Christ's Power to Save to the Uttermost

"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who    is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;  who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (Hebrews 7:25-27 NKJV)" 

I have often thanked God for saving me from the sin that separated me from Him. Sin that would have consumed my life if I had no Savior. Sin that results in death, eternal death. Yes, I and many who know our Lord Jesus cannot thank God enough for saving us from sin through His Son Jesus Christ.

As we reflect on salvation in Christ, let us take an even closer look at what it means to be saved out of our sin. We have come to understand what it means...at least in part...but have we come to understand what power has now been granted to those who have received His Spirit as a result of that salvation? For those who have received Christ's sure promise of the Spirit of Truth, our ever-present indwelling Helper...there is even more to understand about what it means to have been saved out of our sin.

Much of my life, I have thanked God for saving me from my PAST sin.  Many of God's children have come to that point of worthy gratitude, for we once stood in our past sin without the curse being removed...a place separated from God. We are right to thank and praise Him for saving us from those specific past sins. But as we grow in knowledge and depth of insight into God's Word, we learn that not only have we been saved from past, specific sins, but that we are saved from SIN, that is the sinful nature that once ruled our bodies. We come to understand that on our best day, where we did far more good than bad, that at the end of that day, we were still sinful because the sin nature of Adam had been transmitted to us upon birth, for we are descended from Adam. We come to realize that as a human born after the fall of man, a disease is now carried by the entire human species that takes life away from every one who was otherwise created in the image of a holy God...and Christ's finished work on the cross has now provided the one and only way to be cured from that disease we know as sin. We come to know that the specific sins that our consciences were so preoccupied with (a blessed conviction) are the symptoms of the much deeper disease. Treating the symptom may make the patient feel better for a time, but if the patient is to live...and not just live but have life to the full!...he must be completely healed of the disease. We come to realize that even when the sinful symptoms have been suppressed, that the disease of our sin nature remained. The proof of this is the very next day when we once again sinned in a specific manner...demonstrating the symptoms once again of this dreadful and cursed disease.

This is a turning point for any Christ follower--the recognition that Christ has not only come to take away our bad records and blemishes, our sins of the past, but He has won the victory of destroying our very sinful nature and the Evil behind it. For every 1 pharmaceutical medication that cures a disease, there are probably tens or hundreds that treat disease, proof that a disease is much harder to cure than to simply treat. Is the same not true of our sin?!  Oh how we strive to treat our sin! But our Father has administered the cure. How many times have we focused our finite human strength on conquering a specific sin or sinful habit? Only to find ourselves soon struggling with sin in another area, or even repeating sins that we thought we once conquered? Have you not experienced this yourself? I suspect that any measure of introspection will lead to this discovery for the regenerated in Christ. Why is it not enough? Why do we continue to fight sin? Because we have tried to conquer in our strength instead of the strength granted by our Lord through His ever-present Spirit. Because in those times when we have worked in our strength to conquer a specific sin, we have been lured into treating a symptom instead of curing the root of the disease. The Evil One is content to tempt and plague the child of God with the next available sin. He is not overwhelmed by us, walking in our strength alone, sending all of our troops and forces, so to speak, to fight one division of His army of temptation...for it gives Him an open attack on the unguarded areas. Hear this vital truth of the spiritual battle: The Holy Spirit has been sent to be enough. The Holy Spirit is not a scarce resource. The Holy Spirit never makes a decision to send some of His energy to fight one battle at the expense of another--our God is infinite! When we invite our Lord to be our everything, only then do we have the ability to conquer our enemy at the root, and to conquer the sin nature that so tenaciously tries to cling to our flesh. We require a Savior who can save to the uttermost, to the core. We require a Savior who does not simply clean us off every time we sin, His power limited to things we've done in the past...a perpetual eraser. Perhaps you and I have thought of our Lord Jesus as such. No, our Lord has the power to save us from the very disease of sin, and from the Evil One. 

Back to the question: Why do we continue to fight sin? If I sinned today, why have my efforts not yielded a total conquering of the sin nature such that the specific sins have ceased? One reason: I am not fully yielded to the Spirit of The Lord, I am not yet fully crucified and identified with Christ. Oh to be fully yielded to the Spirit of Truth, in whom there is only righteousness and no deceit! Oh to be walking in the Spirit, truly praying without ceasing! Oh to love our Lord such that we had only the desire to obey His commands and worship Him! Oh to be fully surrendered to the cross of Christ, such that our entire self identity has died a gruesome death, leaving behind only an identity in Christ! That day is coming for all who have received the Promised One, being sealed for the day of salvation. That day is coming. But if just now you have sinned, let that spur you onward to seek The Lord all the more. To proclaim once again that you are His and His alone. That you are chosen and accepted, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, once a slave to sin, now a slave to righteousness (Rom 6:16-18)! And therefore you have only 1 master and no other master can claim you: you are Christ's. Though you and your Savior be besieged by Evil, though the battle grows fierce, though you suffer harm and feelings of shame--you cannot be separated from Christ! Our Kingdom stands! The battle is won! "Though the righteous falls seven times, they rise again" (Prov 24:16). This is the power of our Lord granted to those who have been saved by Christ. And not only that, we carry within us the Power not to sin, which is the only true measure of being saved from sin--that we would "go and sin no more" (John 8:11). If we do not hold that power to go and sin no more, than we have only partial salvation, only saved from sins past, but not from the nature of sin that would cause us to sin again. Oh, but we have Christ who does indeed save to the uttermost.

We have carried the Holy Spirit in us since we received Him willingly, yet we have sinned since then. Why? The self is not yet fully conquered, fully surrendered, fully crucified with Christ. And how gracious is our Lord to send us His Spirit to live in communion with us, though we are still not fully sanctified to Him?! If man had conceived of a plan of salvation, surely he would have determined that the Spirit of God could only be granted to those who were fully worthy of perfection. But who would ever qualify? Truthfully, we need God to meet that qualification. Perhaps man would have then decided that instead, upon receiving the Holy Spirit, that the temple must then never be defiled again. That either he no longer had the capacity to sin or if he did sin, he would lose the Spirit of God. We know by observation that the first assertion is not true, for we have retained the capacity to sin after receiving Christ! Even the Apostle Paul cries out in his distress over this truth (Rom 7:14-8:2). And the second assertion that the Spirit would remove Himself from any vessel not still perfect would leave us hopeless...and once again we see perhaps the best scriptural example in the Apostle Paul, for he surely retained the Spirit such that he was empowered to write scripture to tell on himself and his ongoing battle with the flesh.

No, man could not conceive of this plan of salvation on his own. This is a divine master plan. That our perfect God would willingly come to aid us, who are plagued with disease and not fully sanctified to Himself. That He would seal us with the promise of full sanctification and unity. And that He would provide us the power not to sin though granting us such an intimate union with the Spirit that He is said to live within us. Coming to a conclusion, regardless of specific theology regarding salvation and the Holy Spirit, for the sincere in repentance and crying out to God for salvation through Jesus Christ, there is an overwhelming and blessed implication: We have been saved from sin. Not just a sin or sins, but SIN. Not just our pasts, but our futures! Do not misunderstand this: This is not a license to willingly sin knowing that The Lord will, in the future, cleanse us of our future sins after they have been committed (he would still only be an eraser in that case)...this is the opposite...that He has empowered us not to sin, to go and sin no more. He has given us the assurance of being saved from ever sinning again...but He has done it in a way that allows us to reciprocate and be co-laborers with Him. He has not made us robots or forced us not to sin, but instead, through His Spirit, He has empowered us with the strength to defeat the full sinful nature that once reigned over our bodies and to defeat the Evil One altogether.

As Christ-followers, we have each received the full armor of God (Eph 6). We have received the power and divine tools to completely conquer the enemy. But too many of us have taken the armor God has given us and placed it neatly on display in our rooms. We admire it, we may kiss it goodnight and good morning, we may take pride in it and tell our friends so that they can admire it, but too many of us refuse to wield it. I encourage you as Paul did, to PUT ON your armor. It is yours, given to you by our Lord. This is what it means to have received the Power to never sin again AND to choose to use it.

He has empowered us, but we must embrace Him, taking up our cross daily. We must learn to fully surrender to Him. We must learn what it means to truly love Him. So as we give thanks to God for saving us out of sin, let us remember to thank Him for giving us access to the Power to go and sin no more and for saving us from the curse of sinful flesh to the very uttermost. And because of that blessed grace, nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:35-38). Amen.

Relating to a Dimensionless God: The Conclusion

Continued from Relating to a Dimensionless God: Part 1...

