salvation - The Text Messages

May 23, 2021

Only One Way

Nearly 20 years ago, my wife and I traveled to Corpus Christi Texas for a weekend stay. After checking into our hotel room near the waterfront we set out for the flagship store of our favorite burger joint – Whataburger. It was already dark when, after settling in that we set out to fill our bellies at what is known as a Texas tradition. The streets around the hotel were under construction that year (probably still are) and it wasn’t long till I found myself going the wrong way on a one-way street. Thankfully, I wasn’t stopped and cited by the city police and more importantly I did not have a life altering meeting with someone actually going the right way on that street. As you might imagine, I quickly found my way out of that mess and headed in the right direction all the while singing to my wife (who was a little put out by my cavalier and seemingly careless driving) the words to a very famous Frank Sinatra song, you guessed it, “I did it my way!”

Believe it or not, life in this world is a lot like the layout of most city’s streets which have been designed with regard to the flow of traffic into and out of the city. Just as there is a deliberate right way and a wrong way to navigate those streets there is a right way and a wrong way to navigate life and that way has been determined by someone with far greater authority in this world – God.

My motive for this article is not to point out the right and wrong associated so much with the life style choices you and I make (that is for another time) but to point the reader in the right direction with regards to a proper relationship with our Creator. This past week, I had a conversation with a man who asked the following question: “Which religion is right, just tell me which one’s Jesus or God is the right one and I will believe in Him.” Perhaps part of the reason for his confusion is the simple fact that the church with its many doctrines and denominations have so muddied the waters that people on the outside don’t know which way is the right way; or perhaps too many in the church have stopped pointing out the right direction altogether. When was the last time someone invited you to church instead of to Jesus?

My answer to the man was simple and straight from the Bible, I quoted Jesus’ words as found in (John 14:6): “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He responded, “Yeah, but which Jesus?” He meant (for example), the Jesus of the Mormons, the Jesus of the Jehovah Witnesses or the Jesus of Islam. Each of these faith groups view Jesus differently and from the perspective of the Bible, erroneously. It became clear however, from our conversation that this man’s concept of Christianity itself may be incorrect. Biblically speaking there is but one way to God and that way is through His Son Jesus Christ as the words in John 14:6 make clear and yet people attempt to come into that relationship or to gain the grace of God in other ways – they are in essence in pursuit of grace but traveling in the wrong direction on an established one-way street.

For instance, Paul the Apostle made it clear in (Romans 3:20) that “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His (God’s) sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” To be justified is to be declared righteous or good by God Who has already decreed through His word that (Luke 18:19) “no man is good, no not one” and that in fact (Genesis 6:5) “the thoughts and intentions of a man’s heart are evil only always.” We become justified through faith in Jesus Christ Whose righteousness God exchanges with our sin; the Bible says in (1 Cor. 5:21):

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

This justification was made available through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross and apart from faith in Him it is impossible to receive it (Romans 4:5):

“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”

The Bible clearly says, “By grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God NOT of works lest any man should boast…” (see Ephesians 2:8-10) yet today people try to earn the grace of God. They are in pursuit of grace through their “good works” but like my wife and I that night in Corpus Christi in pursuit of the world’s best burger they are going the wrong way on a one-way street to find that grace.

Not only does the Bible declare we cannot gain the grace of God and be saved by good works, it also states clearly that salvation is not a determination of our will (John 1:12-13):

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

This is in part where the man I was speaking to was stuck – salvation is not an act of our will alone. You might be thinking “Rich, what do you mean by that because it sounds like it contradicts the Bible?” There is a doctrine that teaches that man is so totally depraved that he would not nor could not ever choose to be saved. I agree and disagree with that position from Calvinistic theology. While I do agree that, like myself prior to my salvation, people do not care to know God let alone to be saved but are content to do whatever their flesh desires; I also believe that once the Spirit of God begins to intervene in a person’s life that mindset changes. Jesus said in (John 6:44):

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

That drawing comes through in two ways which work together, the Word of God – “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) and the Spirit of God who “when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (John 16:8) The reality is that once the word of God and the Spirit of God begin their work in one being drawn by God to Himself their hearts may be led (as the first inhabitants of the early church were) to a time of great anguish for their souls. You may remember the response of those who heard the gospel message preached by Peter on Pentecost: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”” (Acts 2:37) It is at that moment, when a person sees themselves as God sees him or her that he or she may come to God by faith in His Son sent for their redemption and justification. Thus, it is God and not men who initiate the process by which they can be saved.

