salvation Posts

Better late than never.

05 Mar , 2012 No Comments

Luke 23:32-43 describes the story of the crucifixion and Jesus’ conversation with the men on either side of Him on Golgotha. Why were they not put together? The prophet Isaiah tells us why:

“He was numbered among the transgressors.”  Isaiah 53:12

God decreed that the most holy should die with the most unholy.  At His birth He was surrounded by beasts, and now, at His death He is surrounded by criminals, deserving of capital punishment. This “friend of sinners” finds Himself with them once again. In fact, it seemed that was where He was always most comfortable.  He lived among them, now He dies among them. Our attention turns to the two men crucified on either side of Jesus. One particularly captures our attention because he received the promise that we must share if we are to see our Lord in Paradise.  Pastor Erwin Lutzer wrote, “What a day for the thief!  In the morning he was justly crucified on a cross; by late that evening he was justly welcomed into Paradise by Jesus!”  Let’s look at this thief who is each of us.

The thief in the mirror 

I think we’ll discover he is you and me.  In fact, the two thieves on the cross represent every human being who has ever lived.

  • His failure we don’t know what he had done but we know, whatever it was, it deserved the death penalty.  He was the vilest of offenders.  Like us, he was trapped by his sin.
  • His fate his fate was determined by his sin.  He, like us, is paying the consequences for his sin.  Every person in the world is bound for the same fate, the same destination as this man- were it not for the intervention of Jesus.  Rom. 3:23- “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…”
  • His faith Consider the faith of this man.  It was a simple, yet amazing faith.  Consider what he had seen.  On the one hand he had heard Jesus say, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  No doubt that prayer pierced his conscience.  He heard the inadvertent testimony of the crowd: “He saved others…but he can’t save Himself.”  No doubt he pondered, “What do they mean- “He saved others”.  And then there was the “first Gospel tract” ever- nailed to the cross proclaiming, “This is the king of the Jews.”  And then he had this conversation with Jesus.

Do you think his faith came easy?  Does faith come easy for you?  For most of us it doesn’t.  Consider that this man had perhaps never seen Jesus before.  It’s one thing to believe in Jesus when He does a miracle or has just provided some great teaching or act of love.  But this man believed at a time when it appeared that Jesus was entirely helpless to save anyone.  In fact, it seemed that Jesus Himself needed saving!  Jesus hung there as the hapless victim, not a king.  When you need saving, you don’t turn to someone in the same predicament that you’re in.  You don’t turn to someone who is dying in disgrace.  Or do you?  The scandal of the Gospel is that we worship the God who died.  This thief believed before the darkness fell over the land.  He believed before the earthquake rocked the place, and before the veil of the Temple was torn in two.  Improbable as it was, he believed.

Here’s the point- you too can believe.  Does God seem distant to you?  Does Jesus seem weak and powerless in your situation, in your life?  How can we explain the fact that this dying thief took a suffering, bleeding man for his God!?  There’s only one answer- it was the work of the Holy Spirit drawing this man toward the Man in the middle.  The Spirit is drawing you as well.  His faith was simple.  It was courageous.  It was enough.

  • His future  This man, whose entire life was consumed with a never-ending struggle to find meaning and purpose, enslaved to sin, now finds himself about to enter eternal paradise.  Notice the reunion would be that very day!  “Today.”  Jesus died before this man did.  Charles Spurgeon noted that “this man, who was our Lord’s last companion on earth” was His “first companion at the gates of paradise”.  Notice, he did not make a pit stop in purgatory en route to paradise.  His future- in heaven- secured by Jesus alone, began that day.  With such a dark past, how bright was the future of this dying thief!

One commentator wrote, “There is one such case recorded that none need despair, but only one that none might presume.”  Warren Wiersbe points out that this man was not saved at his last opportunity, but at his first.  Don’t wait another minute.

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

William Cowper, the great hymn writer, though plagued with doubts in his own life, understood that if the thief could be saved, then he could too.  He wrote a song entitled, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood”.  One of my favorite stanzas reads: “The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.”  The thief’s forgiveness should remind you that there is more grace in God’s heart than sin in your past.

It’s better late than never… but it’s better now than later.

Why Forgive?

27 Feb , 2012 No Comments

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34  The first of seven phrases from Jesus on the cross is a prayer, not for Himself, but for His executioners.

Now, you think of someone you need to forgive.  But remember, we forgive people, persons, (individuals) not institutions or groups of people.  You forgive what they have done, not what they are.  And you can only forgive someone who has done something to you directly that has wounded you.