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

...One day, the most gloriously peculiar thing began to happen. It all started when the Sphere once again entered flat space fully. In flat space, the Sphere appears as a circle, just like everyone else, except it is the only perfect circle without a single irregularity. Yet, it maintains its properties as a sphere existing beyond the dimensions of flat space. Therefore, we see that the Sphere exists as fully circle and fully Sphere at the same time.

The Perfect Circle points out some of the most obvious imperfections of many prominent irregular circles, beckoning them to draw near again to the Sphere. In fact, the Perfect Circle slowly begins to reveal that he is the Sphere! However, except for a very few, most of the irregularity ridden circles despise the Perfect Circle, convinced that he is not indeed as perfect as he claims and certainly not their Creator the Sphere! Eventually, all but a few imperfect circles come to hate the Perfect Circle and plot to kill Him, but they cannot, for they have no power over the Sphere. Instead, inexplicably, the Perfect Sphere/Circle submits Himself to erasure and allows the irregular circles to erase his apparent imprint on flat space. The sinister, perfectly irregular entity has never been nearer to the Sphere than now, cackling and insulting the Perfect Circle until finally the last of him is erased from flat space. The last Perfect Circle. The only Perfect Circle. Gone.
...

But what is that?! Something previously unseen! Has that been there the entire time or did it just appear? Flat space is not alone! Below it are two more sheets like it! But they seem as peculiar as flat space in many ways. The bottom layer is black space, and in it is the imprint of multitudes of very irregular circles, almost unrecognizable as circles…yes, their irregularities seem to be amplified compared to those in flat space. But between black space and flat space exists a most wondrous red space. And look! There! The Sphere! It is now residing in red space, perfectly cross-sected just as it once was in flat space! And it seems to be surrounded by a great number of circles…but wait, these circles are all perfect…and at times they occupy the same red space with the Sphere, such that they are indistinguishable from each other and the Sphere. What is this place? A place of restored perfect unity not seen since the very beginning!
...

Back in flat space, the Perfect Circle looks as erased as any circle ever has been...except those in flat space still don’t comprehend that his nature is truly a sphere, external to the 2D flat space that he in fact created. Even still, flat space has never seemed so irregular, so ugly, so full of certain and utter erasure. That is, until the most amazing thing happened…

It is the third day since the erasure of the Perfect Circle, the Sphere in flat space. Suddenly, MMMP! The Sphere slams the black and red spaces together against flat space! And just as suddenly, the Sphere appears again in flat space, a perfect circle! But there is something different, the Sphere is different…no, he is the same…but his appearance is now red. He seems to have somehow connected the perfection of red space with flat space!

A few irregular circles that once followed the Perfect Circle come near and seem almost magnetically attached to him, yet most of the flat space circles stay far away. In only a short time, the Sphere leaves flat space again, to the disappointment of the circles that had clung so closely to him. But again, a most peculiar happening: all who had connected to the Perfect Circle after His erasure have been changed…they have received his red color! What could this mean? They do not fully know, but it becomes apparent that those who know the Perfect Circle can be easily distinguished from those who never knew him.

Furthermore, slowly, but surely, all irregular circles that have been colored red begin to lose their irregularity. It is almost imperceptible…but yes, it is there! The irregularity is being healed! Meanwhile, as the healing, not-so-irregular circles mill about, some irregular, non-red circles begin to have contact with the red ones and they too become red. Others never become red. It is all a bit mysterious, but the red circles recall the Perfect Circle’s instructions to “Go and make red circles of all nations. I am with you always, to the very end.” As mysterious as it sounded, it seems to be true! That by simply carrying the Red Gift of the Perfect Circle, they have the power to share his healing Red Power with all who will receive it. What an amazing course of events!

Something good seems to be happening to these still irregular spheres with the Red Gift, because they are becoming less irregular every day. As good as that may seem, most shockingly, these red circles still begin to fade or suddenly disappear from flat land...the same as all irregular circles, whatever their color. But as they are erased, we see the red space receive their image—but look, this is perhaps the most amazing part! They are instantly transformed to a perfect red circle! And in the center of the red space? The Sphere, in majestic perfection and glory.

All circles that have not received the Red Gift at erasure are transferred to the black space, never having received the only passage to red space that comes through the Perfect Circle alone. Conversely, as many as have received the Red Gift at erasure are transferred to red space. In the black space, all irregularities are enhanced...in fact, they are perfectly irregular, just as the dreadful, perfectly irregular entity that now resides in the center of black space. In the red space, all irregularity is gone. And amongst them is the Sphere, the Perfect Circle, and the Red Gift is everywhere. In fact, they have all come to occupy the same space, such that you can no longer perceive one circle from another, nor any circle from the Sphere...they are as one! All circles are as one, and the Sphere is as one with all circles. Perfection, just as it was created in the beginning.

All praise to the Sphere, the Perfect Circle, and the indwelling Red Gift. All praise to God the Father, Jesus Christ our Savior, and the Holy Spirit of God. Forever and ever. Amen.


*Disclaimer: I acknowledge that this metaphor is not theologically perfect, omitting some of God’s character, and imperfectly representing other parts of his character. It is meant to articulate a greater perspective and help to understand God, Creation, Man, Sin, Heaven, Hell, Substitution, Intercession, and Sanctification…but it is not meant to explain each of them fully.

Relating to a Dimensionless God: Part 1

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

Borrowing the old preacher's metaphor of humans as two dimensional circles and God being a three dimensional sphere, I am inspired to build upon that imagery more thoroughly, for I believe that it is useful for understanding, if only slightly better, man's relationship to and infinite God.

We exist in a three dimensional world, four if you count time, as some do.  If there is a supreme God, then He created this three dimensional world and time itself, therefore being superior to any created dimension.  We cannot adequately describe anything that exists in dimensions beyond ours (though many have fun trying, and I enjoy the genre of movies and stories that spring forth from such creative thought); therefore, we may seek to build our understanding in reverse, placing our world anecdotally as the highest dimension and exploring the relationship to a created world with fewer dimensions.  We can then take our understanding of that scenario and place ourselves in the perspective of the world of fewer dimensions, God in the "world" of greater dimensions, and understand more fully our relationship to God.

Imagine a sphere existing in open space.  There is a sphere and nothing else but black space.  This sphere sheds what looks to be an outer covering and spreads it flat in the open space below.  Peculiarly, this sphere enters into this flattened out used-to-be-covering, such that it perfectly cross-sects the sphere.  MMMP!  A burst of light and the paper is gloriously stained.  The sphere moves sideways in the flat space, leaving behind the imprint of a perfect circle.  But that is not the end of this peculiar scene.  The sphere and this created circle have a strange interaction, with the ability to occupy the same space such that the sphere and the created circle cannot be distinguished from one another.  Even still, even greater peculiarity awaits.

Next, the sphere extracts a small portion of the created circle, such that it fades ever so slightly.  With this small extracted ink-like material, the sphere moves sideways in flat space and MMMP!  Another circle is created.  Now there are two circles and the flat space cross-sected sphere existing together, each abiding in the same flat space, with the ability of full overlap such that they are indistinguishable from one another.

If that wasn't intriguing enough, what happens next is quite disturbing.  Another entity, three dimensional and of abnormal shape...in fact, perfectly irregular if there ever was such a thing, with no two sides the same length, no two angles the same, and honestly ugly compared with the perfect circles...this entity descends to newly created flat space, entering such that it cross-sects just as the space did with the sphere.  This entity lacks the Mmmp! power to create its image in flat space...but this perfectly irregular entity has other, sinister power.

The perfectly irregular entity begins to encroach upon the two perfect circles.  The entity convinces the circles that if they allow it to be a part of their circles that they will know what it is like to be three dimensional!  They can become just like their creator, the sphere, he says.  Further, he says that the sphere does not want them to share that privilege, but that he can grant it, if they will embrace him.  Tricked, both spheres embrace the perfectly irregular entity.  Mmmp!  What's that?!  Horrifically, the once perfect circles look at themselves and see large, jagged imperfections!  They are still circular in nature, but their borders are characterized by irregularities.  "What a terrible thing has happened!" they cry, as the perfectly irregular entity cackles and flees the scene.

The sphere comes near.  The once perfect, now irregular circles seek to hide themselves, but they cannot.  As the sphere comes near, it becomes painfully obvious that with their jagged irregularities, they can no longer occupy the same space as the sphere.  The sphere desires to share the perfect unity again, as do the circles, but without being made perfect again, they simply cannot.  In fact, the sphere now withdraws itself such that it is no longer perfectly cross-sected by the flat space, but instead maintains a tangential relationship with constant contact to flat space, but much less intimate space sharing. The sphere, though unable to unite with the irregular circles as they once did, remains near, guiding them as closely as their irregularities allow. However, the irregular circles inexplicably begin to slowly fade.  This is quite disturbing and they grieve as they realize that only by their prior unity in flat space with the sphere were they able to remain fully vibrant in color.  But they are helpless against the fading that slowly persists.

The imperfect circles begin to multiply and multiply, until much of the once seemingly infinite flat space becomes occupied with imperfect circle after imperfect circle.  They find, heartbreakingly, that the circles they produce together carry imperfections, and no perfect circle is ever seen again.  Still, the sphere remains near to the imperfect circles that will remain near to him.  He never leaves, yet no circle, nor the sphere itself experiences the blissful unity they shared in the beginning.

Even worse, since receiving irregularity, the spheres seem to continually fade until one day they completely disappear, never to return again!  Furthermore, that dreadful, perfectly irregular entity continues to wreak havoc, amplifying the irregularities of the once circular that remain the farthest from the sphere.  Interestingly, the perfectly irregular entity dares not come near the sphere.  Worst of all, the perfectly irregular entity wields what every circle fears most: The Eraser.  Suddenly, and without warning, circles are erased, never to be heard from again!  It seems that whether by slowly fading away or suddenly, all circles are erased in time, and the cumulative irregularity of the flat space circles continues to grow. In fact, some circles become so jagged, so marred, that they are hardly recognizable as circles at all, much more closely resembling the perfectly irregular entity that seems to be at the root of everything imperfect in flat space.

With such irregularity and separation from all that was once perfect, many circles lose hope.  But others remember the promise given by the sphere throughout their generations: the promise of one that has the power to restore the circles to the sphere.  But when?  How?  And so they waited...

...To be continued...

Find the Conclusion here: Relating to a Dimensionless God: The Conclusion


*Disclaimer: I acknowledge that this metaphor is not theologically perfect, omitting some of God’s character, and imperfectly representing other parts of his character. It is meant to articulate a greater perspective and help to understand God, Creation, Man, Sin…but it is not meant to explain each of them fully.

The Gospel of Christ--A Systematic Exploration

Our bodies bear evidence of sin.  Disease, affliction, decay.  If our bodies carried no sin in them, they would cease to decay and no disease or affliction would be manifest.  This is how we were created--in the image of God.  Adam and Eve, and the human race, were created to live forever in perfect harmony with God, each other, and all creation.  That is, until they sinned in the Garden.  At that moment, the human body took on sin, by choice, and began to decay.  From this point forward, there is an irreparable rift between God and man, the perfect from imperfect, eternal from dying.  But just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, so through one Man (Jesus), sin is conquered and we can be reconciled (Rom 5:12-21).


Show me one man who has defied the decay of the human condition.  Show me one man that has lived even 2 generations, let alone eternally.  You cannot.  But I will show you Christ, who lived, has lived and forever will live.  Jesus is the only God-man to have ever lived and therefore lives forever, being fully God, and gives opportunity for all flesh to be saved--being fully man Himself--the only bridge of this gap between dying man and eternally living God.

Our bodies testify that we are born into sin.  For all flesh is grass and perishes (Isaiah 40:6, 1 Pet 1:24), i.e. all flesh contains sin and is therefore decaying.  If all flesh was not with sin, then not all flesh would be decaying...but the scripture, as well as our experience, testifies that all flesh is dying. Therefore, there is no difference in circumstance, moral code,  in perception or reality--all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). All flesh is grass.  All flesh is dying.  All flesh has sin.  All men are dying as a result of being covered in their sins.

Make no mistake--God is incorruptible.  He is too consistent to allow sin to survive.  Therefore, as He has decreed, all sin will die.  And therefore, all men will die.  And though He loves us, He cannot deny Himself.  He has too great of character...perfect character...He will not "change the rules," so that we might live.  We cannot offer any goodness or action such that He says, "I love this one too much to let him burn eternally in Hell.  I will let Him live."  No, God's desire for us to live does not give rise to Him compromising!  He would cease to be God if He could be compromised.  No, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).

How then will we be reconciled to a perfect God?  How will we who are dying ever hope to live more than our short 100 years, if we are so lucky to live even that long?  If we are born into sin, what chance do we have, and how is it fair that God would allow us to be created and born into sin such that we have no chance of avoiding Hell?  God would certainly cease to be good, infallible, and sovereign if the truth was anything short of this: Jesus is the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8, 1 Pet 1:20, Matt 25:34).  Let's look at this closer.

First of all, God created us knowing our ability to sin.  Not the unavoidable affinity to sin...no, just the possibility and our ability to choose.  Jesus Himself knew what was in man and did not entrust Himself to them (John 2:24).  In the same way, God has never, from the foundation of the world, entrusted His perfect care for the human race to man alone.  No, He is too good, too sovereign, too infallible.  Instead, reconciliation was conceived from the very beginning.  Let's examine free-will, God's foresight, and the means of reconciliation to Him.

Free-will.  This is the capacity to love.  Think about it: can you force someone to love you?  You can force another person to do many of the outward showings of "loving" behaviors in its various forms, but you have no ability to force a person to love from their heart.  This is by design.  Love, it turns out, requires a voluntary choosing of another.  And with any voluntary choice, there are two possibilities: the choosing of someone or something, or the rejection of that same someone or something.  This is free-will.  This is the gift of God to the human race to have the capacity to love!  Anything short of this and we become robots; and we ourselves, as well as God Himself, are deprived of the richness of love, as characterized by freely choosing Him.  And so any question of God's goodness in that He has "allowed" sin (inherently also death and decay, and even Hell that comes with it) to persist is easily answered in the beautiful gift of love made possible by having the choice.  The real question then isn't of God's goodness--the question is of our obedience or rebellion.

However, since God is perfect in foresight and sovereignty, he would have known that all men would sin--all men would choose sin and not Him, and therefore all men would inherit death, both physical and eternal.  "What a flawed system!" you might say.  And you would be correct if not for this truth: God prepared a way for atonement--a way to be reconciled to Him even after experiencing sin and the curse of decay.  This is His Son Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.  This is critical because we might otherwise think God had a moment like this: "Oh no, they are all sinning.  Oh no, through Adam all men have inherited sin and death.  What have I done?  How can I save this?  How can I rectify this?  Oh, I know...I've got it, I'll send my Son to die."  Nonsense. This is not what God did, as it would fall well short of His uncompromising character and power.  Instead, He, from the foundation of the world, made provision for reconciliation through Christ.  Let's examine that at last.

We have established that God is perfect.  Furthermore, He cannot be compromised and is unchanging.  He can accept nothing into His Kingdom except perfection (absolutely zero sin).  The problem arises that all men have sin, and are even born into sin.  This is sin that resides in our flesh, inherited as we are born, as well as willing sin committed as we ourselves have not chosen to love Him by obeying Him (John 14:15, 21, 23-24).  And so every single natural man being born to man is condemned to death.  Therefore, there is a naturally irreconcilable rift, for you can show me no man that has ceased to die, not even Jesus Christ Himself.  This is critical that even the perfect God-Man, the only God-Man, Jesus Christ had to die; though not a natural death of decay in sin--He Himself being perfect and without sin--but rather at the hands of sinful men, willingly taking on death, i.e. voluntarily taking on the sin of man with such sweeping fullness that He being without the curse of death from sin would die, death being the fruit of sin.

Putting it all together, the paradoxical sacrifice of a perfect God-Man is the only Hope of rectifying the chasm between God eternally perfect and man eternally sinful.  There must be a go between--someone or something with a foot on each side, something itself as incorruptible and perfect as the side of God, yet something as perfectly identified with the flesh of Man such that they could exist together and thereby provide a bridge across this great eternal chasm.  In this we see that as Christ's body was crucified, the punishment of death, the inherited death of the flesh was fully upheld and satisfied.  Now, this is satisified in every individual who dies: the body has perished in sin, and the soul is cast eternally into godless Hell for he cannot be reconciled with God.  That is, until through Jesus, something different happened.  In His death, He was still perfect...being perfect, He was the first to ever be reconciled to God after death of His own accord.  Suddenly the gap between God and man has a link, a bridge, a tie-line.  And as Jesus was again raised to life, He secured this passage, this link, this bridge to God--for in His resurrection to life, He did what no natural man could do--He demonstrated the power for perfect God to be greater than the sin of human decay that leads to Hell.  In this, He now remains at the right hand of the throne of God and through Him all can now pass from death to eternal life.

