It seems
that when it comes to religion in our culture almost anything goes. If you were
to take a random survey of people’s beliefs you would hear all kinds of ideas
that are not true:
-“All paths
lead to the same God”
-“It does
not matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.”
-“All
world religions teach the same things.”
-“Only a
few of the worst people go to Hell”
-“Just
take the best parts of all the faiths to find the path that is right for you.”
These
misconceptions have led to a widespread misunderstanding of what the Gospel
is. It is therefore imperative that
Christians have a good grasp of the basic tenets of the faith in order to
rightly represent it to those whom they seek to reach. In the next three weeks I will address the
question, “What is the Gospel?”, by presenting nine scriptural elements that
are essential for true conversion. These
nine elements outline the basic steps a person must take, the core beliefs they
must embrace and what Christ promises to do when a person puts his or her faith
in him. The first three elements are
what I call the ABC’s of becoming a Christian.
Recently
my laptop quit working. A computer
technician determined that the problem was a dead hard drive. My son-in-law promptly ordered me a new
one. When it arrived he called me with good and bad news. The GOOD news was that the new hard drive was
successfully installed. The BAD news was
the computer still did not work! The bad news swallowed up the good.
The Gospel
is often called the Good News because of Christ’s substitutionary death on our
behalf. But this good news is in
response to some very BAD news: That we are all separated from God because of
our sin. When we present the Gospel to
people I think it is a good idea to start with the bad news. After all, most people don’t take their car
to a mechanic unless they recognize that something is wrong with it. Similarly, they won’t visit the doctor unless
they believe that they have a problem. So
it is with coming to Jesus as Savior. A
person must comprehend the BAD news of their hopeless state before they can
genuinely turn to God and receive the GOOD news of salvation.
So the
first step in becoming a Christian is A-Admit your sin.
Isaiah
records God saying: “For this is what the high and lofty One says-- He who lives forever,
whose name is holy: "I live in a
high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to
revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite (Isaiah
57:15).
Most people are
in denial about their true spiritual state. I often hear something like this:
“Nobody’s perfect and I am not either.” The
Holy Spirit must break through this denial and bring them to the realization
that they are “in trouble” with God. They have broken God’s laws in innumerable
ways. They’ve been selfish and
rebellious and God is not happy about it. Their deeds have rightly earned them
condemnation. In response to this revelation, there must be genuine repentance
as emphasized in both the Old and New Testaments (Matt. 3:1-2, Matt. 4:17, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30). Repentance is sorrow before God over
our sin and a willingness to turn away from our sin and toward God. It involves humbly admitting wrong without
excuses or justification.
In
addition to admitting their sin a person must B: Believe in Jesus.
“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” (John 3:16).
Saving faith
requires more than an intellectual assent to truth. It involves trust. A
story is told of a great circus acrobat who crossed Niagara Falls on a steel
cable. With no safety net he did things
like walk, run and dance on that cable above the crashing water in front of
large, awestruck crowds.
Once, after pushing
a wheelbarrow full of bricks across the falls, he asked the audience if they
believed that he could push a man across in a wheelbarrow. Everyone, without exception, believed that he
could. The crowd became excited with
anticipation. Then he asked, “Who will be that man?” Not surprisingly, no one was willing. People believed he could do it but they were
unwilling to entrust themselves to him. Saving faith entails entrusting
ourselves to Jesus.
The benefits of
Jesus’ death and resurrection must be personally received in order for them to
apply. As John said, “Yet to all who received Him, to those
who believed in His name He gave the right to become children of God” (John
1:12).
Several years ago my
wife and I received a tax return check from the Federal Government in the
amount of several hundred dollars. The
check got buried under a pile of papers in a drawer and was forgotten for six
months! We found it before it
expired. We had money credited to us but
until the check was found and deposited it did us no good. Likewise, the saving benefits of Jesus death
and resurrection are only activated in a life when received through faith.
In addition to
admitting sin and believing in Jesus, a person must C: Count the cost. The cost is total commitment. While it is true that we cannot clean
ourselves up or earn our salvation through repentance or committing to follow
Christ, Jesus did say, “Any of you who does not give up everything
he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Denying ourselves, taking up our cross and
following are entry level requirements in becoming a Christian (Matt.
16:24-26).
The Lord wants the rights to our time, money, attitudes,
relationships, ...everything. He asks us
for permission to run our lives and we can gladly give it to Him because we
know what a mess we make of it when we take control.
Giving up control
of our lives runs contrary to our natural way of thinking. We want to hold on to what we have. It is like learning to dive into a pool. It is
a skill I have never mastered because I could never ignore the voice inside my
head that screamed: “Don’t lead with your head! It’s dangerous!” Just as a person learning to dive needs to
overcome that resistance and trust that diving is safe, we must overcome the
urge to keep control of our lives and abandon ourselves to him. Jesus said that “whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses it
for me will find it” (Matt. 16:26).
Next week:
“The 3 R's of What We Must Believe”
For more
information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about
speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.
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