Can Your Salvation Pass Divine Inspection?

There Is Only One Way: Repent And Believe The Gospel!

Jesus has called you to eternal life. And here is the question of questions: Have you followed his “salvation equation” — repent and believe his gospel? That is the one and only way your salvation will pass Divine inspection.

The Journey: Mark 1:15

“The time promised by God has come at last!” Jesus announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

Most surveys today reveal a high percentage — consistently within the 80-90% range — of Americans who believe in God, claim Christianity as their faith, think that the Bible is God’s Word, and are sure they will go to heaven when they die. Yet even the causal observer of both the Bible and American society can plainly see the huge disconnect between true Christianity and current culture.

So what explains this critical disconnect? I think it is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be saved. Many people assume that if you were born in America, or if you were raised in a church-going family, even a CEO family—a “Christmas and Easter Only” home—that you are automatically Christian. Others assume if you simply claim Christianity as your faith, then you are Christian.

Both assumptions are fatally flawed. In fact, any assumption that doesn’t recognize the salvation equation Jesus provided is flawed. There is one way, and only one way, to salvation: Repent and believe the gospel!

Both repentance and belief are two essential sides to the same salvation coin. Salvation begins with repentance. To repent does not simply mean to feel sorrowful for your wrong, remorseful that you got caught or fearful that you will be punished. Biblical repentance means to recognize that you have offended a holy God, experience Godly sorrow over both your sinfulness and offensiveness before God (2 Corinthians 7:10) , confess the sinfulness to God (1 John 1:9), and—this is a critical part—make a 180-degree turn in the path you are on so that both your current behavior and the overall pattern of your life are now moving in a direction that purposefully and joyfully honors God (Matthew 3:8).

Biblical belief is more than just intellectual acknowledgement of a truth. It is placing faith in the truth of the gospel. And like repentance, this kind of faith/belief requires an alignment of head, heart, and hands—or intellect, passion, and behavior (see Matthew 22:37-39)—so that the entirety of one’s life becomes God-focused, God-directed, and God-dependent. True belief means to so align one’s life that there is no sensible explanation for it without the existence of the God who has called that life into loving, intimate relationship with himself.

Using those definitions of Biblical repentance and belief as a spiritual plumb-line, I have a strong suspicion that the spiritual foundation on which so many Americans are erecting their house of faith would not meet the Divine Inspector’s building code.

Be that as it may, the most important thing at this moment is that Jesus has called you to eternal life. And here is the question of questions: Have you followed his equation—repent and belief his gospel? And why wouldn’t you? After all, Jesus paid for your salvation through his death. I love how Martin Luther so profoundly stated it, “Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.”

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I turn my life over to you. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, cleanse me from every sin and forgive my fundamental sinfulness. I invite Jesus to live in my heart as Lord and Savior. I believe the gospel. I place saving faith in you, trusting that you have saved me by your grace. Thank you for granting me the gift of eternal life.

The Coat-Tail Effect

Read Ephesians 2

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

Thoughts… These are perhaps three of the most revolutionary verses in the entire Bible, dramatically revealing how our salvation really came about. Basically, Paul is telling us that we are saved totally by the love, grace, mercy, will and power of God. We had very little to do with it—except to simply, humbly and gratefully receive this marvelous gift. And even then, God helped us with that. This is the coat-tail effect: God did all the work, now we get a free ride on his efforts.

So what does this mean for me? Plenty! Among the countless numbers of ramifications, one of the most enjoyable is that I can sit back and simply rest in this wonderful gift of salvation provided in Christ Jesus.

Let me spell out 4 things from these verses using the word REST that you can try as a response of worship for your salvation:

Reflect: First of all, this week, reflect on God’s grace. Verse 8 says “it is by grace you are saved…” Verses 4-5 say, “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead…” You did nothing to save yourself and make you acceptable to God. You were dead! Do you know what a dead person can do to be un-dead?  Nothing—except lay there and be dead! It was all up to God—so just spend some time thinking about that…and it will lead to this…

Express: Express your gratitude to God for the gift of salvation. Express prayer of thanksgiving every day up to and including Thanksgiving Day specifically for the gift of eternal life he has given you. Do you realize how marvelous this gift is? Verse 8 goes on to say that every aspect of your salvation “is the gift of God.” Even the faith to believe was God’s gift, according to the grammar of that verse. God has even provided you the ability to believe—how awesome is that?