But that's just it--through Him alone.  Without choosing Jesus Christ as Lord, it is as if He never came for that individual...there is no reconciliation, there is no bridge to perfect God--we still have the free-will to choose or reject Him.  But with Jesus--the way, the truth, the life (John 14:6)--we have every fellowship with God the Father and are made perfect in Christ alone, being welcomed into His Kingdom forever.

Questions to consider:
When will you die?
Why will you die?
What will you say to God when you die?
Are you 100% sure that God will accept you?

In Jesus Christ my savior, I can say the previously unthinkable: Yes, I am 100% sure that God will accept me when I die, and I will live eternally with the King.  All the glory to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit who preserves us through the final day of judgment.  Amen.

Flesh and Spirit: Evidence of a Raging War

This is meant to be a partial examination of the war between the flesh and the Spirit, and I hope that at a minimum it leads you to ask deep questions of yourself and of God, and to search the Word for those answers.

(Written Saturday)

Today was softball day with my Sunday School class.  We play in a league through our church and have a great time, win or lose.  After every game, we always go somewhere to eat lunch together.  At lunch today, a few of my friends and teammates engaged in a conversation that accidentally drove to the heart of the war between flesh and Spirit.

One of my teammates had gotten upset during the game and thrown the bat in frustration at the fence…a seemingly benign outlet of less-than-controlled anger; however, unfortunately, the bat came a little too close for comfort to an opposing player.  The throwing of the bat was quite intentional...it being anywhere near another human being, quite unintentional.  Nevertheless, he had to leave the game and was full of godly conviction immediately after the incident, seeking out the opposing players, officials, and all of our team to own up to his mistake and apologize.  It was great to see everyone forgive and restore him immediately, and I love my brother in Christ today more than ever.

Later at lunch, one of my friends mentioned the scriptural truth that “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34, Luke 6:45), asserting that whatever things he or anyone utters is a direct reflection of what is inside of us.  We may not want the ugliness of sin to be inside of us, but our mouths give us away.  He therefore concluded that when people say, “I didn’t mean that,” when referring to an action or word spoken, they are incorrect…for in the moment, they did mean it, for their heart meant it, because out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  Interesting train of thought that I could neither reject, nor wholly accept.  And my response erked me slightly and made me perk up and search deeper as to why.  Additionally, my teammate who had thrown the bat used his experience from a couple hours earlier to counter the argument, asserting that he by no means meant to hit the opposing player or to throw the bat whatsoever in any display of anger.  He found within himself, in that situation or any other, that the person he believes himself to be is not in tune with those actions and therefore, he could say accurately, “I didn’t mean that,” when referring to an action or word spoken…the opposite contention of my other friend.

As we debated and chimed in, never reaching a satisfying conclusion, it dawned on me that the Word of God speaks exactly to this point.  It is found in Rom 7 and 8, and it must be read slowly, hanging on every word and clause, in order to understand clearly (at least for me, reading it quickly easily leads to getting a little lost and running in a circle):

Rom 7:15-23 - “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

In this passage, Paul stunningly and transparently reveals his own personal struggle with sin, an ever present battle, a violently raging war within him.  If this is true of Paul, is it not also true of us and anyone who calls Christ Lord and Savior, being indwelled by the Holy Spirit?

In this passage, I do not want to miss many of the critical truths.  Firstly, Paul astutely recognizes something within him at his core that agrees with God in good (v. 16).  Secondly, he quickly claims this part of him to be his truest self, asserting that it is not him in his truest identity that carries out the sinful act, but instead the sin that dwells within him carries it out (v. 17).  Next, he mentions that the portion of him that is flesh contains nothing good, and that it is distinctively and utterly separate from the part of him that is good, which is the ability “to will” anything contrary to that corrupted flesh (v. 18).  Also, in v. 18, he concedes that within this conflict, he finds no solution on how to conquer the flesh with the will and do what he knows is good, of God, and his deepest desire. 

Going further, verse 21 is perhaps the most insightful because of its careful construction.  Mentioned first is a law…that evil is present within him—the one who wills to do good.  Notice that in this construction, the one who wills to do good is the self.  He has identified and separated his truest self as the part of him that wills to do good, and the evil portion (the flesh) as the imposter, residing simultaneously, but being the counterfeit “self,” and therefore not the self at all.  He reveals next that the “inward man” is his true identity (v. 22), the portion that delights in the law of God.  And finally, the “members”—that is, the flesh—is at war with the “mind”—that is, the inward man, the true identity—and that he is in a certain captivity to this struggle for the time being.

Within this complex communication of ideas is an overwhelming and unmistakable truth: we carry within us as humans on earth, this side of Heaven, warring identities—the flesh versus the Spirit.  Only in the assertion that I am a complex being—made up of multiple parts, distinctively and utterly separate from each other, yet intertwined…flesh and Spirit—only in this view of myself can I claim all that Paul has claimed here.  And once we have fully embraced this truth, we can easily see why both contentions of my friends are true in a sense: “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks,” and when my mouth speaks sin it is because I myself have fallen to the evil that resides “in my members,” but also “I didn’t mean that” because the truest meaning of the word “I” is my real identity, which is in Christ and the Holy Spirit alone.

Please do not misunderstand me: this is not a cop-out.  “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom 6:1b-2)  The point of all of this is to come to realization of 1. Our true identity as Christ followers is Him alone, made possible by Him alone, and therefore “there is no condemnation” for those of us who are His, and 2. We are being attacked, invaded, and even overwhelmed on a daily basis and therefore, we must fight actively against this law of evil within our present bodies.

Finally, lest we become discouraged, we are affirmed again in chapter 8 of victory and our unassailable identities in the Spirit of Christ, our Lord.  And the power of the passage and exclamation point is what follows next:

Rom 7:24-8:2 – “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

We would be right to conclude that Paul has revealed that we can easily lose this war and that as long as we live, we will fight it.  Additionally, according to v. 18, we are powerless to be victorious at all in our own strength.  But as we read on in this passage as we have done and hold it up in the light of the Word in its entirety, we see much more clearly that we are “more than conquerors” in Christ (Rom 8:37). 

As long as you and I live on this earth and not in Heaven, we will never cease for evil to reside side-by-side with the Spirit within us, a conflict so violent that without the hand of God to hold us together, it would tear us into a million pieces.  Thus we feel the tension, the conflict, making us cry out in anguish as we sin yet again…and we even have a hard time knowing if we are truly evil or good.  Ah, but the Word is equally as clear about the final outcome, for we know that the law of the Spirit is stronger than the law of evil in the flesh. 

Rom 8:9-11 – “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Until our flesh has died and raised up again in Jesus Christ, that flesh will war against the Spirit.  But that’s just it: “Until!”  For the “Until” is not yet present, but is presently coming!  We are assured of victory!  Only because Christ has been raised after death, his flesh united with Spirit as the firstfruits of all to come who believe in Him (1 Cor 15:20,23)…only in that do we have hope of being raised to eternal life.  For in this living body, the war rages, the law of evil within me fights on…but in death of the body, yet alive in the Spirit, we have the assured hope of resurrection to eternal life, a plainly asserted claim of truth in v. 11 of chapter 8.

I hope that through this study, you are encouraged of your true identity if you call Jesus Lord and Savior.  Your identity is the Holy Spirit within you.  Your enemy is the evil that resides in your flesh.  And every day you live in the fiercest battle zone taking direct hits, for we have willingly accepted this battle by receiving a new identity in Christ.  Before knowing Christ and receiving the indwelling Spirit, we had a single, fleshly identity, being fully captive to evil.  But upon receiving Christ in the Spirit, we have immediately declared civil war on the flesh, to the death.  And in this, we have been assured victory at the completion of our lives, such that in final death, we are given full eternal life, according to the covenant promise of our Father God through Christ.  If you believe this, you have already won; though you must still fight the raging battle to the day of your death and wonderful entry into the eternal rest and peace of Heaven.  May we each embrace these truths and be transformed by the renewing of our minds this very day (Rom 12:1).  Amen.

The Blessing of Obedience…And Its Opposite

The opposite of obedience is…disobedience. And when we’re talking about obedience to God, the opposite of obedience is…sin.

This may sound elementary, but when applied to some of the commands we receive from our Lord through scripture and we place on our lips what our behavior actually is, it can become convicting.