The man I was speaking to made one more comment that I think is important at this point in our thoughts, He said, “My problem is a comprehension problem” implying that he did not know what to think or how to choose. Having addressed much of that statement already let me say that my response to his statement identifies what may in fact be the larger problem for those struggling with the one right way. The Bible declares the problem in (1 Cor. 2:14):

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Too many people put the cart before the horse when it comes to things of eternal value. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God – but, what word? What word does the natural man need to hear first? Let me just put it like this, if any person is to come to God they need to hear about Jesus – why He came and what He did. Jesus Christ is THE WAY, the truth and the life! No man comes to the Father but by Him! They need to hear about the one way to life God’s way. They need to hear about the one way to eternal life – a way blazed and made possible by Jesus Christ who left heaven for our sakes. They need to hear about Jesus Christ who taught, literally who showed mankind what God was like. They need to hear about Jesus Christ who suffered and was tortured not because of any wrong that He had done but to satisfy the wrath of God for the wrongs – the sins WE HAD DONE! They need to hear about Jesus Christ who died for their sins and three days later rose from the dead to live again making forgiveness and power over sin available to all who believe.

Many there are in this life living the lyrics to Sinatra’s song – their way; we are called to point men to the one right way that leads to everlasting life through the gospel of Christ and the examples of our lives – point the way…lead the way…help them find the one-way that leads to a relationship with Almighty God.

April 26, 2020

My Journey – Gazing Into The Mirror Of My Soul

People consult me every day; sometimes many times a day – I always tell them the truth. What am I?

A look into the mirror may lead you to think about your younger days – good or bad; it may also lead to wonder about who you are becoming but it only reveals to your eyes who you really are today.

A mirror may take the form of reflective glass in a bathroom or hall, or a photograph or a glimpse into a placid pool of water but God has provided us a different kind of mirror, one which when honestly observed reveals more than meets the eyes in those other types – it is a mirror to your soul. That is what James, the half-brother of our Lord considered the word of God to be:

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” (James 1:23–24)

I too have always considered the word of God to be a mirror which reveals not the outward appearance of a person but rather the inward appearance of that person and not as they wish they appeared but as they do actually appear. The problem, as James saw it, was that after people have seen themselves in God’s mirror – if they are a hearer of the word and not a doer – they just walk away and disregard what had been revealed to them. Naturally speaking, have you ever done that? As a man I have disregarded my reflection in the bathroom mirror and forgotten to shave but I dare say that a scant few women have EVER looked into the mirror after having just woken up and done nothing to alter the appearance they first saw with their waking eyes. But spiritually speaking, how often have we gazed into God’s mirror and been struck with the fact that something is spiritually out of place with us and done nothing about it?

In (Romans 7:7) Paul declared that he “would not have know sin except through the Law.” The Law of which he spoke was the law of Moses and the Levitical law given to men by God; the words of those laws revealed certain expectations of God; but Paul says that the law also revealed sin to him. The law brought his personal rebellion against God to Paul’s attention – it revealed something of his own heart to Paul.

When the Pharisees and Scribes came to the Jordan to see or else to be baptized by John the Baptist, he said to them:

“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7)

These people did not see themselves as God did and were under wrath as is every person today who either has not looked into God’s mirror at all or has looked into it and disregarded what they saw.

When I first believed, it was from a place of conviction that I came. I knew that God had expectations of those He created and I knew that I had not lived up to them – I did not yet know that living up to God’s expectation was impossible apart from a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ and the residency of His Holy Spirit within me; I learned that the day I was born again and continue to learn it today.

I say this to you today because I believe that two things are necessary or required for the salvation of a soul. First, a warning from God which produces godly sorrow and second, belief or faith in Him whom God has provided to deal with our sins as a ransom and a refuge for our souls. That warning from God will come by God’s Spirit (John 16:8–11):

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

and through God’s word (Acts 2:36-37):

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?””

