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Physical death is arguably the final convincer that our personal
theology concerning salvation was wonderfully spot-on or dreadfully way off.
We know that Jesus associated His words with the Father (read Jn
17:14, Your word). Jesus was saying in John 17 that His words
are the very words of God the Father; they are one and the same. What a
testament of deity! This verse enriches the Jn 6:44 declaration,
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
No one comes to Jesus on their own. Do I understand exactly how
that interfaces with free will? No, I do not. All I know is that Paul quoted the prophet Joel (Joel 2:32) which indicated that our will matters,
For
WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED (Rom 10:13, emphasis
mine).
How about this popular verse,
For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (Jn 3:16, emphasis mine).
That sounds like an act of the will to me on our part. In Jn
6:44, we see one of those divine paradoxes of Scripture coming to the surface that is counterintuitive to the human mind. For instance, to get we have to give away;
to go up we have to go down; to live we have to die; or before honor is
humility, and so forth.
What I know is that if God did not take the initiative in sending His Son (Jn 3:16), we would all perish. Nobody has a problem with that Divine first step for our salvation who have come to Jesus by grace through faith that I know of! Have you ever heard of such a complaint?
What I know is that if God did not take the initiative in sending His Son (Jn 3:16), we would all perish. Nobody has a problem with that Divine first step for our salvation who have come to Jesus by grace through faith that I know of! Have you ever heard of such a complaint?
We need to get over questioning God about free will on how we
can have a choice in the matter of salvation with statements like this,
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (Jn
6:44a)?
Hey, we couldn’t have been saved in the first place if Jesus hadn’t
propitiated the penalty of sin for man. I do not recall us having a choice in
the matter of whether Jesus should be our substitutionary atonement for sin? There would be no basis for salvation if God had not taken the initiative on our behalf to send
His only begotten Son to keep us from perishing. Unless we take advantage of the Remedy for sin, there is no other cure!
Do you think that I am going to say to God the Father, “How dare
you interfere with my right to choose! I have free will in the matter!?” And
yet, I know that on 1.19.1976 10:43, I made a real choice in
asking Jesus to come into my heart. It changed my life. God had brought me to
that point; I didn’t. He came knocking and I opened up the door of my heart and
invited Him in.
Have I messed up along the way? Regretfully, the answer is yes. You
repent and move forward. Languishing in self-pity tends to make one motionless.
I truly believe that this is the pinnacle of all decisions ever to be made when
one accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior! The worse decision in life
is to reject God’s offer of salvation. This has got to be the greatest tragedy from
a believer’s point of view, stepping out into eternity without Christ. The
consequences of unbelief are profoundly brutal and eternal. The number one
killer of mankind is the sin of unbelief.
I will confess that my righteous indignation flares up
occasionally when it is suggested that my faith choice was illusionary,
simulated in order for me to think that I made a free choice in the matter of
my salvation when in reality, someone else made it for me (as if I had no
choice in the matter)! Now, that is some suggestive subtle subversionary
subterfuge. I’m being nice.
When the Jews pulled out all of the stops in their hatred of
Jesus, they wanted Him dead. Think of what Jesus said to his disciples (and
followers of Jesus Christ like us),
If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they
would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father
(Jn 15:24).
Whenever we take a stand on John 14:6 and are verbally abused
for it, this should be expected because they hated Jesus and God the Father before
they ever hated you and me for being a Christian. Are you getting this? The
world hates us who believe! Forget about all of that inclusion and diversity
ideology when it comes to Christianity. In spite of that, we can move forward
because God has never vacated His throne, not for a nanosecond! So, during any
GINOTT (God is not on the throne) moments in our lives, we kiss t-r-u-s-t goodbye
and go horizontal or worldly in our behavior.
Here is why hatred avoidance is futile for a believer.
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them
because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world (Jn
17:14).
Bingo! We are related to Jesus, not to the world. The world
loves its own, but we are not of the world. The world hated Jesus without
a cause (Jn 16:25); they will hate us who know the truth about
salvation, without a cause. They hate everyone and everything associated with
Jesus Christ. If you hadn’t felt any of that pressure, there is something
spiritually wrong in your life. You just can’t offer a cogent rebuttal to 2 Tim
3:12, no matter how you rationalize the meaning of it!
Isn’t it ironic that some believers put such a high premium on
the things of this world with a world that is actually at war with
them! It’s crazy! Life is more important than material things. Jesus said,
Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not
consist in the abundance of the things he possesses (Lk
12:15).
Most things are amoral, neither good nor bad. It is what we allow
it to do to us where good or bad comes into play. We live in a world saturated
and obsessed with material things. We are in the world but
not of it (Jn 15:19; 17:11, 14, 16). This makes us a moving
target for a world that is characterized by hatred.
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have
peace. In the world you will have tribulation [cf.
2 Tim 3:12]; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world (Jn 16:33).
The challenge to us is not an intellectual one but a moral one.
Whenever our lifestyle choices collide with Scripture, we have to make a
decision to repent or reject the Word, every single time. If we embrace what
Jesus told His disciples, we are definitely on a collision course with the ways
of the world, no doubt about it; when that takes place, there is usually
pushback from the world (2 Tim 3:12).
Here is one of those verses that accentuate the truth of John
14:6.
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are
many who go in by it (Mt 7:13).
Jesus declared to Philip; I am the
way (Jn 14:6).
Jesus is that narrow gate!
The way that leads to destruction is really broad.
The biblical truth is that all roads lead to eternal separation from God,
except for one, Jesus, who is the way.
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts
4:12).
If you believe this last statement by Peter, your soteriology or the doctrine of salvation is wonderfully spot on!
Did I tell you that one who possesses a theology of salvation
that is wonderfully spot one, apparently, has the look of Christianity all over him or her
if the lifestyle is aligned with the Word? Let me quickly tell
you what happened to Beverly and me at a local car rental place in town to explain this “look.”
It was a zoo of people and attitudes that Saturday
morning when we were to pick up our rental car. We sat quietly awaiting
our turn in the queue while customers were animated, irritated, and antsy
to get on the road. When it came our turn, a man from the rental car agency
approached us and apologized for the delay. As we were outside inspecting the
car, the young man told us something out of the clear blue that completely
caught us off-guard.
“You guys are Christians; aren’t you?”
Beverly replied, “Yes”
I chimed in, “I love the question, but I'm curious; what prompted you to ask us?
He replied, “I normally don't because I could get into trouble.”
Then he said something in a way we have never experienced before,
“You have the look of Christianity all
over you!”
He explained, “You acted differently than the others. You were so kind and patient.”
We chit-chatted briefly about where he attended church (another denomination by the way), and so forth. We
shook hands and drove away reflecting on our recent experience. I reminded Beverly, “Remember when I whispered to you that God may be delaying our trip for a reason?” She agreed. We thought we
were simply acting like we always do. We did nothing out of the ordinary except refrain to act like some of those around us.
We thanked God for giving us wisdom not to join in the chorus of complaints.
It humbled us that we were bathed in unexpected praise, but we were in effect working the Word in the routines of life, good or bad, with the Holy Spirit's help. We thanked God that we were able to glorify Him with our attitude and actions in that negative situation. Beverly
and I never move about as if we think of ourselves as some kind of super saints;
we know we are not. We have our slip-ups!
But without realizing it, we were doing an extraordinary thing, exhibiting godly behavior in the ordinary moments of the car rental business; it can get kind of hectic
and rowdy on Saturday mornings. You can't get more mundane than renting a vehicle,
right? However, it turned out to be one of those unplanned “wow” moments,
the result of a Micah 6:8 behavior.
If those observing you are Christians or non-Christians, they
will notice a difference in your walk and talk when you have as your rule of life the
Word of God and are living a life governed by the Scriptures.
You are not sporting a halo over your head like a goody two shoes but walking
humbly with God in the way, the truth, and the life.
Consider this my dear reader; in a twinkling of an eye, we will
know for eternity whether our personal theology concerning salvation was
wonderfully spot-on or dreadfully way off. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone who is the way, the truth, and the life. Faith in Christ is the only way to get out of debt for the penalty of sin, which is eternal separation from God, and to go to the Father. Based upon the authority of the Word, there is no hope of glory apart from Jesus, none, whatsoever. <><
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| End of Series |