I am in a place in life where I am seeking God’s wisdom with all that I am. Oh that we would all be so blessed to seek Him and His wisdom so earnestly every day of our lives! We could, but we are fickle people. In my search for true wisdom, I am scanning the scriptures and of course cannot neglect Proverbs, some of the most densely packed wisdom in the entire Bible and entire earth. Furthermore, a friend recently suggested Psalm 119, so I began to read it, reaching all of 2 verses in before something spoke to me:

Psalm 119:2 – “Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.”

What I am about to convey to you is very basic, utterly simple, and yet I find that the simplest truths of God are the most splendidly rich. We often complicate our faith and our view of God when we attempt to view Him through the lens of projected humanity, but the simplest view of God and His truths, stripped away of everything but Himself and His Word, are beautifully life giving. This is part of the reason Jesus says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Matt 11:25). Let us come before the Word of God as children…simple, believing, with a limitless God…growing in faith, such that the Holy Spirit within us “searches the deep things of God” (1 Cor 2:10), and we move from breastmilk to solid food (1 Cor 3:1,2…)…yet always in the simple faith of a child before our Father God.

Let me relay to you how I have often received scriptural truths such as Psalm 119:2 for most of my life: If I keep God’s commands, then He will bless me. Or more pointedly, if I keep God’s commands, He will then bless me in what I do next. This may be true, but the center of the attitude and motivation is in need of serious revision. First of all, it is a very selfish attitude, in that I am only seeking the Lord for what He can do for me…the difference in seeking His hands only, versus seeking His face, His character, who He is for who He is. Secondly, it neglects the pure, simple power intended to be conveyed in the verse that is twofold:

1. The obedience to the commands is the blessing in this life.

2. The obedience to the commands brings us near Him, which is the superlative blessing. The opposite, which can only be called disobedience (sin), must then bring us far from Him, which must therefore be a curse, the opposite of blessing. So obedience is The supreme blessing and disobedience is The supreme curse.

To receive a command from the Lord, either in prayer or through the Word, is Him breathing His blessing upon you, and we must obey to receive it. The simple, powerful truth is that God gives commands for our benefit. His commands lead us to Him and lead us to walk in perfection. His commands protect us. Life outside His commands is full of pain through separation from God in our deepest core, ending with eternal separation and suffering in Hell. Life within obedience to His commands is true, abundant life, now and forever.

Consider a father and his child in their living room with a memorizing fire dancing in the fireplace. This is a peaceful and tranquil scene, marked by love and joy shared between family members. The son, enamored with the leaping flames, moves toward the fireplace, perhaps understanding something about the nature of fire, perhaps not. The watchful father knows what is in the boy’s heart and mind. Afterall, he was once a boy, too. Before the son gets too close, the father gives a sharp, yet gentle command: “Do not put your hand in the fire, nor place your hand anywhere near it.” The boy, stops, hesitates, considering the command. But he questions it in his heart…and the fire is so alluring and wonderful from his perspective. Soon the boy reaches his hand close to the flame, only to shriek in pain as the peach fuzz on his fingers is singed and one fingertip is slightly blackened by the intense heat from the tip of the flame. As the boy cries in pain, halfway running from the fire, halfway running to his father, the father moves swiftly to his side and brings the boy and his hand close to his face. The boy is crying, a little confused, a little ashamed, and very much in pain. Others in the room are crying, “How did you let this happen? Why didn’t you stop him? Is he going to be ok?” The father just absorbs the criticism and quickly administers first aid with a soothing ointment and neatly dressed bandage. The boy is feeling better already, though he will need a little more time to heal fully. The father bends down on his knees, getting eye to eye with his beloved son, their noses only inches apart. He has his son’s attention and speaks directly, firmly, and gently, saying, “My son, please listen to your father. I know you will not always understand my commands, but if you trust me and obey, you will not get burned.” The son begins to cry and sinks into his father’s arms. The father is swept away in the moment, as well, a single tear beginning to form in his eye.

I can think of few analogies more directly applicable to our lives as children of the living God, our Father. He loves us more tenderly than this father, with more wisdom and insight. We are just as or more rebellious than this boy, many times putting our hands in fires because our Father has told us not to. Yet even for us, the worst of sinners, we have the same loving Father. A Father who will lead, a Father who will teach, a Father who will face ridicule on our behalf, a Father who will rescue, a Father who will mend and heal, a Father who will look us straight into the eyes of our souls, and a Father who will embrace us when we turn back to Him. He has never left the room and we have never left His sight. Let us bring our burns and wounds before Him, seek His face, and embrace His commands. They are the source of life, abundant now and forever, because of the nearness in which it brings us to Him.

As I mentioned, I have been in a place of seeking nothing but the pure wisdom of God. Proverbs 9:10 instructs: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

“The fear of the Lord” will cause me to obey His commands. Obeying His commands is the superlative blessing in life, now and eternally. And in obeying His commands in fear of the Lord, is the truest of true wisdom. Therefore, my quest for wisdom, as well as yours, must go far beyond seeking a magical revelation in scripture or any other form, Godly or otherwise. Our quest for wisdom must begin with the fear of God, followed by willing obedience to His commands. If we will set ourselves apart to seek His commands, to cherish His commands, to recognize that they are not limiting, but rather life giving. If we will set ourselves apart to hear in sincerity and obey, we shall have the greatest blessing of all, eternal infinite nearness to our perfect, loving God, and wisdom simply naturally flowing into and out of us.

So what are God’s commands? To illustrate the question better, what are God’s helpful instructions? What are God’s loving and knowing warnings? What are God’s blessings for you and me? For today, let’s start with the Ten Commandments, read them in sincerity, and seek to apply them first to our lives:

Exodus 20:3-17 (comments added in italics)–

1. “You shall have no other gods before me.” (This includes the acknowledgement of any god esteemed to be greater than man or in any way a god, except for Jesus Christ, who is one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.)

2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

3. “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

4. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

5. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

6. “You shall not murder.” (Remember that Jesus clarified that “anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.” Matt 5:22)

7. “You shall not commit adultery.” (Remember that Jesus clarified that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matt 5:28)

8. “You shall not steal.”

9. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (This includes any form of dishonesty or deception.)

10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

As you read these, there is probably one or a few that immediately cause you to start rationalizing or making excuses or questioning. These are likely where we struggle. For me, one of them is taking a day of rest, “keeping the Sabbath holy.” Remember that Jesus instructed that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” It is not to become our God and religion, but we are to simply obey Him by keeping a day of rest, set aside for Him, holy. This means that if I lay on the couch all day watching football, then at the end of the day, I call it a “day of rest,” referring to the Sabbath, I am in error. The day of rest is spiritual as much or more than it is physical.

I have struggled to maintain a Sabbath day. And what really hit me was that taking a holy day of rest is considered pleasing and obedient in God’s sight. Obedient. Hmm, that means NOT taking a holy day of rest each week is…disobedience. Hmmm, disobedience to God is…sin. Oh my, this is no longer an option! Do I seek wisdom or don’t I? Do I seek God’s blessing or don’t I? Do I seek God Himself at all or don’t I? If I do, I will take a holy day of rest each week.

Take heart when you place your hand in the fire. Turn to your loving God and He will repair you. He then asks that you would obey Him from that point forward. Get right back on the horse, and do your best going forward, walking in His grace, knowing that His commands are not cumbersome, they are His richest blessings, full of abundant life. I pray that you come to know and love this truth and your God who loves you this year. Amen.

Do You Believe, or Don’t You? 5 Responses to the Gospel

Belief in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, equals eternal life in Heaven. Denial of the Son of God equals eternal death in Hell. There is nothing in between. In which place do you make your eternal dwelling?

John 3:16-18 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

I have a friend who recently lost his mother. Understandably, he took it pretty hard, and I felt blessed that he spoke with me about it and was able to grieve and heal just a little bit in that way. In our conversation, his main comfort was that he knew his mom was now in Heaven, which I was pleased and comforted to hear, for his sake. One of the things he said did not strike me until later. It is something I have heard countless times when grieving a loved one, as he stated that his confidence in his mother’s entrance to Heaven was that she “was strong in her faith” or a “great woman of faith.” I of course nodded in encouragement, belief, and thankfulness.

However, while listening to a song on the radio today (“Stonger” by Mandisa) that said “if only you believe it,” you can be saved and God is faithful to complete the good work started in you (Phil 1:6), I recalled my friend’s words in a slightly different way. I realized that we place our faith in loved ones’ salvation in the word “strong” or “great” in the phrase “was strong in their faith” or “great person of faith,” when our confidence should simply come in the word “faith” alone.

There is much to be said about someone strong and great in their faith, and Jesus often distinguished between great and small faith with statements such as “ye of little faith” (Matt 8:26, 16:8, 17:20) or “you have great faith” (Matt 15:28). Yet, we see the power of even the smallest faith as Jesus pointed out in Matt 17:20, addressing the disciples’ question of why they could not drive out a demon that Jesus did:

Matt 17:19-21 – “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Furthermore, Jesus says to anyone who believes that He is the Son of God:

John 14:11-12 – “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

This is a most powerful belief! To do things even greater than the miracles Jesus performed?! Simply because we believe He is the Son of God? Yes. Jesus said so; therefore, I repeat it to you.

I see in this the simplicity and truth of the Gospel; that it begins and ends with belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died in our place for our sin, conquered death by rising from the grave, and ascended to Heaven to the right hand of the throne of God to rule, reign, and judge forever; and that if we believe and ask to be saved by His name and His blood, we are assured of eternal salvation and entry to Heaven with Him.

So let me ask you, do you believe or don’t you? If you say “no,” you might be much more honest than many who say “yes,” and there is hope for you. It is my prayer that you die saying “yes” to Jesus Christ, so that we may live together forever with Him in Heaven. To those who say “yes,” I encourage you to take a moment and examine your inner self to see if you really believe in Christ. Here is a litmus test:

Upon hearing the good news that those with the tiniest faith in Jesus are granted Heaven and that a “great faith” or “strong faith” is not required, what is your response? Most will respond in one of 5 ways:

1. Relief and rest that you are going to Heaven, even though you know your faith is small and inconsistent.

2. Questioning if that is really true and desiring to know the real answer.

3. Disappointment because you believe that you have great faith and think that those with small, inconsistent faith should not be granted the same reward as you.

4. Happy because you don’t have to worry about doing anything the Bible instructs, as long as you say you believe in Jesus. You have the smallest faith that is necessary, that’s all you desire, and what you do next is irrelevant to that faith.

5. Rejecting the entire idea as hogwash with no desire to have any faith in this “Jesus.”

First, the good news: There is hope for you, no matter which of these responses you have (or a 6^th that I have not captured). Especially for responses 1 and 2, God has you in a good place to be closest to Him.

If you have the first response, you are indeed ready to receive grace, which is the simple necessity for the child of God. There is no pride in receiving grace, only gratitude, and that is a pure heart that God loves and is pleasing in His sight. Take heart #1, you are loved and precious in the Kingdom of God!

If you have the second response, you are a person that desires truth and are pursuing God’s very heart and Spirit, which is truth. Search the scriptures and you will find this truth. Start with John, read the Gospels, and go from there. Take heart #2, you are pursued as a son by a loving God as you pursue Him and His truth.

Here’s the bad news: Responses 3-5 need immediate revision and are not consistent with the heart of God and Holy Spirit that indwells the believer.

Eph 2:8-10 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

If you have the third response, that is actually quite despicable. There is no grace in that response—it is only by the grace of a perfect God that you have even a mustard seed of faith, let alone strength in that faith. And if this is your response, I wonder how strong and close to your Savior you really are. Pay close attention to this parable of Jesus:

Matt 20:1-16 – ““For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.””

Salvation is granted to the man who asks Jesus in his final breath the same as the man who is baptized at an early age. And so we see that there is to be no comparison and salvation is not obtained by works “so that no man can boast,” but instead I humbly proclaim the graciousness of God to save a sinner such as me. Be convicted number 3, and then take heart, for God is faithful when we are not.

Perhaps response number 4 is the most dangerous of all. At least the man with response number 5 is not lukewarm. The Lord God says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:15-16)

If you are one with the fifth response, I understand, and I pray for you with great concern. Be afraid, number 5, for you are lost and facing Hell in this moment; but also take heart, for you are not beyond the reach of your all-powerful Creator God, and you can still be saved if you will repent and call on the name of Jesus. It is my prayer that you turn to Him, whatever it takes.

And so, back to number 4. This is the most dangerous of mindsets because if truly felt, it proclaims that your “belief” in Jesus Christ is only lip service and you do not truly believe. That may seem like a bold statement, but it could not be a simpler truth. Jesus states that those who believe seek to follow Him. He never makes the statement that those who believe will never sin again…He commands that we don’t (John 5:14, 8:11, 15:10)…but the distinction is that those who believe in a Savior, acknowledging and comprehending what that means, seek to serve and worship Him for the rest of their lives. That is still somewhat ambiguous, so let me make is very plain and simple: those who believe in Jesus Christ experience change in their hearts that leads to change in their actions. This is the work and empowerment of the Holy Spirit that is beyond ourselves. If you declare to believe in Christ and your behaviors as well as your motivations have not changed, and even worse, if you say that you “believe in Christ” and therefore it does not matter what you do now because those with the smallest faith reach the Kingdom of God, I say to you, Wake Up! You have been deceived! For you do not truly believe and are the farthest from Him, for He spews the lukewarm from His mouth! If at any point, you or I strive for the minimum, we strive for the absence of God in our lives…that is the exact essence of sin.

The Greek word for sin (as translated in the New Testament) is hamartano, which literally means to miss the mark or “to be without a share in.” It could often be used to describe an archer who did not hit the target’s bullseye no matter how close he may have come. We must strive for the center, the bullseye, and if we do, although we cannot live perfectly on our own and reach the Kingdom of Heaven, God assures us through Jesus Christ that declaring our intent and smallest seed of real faith and belief in Him, He will bring us to the bullseye, the place of sinless Heaven, upon the conclusion of our lives. We must have genuine intent and genuine belief that Jesus is the Way and the only Way. That is it. Number 4, I encourage you, take heart, for God replaces the heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)…cry out for Him to create a pure heart within you and He will (Psalm 51:10).

Ezekiel 36:26 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

And so I ask you one more time, do you believe or don’t you? Do you have “great faith” or “strong faith.” No matter…do you have any faith that is real in your Savior Jesus Christ? That is the principle question and nothing further. If you answer “yes” in truth, then I look forward to seeing you in Heaven forever. Amen.

The Response - National Prayer Gathering

Have you heard about The Response, a national prayer gathering being held in Houston, TX on Saturday, August 6th? I wasn’t 100% sure about it when I first heard, but with the American Family Association (AFA) and my church publicly behind it, I’m definitely going. If you’re not going to be in Houston on Saturday, Aug 6, you can actually still register and get involved in many ways: streaming live video of the event, pray at home, get together with your local church to pray on this day, signup to fast during the week, or signup for a daily prayer guide for the first week of August. Please check it out here: http://theresponseusa.com/

This might be the largest coordinated prayer effort I’ve ever been aware of. Not only the 62,000 prayer warriors in Reliant Stadium, but nationwide, especially with AFA behind it. In the book of Isaiah, God cited Israel as forsaking Him and failing to call on His name (Isaiah 43:22) and furthermore “wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isaiah 59:16) to plead for mercy and grace for a nation in greatest need of those two things. In this passage, Isaiah points to Jesus as The Intercessor, but we as the body of Christ are also to be intercessors right here, right now. This is an opportunity to be lifted from the same allegations brought against Israel, such that God will not wonder “that there was no intercessor” but will instead be pleased by those who sought Him with their whole heart and therefore He is found by them (Jeremiah 29:13).

Isaiah 59:1-4, 15b-16 –

“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity…

…Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him
That there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
And wondered that there was no intercessor;
Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.”

Within the church community, we often hear Jeremiah 29:11 quoted and I love it, but verses 12-13 are just as important:

Jeremiah 29:11-13 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

When I read the book of Isaiah, I cannot help but see the stark reality that the words do not just describe Israel in the time of Isaiah...they are absolutely a description of the United States of America today. Think about these parallels that we in the U.S. have with Israel: a nation established by God, founded on the Bible and God's principles; a nation that has borne fruit for God's kingdom; a nation that has taken an egregious moral wrong turn, embracing greed, lust, deception, selfishness, and idolatry of all forms; justice and truth have become relative terms instead of absolutes based upon God's holy, righteous standard; a nation that has become prideful and forgotten to give glory to God for our successes. What is chilling is what happens to such a nation, as described by Isaiah: it is torn down and sent into captivity for 70 years. I am going to tell you without any reservation, because this is not far-fetched whatsoever, but is simply the obvious truth as a student of God and his ways with His people and nations that He establishes--if our nation does not repent, cry out to God for mercy and grace, and commit ourselves as individuals and as a people to seeking the Lord first, forsaking and abolishing all of the moral decay that we have embraced as a culture, we as the United States of America will also fall, cease to exist, and become slaves to a foreign nation that hates our God and persecutes us for it.

