And brought them out, and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? and they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
And they spake unto him the word of the Lord,
and to all that were in his house.
Acts 16:30-32
This question is the most important question anyone can ask: "What must I do to be saved?" Salvation is all of God, His Mercy, His Grace, and by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ whom He sent to die for the sin of the world: "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Greek word translated "sin" is accusative and singular, not plural, so John was speaking to us that Jesus came to take away the sin, sins, of the world. The question then is: "What is the sin of the world?" "For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). The same Greek word for sin is the same in both verses, singular, accusative, so Jesus came to pay this debt of sin, death, death that came into this world by a sinless man who sinned, and died, now by a sinless man who did not sin, and died sin, death, was now destroyed. The fact that Jesus ascended into heaven, and their sits on the right hand of God makes intercession for all who believe upon Him and His work on the cross. This is an eternal intercession, and God the Father sees the repentant through Jesus Christ and the cross. Jesus died for all who believe upon Him and His death is a propitiation, that is, to make your repentance and belief to appease the wrath of God which leads to death. Furthermore, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is efficacious, that is, capable of having the desired result, or effect, a remedy, and this remedy is the payment of the sin of the world, death, and now life can be for those who believe, repent, and follow after Jesus Christ and grow into His image.
The next important question is : "What, or how, am I to live after my repentance of my sins, and my belief in Jesus Christ?" First, and most important you have something you did not have before your belief: the Holy Spirit now indwelling in you and speaking to your soul, to guide you, to be the one coming along side of you in all the consequences of your life. Next, you must deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Him: "And he that taketh not his cross, and follow Me is not worth of Me" (Matthew 10:38). And: "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). To follow Jesus, to deny oneself is to consent to something, or someone else, as no person lives in a vacuum, to loose something is to gain something else. To loose oneself to this world, is to gain all the promises of God through Jesus Christ. Authentic Christians, those with Authentic Christian Faith will respond appropriately to the Lord Jesus Christ by their submission of their will and their independence from Him to submit to Him and to be dependent on Him: "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. NO branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5). The apostle Paul writes to the Christians at Ephesus: For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). The next question: "How do you receive the free gift of faith?" "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). This is exactly what the opening Scripture tells us that to believe, to have the faith of God, to receive this faith so that you can believe is by the word of God. If you are the only one who believes, who puts their faith, their life, their dependence on Jesus Christ will have and affect towards your household. The household did not by proxy become believers, they too must hear the word of God, see it in your Authentic Christian life, and by the Grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit they too will be saved.
Cultural, nominal, liberal Christians attempt to do more than is necessary for Christians, to be an Authentic Christian. They add so much to their worship of God: i.e., speaking in gibberish tongues, to go about praying for those who are in need, but forget to bring to them their real need, and that is the Gospel. To attend euphoric, self-aggrandizement services, to do, to do, to do, while all that is needed is to deny themselves the pleasures of this world, those things added to their worship, and then to pick of their cross, and follow after Jesus Christ.
This is the facts!
As God liveth, who hath taken away
my judgment; and the Almighty,
who hath vexed my soul; all the while
my breath is in me, and the spirit of God
is in my nostrils; my lips shall not speak
wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
God forbid that I should justify you:
till I die I will not remove mine integrity
from me. My righteousness I hold fast,
and will not let it go: my heart shall
not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:2-6
Integrity: the hallmark of Autheticity
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment