Category Archives: Salvation

What Is Saving Faith?

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We know forgiveness of sins and eternal life comes through faith in Jesus Christ, but what does it mean to believe in Jesus? If you listen to some present the gospel, you might think it’s merely believing Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins. But this was not the message of the apostles and the early church. The New Testament gospel message is primarily about the identity of Jesus. In other words, it is not merely belief that Jesus did something, but that Jesus is who He said He is. It is not “Believe that Jesus can save you from your sins,” but “Believe in the identity of Jesus so that He can save you from … Continue reading →

Guilt: What To Do With It

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Are you struggling with feelings of guilt? Are you ashamed of something you have done recently? Perhaps your whole life has been one failure after another. You’re powerless to do what is right. You can’t stop doing the things you do. While you may have given up a long time ago, there is hope. You just have to look beyond yourself and look to God who already has provided a solution to your problem! The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. – Luke 18:27 When it comes to guilt, you’re not alone. Everyone has done wrong. Some people pride themselves in being ‘law-abiding citizens’, however there is not one person who has not broken God’s law … Continue reading →

“Say These Words…”

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During the terrorist incident in Mali this past week, many hostages died. But one hostage was let go after an Islamic attacker told him to recite verses from the Koran. This reminded me of an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown where he was at the wailing wall in Jerusalem. Anthony said he didn’t believe in a higher power. But after finding out he was a Jew, a rabbi quickly grabbed him, strapped on a phylactory, and got him to recite the words of a bar-mitzvah blessing. I think it’s pretty obvious the freed hostage did not become a Muslim merely by reciting verses from the Koran, just as Anthony Bourdain did not become a practicing Jew and believer in … Continue reading →

Titanic

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The world is like the Titanic. When Adam disobeyed God, we struck the iceberg. At that point the ship was doomed, even though things didn’t look too bad on the surface. But now the end is near. The ship is up-end and sinking fast. The opportunities to get into the lifeboat are drawing to a close. But even with the world falling apart, people are still trying to enjoy the cruise. They’re ignoring the danger and refusing the warnings of those who really care for their well-being. Satan has this world convinced that Christians hate sinners. But we don’t hate sinners. We love sinners. If we really hated them, we wouldn’t warn them of the consequences of their sin. We … Continue reading →

Second-Hand Faith

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“…I am left, I alone…” – 1 Kings 19:10 Hypothetical questions: If the person who led you to Christ suddenly told you, “I’m sorry. I misled you. I was wrong. There is no heaven or hell. Jesus is a fairy tale. God does not exist. … I have proof, and here it is…,” how would your faith fare? What if all of the great Christian preachers, teachers, authors, apologists, radio and TV personalities, etc. you look up to suddenly said the same thing? What if everyone in the world abandoned Jesus and urged you to do so… what would you do? I’ve thought about questions like these off and on for many years as a way of identifying whether my … Continue reading →

I See Dead People

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In the movie The Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis’ character meets a boy who is ‘gifted’ with the ability to see ghosts – dead people. But these dead people don’t realize they are dead. They go on with their ‘lives’, moving around their old haunts, talking to those they knew… all in ignorance of their condition, until they suddenly realize what has happened. The movie is fiction, but the concept is real on a different level. I see dead people every day. I pass them on the highway. I work with them. I talk with them. But they don’t realize they’re dead. They see the stars in the night sky, they hear the birds sing, and the feel the wind on … Continue reading →

Abandoning Fleshly Righteousness

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The fleshly nature has two ways of expressing itself. The first is the one we are most aware and ashamed of: it is our desire to sin. But the second way is also bad, and maybe worse because we are not ashamed of it – we’re even proud of it: it is our desire for self-righteousness. When I say self-righteousness, I’m not talking about a holier-than-thou attitude, or a hypocritical righteous facade. I mean sincerely trying to do the right thing through one’s own willpower and determination, but apart from reliance on the power of God. This kind of ‘righteousness’ falls far short of the righteousness God requires for salvation or for living the Christian life. That law-keeping is insufficient … Continue reading →

What Do I Mean By ‘Sanctification’?

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This question came up recently on a Christian forum. Since I’ve written quite a bit about justification and sanctification lately, it would be a good idea for me to clarify what I mean by these terms. In the Bible, justification has to do with righteousness. It is about being declared innocent – not guilty – before God. The Law, summarized by the Ten Commandments, reveals God’s righteousness, and therefore it is closely tied to justification. A person can only be justified if the entire Law is kept faultlessly. To break just one Law imputes guilt on a person. Jesus Christ is the only Person to keep the whole Law without sin, but He did so in our place so we … Continue reading →

Is Sanctification By Law Or By Faith?

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We tend to misunderstand what was going on in the Galatian church. Well, let me rephrase. I have misunderstood what was going on in the Galatian church, …but I do think many of us share the same misunderstanding. What I mean is, as we read Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, we assume they were trying to be saved by the works of the Law of Moses. It’s real easy to come to this conclusion when we see warnings of “a different gospel,” and read statements like “a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through the faith of Jesus Christ,” and “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” There is so much … Continue reading →