Isaiah 43:22-28 -

"But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you have been weary of Me, O Israel.
23 You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings,
Nor wearied you with incense.
24 You have bought Me no sweet cane with money,
Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
But you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have wearied Me with your iniquities.
25 “ I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
26 Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be acquitted.
27 Your first father sinned,
And your mediators have transgressed against Me.
28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches."

I am struck by the contrast displayed in this passage. In the same passage, God proclaims two seemingly opposite things: punishment and salvation. He assures wayward Israel that they will have both. How is this possible? Perhaps punishment by hard earthly circumstances is actually the path to salvation...perhaps that is the only way that a rebellious heart can be humbled and confess the need of a Savior. Verse 25 assures us that in the moment we call upon Jesus, our Savior and Intercessor, our sins are blotted out and we are restored to God. In fact, the preceding 21 verses of this chapter are amazing, offering encouragement and the description and assurance of full redemption for God's people.

The following verses in chapter 1 speak to the future of a nation such as wayward Israel and the U.S.:

Isaiah 1:21-28 -

"21 How the faithful city has become a harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord says,
The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,

“ Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries,
And take vengeance on My enemies.
25 I will turn My hand against you,
And thoroughly purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
26 I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
27 Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her penitents with righteousness.
28 The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. "

The message in its entirety is clear then, that the wayward nation will be punished, and just as gold is refined in the fire, so are God's people. Even if only a remnant remains faithful, they come forth as pure gold. Let's repent now, and spare our nation. Let's cry out in intercession now, with all sincerity, such that God's ear is inclined to move in favor of us and re-establish us as His people. Repent now and fulfill His greatest will, or face the fire, being purified by the trial, such that a smaller remnant remains. We the people have the choice, and we must make that choice right now. Will you pray with us? Will you speak truth publicly, such that evil is exposed and the Gospel is proclaimed? Will you intercede for a nation on the brink of utter captivity--spiritual first, and then physical? If the worst happens, will you be the remnant, purified by the fire instead of burned away for eternity? I pray that you can answer confidently affirmative to each of those questions.

As for The Response prayer gathering, our nation needs this. Our families need this. We need this. God desires this. Let’s stand together and do this! My prayer is that this isn't just a one day or one week event, but that instead it is simply the kickoff of a prayer revolution in our nation and world. Let's first commit to focused prayer time in the coming week for our nation. Let's next commit to this being our new lifestyle--one of sincere prayer and intercession. May the God of all grace and comfort, of all holiness and justice, of all righteous wrath and chastening of those whom He loves, of all sovereignty and power, the God of our salvation and our Redeemer, our hope and our strength, our Counselor and Intercessor, be glorified in all that we do from this day forward, forever. Amen.

Relationship with God - Church in the Park Message

I had the pure joy and privilege of speaking the message at Church in the Park in Houston, TX this weekend. This ministry seeks to bring Christ to the homeless in downtown Houston, providing worship music, a Bible-based message, and breakfast for all who attend. It is held outdoors in a park right off of downtown.

The experience was amazing. Of course, being given the honor of speaking a sermon was very exciting, but the one-on-one conversations and prayers were most enjoyable. You can listen to the 20-min message by watching the video below. The topic is Relationship with God, with a focus on being children, servants, and friends with God. The Prodigal Son is studied as an example of this relationship. I hope the Lord uses it for good in your life this very day:

(Follow-up post about an amazing story of God working behind the scenes and through Church in the Park that morning: "My Work" vs. the Holy Spirit)

The Power of Redemption - Part 2 - Rejecting Complacency

Excerpt from "The Power of Redemption - Part 1" -

"Redemption is the reclaiming as good, something that was bad. It is a reversal in esteem...

...Christ is our Savior first, and also our Redeemer. This means that once we have sinned and departed from His path, He not only saves us from Hell, but He restores us to right relationship with Him. The paths our lives take from that moment onward suddenly have purpose that they didn’t have without Him. And remarkably, the consequences that flow from our now blotted out sins become the very things that glorify God...

...When I trace it all back, every cause and effect as seen by the human eye, I marvel at the power of an amazing attribute of our God—Redeemer. Only by His redeeming power could my life be this rich, this joyous. Only by His redeeming power could my relationship with Him be stronger and fuller. Only by His redeeming power do I now call this my “plan A life!” Not that sin was the right approach—it caused years of pain!—but God is both sovereign and redeeming for those who love Him. Through Christ and Christ alone do I look back with thankfulness, live in present joy, and look forward with eagerness to a life held in the power of redemption." (read full post)

I am aware that some will respond to the news of redemption in the following way: “Well, then what do I care if I sin—it brings glory to God anyway. I might sin all the more so that God can be glorified even more. It sounds like you’re saying that it doesn’t matter if I sin or not.” Paul dealt with this attitude in Romans 6:1-2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

Look at your thoughts! Do you respond to this realization of redemption by justifying your own sins? Where is your pursuit of righteousness, where is your pursuit of a God who is pursuing you? Where is your desire to be His pleasing servant? Where is your right relationship with Him? Where is your love of God who loved enough to send His Son to die on our behalf while we were still sinners? (Rom 5:8) The response of a person in relationship with Jesus to the marvel of redemption is pure thanksgiving and even greater resolve to follow Him closer than ever…not to accept sinning…but to marvel at our sinful pasts, yet redeemed presents, and look forward to never departing from our Savior and God again, knowing that if we do fall, He will redeem us…but we never want to be separated from Him again.

If God can redeem us after we’ve sinned, how much more will we be squarely in His love, delight Him, and be delighted by Him if we remain in Him and refuse to sin?! If redeemed life with Christ is this good, then why ever willingly leave Him again? A child of God has the comfort that he is never beyond the grasp of his Savior and Redeemer, so he no longer fears eternal death from sin. But we should not be complacent because of this knowledge—we should be even more resolved to refrain from sin, such that the pain and sorrow in the midst of redemption must not be suffered by the sinner or God Himself.

Have you seen the effects of sin in your life? Let’s not downplay it—there are terrible effects of our sin. I suspect that you know these effects as well as I do. The grieving that comes in the wake of our sin is expected and is even right and holy, for the Holy Spirit is grieved by our rebellion (Eph 4:30). We are in tune with God when we grieve our sin. That MUST happen—it is the natural consequence in the life of a child of God who as sinned. Thoughts of redemption should never ease the grieving of our sin immediately upon conviction—grieving of the sin itself, not grieving our circumstances, a key difference. Grieve your sin until you can produce no more tears…no grief can sufficiently capture the terror and plight of a human separated from God by sin. But on the other side of it, when God heals your heart and the pain begins to subside, I encourage you to step boldly into the life of redemption. Step up into your place as the redeemed child of God. Look at your circumstances and your new life path and no longer lament it as your doomed or fated path as a consequence of sin—but look at it with new eyes—eyes that see God’s power. God’s power that overcomes the sins of man and makes your new circumstances the things that bring Him glory and you joy. I pray that wherever you are, you come to Jesus right now. If you have just realized your sin, I pray that you ask for Him and His Spirit convicts you of sin, such that your mourn. Because on the other side of that mourning is a renewed relationship with a God who is called Our Healer.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matt 5:4)

“God heals the brokenhearted.” (Psalm 147:3)

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

It sounds morbid and cruel to wish mourning upon someone, but realize that if we don’t mourn and are not heartbroken, then we will not be comforted and healed. Once you experience His healing and comfort, I pray that you come to the full knowledge of a redeeming God and begin to marvel at the joy that He places in you. I pray that you begin to marvel at how He takes a circumstance once seen as bad and makes it so glorious for His namesake. I pray that this deepens your love and thanksgiving for your loving God. Forever. Amen.

Life Is Good

Life is good. My life is good. But I really mean that life itself is good.

Is your life good? It can be. Today.

Over the past several weeks, it seems like I have come to greater realization of the abundance of blessings in my life. Some were new ones that I am so thankful for, and some have been there all along but I’m just now starting to recognize and appreciate them. Truly, I thank God for these many blessings.