“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

Truly, I think it is as Oswald Chambers wrote in his book “Our Ultimate Refuge”: “Until a person is hit with sorrow, the last thing they seek God to be is their refuge.” A refuge isn’t a place a person seeks when all is well with them; refuge is sought from danger: from storms, from rain and from terror. But as soon as a person sees him or herself as God does – as a sinner and a rebel possessing no way of justifying or saving themselves, that person won’t glibly walk to Jesus – they will run to Him and by faith in Him they will be born again (John 3:3)

It starts with an honest look in the mirror and frankly, spiritual life is driven in part by returning to the mirror of God daily.

Friday’s Only “Good” Because of Sunday

“What’s so good about Friday” asked the voice over the two way radio; the demands of an understaffed and overwhelming night shift had exasperated the man to the point of asking a question that I could not ignore.

So, what makes this particular Friday – good?

My honest answer and the answer of the scriptures is – nothing….nothings good about it….IF Sunday hadn’t come.

Let me ask you, if death had gotten the last word in Jesus’ life would there be any basis for our faith?

The answer comes from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth where we read the following [1 Cor. 15:12-19] :

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

Paul’s answer to our question is “No, there would be no basis for our faith at all if Jesus had not risen.”

The Passion Week as Jesus went through it was the conclusion of the Lord’s mission on earth, the fulfillment of His obsession with the work of His Father to redeem mankind. The Passion Week is, above all other descriptors –the week of Jesus’ most incredible suffering and cruelest torture as our substitute, in our place, paying the price for the sins of all mankind.

At His crucifixion, Jesus Christ was dishonored and humiliated, a fact which led one modern church historian, the late Dr. Bruce Shelly to make this statement:

“Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event, the humiliation of its God.”

With His own blood mixed with the spit of His torturers clinging to and dripping from His face, falsely accused and mockingly adjudicated by the religious leadership of the day, Jesus was nailed to and hung from the cross to pay for the sins of mankind – yours, mine and everyone else”s.

The Apostle Paul said in (Colossians 2:14) that God in Christ had “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.N

The “handwriting of requirements which were against us God nailed to the cross of Christ” was the Law of Moses, both the ceremonial and the moral code. One commentator wrote:

“Three expressions describe the law: (1) it is written in ordinances, expressed in decrees and commandments; (2) it was against us, had a valid claim on us; (3) it was contrary to us, because we couldn’t meet the claim. Paul states that bond was: (1) blotted out; (2) taken out of the way; (3) and nailed to His cross. This was once-for-all removal (2 Cor 5:21; Eph 2:15–16; Gal 3:13). In the East, a bond is cancelled by nailing it to the post. Our bond of guilt was nailed to Christ’s cross.”^[i]

In a very real sense Jesus became not only the perfect and final Passover lamb but the perfect scapegoat and sin offering to God, slain to atone perfectly for our sin (Heb. 9:12) “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” You and I once stood as debtors condemned under the Law of Moses – the Ten Commandments but Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses (Matt. 5:17) liberating us from condemnation and cancelling the debt against us.

The Psalmist wrote in (Psalm 30:5)

“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

What’s so good about Friday? The supervisor who asked that question has, no doubt, long forgotten the answer I gave which resulted in a memorable silence on the usually crowded radio frequency. But I told him what I’m telling you: Friday is “good” because it was on that day that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and on Sunday, He arose from the grave alive again!

Apart from the resurrection, the Lord’s death would have been a painful moment of grief and loss for a handful of men and women who had loved and trusted in Him but because He did not remain dead – because He rose again both His death and His resurrection have impacted the lives of millions upon millions over the ages.

God has placed great significance upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ – He has seen to it that it is written (Romans 10:9-10):

“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Apart from faith in the Risen Savior and His resurrection – you cannot be saved.

Death did not have the last word in our Savior’s life and I for one rejoice in that fact. The question is, will it have the last word in your life? It doesn’t have to…you don’t have to die in your sins; you don’t have to face God’s judgment alone. Jesus died for your sins as well as mine and he rose again to make everlasting life possible for you in Heaven with Him – all that is required of you to start off is faith.