1. It breaks the chain of “ungrace”  Only grace breaks the cycle of retribution.  If Jesus had prayed, “Father, give them what they deserve” there would be no forgiveness- no grace.  Do you forgive others who are “executing/crucifying” you?  You see forgiveness has that maddening quality of being undeserved, unmerited, unfair.  But as I forgive, as you forgive, we break the law of retribution- the chain of ungrace is broken.     

2. It sets us free from anger  Often we think, “I have justifiable pain!”  This is simply another way of saying, “I will not forgive.” 

3. It sets the offender free  Forgiving does not remove our scars any more than a funeral takes away all of our grief.  We often carry a scar even after the wound has been healed.  But if we continue to have resentment over time, we are “feeling again” the pain caused and our response in hatred.  “Forgiveness” in the Greek means, literally, “to release, to hurl away, to free yourself”.  You know you have forgiven the person when you release the person to God- and even hope for good.

4. It heals the relationship  Forgiveness brings life to the relationship again.  But, not always- Jesus forgave but not every one was reconciled.  Forgiveness doesn’t always mean reunion or reconciliation.  Sometimes we pay for our sin by being shunned, let go- we are left to our desires and pay the consequences.  

5. It sets us free to love again  One of the best books I’ve read on forgiveness is Lewis Smedes’, “The Art of Forgiveness”. In it he writes, “When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us.”

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”- Colossians 3:13   

Theologically, the Gospels give a straightforward answer as to why God asks us to forgive: because that is what God is like.  We are never more like Christ than when we forgive.  Why?  Because Christ has forgiven you.  We are to forgive “AS” HE has forgiven us.  How has He forgiven you?  Completely. Unconditionally. You cannot fully forgive until you’ve been forgiven.  Was Jesus’ prayer answered? Every prayer He ever prayed was answered.  You have been forgiven so that you might be one with God.

You and I cannot muster up forgiveness on our own.  We must allow Christ to transform us from selfish, prideful, unforgiving people into those who extend grace to others. But it begins when we embrace the One who is Perfect, the Giver of grace.

“The object of my faith is not personal change. It is the unchanging perfection of another Person.” Byron Yawn

 

Forgive.

Do All Roads Lead to God?

06 Jan , 2012 No Comments

On New Year’s Eve, you may have heard Cee Lo Green’s rendition of John Lennon’s, “Imagine” (which apparently has become a tradition just prior to the ball being dropped at Times Square). But this year, instead of listening Lennon’s version of the song, they had Cee Lo sing it. He created a big stir by changing the words- instead of singing, “imagine no religion too”, he sang, “and all religions true”. People debate and ask the question- is there really only one way to God? The classic presentation of this argument ends up with the idea that “all roads lead to heaven”, “all paths lead to the same God”.
But is this true? I’ve changed the way I approach this question. The truth is (and read carefully) there are many roads to God- all roads lead to God but there is ONLY ONE WAY to eternal life with Him- there’s only ONE Way to LIFE and it is through Jesus Christ.

It is true that everyone will end up before God.

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

Though we may get through different paths, everyone will stand before God some day. But the idea that all religions are true is not even logical, simply because not all religions teach the same thing- by a long shot. In fact, in many ways, Christianity cannot even be compared to other religions. It is the anti-religion- it’s not a religion (that is, a way to achieve some standing before God through good works, following a certain set of moralistic standards, or follow set of rules). That’s not Christianity. Jesus taught us that we could never achieve God’s approval apart from His grace. If this were not true there would be no reason for the cross- which stands at the center of our faith.

No, all religions DO NOT teach the same thing and not all roads lead to a right relationship with God. And you don’t even have to go to the Bible to see this. Simple Aristotelian logic would say that two contradictory truths cannot be equally valid. It’s “The Law of Non-Contradiction”. This is a basic, fundamental Law of Logic. It states that two contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time; one is true and one is false. Formulaically, it’s presented as, “A equals B and A does not equal B are mutually exclusive statements”. Now, every child knows this, but in America we have become so open-minded our brains have fallen out.
Some people say, “Well, Christianity is so exclusive. How can someone be so prideful as to think that ONE religion has all truth? I’ve talked to people who say, “My approach is to choose the best from all religions. That’s a better way to come to truth.” Really? Let me ask you then, “How do you determine what to chose from each religion that you’re going to then put together as your chosen collective religion?” YOU are going to choose? You’ve just made yourself your own God! You have just formed the religion of YOU; and you are, in the end, worshipping yourself. You have the final word on all things. And think about this: Isn’t it more logical to believe that ONE religion would have the truth within itself? A collective, united, comprehensive and cohesive body of truth- within one religion makes a lot more sense (again, if we want to bring logic into the equation). But alas, logic doesn’t seem to be in the mix when it comes to spiritual conversations these days. Let’s bring it back into the conversation.

All roads lead to God and then judgment based on what we have done with Jesus.