Adding to my thanksgiving is knowing where I’ve come from. If you know me or have read some of my blog posts, you’ll know that I went through a very difficult period in my life just 2 short years ago. In this struggle that was both emotional and physical, I nearly died. That is not an exaggeration—my body nearly failed me as I lost 40 pounds from a 170 pound frame that had only about 5 pounds to give. If you know me or have read my blog posts, you’ll also know that in the height of this trial and both the emotional and physical pain that coursed through my body on a daily, hourly, even on a continuous basis…in the worst moment, I prayed a very sincere prayer and asked if God would let me die and join Him in Heaven right then. He did not…He made me stay here. And through that I realized that He had purpose left for me, and that it was actually better for me and His kingdom for me to remain here for at least a little while longer. Additionally, I realized that He is my Father in Heaven and I am His son, and that if a son asks his father who loves him to come home, one of two things will happen: either the father will say yes and the son will come home, or the father will say no and come to where his son is. For me, it was the latter. I knew in the months that followed that my Father in Heaven had come to me in my cry to come to Him, that He was already there, and that He remains with me forever, on earth or in Heaven.

Life is good. In the land of the living.

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. - Psalm 27:13

God has faithfully restored my body to health in the months and years since the days described above. I feel healthier now than possibly ever before. He has reached into the pit and rescued me. I pray that many will see and fear the Lord and praise His name (Psalm 40:1-3). I pray that many will seek not just His restoring hand, but His face…intimate relationship with a true Friend, Savior, Father, Master, and Creator.

Through the trial, my spiritual restoration is eternal. And although I was physically restored, today I got some bad news from my doctor. It appears that my body has received irreconcilable damage from the disease that riddled my body 2 years ago, a non-communicable disease that is now under control, but that it appears I will never fully recover from. I don’t have to tell you that this was very hard to accept. But I can also tell you that even if the worst comes to me, life is good because of my Savior. In fact, the terrible news has inspired me to write to you today.

Life is good. Everlasting life is even better.

Adding to my thanksgiving is knowing where I’m going. Heaven. A place with no more crying, no pain (Rev 21:4). A place of absolute oneness with our fellow man, and absolute oneness with our Savior Jesus and Father God (see John 17). A oneness well beyond our imaginations of physical splendor with gold streets and perpetual sunshine and everything we love on this earth.

Life is good. Life with my Savior Jesus Christ is good.

It’s easy to see at this point that there is one common reason why life is good in the dichotomy of circumstances described above: Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him. Not merely knowledge of Him. Certainly salvation. But it doesn’t stop there—it is knowing Him and being with Him that makes life good. Knowing Him and being with Him makes us rejoice in great trials (James 1:2-5). Knowing Him and being with Him makes us rejoice in thanksgiving and praise in times of great blessing. Knowing Him and being with Him is the essence of anything and everything good in my life, in your life, and in our lives to come.

Life is good. In all circumstances, in all things.

I submit to you that life is good in and of itself, as it is the breath of God breathed on you and me. We live with His blessing of life everyday and don’t even realize it. Do you know that by being born and made alive by His hand, you now have the opportunity of eternal life in perfect love and oneness with an almighty God? That by being made alive, regardless of your choices thus far in life, you have the opportunity to choose Him right now and have an everlasting relationship with Him? That by being made alive, simply being born onto planet earth, you can now be a son of God? Life is good. In the worst circumstance, life is good. If you have a Savior.

There are 4 types of people:
- those without a relationship with a Savior who have terrible circumstances
- those without a relationship with a Savior who have great circumstances
- those with a relationship with a Savior who have terrible circumstances,
- those with a relationship with a Savior who have great circumstances.

For the latter two, life is certainly good. I have been in both situations and can attest that life with my Savior is good.

Now for the arguments about two different types of people. First, those who have no relationship with the Savior, but their circumstances are great. You might say, “Life is good for them. You just said their circumstances are great.” Indeed. So you are measuring the goodness in life by circumstances alone? Think about a man who is traveling down a river in a boat with those he most loves. It’s a beautiful day, perfect temperature, they have every type of food and drink they would like, and the mood is fun. But what this man doesn’t realize is that there is a waterfall a half-mile downstream, and if he doesn’t start rowing to shore right in this moment, he will never be able to overcome its current before reaching the falls. Would you say that life is good for this man? His immediate circumstances are certainly good. But in being so caught up in the immediate good things, he has failed to take care of himself or his family by looking ahead and mapping out the river…and he is leading all of them to their death. Now imagine that this man had been told of the falls by others and was even offered a map…maybe he even took it…but he never read it. Maybe he even flipped the map open once or twice, but never really studied it at all such that he could see the dangers ahead of him. We might call this man irresponsible. But the fact of the matter is that we are this man for most of our lives. We have been told of Heaven and Hell, we’ve been offered a Bible. Have we ever opened it to read it…have we studied it? Or are we so content with our “good lives” that nothing else seems to matter so much?

For the man who rejects God’s Word and Jesus Christ, life is not good. Life led to the eternal death of Hell. And once there, he would trade every good thing he ever had in this otherwise “good life” in order to avoid that final outcome. He would curse his life as being worthless and the cause of every eternal torment.

Now for the second argument: “What about those who have the worst circumstances, even if they have this “Savior” you claim to know? What about those who are utterly beaten, broken, raped, or any other worst thing you can imagine, but are still living through it. Is life good for them?” Indeed, their circumstances are far from anything good. My heart feels anger and it breaks for those in situations like that. This one is tougher. I’ll let you know that my heart has recently been stirred for those in just that situation, especially those who do not yet know my Savior. There are literally millions of children as young as 7 years old around the world who are slaves to sex-trafficking. These girls are taken captive and initiated through daily beatings, starvation, and daily raping by multiple men. Once their will to fight is broken, if they do not kill themselves first, they are placed into life-long sex-slavery, receiving multiple gruesome abortions per year until they are rendered barren or ultimately die of an AIDS related disease before reaching middle-aged adulthood. This is one of the worst circumstances I can think of. For them, life turned bad. But what if they come to know a Savior who gives everlasting life in Heaven, and beyond that, He brings His presence to them right where they are in this moment? What about the children of these women who escaped abortion and have been rescued out to live abundant lives with this Savior? When these women see their daughters rescued, and even moreso when they themselves come to know a real Savior, in Jesus Christ, I tell you wholeheartedly: life is good again.

You may still argue with my paragraph above. But I want you to know that I have worked with an organization called As Our Own that rescues the daughters of such enslaved women. We have seen great transformation in the lives of these precious little girls who have been rescued from the same plight of their mothers into a loving family and into the body of Christ. I cannot convey to you what that looks and feels like…I am not capable of describing to you the joy of seeing it with your own eyes. And these women still enslaved have light in their eyes again, if only a glimmer at the start. I have seen the eyes of many enslaved women—as part of our work, I have been to the brothels! I can tell you that death looked back at me as I made eye contact with the vast majority of these women. But in the eyes of a woman with a little girl being cared for by As Our Own, there was the only light I could see in that terribly dark place.

And even for those who have not come to know our Savior, life in and of itself in the beginning was good. For they were born into the opportunity to have eternal life in Heaven, regardless of circumstances here on earth. Even for the man in the spiritual boat who rejected and refused to listen to God’s word—the map—whose life turned into a road to Hell…even for this man, life was not the bad thing. His life was originally good…not because of circumstances, but because of his opportunity to choose to be with God forever. So we see that circumstances do not change the goodness of life. The goodness of life is found only in our Savior Jesus Christ. While we were innocent children, life was good, the opportunity still in front of us to choose Him. Once we have chosen, life then becomes supremely good or life becomes our curse to Hell. However, so long as we are still alive, we have that choice! We can choose for life to be good, and for our lives to be good, this very day. Even the man who was trapped in the current and only feet from the falls could cry out to a Savior. Not a common savior or simply a good Samaritan—no, he could not be helped in the physical world at that point. His salvation would require a supernatural event…the river would need to stop flowing or he would need to be plucked out of the boat by some supernatural force. The blood and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God, has this supernatural power that we need in order to be saved by grace into oneness with a perfectly holy God. There is no natural antidote to our sin. There is no logical path. We require something supernatural, something beyond ourselves to be able to be one with our holy God and Savior. The fact is this: all of those other people who tried to hand this man a map and tell him of the waterfall—they only know because they themselves were in that same boat. They know because they themselves had to cry out to a Savior with hope of rescue, supernatural rescue. Not one of them were in a situation in which by their own strength they could overcome the current of sin. No, each one of us has come to the point of the waterfall, gripped in sin, hopeless of rowing our way to Heaven’s safe haven. Once there, those who called on the name of Jesus have been saved, and in reply we now seek to tell those who have not yet come to know the fierceness of the current of sin, the depth of the fall to Hell, or the glorious relationship with our Savior when we do call upon Him.

This is your opportunity. This is your future. This is your present. You have the choice. I pray that you choose the good life right here and now, and the good life that is everlasting. I pray that you come to know the life that is good with Jesus our Savior. Amen.