!
God Bless.
David
Amen bro. David! Beautifully said! I will link to you posthaste! May the Lord bless.
I lost this link and have just now read your response to my previous comment. You state that the "what then?" is to "walk in grace". I don't disagree with that either. What will be the result? Could you call it fruit, good works, evidence of salvation? (Eph 2:10) Is this not the same point the "lordship advocates" are trying to make? Lastly, why so many extra-biblical rules at your church if we are to walk in grace?
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