Tag: Jesus

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
Christian Living

Imitating Jesus – Walking like He Walked.

Imitating Jesus is the calling on the Christian’s life. We are told that if we are called by His Name, then we are to walk like He walked.

a photo of some wooden dowels that represent people - one is in front of the rest leading the way - symbolizing our imitating Jesus
Who Are You Following?

I hope that you truly believe that God has called you to be:
     a disciple, a disciple-maker, and a missionary.

My prayer is that my faith family, FBC Newton, would be the strongest disciples, disciple-makers, and missionaries in all of Mississippi. And that together, we would be:
     …growing in love and obedience to Jesus,
     …helping others to grow in love & obedience to Him, &
     …sharing the news of Jesus with those who don’t know Him.

We are supposed to be walking like Jesus. Jesus told the disciples, “Come, Follow Me” and as you come follow Me, you will learn to walk like Me. You will learn how to talk like Me. You will learn how to interact with others like Me.

God wants us to pick a side.
In calling us to “Come, Follow Me,” Jesus is saying take up your cross and die to yourself so that you can live for Me.

You can pick the side of self.
Or you can pick the side of Jesus.

God says: Pick yourself. Or Pick Me.
But if you do Pick Me, then you are to die to self. Obey to the point of death… giving me full control over your life. The words you speak are always to be My words. The manner in which you live is always to honor Me. The people you interact with are always to see Me thru you – thru your attitudes, actions, & speech.

Walking like Jesus did. Imitating Him in all areas of life. What does that look like? It looks like the entire New Testament. But I believe we can bring it together in this simple statement that we used throughout 2017:
“I am a disciple, I am a disciple-maker, and I am a Missionary.
So as I am going, I will change my conversations, and I will excel still more.”

(And for 2018, our church has also added in 3 habits: That we will study, practice, and teach God’s Word!)

I hope you will join me in these roles and tasks and habits!

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Categories
Bible

The Essentials of Christianity: Examining Christianity’s Differences from other Religions

a photo of the page from a dictionary for the word "definition" to point out the need for knowing the essentials of ChristianityWhat defines Christianity? What are the essentials? And if we can determine them, what should we do with them? Well, if you make up your mind about any given issue and then you encounter a Biblical truth that is contrary to what you believe, then you have a choice to make: 1) reject the Bible and cling to your belief, or 2) cling to the Bible and change your mind. What do you do when this happens in your life? When this happens, many people determine some way to justify their own beliefs and therefore reject what the Bible says.

It certainly sounds nice to say things like, “If God is love, then a loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell.” But that isn’t what the Bible says. What should we believe? Our feelings or the actual words in the Bible? Which do you think is more trustworthy?

It sounds more pleasing to the ear to hear something like, “If God is love, then there must be many ways to God, and Christianity is just one of the ways. It can’t be the only way.” But that isn’t what the Bible says. Again, what should we believe? Our feelings which can change with the wind or the Bible that has remained constant?

Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come to the Father, except through faith and belief in Him. If that is the case, then Christianity is an exclusive religion. It excludes all of those who will not come to God through Jesus. Therefore, the Christian religion clearly states that belief in Jesus is the only way to salvation. And if our religion is the only way because Jesus is the only way, then we need to know what is so unique about Jesus so that we can explain it to others.

So, what makes Christianity unique? What are the essential aspects of Christianity that set it apart from other religions?

My last two posts led up to this post, as they dealt with: “how do you know what is right theology?”
(If you missed them, you can click on them here:
      Doubt: How Do I Know that Christianity is True and Right?
      How do you know that what you are hearing and being taught is truth? )
Jumping off from what we began in those posts, let me now share with you the Christian Essentials.

The original lists that I worked from were found at CARM.org and GotQuestions.org, as well as from a fellow pastor.

Nine Essentials of Christianity
1. The Bible as Inspired
2. Monotheism (There is only One God)
3. the Trinity (God in Three Persons)
4. the Deity of Christ (Jesus is Fully God)
5. the Virgin Birth (Jesus is Fully Man)
6. the Death of Christ for the payment of sins
7. the Resurrection of Christ
8. Salvation by Grace thru faith, and Not by works
9. Salvation is only thru Jesus

I’ll share a bit more about this next time.
And while you wait for the next post, maybe you can look over this list and see if you think there is something else missing from the Essentials? Certainly there are other important truths in the Bible, but is there anything else that is Essential to being a Christian?

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Categories
Jesus

Grace That We Do Not Deserve but Fortunately Can Receive

Grace. It is not something we do well. At least not often. Perhaps those that we hold the most grace out towards are our children, who sometimes can “do no wrong” in our eyes. But to others with bad behavior, they don’t get a pass, instead we desire for them to experience our wrath through revenge. I’m so glad that isn’t how God deals with me! And it certainly isn’t how God calls us to deal with others.

“Over the years I have seen Christians shaping God in their own image – in each case a dreadfully small God…. Some, like the elder brother in Luke, sulk and pout when the Father serves the best for the prodigal son who has spent his last cent on sinful living. Some tragically refuse to believe that God can or will forgive them: My sin is too great.”

“This is not the God of grace who ‘desires all men to be saved.’ This is not the God embodied in Jesus that Matthew came to know. This is not the God who calls sinners — which, as you and I know, means everybody.”

God says that He loves us in spite of us and that He demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, He sent Jesus Christ who died for us.
a chalkboard-style quote saying Grace is the amazing undeserved love that God provides to us through Jesus
He loves us not because of what we’ve done and not because of who we are, but because of who He is! That is God’s Grace.

“God wants us back even more than we could possibly want to be back. We don’t have to go into great detail about our sorrow. All we have to do, the parable says, is appear on the scene, and before we get a chance to run away again, the Father grabs us and pulls us into the banquet so we can’t get away.”

Let us delight in God’s grace. The grace He holds out to us is amazing. And because of our experience of God’s grace in our own lives, let us then attempt to be people of amazing levels of love and grace to others. Let us be accepting of all people. Let us not force people to clean up their lives to “look more like us” before we offer them the right hand of fellowship. Let us not withhold our forgiveness to others when they ask for it. Instead let us take God’s love and share it with others so that more people come to a knowledge of who He is – the God of amazing grace.

–quotes above are from Brennan Manning in Ragamuffin Gospel