Month: October 2018

Categories
Salvation

Admit, Believe, Confess – The Simple Components of Salvation

In my previous post on Simplicity, I stated that I would unpack the concepts of the ABCs of Salvation a bit more in this post. So the simple components of salvation are that we Admit, Believe, and Confess. But what does each of these mean?
the word simple spelled out in scrabble tiles

A – Admit that you are a sinner.

But what is sin?
Simply, sin is any choice you make that isn’t what God wants.
Sin can be when we do something He tells us we shouldn’t do.
    For example, God says “do not steal,” so if we steal something, then we have disobeyed & sinned.
Sin can also be when we don’t do something God tells us we should do.
    For example, God says to “honor your father & mother,” and if we don’t honor them, then we have sinned.

And the Bible tells us two very clear things about sin:
    1. “…all have sinned….” (from Romans 3:23)
    2. “The wages of sin is death….” (from Romans 6:23)
Everyone has sinned, and there is serious punishment because of it.

Since we are sinners, the punishment means that without Jesus we cannot have a relationship with God. Jesus says He is the only way to begin a relationship with God. So how does this work?

We have to realize that we are sinners and that we have done something that God didn’t want us to do. And just as we apologize to another person when we do something unkind to them, we need to apologize to God when we realize we have sinned. In Acts, when Peter told people about having sin, they asked “What should we do to be saved?” And the first thing Peter told them was to “Repent” – to apologize to God and turn away from the sinful things they were doing.

B – Believe Jesus is who He said He is: the Savior of the World

John 3:16 & Romans 10:9 indicate that we are to Believe that:
1. Jesus is God’s Son sent to earth because God loves us,
2. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, and
3. Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God.

Let’s take an imaginary trip back to grade school for an illustration of how Jesus can be the substitute sacrifice for us:
Imagine that you disobeyed a teacher at school and were told that your punishment was going to be seven licks with a paddle swung by Coach McMuscles, and you are fearful of the coming punishment. But just before you are paddled, your best friend comes in and asks to be paddled in your place… that would make your friend the willing substitute. If they allowed that substitution, your friend would be standing in your place and receiving the punishment you deserved so that you could go free without any consequences. Your friend did nothing to deserve the paddling, but your friend was willing to pay the price that you owed.

All of us owe a much higher price than a paddling for our sins. Because we broke God’s commands and committed treason against Him, our punishment is our whole life. Because of your sin, you are condemned to eternal, spiritual death. And no one else could be your substitute because everyone has sinned and everyone owes the same amount. So Jesus, the only One without sin and therefore without the same condemnation, stepped in to take your place – to be a substitute sacrifice for you and to pay the cost of what you owed because of your sin. He did this by dying on the cross, in order that you could have a relationship with God. And now you have to believe that this good news of Jesus dying for you and then rising from the dead is true.

C – Confess Jesus as Lord

Romans 10:9-10 tells us to confess that Jesus Christ will be your Lord, meaning that He will be the one to control your life from this point forward. This means that you will no longer live to please yourself, but that you will commit your life to please Jesus and to show your love for Him. A lord or a king had servants or workers that were obedient to him. When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are saying to Him that He will be our King and will be in control of our lives, because we are committing to serve Him completely.

It is because Jesus loved you first and was the substitute sacrifice for you that you are able to:
A – admit your sin to Him, repent, and ask forgiveness;
B – believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that He died on the cross for you so that you could have a relationship with God;
C – confess that Jesus will be your Lord & commit your life to Him so that He controls all that you do.

So the simple (yet most important) question for each of us is…
Have you Admitted, Believed, and Confessed?

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Categories
Salvation

The Simplicity of Becoming a Christian

Simplicity.
It can be very good.
Back in March of this year, I posted about our need to know the Essentials of Christianity (click the link if you missed it or need a reminder of the 9 Essentials.)

And while the 9 Essentials can help us test whether a religious system is Christian or not, it doesn’t tell us whether an individual person is a Christian or not. Therefore, we also need to know the simple information of how a person becomes a Christian.

First, a person needs to hear the gospel message of Jesus: the story of His miraculous birth, His perfect life, His death on the cross for the redemption of sinful humanity, and His resurrection from the dead. When God then uses the gospel message to draw someone to Himself, the person will want to know: “What must I do to be saved?” And it is at that point that we need to have a clear and simple answer.

Jesus answered simply: Repent and Believe (Mark 1:15).
Paul answered simply: Believe and Confess (Romans 10:9).

These ideas have been pulled together as the ABCs of Salvation, which LifeWay has been using with children for many years in their Vacation Bible School materials. Most importantly, the ABCs of Salvation are biblical. But also, they are simple, they are helpful, and they apply to both young and old.
an image with the phrase The ABCs to symbolize the simplicity of the message of salvation

The 3 words are:
1) Admit
2) Believe
3) Confess

Admit your sins and repent.
Believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross and God raised him from the dead.
Confess that Jesus will rule your life as Lord and Master.

That’s it.
It is simple.
But that doesn’t mean it is easy, because:
–Repentance means not only walking away from ungodly behavior, but walking toward God.
–Belief requires that you trust something (and in this case, someone) that you have not been able to see with your own eyes.
–And Confessing that someone else will rule your life instead of yours requires that you die to yourself.
These are serious and difficult tasks, even though they are simple concepts to understand.

Therefore, simplicity is good, but simplicity can also require difficult decisions and commitments.
In my next post I’ll flesh this out a bit more, but for today, take time to thank God for the simplicity of the gospel!

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Categories
Ramblings

Consistency: Good Habits Are Hard To Start Once You Stop

Well, The Inconsistent Blogger is back!

My inconsistency in blogging has me doing some thinking. We all value consistency and faithfulness, and therefore we want to connect with people who are consistent. Inconsistent people are hard to be friends with, because it’s hard to have a relationship with someone we cannot count on.

And this teaches us something about life in general: We need to be consistent!
Image with the statement: Consistency is key.

At the end of 2017 at a family get-together, my sister-in-law Alisha made a humorous comment at the dinner table about my social media presence. She mentioned that she won’t see anything from me for a month, and then her feed will be inundated with quotes and articles from me for the next two weeks. She was absolutely right – it was “famine or feast” with my posting in 2017.

My inconsistency last year spurred me to write 52 posts to use in 2018 before I posted my first one. However, I still didn’t post 52, because my computer crashed at the end of March and I had some ridiculous problems in getting a new one up and running. It wasn’t six months’ worth of problems, but once I stopped posting, guess what? It was easy to keep on “not posting.”

Isn’t that just like the rest of life? If you stop working out due to an injury, it is easier to continue not working out. If you stop dieting when you go on vacation, it is easier to continue not dieting. And in spiritual matters, if you stop attending church worship services or stop reading God’s Word, it is easy to continue not attending and not reading.

But since we know these things are good for us, then we ought to start them back up again as soon as possible.

Restarting Good Habits

And while blogging does not fit into the same category as many other beneficial items, my point is that consistency is important. And so my question for today is:
What spiritual activities have you stopped or been inconsistent about doing that you need to start back up again?

Consistency isn’t natural and takes intentional hard work. Aldous Huxley said:
“Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead.” Ha! What a great quote! Yes, the body of a dead person stays in the same place and does the same thing each day. And so the inconsistent life may be more natural and normal in this world, but such inconsistency does not help you move along the path God wants for you.

I hope you’ll choose today as the day to restart a beneficial spiritual discipline!

(And my plan is to post the rest of the year on Tuesdays and Thursdays.)

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