Joy awaits – will you trust Him today?

^[i] Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (pp. 2461–2462). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

September 1, 2019September 1, 2019

Dangerous Doctrines to Avoid

Is it ever a bad idea to make sure that you know where you stand with the Lord? Yes and no. While on the one hand it IS good to be sure of your salvation it is never good to doubt it once you have appropriated the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem you to your life. Our salvation after all, though it is processed in our minds is NOT solely academic; we hear the word, receive the word and believe the word but believing is not merely intellectual assent, in other words, we are not saved simply because we agree with the word of God concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ – we are saved when we not only agree but apply the word to our own life specifically.

Jesus did not die for us in general – He died for you specifically (see John 3:16).

This is why the question He asked Martha in (John 11:25-26) is not only important for her to answer but for us as well. Consider it as we read it:

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?‘”

Do you believe that Jesus is enough?

The message series begun at church today was titled “GreaterThan” and today our youth pastor, Russel spoke to Jesus being greater “not equal to or less than” but greater than anything we have faced, are facing or ever will face; to that I would add that the works which He performed to make our redemption and eternal life possible are greater than any effort you could ever make on your own behalf. When we doubt our salvation or fear we have lost it, it is because we have forgotten that it was “not by works of righteousness which we have done,” (Titus 3:5) “but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

Can you lose what you did not labor to gain? Can you lose what you could not obtain by your own effort? No and no but can you lose a gift? You can lose a gift but you cannot lose the gift the Jesus Christ gave you because – “eternal life IS eternal.” He said in (John 6:37) “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” His work of redemption on your behalf never becomes less than enough to save and KEEP YOU SAVED!

Still we struggle – we sin, we fail to live up to our high calling in Christ Jesus and in those moments when what is closer to us seems more apparent we forget the fact that we are saved (Hebrews 7:25) “to the utter most.”

In my years of Christian life, being one myself who more than a few times has failed to live up to my calling, I have found myself in terror as I gazed into the warnings we find in Hebrews to those who (Hebrews 10:29) “treated the blood of the covenant by which (we) are sanctified” (the covenant made between us and God through the blood of Jesus) “as a common thing” and in their backsliding put the Lord (Hebrews 6:6) “to an open shame.” I thought either I had lost my salvation or that I never had it because of my sinfulness. I lived in doubt, confusion and fear – is THAT what the Lord has called us to? Didn’t John write all that he wrote so that we could “KNOW that we” (1 John 5:13) “have eternal life“?!

Words like those found in the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians where he wrote in (v.5): “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified;” had me in a constant state of self-examination to the point of self-condemnation. Word’s pulled out of context can do that…

Let me give you the gist of his rhetoric in that section – Paul was being harassed by some who called his calling and apostleship into question; his second letter addressed that issue in some detail and there was perhaps a concern that some of the weaker brethren might be overtaken by the false teachers pushing that narrative about him. As it happens to men of great passion and zeal, Paul’s exasperation and irritation may have found a vent with words like those found in (v.5) where he seems to turn the table on those who would question his relationship with the Lord saying – “take a look at your own life” or “are you hearing yourselves?” But whether it was a rebuke or a sincere call on Paul’s part for the Corinthians to see if there was either evidence of conversion or ongoing relationship with the Lord, the believers at Corinth were the PROOF – they were (2 Cor. 3:3) “an epistle of Christ, ministered by us” (by Paul and team)…”written by the Spirit of God“…”on tablets“…”of the heart.“

Paul was NOT calling their salvation into question – He was trying to get them to do likewise concerning him.

In a round-about way, my hope for this post is simply this: that each of us would come to fully know WHO we are in Christ, understanding that we are who we are based not on anything we have done but on everything which Jesus has done for us. Today you are either a non-believer who has yet to come to trust in Jesus for salvation or you are a believer who has trusted in the Lord’s finished work on your behalf but you can NEVER lose what the Lord has granted you eternally.

(Next week we will consider the danger of making the above truth a license to sin…)