Stop: Stop working for what you already have—approval! Verse 10 says “you are God’s workmanship…” God does not accept or approve of you based on your efforts—he does so based on Christ’s work. You were “created in Christ Jesus.” You are his masterpiece! So whenever you feel the need to perform for your worth—quit! You’re already worthy. Just take delight in God and what he’s done for you through Jesus. Delighting in God is a very spiritual matter—and it’s appropriate! So stop working for approval and enjoy God this week!

Trade: Trade your ‘to do’ list for God’s. Verse 10 says you were created, “to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.” Once you’re freed from the need to work for approval and acceptance, you can do the works that arise out of grace—those are the “good works prepared in advance for you to do.” What are those good works? I don’t know, but as Augustine once said, “just love God and do as you please,” and I have a feeling you’ll be just fine!

A flea was riding on an elephant’s ear when they came to an old wooden bridge. And as they crossed the bridge wobbled badly and almost collapsed. When they got the other side the flea said to the elephant, “Boy, we shook that bridge, didn’t we?”

Friend, you’ve crossed over the bridge of faith ridding on someone else’s efforts. So quit trying to add to it—it’s already done. Quit trying to get there—you’re already there. Just rest and enjoy the ride. Enjoy who you are in Christ based on what he’s done for you on the cross.

Prayer… Father, I am your workmanship. I am your masterpiece. How marvelous the thought! Enable me to live up to that and honor your design in everything I think, say and do.

One More Thing…
“Delighting in God is the work of our lives. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” —John Piper

Even A Caveman Can Get It

Read Romans 3

“Everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence.
But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him
through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.”
(Romans 3:23-24, TEV)

Food For Thought… A lot of people are overwhelmed by the complexity of religion. They are intimidated by it, they don’t get it, they don’t want to talk about it—and even if they do want to talk about it, they just can’t wrap their brain around it enough to be able to string enough cogent thoughts together to carry on a stimulating conversation.

But that is absolutely not true about true Christianity. I know, “true Christianity” is a redundancy—but I want to distinguish authentic faith from the messed up stuff that some misguided folk have turned our faith into.

Christianity is simple—so simple, even a caveman can get it. God made sure of that. Romans 3 provides it in a nutshell. Here the Apostle Paul, master theologian, who sometimes is not all that easy to grasp, probably foresaw the need for a “Christianity for Dummies” (he was thinking of me!), so he simply, clearly and briefly spelled out the real condition of humankind, God’s offer of salvation, the essence of faith, and the core beliefs of Christianity in this chapter.

I would highly recommend, as a reaffirmation of your faith and as a great refresher for evangelism, that you to go back and re-read Romans 3 in a modern translation, like The Message” or The New Living Translation. You’ll be amazed at the profound simplicity of our Christian faith.

Or I can give you the CliffNotes version:

1. The truth about you and me—Romans 3:9-12

“Basically, all of us, whether insiders (Jews who have the Law) or outsiders (Gentiles who live as a law unto themselves), start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one.”

2. The bad news—Romans 3:20

“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are,” i.e., we’ll never attain God’s favor in this life now or in the life to come by being good enough.

3. The good news—Romans 3:21-22

“But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him [without our futile effort to be good enough for God]. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”

4. Say What?—Romans 3:23-24

“Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proven that we are utterly incapable of living up to the standards God demands of us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ dying on the cross to pay for our sins.”

5. How cool is Christianity—Romans 3:25

“God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world—you and me—to clear that world—you and me—of sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.”

That’s it! That’s the Good News—and that news really is good! Religion is complex; Christianity is simple. Religion is about what you have to do; Christianity is about what God has done! Religion requires you to sacrifice to appease your god; Christianity required God to sacrifice his Son to appease himself. In religion, you pay; in Christianity, Jesus paid it all. Religious faith is about works; Christian faith is about belief. Religion leads to death; Christianity leads to life.

Need I say more?

Now I’m not all that bright—on par with a caveman—but I think I’ll take Christianity! How ‘bout you?

Prayer… Father, thank you for your mercy—you didn’t give me what I deserved. Thank you for your grace—you gave me what I didn’t deserve. You didn’t give me hell; you gave me heaven. Thank you for making it easy for me by making it hard on Jesus. Thank you for Christianity, thank you for Jesus, thank you for you!

One more thing… “Faith justifies not as a work, nor as a quality, nor as knowledge, but as assent of the will and firm confidence in the mercy of God.” —Martin Luther