Religion or . . .

Two cousins are involved in two different churches. They talk about God and are involved in various religious activities. While I don’t know their hearts, the Bible points out that knowing all sorts of things about God and doing all sorts of things for God does not mean that a person knows God and has eternal life.

This is a difficult issue that requires discernment and a thorough knowledge of what the Bible says about salvation. Jesus makes it clear that being His disciple involves new life from above and a personal relationship with God. He also calls people to love God and one another. Paul explains that salvation is by grace through faith, not works. James says that without works, any claim of salvation is bogus. All of these are true, even though they seem to contradict one another. Yet no one can grab hold of one statement and disregard the others.

Regarding a personal relationship, in His prayer for us Jesus said, “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” (John 17:3, NLT)

Regarding biblical knowledge and understanding of our responsibilities toward God and others . . .

“One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’

“Jesus replied, ‘The most important commandment is this: “Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” The second is equally important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” No other commandment is greater than these.’

“The teacher of religious law replied, ‘Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.’

“Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’ And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.” (Mark 12:28–34, NLT)

Note that this teacher had this theology correct, but he was not yet ‘in’ the Kingdom of God. As Jesus told another religious leader, “You must be born again.”

Yet Jesus also said, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” (Matthew 7:21–23, NLT)

As I ponder these verses, when salvation total descriptions seem to be confusing. They make sense only to those who have been given new life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

“And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.” (1 Corinthians 2:12–14, NLT)

Does this mean that I cannot explain it to my cousins? Not according to God’s Word or to history. The Gospel of salvation is imparted through teaching, preaching, sharing but without the illuminating grace of God’s Spirit, it becomes a confusing jumble of words in their ears. The Spirit knows the listener’s readiness to hear and is the agent to make that happen. Yet He also knows human pride and that willful ‘I will do it myself’ attitude of those who are religious but unwilling to admit their need. Salvation requires a YES yet the Spirit is a must in this amazing work of grace.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I need to remember all this, not only for myself as a reminder of what You have done, but as a reminder that I cannot argue, cajole, persuade or convince anyone of how they can be saved from sin and enter the Kingdom of God. You alone do that, with or without me or anyone else. The eternal destiny of all those on my prayer list, including those two cousins, is in Your hands.

The Gospel Truth

The “gospel truth” is a common expression used to affirm that whatever is being said is as true as true can be; it should be accepted and promoted as infallible truth. Yet in my black and white mind, truth is truth; there are no degrees of it as implied by this expression.

This morning’s verse is “So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also” (Romans 1:15). Paul writes this to the church in Rome and to us, revealing his wholehearted commitment to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone. However, as Paul found out, and as all Christians discover, many people might easily believe something called “the gospel truth” but will not believe the truth of the gospel.

My dictionary says that the gospel is the message concerning Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation. That hardly begins to give the entire description. In fact, it takes all sixty-six books of the Bible to declare it.

The best I can say is that the gospel is God’s message to us of His grace. God the Son came to earth as a man, still fully God but also fully man. He lived and ministered for three years, doing good and healing the sick, giving much evidence that He was no mere man. Then He was crucified, buried, and after three days rose from the dead, all this to atone for our sin and redeem sinners from their bondage to sin through faith in Him. This faith puts believers into the family of God and the kingdom of God. We are saved from the penalty of sin, are being saved from the power of sin, and have His assurance of full deliverance from it in heaven. Those who believe in Christ are indwelt by Him and have His life — eternal life.

The gospel can scarcely be put in few words, yet combined with the power of the Holy Spirit to open the eyes and hearts of those in bondage to sin, the gospel is the power of God to save sinners. It reveals the very heart of God and His saving grace. It also reveals that mankind is lost in sin and without the gospel doomed to life here and life forever without God, separated from Him by sin.

I understand why the gospel offends. No one wants to be told they are sinful and unacceptable to God. No one wants to hear that they cannot do anything to please God or save themselves. We all need Jesus, but a proud heart resists needing anyone or anything, never mind a Jewish carpenter who, in their mind, is only a common cuss word.

I also understand why the gospel is the power of God, mostly because it saved me. I have been delivered from sin, not that I never sin but that God no longer holds that against me. He put my sin on Christ and I am forgiven. I sit here and marvel at the “gospel truth” and the reality of that freedom. I am free to worship and love the Lord God, not because of anything I have done but because Jesus saved me.

And I also understand why Paul was ready to give his life for the gospel. He too knew its saving power, but he also knew that no matter how many people rejected his message, or even persecuted him for delivering it, he was safe in the care of God and unconcerned. No matter what happened to him, his eternity was guaranteed — and that also is the gospel truth.